Elbows in the UFC

[MJS]

Heh, one well placed elbow certainly can be a fight-ender. This from personal experience. I had a sparring opponent walk into my elbow as I was attempting to throw a spinning backfist. Nighty-night. Down and out.

Agreed, and I hope I didn't make it sound like I was disputing that.

I personally think a lot of UFC favorite techniques are chicken-*****. For example- repeated leg kicks and double leg take-down attempts, all with the goal of trying for a guillotine for an entire round. That's not "the most complete fighter" that's "learn a cheap trick or two from everyone's book." I'd rather see a fighter with depth in one art, and enough breadth to avoid the other cheap tricks.

I'll use the Marco Ruas vs. Paul Varelans fight, I think in UFC 7. Ruas literially chopped Paul down with repeated leg kicks. IMO, I dont think thats a cheap trick...I think its a smart use of your tools. Here's my thinking:

According to Sherdog:

Ruas: 6'1, 210lbs. Paul is 6'8, 300lbs. IMO, I think instead of trading punches, Ruas wore him down and finished him off. It was obviously an effective tactic, as Paul didn't seem to know how to defend them.

On the flip side, since you mentioned having depth in one art...lets look at Gracie and Hughes. Gracie, despite attempting to learn some boxing, was basically destroyed by Hughes. The one dimensional fighter in this case, while he does have good grappling, was taken down, and beaten.