Hybrid MMA vs. Traditional Styles: Which Is The Better Pick?

When beginning training in Mixed Martial Arts, one must make a crucial decision. Is it more beneficial to get a well-rounded MMA experience or instead, focus in on one discipline and learn to master it? This is the essential question behind the idea of MMA and why the UFC was founded in the first place: to determine which fighting style was superior. In looking for that answer, the creators of UFC got more than they bargained for. While intially, it appeared that certain styles were dominant, over time, a hybridization took place. Do fighters benefit from mastering different techniques from various schools of thought or are they just better off knowing one very, very well?

Matt Hughes (pictured) would agree with the first choice: that a hybridization was necessary and benficial to his career. He displayed this most prominently at UFC 60 when he defeated Royce Gracie using a combination of Gracie's very own Jiu-Jitsu coupled with his extensive wrestling background. Gracie, limited in the scope of what he could handle, caved under the different looks Hughes was throwing at him and got grounded and pounded to a loss. Such is the benefit of learning multiple styles of martial arts. They can be switched on and off like a light switch, combined and separated to create the ultimate in distraction and strategy. If a fight can master a striking and a grappling technique (compared to someone in a single discipline, who is only good standing up or only good on the ground), he will have created a strategy capable of taking out any styled opponent. Nick Diaz is a great example of this as he is well-versed in both boxing and jiu-jitsu. In his fight against Robbie Lawler, Diaz elected to stand, picking his spots and eventually knocking out the Ruthless one. More recently, against Takanori Gomi, Diaz took the fight to the floor, executing one of the most difficult submissions in all of MMA, the gogoplata. Chances are, if Diaz was a master of just one of those disciplines, he would not have been able to take both fights. By learning a hybrid style, the embodiment of what Mixed Martial Arts means, a fighter can be dynamic, dangerous, and successful against opponents of any kind.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for perfecting one discipline. Royce Gracie, although defeated by Hughes, ran through every other singular discipline with his take on classic BJJ. Karo Parisyan (pictured) has brought a classic Judo background with him, and has made it work with flying colors, owning wins over Diaz and current Welterweight champ Matt Serra. Many wrestlers, such as Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell, have been very successful while remaining true to their disciplines. While they may throw elements of other styles in from time to time, they will rely on and look to their wrestling backgrounds when it is time to win a fight. If a fighter can use his background in one style as a defensive mechanism in order to open up offense (see: Karo Parisyan), then he may be as successful as a fighter who is constantly switching up techniques in the middle of the fight. Switching to southpaw will often get a fighter knocked out, but switching entire disciplines can get your career ended.

This decision is an important one that every fighter must make at some point in their training. Whether one decides to take a more rounded approach to martial arts or hone in on one style, two facts remain. Fighters have won with each and fighters have lost with each. It is up to the individual practitioner of the sport to decide how hard he will train, how much he will invest, and how much he will get out of it.

Blood Feuds Make For Classic Showdowns

While UFC 51: Bitter Rivals was cast as a classic match up of enemies, it turned out to be a lackluster night of fights between Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Andrei Arlovski, and Tim Sylvia. Had VP of Talent and Matchmaker Joe Silva been afforded the luxury of "fighting families" in the UFC at that time, surely he would have booked them against one another in a true display of bitter rivals. Now, with Nate and Nick Diaz together in MMA (although Nick is currently in EliteXC, not UFC) along with Manny Gamburyan and Karo Parisyan (they're cousins), both in the UFC, he's got just that. And if it wasn't enough that there are two families with fighters whose weights match up perfectly, they hate each other.

The bad blood started back at UFC 49 when Karo Parisyan beat Nick Diaz by split decision (pictured, credit: fightnews.com). Most said that this was one of the top ten UFC bouts of all time, and even more suggested that the decision could have gone either way. Ask Parisyan about the fight, and he'll say decisively "I won it." Despite this level of hubris from a man who only won a split decision, Nick and Karo maintain that they are on good terms.

This story, however, took another turn during the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter. Karo came into the locker room to see his cousin Manny Gamburyan, but when he saw Nate Diaz (the brother of Nick), he playfully grabbed Diaz's shoulder and started to mess around with him. Many people, including myself and other fighters, felt that Karo was talking down to Nate and bullying him. Of course, Nate jumped up and got in Karo's face, but the altercation was ended before it could escalate.

Yet another twist was added when the two relatives of Karo Parisyan and Nick Diaz ended up facing each other in the finals of the series. Nate Diaz won the bout in unspectacular fashion after Gamburyan dislocated his shoulder and had to stop the fight due to injury. Another fight between the families and another controversial finish. Protecting the honor of family, split decisions, and injuries add up to make this one of the most intriguing and genuine rivalries in all of MMA.

The next time Joe Silva is looking for a card on which to place guys who just don't like each other, he should move past Tito and Ken or Hughes and Serra. His best bet would be to schedule two families in two rematches and as a result, give the fans two wars. The MMA community has seen families before (Rua, Nogueira, Shamrock), but never before has such a feud been started between them. It'll be up to Nick, Nate, Manny, and Karo to end it.