Chris Cyborg has power very few women have. Power is not something you pick up along the way. its something you have it or don't. Amanda Nunes and Valentina and Thug Rose and Joanna have a skill set most of us don't. if I work really hard maybe I can master it too. Maybe some of it just comes naturally? being elite level I mean. I want to try to reach that level.
That's a lie in striking I think. "You have KO power or you don't". Certainly there are people out there with pillow fists. However people can definitely learn how to knock people out over time. That's the point of training. Anyone can learn to hit harder given enough time and practice.
If me and Cyborg both punched and kicked the bag she would make a bigger dent but then she barely makes 145, that's above my weight class.
Power is a combination of physical conditioning and good form. Both are cultivated by intense, quality training. The whole darned purpose of martial arts training is to convey those attributes.
I don't deny it, but that's a very very very different statement from "Power is not something you pick up along the way. its something you have it or don't."
I think you misunderstand me. Technique is certainly important in striking but some have more power than others naturally. Mohamad Ali was as skilled as anyone who ever fought but he wasn't a devastating puncher like Geore Foreman or Mike Tyson were. Rumble Johnson is not more skilled than Alexander Gustafson but he hits harder.
BTW I recently chatted with someone who trained with Amanda at MMA Masters. He said she goes so hard none of the women there wanted to spar her because she put a beat down on them. Only the guys could handle her. She has gotten even better since then. A special talent.
I'm not saying I have even 1/100th of her fighting ability, but when a gym full of people training in the same combat sport as you won't train with you because of how hard you go in practice... I'm not sure that's entirely a good thing.
A lot of "orange juice" involved too I would also say, keep an eye on the Women's division at One FC. Seriously good roster there.
Read this but didn't have time to comment at the time. IMHO...with training you can increase the power with which someone punches. Clearly that's the purpose of training. But you can't make someone a Julian Jackson or an Earnie Shavers if they don't have it in them naturally to some degree. When I think of someone having "power" in combat sports I don't think of the normal (of course not normal by every day standards) fighters, that still knock people out, but the outliers like Shavers, Jackson and Foreman that stand out as being "powerful" even amongst other fighters that, in themselves, have power by any metric. Although Cyborg is a powerful puncher I don't think she's in the Jackson/Shavers category. In part because she's fighting other women that aren't nearly so resilient as the people they fought. And also...like it or not PED's are a looming elephant in the room in terms of how Cyborg got that power.
I'm actually going a step farther: If a professional can not does down to be able to train with others properly, I find it to be very bad style. Just using the ability to punch everyone around doesn't make you better during normal training.
It also means you're not putting yourself in bad positions regularly. Which is incredibly necessary for grappling at least.
