WHY THE UFC CONTINUES TO SET THE STANDARD IN MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

Over the years, the UFC has built a reputation for being the most dominant mixed martial arts promotion in the world, and at the moment, there’s no sign of that construction slowing down.

By attracting the biggest and best names in MMA from across the world, we’ve seen differing fighting styles succeed across a variety of weight divisions — and that’s what we’ll be taking a look at.

To the casual eye, striking is the most attractive form of attack in MMA, but to the purist’s eye, wrestling, grappling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu are some of the most aesthetically pleasing combat sports included in MMA.

The growth of BJJ, grappling and wrestling around the world has seen fighters become much more well-rounded.

Of the eleven world champions in the UFC right now, ten of them have both knockout and submission victories on their record.

Only light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has no submissions on his résumé — but when you possess power like his on the feet, why waste time trying to submit people?

Along with Pereira, you have fighters like Merab Dvalishvili who, despite not having loads of submissions on his record, has built a reputation for being a cardio king — mauling his opponents and taking them into deep waters they can’t swim in, but waters that barely go past his ankles.

With the best of the best now possessing a variety of skills to a high standard, this obviously makes for more interesting fights.

Take Khamzat Chimaev, for example. A classic Dagestani wrestler who could quite literally pick up fully loaded lorries and launch them across the room, he’s shown that he’s more than happy to stay on his feet and stand and bang — hence why he has the same number of knockouts as he does submissions.

Likewise, on the other hand, Ilia Topuria.

Widely regarded as the best boxer in the UFC, with six knockout victories from his last eight fights, he’s amazingly got more submission wins on his record than he does knockouts.

With fighters like this comes the element of the unknown.

It’s no longer just a case of wrestlers and BJJ specialists trying to take strikers down, and strikers trying to outstrike wrestlers and BJJ specialists — because with most fighters now, they can hold their own both on their feet and on their back.

Obviously, it’s no secret that fighters like Chimaev will, if under pressure, revert to type and try to take it to the ground if they’re not getting the better of the exchanges on the feet — but if it does go to the ground, you still know the fight will be entertaining.

It makes for a brilliant spectacle — and one that can educate fans of particular sports when they first start watching MMA.