Mixed martial arts was born from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At one point the state of the art was standing with your lead arm out in front, weight back, using an awkward stomp with the lead leg.
Then proper striking was added to the canon. Then wrestling. At present, wrestling is the dominant influence in the sport. The wrestling is subtle though, allowing the fighter to dictate where the fight takes place. And often where the fighter wants to be is standing, and striking.
Thus, the most obvious style of play in MMA is Dutch Kickboxing. Kyokushin competitors in Holland and Japan combined western boxing with knockdown karate, and then both fought with and borrowed from Thai boxers. Muay Thai is characterized by ferociously powerful kicks, knees, clinch work, elbows, and relatively little circling. By contrast Dutch Kickboxing shows far more boxing, far less clinching and elbows, more striking combinations often ending in a kick, and more footwork.
Now a radically different style of play has entered the sport – Neo Footwork. At its most basic level, Neo Footwork means being able to strike effectively from anywhere, rather than trying to line everything up from the modified orthodox boxing stance that predominates in MMA. There are however a large and growing number of techniques and strategies to keep at an unorthodox distance, and reach unorthodox angles.
The three leading representatives of the approach are Dominick Cruz, TJ Dillashaw, and Conor McGregor.
Cruz invented it, after watching tapes of Muhammad Ali fighting. Then Dillashaw adopted it, so he could be a good sparring parting for Urijah Faber, when Faber was preparing for a fight with Cruz. And McGregor has had the greatest success with. Last fight he took out the greatest example of Dutch Kickboxing in MMA in 13 seconds.
Cruz lost his title to a series of injuries, and Dillashaw is the current champ at 135. The pair will fight next month. Cruz recently said that Dillashaw was a copycat.
“He was emulating me for all his teammates,” said Cruz. “Then decided, ‘Wow, I’m beating up all my teammates here at Team Male with Dominick’s style, so maybe I should use this to go win a title while he’s hurt.’”
Dillashaw was not impressed.
“It’s funny,” began Dillashaw, in an interview with Sherdog, transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMAMania. “He’s going back and forth trying to find something to talk about and he’s kind of being a hypocrite. Before he was saying I was copying him, now he’s saying he’s different. I don’t even know if he can decide on what he really wants to say.
“The difference is that I am a lot more aggressive fighter. I think he’s trying out for ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ He’s moving around, with pop shots and not wanting to get hit. Which is a good strategy, obviously, but he’s not fighting, he’s not entertaining. I’m not only here to win, but entertain and to knock him out.”
UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw fights Dominick Cruz in the main event of UFC Fight Night 81 on Jan. 17, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.
