For The Brawler, The Gloves Are Off In MMA

Today's athletes are becoming increasingly skilled. They use scientific conditioning and training techniques. They come from elite high school and collegiate backgrounds.

Despite all of that, it seems something has been lost as a result of this evolution.

Today's fighter wants to strike fast; a quick KO or a grappling competition. They do not want to get hit. They take pride in the fact that they can go three fights in a row and not take a single shot. Fighters like Anderson Silva and Machida instantly come to mind.

The brawler in MMA is the animal that could not adapt and has probably seen its last days. Brock Lesnar is huge and scary but make no mistake, he is not a brawler. Heath Herring is a brawler ... soon to become a full-time announcer as a result.

No longer will fans witness fights with characters like Cabbage or Tank Abbot. No more Don Fryes, Wanderlei Silvas, or Fujitas. James Thompson, Mark Hunt, even Chris Leban—all gone.

No more vicious stand-up wars or massive mutual beatings. No, the sport is too upscale for that now.

Today, even when fighters do choose to stand toe to toe, it usually results in one or two strikes and a TKO or KO. They dance around each other waiting to counter. Eventually someone gets bored and swings thus ending the fight one way or the other.

Forrest Griffin, Rampage, and Chuck Liddell—all Gone. No more massive body slams or face kicking in the corner. Heck someone might get hurt.

No, instead we have a sport that is adapting to the scoring system rather than the spirit of the sport. It doesn't pay to get hit. It doesn't pay to exchange even if it provides an advantage.

The current UFC Champions all have one thing in common ... they are surgical destroyers of their opponents and generally do so with alacrity and not much fuss.

Takayama, Kimbo, and Baroni ... gone. Love them or hate them they had some pretty exciting fights. Event the brawlers the UFC had been developing are gone.

Where is Pete Cele and Chris Smith? I thought they had some pretty good fights. You have to love watching a Houston Alexander fight, who knows what will happen. The man could KO Godzilla, but get dropped by Cyborg. That's called FUN people.

Dana White was recently so disgusted with this growing trend that he set up his MW Champion Anderson Silva to fight former LHW Champion Forrest Griffin.

Don't let the division they fight in fool you, Anderson is usually around 220 pounds while Forrest could easily compete as a HW with his natural 240 frame. The result was pretty much as expected with Anderson Silva taking almost no damage while dismantling yet another brawler in Forrest.

Something about White might lead one to think he knew all along this would happen, but needed to build up hype for the PPV event. Would White ever actually deceive the public in order to make money?

Only Shogun seems to stand tall as one of the few remaining guys with that "bring it to win it" attitude. There is also hope in some newcomers such as Bader and Hamil. Henderson is still alive and kicking as are fighters such as Shane Carwin and Brock Lesnar.

So perhaps the day of the pure Brawler has indeed come to an end along with the exciting fights associated with that style. On the other hand, as exemplified by the athletes mentioned in the last paragraph, perhaps a new form of brawler is developing.

Fighters with elite athletic backgrounds that are using the brawler within them and their skills as mere backup.

Perhaps as one day sets, a new day dawns.