MMA as a sport is still relatively young, like baby young if you really think about it. It is still a sport that can be infiltrated and conquered to some degree by a college wrestler who has spent the majority of his professional life as a pro wrestler. That is not to say that pro wrestlers are not legitimate athletes or that Brock Lesnar is not a solid Mixed Martial Artists. In fact my opinion on both matters is quite to the contrary. My point is this; Lesnar wasn’t able to break into the NFL, not even on the lowest levels of a practice squad. His wrestling translates better to MMA but as a sport, no one should be able to train the intricacies of what is suppose to be a somewhat complex system of fighting and become the champion of the biggest organization in just 4 years. I am not here to bash Brock though. Quite the opposite, Brock Lesnar is an amazing athlete that is bringing something new to MMA; he is changing the game. However as the sport develops and evolves thanks to additions such as Lesnar, a more refined fighter is going to emerge as the standard.
What will the future of Mixed Martial Arts look like. It will probably be as diverse as the present, but the overall dynamic will be different. Rory MacDonald seems to be one fighter coming to the fore that could give us some insight into the future. At only 20 years old, MacDonald is showing a well-rounded arsenal of skills and top-level athleticism to boot. He sports an 11-1 record and has already made his way onto UFC main cards. At his age, he has been brought up on MMA like few of his peers in the UFC. By the time he is 27 he could have 7 years of big fight experience behind him, training at the top camps at the top levels. Hell, he already trains with GSP from time to time. Now imagine how things are going to look in another 5 years, another 10 years. Imagine what it will look like when dads have been raising their sons or daughters since they could walk to be mixed martial artists. Of course there is a terrible way we could all imagine that going horribly wrong but that is not my intention to go in that direction. What is going to happen when MMA is no longer a sport for fighters of different backgrounds to integrate other style into theirs and see who becomes the victor, but a sport of fighters who have trained virtually everything from a young age, who’s natural inclinations toward one area or physical gifts in one art dictate specialties but all areas are areas of proficiency? Well-rounded super athletes like GSP might be prototypes that get blown out of the water. Blue Chips like MacDonald might be considered pioneers of a new epoch. Former outsiders like Lesnar may never get a chance to break in.
Yes, MMA is still young. We are still building our myths and our legends. We are still trying to figure out our judging system and our weight classes. MMA is still trying to decide what a “real” MMA fighter looks like. It is my belief that as the sport continues to grow and be legitimized in mainstream sports culture more well rounded, naturally gifted athletes will emerge that would have otherwise started dedicating themselves to football or basketball. As natural athletic gifts get molded into fight tools from an early age (ideally though highly structured practice in a number of different martial arts by trained professionals) the overall quality of the fighter pool will increase. As that overall quality increases so will the quality of the top mixed martial artists in the world. Today we see some of the greatest fighters to ever walk the earth but it is my belief that they are early stages in the evolution of professional fighters. In a sport that has enjoyed unparalleled growth over the last 5-7 years there is no doubt that the best our sport has to offer could just be right around the corner.
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