Stand up fighting or Submissions?

Question

In MMA what do you like watching more in a fight . I love the technical submissions than the punching and kicking. Im in MMA myself and my most skills are in BJJ so that might be why I like to watch more technical fights. So let me know.

Answer 1

Im a brawler type of guy

I get my money's worth when i see a TKO in the first round

   just amazing to see how someone so focused and trained for months for the fight and so secure and so confident gets knocked out in couple of seconds

  also because a ususally when ur in stand up combat you are basically risking the change of getting physically hurt where it get be permenant besides tapping out on a hold that could be easier to heal than a cut or something broken by impact

Answer 2

i can really appreciate a good technical ground game, but i prefer big hands being thrown, thats what pumps the blood for me, whether it be standing or a good ground n pound

Answer 3

Honestly, I miss those days when any joe schmoe do or joe schome jitsu could show up and fight.  Those were so entertaining.  Yes, today's fights and fighters are of a WAAAYYY better caliber, but, it's that part of me iI try to keep hidden, the part that likes Kimbo Slice's street fights more than his nobler ones, that makes me say that.  Yes, yes, I need therapy.

Stand up?  Submission?  Who cares!

Answer 4

My favorite fights aren't always really technical, but exciting because of the types of fighters in them.  I tend to enjoy the fighters that have unique or at least developed fighting style.  

The guys that bore me are the ones with no style of their own -  

The Koscheck / Sanchez wrestlers - always grind out a fight with ground and pound

The Jeff Curran type grappler - solid jits guy that always goes for armbar, RNC, triangle.  

The Cro-Cop / Liddel striker - one punch (or kick) KO, but it's all they look for.

At the top of my list of enjoyable (but clearly not the "best") -

The Diaz brothers - both have good hands but they are sick on the ground and try for the unusual subs.

Karo Parysian - love the way he throws people onto their heads

Anderson Silva - his footwork and accurate striking are awesome

Fedor - the best transition game in the biz

GSP - relentless!  awesome all around athleticism

Andrei Arlovski -sick leg locks and explosive - but inconsistent

Minotauro Nogueira - great off his back and wiley

Clay Guida - he looks like the Tazmanian Devil when he fights

Kendall Groves - he has this squid-like approach to grappling - just keeps wrapping around his opponent.

Ken-Flo - another grappler I like because of the unusual subs he goes for

Spencer Fischer - he's been really on point lately and he's exciting to watch - knows how to stand back up and strikes are clean.

I guess they are mostly technical fighters, but they all have something unique about how they fight.  Must be the unpredictability factor that I like most in these guys.

Answer 5

I've gotta say i love 2 people just go at it, if you do like stand up fighting watch cabbage vs tim silvia awesome fight, also fights like forrest vs bonnar ultimate fighter final.SICK FIGHTS!!!!!

Answer 6

Sort in the same vein as the above poster.

I prefer either, provided they are technical.

I like watching striking where the person uses angles, sets up strikes and attacks, and isn't just brawling. I'll watch a technician over a brawler anyday, stand up on or the ground.

In the same vein I like guys who have skill on the ground, not just guys who take a guy down, spend 5 minutes throwing blows while in the guys guard, landing maybe 10 shots, and never attempting to pass or get position.

I like technical fights and fighters period.

Answer 7

I'm torn on this one, here's why:

I love watching the footwork of a good boxer.  That is where I feel most of them are seperated when it comes to an amatuer and a pro.  I can really appreciate someone who can keep people at the end of a jab.

As far as grappling is concerned.  There are not many things better to watch than two skilled BJJ'ers or grapplers going through a "chess-match" type of fight.  Most fans out there just don't get what is going on when they are grappling and see it as "two dudes rolling around".

So my answer?  I like watching both when the fighters display honed skills in their respective arts.  What I don't like watching is two guys just duking it out without any skills.

Answer 8

The only problemo I have is that they are not different.

MMA et al, tends to want to separate these concepts when they are one in the same.

You've all been lied to.  

Answer 9

Any technique executed with skill and finesse is great to watch. I am very much against the trend I have seen where fists just swing all willy-nilly praying they get through a half decent guard and land a KO.

If on the other hand, the fighter worries his opponent's defense and causes him to open a hole and surgically executes a punch or kick that ends the fight, I find that much more exciting.

Grappling goes the same way, but its harder to "spray and pray" with submissions, you actually have to know what you are doing.  

Answer 10

Stand up stuff is generally "cooler," while ground stuff is boring as h**l to watch.  Although from having taken Karate, I know how difficult "stand up" grappling is.  It is very, very hard, to apply a grappling hold when someone is throwing flurries of punches at you; that was part of the training I received.  The instructor of course never fired full force, but c**p man, trying to catch just ONE of both those limbs was tough as h**l.  You practice enough times eventually it becomes second nature but man is it ever hard.

But hey, if you're athletic, and humble enough to drill both a lot, I will say a good stand up game is more impressive as it requires greater skill.  Well, better timing anyway.  Wrestling around on the ground is tough, because you waste a lot of energy.  However "catching" flying limbs, or an opponent charging you is also tough because it has to be perfect.  The timing, the positioning, because a single inch is enough to s***w up the throw or lock.  Also if they become aware of what you're doing, the move won't work.

Stand up games are more impressive because while the ground game is difficult given how vigorously people resist while on their back, all the while planning to do something to you, in the end the timing, technique and focus required for a stand up game takes considerably more skill.  Also some Japanese friends of mine told me that in Judo, the reason that an "ippon" or fall counts as a point against you, is because the moment you get thrown to the ground in Judo, they assume the person who threw you is going to try to kick you.  Odds are, also, that they will be successful.

Judo demonstrates, more than any other martial art I think except maybe Shuia Jiao and Shaolin Chin Na, that a mastered stand up game will ruin anybody's day, as well as the fact that it is an impressive feat of skill.  Judo also demonstrates, that a mastered stand up grappling game makes it so that a ground game can be rendered useless.  Not to say that a ground game should not be learned as an emergency measure; my Japanese friends told me Newaza was still important, because sometimes in a fight it will go down to the ground, and you need to be prepared.  That is you have a situation in which the assailant will either knock you down, or go down with you, if they go down with you, you need to be prepared for that.  However in Kodokan Judo they do not encourage you go down with your opponent.  Prepare for it, but don't make a plan for it, that is what they told me.  See BJJ is the opposite of Judo in that regard, and why the two schools are bitter rivals; BJJ says to Judo "you're full of c**p."  Judo says to BJJ "Newaza is important, but YOU are full of c**p, because if someone throws you down they will kick you....."

As of yet that blood feud between Judo and BJJ is unlikely to be settled any day now...

oh well.

Answer 11

When you watch martial arts you must understand the blood, sweat and tears that it took for the practitioner to reach whatever level he/she is on. Like anything else that requires great skill, it takes respect, patience and discipline. Most folks simply lack those traits, so that's why there are few masters.

Answer 12

I think of its clean ju jitsu you know what im talking about, like bjj black belts going at it pulling subs and breaking out of them and you know really technical fights are cool to watch, but the rush off a knock out will always be more forfilling than a sub.

Answer 13

I come from much more of a stand up background myself, so needless to say that I enjoy watching a good knock out more than anything. That is just human nature for you, we naturally gravitate towards what we know best.

Now with that said I also love a good technical grappling match as well, if they are really going after it. I absolutely can't stand the "lay & pray" c**p where after the take down pretty much nothing happens but a few little punches get thrown that don't do any damage. I feel the same way about the guys who clinch against the fence and do little to nothing but hold onto their opponent.

There are 2 different trends taking place in MMA right now that bother and concern me.

1) The guys who just go out swinging wild with little technique and basically just slinging slop.

2) The lay and pray style, pinning a man against the fence and then doing little to nothing. In my book this isn't fighting and it sure isn't fun to watch.

I have little tolerance for either of these types of fighter's. You can really go for a knock out with out looking like a bar room brawler, in fact you will have more success at getting the knock out with good technique and well placed shots. I enjoy a good grappling match when the fighters are actually working with good technique and are looking to advance their position or finish the fight.

Again human nature tells us to lean toward people and things that more closely resemble ourselves, so I like to see people working with good technique and trying to finish fights.