Boxer Zab Judah: "Anyone can be a MMA fighter, no skill needed"
Quote:
God knows if there is anyone who thinks there is no need for some sort of pointless "MMA vs. boxing" rivalry, it's me. I love both sports deeply for their various charms, but it is interesting to me to hear the thoughts of fighters from both sports on the other. Even if it's only out of a strange sense of curiosity.
So when our friends at FightHub caught up with Zab Judah and asked for his thoughts on MMA, I checked out the video:
Zab's quote:
"MMA? I mean hey, it is what it is. It's..some people like to see. You know? I think the difference between MMA and boxing is anybody can be a MMA fighter it just takes...uh...you know, just brutality. You know what I'm sayin'? It's not a skill level thing. For me to get in and get your arm in a lock and try to pop it off, you know, as fast as I could? Anybody could do that. But when it comes to boxing, boxing is a skill, you know what I'm saying? It's an acquired entree. It's not for everybody."
The point of this isn't "let's all get angry at Zab for what he said." Obviously he's speaking from a place of ignorance when it comes to MMA. The proper application of an armbar, kimura or any other arm lock is more than "grab arm and twist" we all know that. Hell, Zab probably knows that himself.
I find the "acquired entree" thing to be the interesting part because it's something that I hear from MMA and boxing fans/participants alike when defending their sport.
Both sports are very easy to understand and appreciate when you're watching James Kirkland vs. Alfredo Angulo, Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti, Mauricio Rua vs. Dan Henderson or Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin. Those are bouts which are, at their very core, what people expect a fight to look like.
But watching an MMA fight which is a struggle for takedowns and positional control against submission attacks is something that does take a certain level of understanding and willingness to appreciate. To many people struggles against the cage or ground battles will never be appealing and they'll never understand what is going on because they simply don't care to.
Similarly, many people watch a boxing match between two fighters with different styles and see clinching and hate that the guys keep "hugging" and the ref has to separate them. Boxing fans understand that in many cases it's a matter of dictating the space and distance at which the fight takes place or to break up the rhythm of the other fighter. There are a myriad of reasons why a clinch takes place or any other number of more subtle things in boxing. But many people won't care either way because they, again, simply don't care to.
Both sports are acquired tastes and I don't think either is free from misunderstanding or falls gracefully into "everyone wants to see a fight" given that the definition of fight for most people falls well outside of anything a strategic fighter engages in.
Not going to bother but, if the likes of Manny Pacquiao appreciate the skills you need to become a great MMA fighter, a guy named Zab Judah has no say in it.
As far as the skill debate I look at boxing as sort of like baseball. If you constantly practice, practice, practice, you can become a good baseball player. But if you are going to be a good football or basketball player you will have to have some God given ability.
Height, strength, speed, and general athleticism are not things that you can improve with practice and that's why I couldn't give a shit about boxing or baseball. Some of the crappiest athletes I went to school with would be decent baseballers but couldn't break a tackle, intercept a pass, or light someone up on defense.
As far as the skill debate I look at boxing as sort of like baseball. If you constantly practice, practice, practice, you can become a good baseball player. But if you are going to be a good football or basketball player you will have to have some God given ability.
Height, strength, speed, and general athleticism are not things that you can improve with practice and that's why I couldn't give a shit about boxing or baseball. Some of the crappiest athletes I went to school with would be decent baseballers but couldn't break a tackle, intercept a pass, or light someone up on defense.
That's ******* nonsense. Baseball requires a TREMENDOUS amount of natural talent. Are you kidding me? Secondly, I'm literally going to blow a fuse if any one single more ******* person acts like football is the end all be all to athleticism and talent.
Some gifts translates better to other sports. Jon Jones for example is an obvious example of a fantastic athlete, insane flexibility, great balance length and functional strength. Yet he doesn't have good running speed and can't jump so was bad at football and basketball. Clearly a bad athlete though AMIRITE? No.
Baseball requires speed, explosiveness, strength and the most coordination you'll probably ever have to require in any single sport.
The fact that you know some guys who were decent in baseball and bad at football means **** all....I can name examples of dudes that were good football players but can't throw a baseball and make it to the cut-off man from the outfield....
Not to mention baseball generally requires good size for all but a few positions, you aren't going to see a ton of 5'8 dudes in the majors. And for pitchers, forget about it...these dudes are as big as any NFL player height wise.
Secondly, I have no idea why the HELL you'd make the comparison of BOXING of all things to a sport where it didn't take a lot of natural talent. Boxing takes more natural talent than MMA, and by quite a margin. The speed of hand and reflexes these guys have are way beyond that of what MMA is currently at. Not to mention physcial toughness, conditioning(boxing matches are much longer) foot speed, etc.
The thing is though, Zab's deluded. He says anyone can be an MMA fighter because all it takes is brutality....well then yeah Zab couldn't be an MMA fighter then.
The only reason this video makes me a sad panda is because the kid is so young. If he was some old guy in his 80s I'd say he just doesn't know any better, but it's disappointing to see comments like this from a young kid.
I'd like to see him get into MMA with zero wrestling/BJJ experience and try to pop somebody's arm off (vs somebody who has trained wrestling/BJJ). He'd be the one tapping. Not sure how you can say submission wrestling/BJJ isn't a skill. Just the same way that boxing is a skill.
What I don't understand is why there is still a rift between boxing and MMA. They are two separate sports. If a young kid wants to get into boxing and not MMA -- good for him. There is the Olympic stage to compete at, and purses are 10x those in MMA at the top-level, and there is still a very good professional boxing stage to compete at. Also, when you are able to focus your efforts in 1 discipline there is the potential to be leagues ahead of those who are required to train in 4-5 disciplines. I have nothing against a young guy that wants to devote himself to one discipline, weather it's boxing, kick-boxing, wrestling, etc. As mentioned, boxing still has a very good professional outlet -- MMA's rise in popularity was greatly in part because people of the "other" disciplines (wrestling, BJJ, kickboxing, etc) didn't have much of a professional stage in North America.
I just don't understand this need to discredit each other's sport.
Like what you like -- why can't people just leave it at that?
Last edited by RedRocket44 : 11-21-2011 at 09:47 PM.
Boxer Zab Judah: "Anyone can be a MMA fighter, no skill needed"
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