Poor, poor striking.
In the 265 lb division, the champ Miocic possesses fairly high level boxing (really impresses me, this guy can give Wilder a run for his money. Not win, but he can surprise a lot of people) and a few low kicks just to be diverse. The shocking part, is that he was a wrestler. Overeem has finally figured out his diversity and can knock out anyone. JDS has strong offensive boxing, but never, ever, compare him to the likes of Tyson Fury. Apart from them and a few others, that's it for good striking. Find me anyone from below the top 15 that can even compete in amateur boxing. There's none.
The LHW's are worse. Johnson has power to sleep anyone in any weight class, but the fact that he went 3 rounds with Andrei Arlovski should tell you a lot about his striking skill. And he''s the best striker there. Gus is fine. Jones is terrific but he's not a division, just one man. Volkan, who claims to be a striker, was terrible against OSP and I'm not talking about the fight. The man is just not good.
yes Volkan, swing wildly. think about defense only when you get clipped.
Middleweight....Let's see......Yoel Romero, a 39 year old wrestler, just out-wrestled and out struck the man people saw as the next level of fighting, Chris Weidman, with a well timed knee to a poorly timed takedown. Weidman is a wrestler as well, so he has an excuse. Rockhold was never a striker (BJJ fighter), just a counter right attached to a few brutal kicks and Bispign exposed him perfectly. What can we tell from this? None of the middleweights are actually strikers, and like Rousey and MVP has proved time and again, you can look like Tyson if your opponent is the type to fling out a jab or a low kick just because.
Welterweight is fine, we've got three cool dudes at the top and two of them has KO power and the other is one of the best karate fighters there is. Now we can wait for new blood below 30 years old who can challenge them.
That's it for the weight classes that can beat up most anyone outside the UFC regardless of their size and athletic ability. Wow, interestingly, the heavyweight division is the best right now (if you don't include the lower weight classes) in terms of competitiveness and prospects. When Ruslan and Ledet comes back and Makhov debuts, things will really start to get interesting. In case anyone don't know who Makhov is, he's a 6'5, 280 lb wrestler who's won medals in both freestyle and Greco-Roman. There's a video of him training boxing and striking online, and he looks pretty good. Obviously a fast learner, soon this guy will need a better boxing coach.
PS: I am not saying that boxing is better. I am saying that I am confident that MMA will continue to evolve. Pretty soon people will figure out how people like Cody and Stipe won the title. If you can't here's why: They both possess powerful striking and powerful ground game. Both are boxer wrestlers who can either take you down or stuff your takedowns and light you up or knock you out. You can't merely be able to dictate where the fight is, you must be able to dominate wherever it goes.
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