I’m sure I’m not any better than the regular men and women flailing at the UFC fighter in this video linked below, but it’s remarkable in watching this video how slow a normal person throws a punch. In watching UPC fights or boxing the punches have this fast, flickering snap. Watching non-fighters go at it is like a slo-motion film. I would have thought the guys might have some snap but it’s just turtle-esque.
It gives you a better perspective just how badly a professional would destroy a normal person in a fight.
And boxers would rip apart most UFC fighters. Most people can’t punch, most have never thrown a punch except maybe as a kid. You can see in the video they don’t know how. He’s not a punching bag, he’s moving, nobody can adjust their punch on the fly very much, that’s why effective punches have to be fast and anticipate where the other guy will be at the end of the punch. On top of that he’s taller than all of them, even trained fighters have a tough time punching up.
I’ve posted this before, but possibly the highlight of my years of MA training was after I had worked long and hard on my jab, and then sparred w/ a boxer whom I hadn’t trained with for a year or so. I was able to hold my own with my jab, and he said something along the lines of, “Wow, you’ve really got that working.”
I don’t mean to brag - my overall skills were not that much. But a strong jab/straight punch was one of the 5 or so tools I worked on making as strong as possible. Just working that one punch required hundreds of hours of slow motion mirror work, speed bag, heavy bag, all manner of drills and sparring… I never developed a hook or uppercut that was worth a damn.
Throwing and slipping punches - along with footwork, is incredibly difficult. IMO, anyone who thinks they are training MA but does not spend at least some time on boxing, is missing out. (For those who know/care - I was working my straight punch from a JKD perspective, as an entry and to set up combinations.)
I’m not talking about MMA, MMA vs. Boxers in boxing matches has never gone well. Boxers are punching specialist, they won’t even survive as a boxer if they don’t have exquisite punching skills. In MMA where the fighters have a choice grapplers have a distinct advantage. In boxing grapplers have nothing much to work with. Rousey showed what happens when a grappler decides to punch against a puncher, she tossed away her advantage.
There’s a scene in “Jackass” where Johnny Knoxville is to start an actual boxing match, with gloves and everything, with Eric “Butterbean” Esch in a department store. Esch actually comes dressed in his satin boxing robe and everything. They are led into the store with a woman holding up a card that saud “ROUND 1.”
Knoxville, who is not a small man and is in good shape, takes a swing and it has no effect. Esch responds with a halfhearted hook and Knoxville immediately turtles up to save his own life. After a few glancing blows to the head and a solid body shot Knoxville is on the ground. He gets back up and Esch, wanting it to be fair, asks Knoxville to take a shot at him and doesn’t defend himself. He does, and it has no effect. Esch then takes two right hooks. One stuns Knoxville and the second drops him like a mic. Knoxville asks to go to the hospital.
The difference in speed is almost impossible to believe. It doesn’t look like Esch is trying that hard - he never bothers with a job - and it’s just lightning.