Agreed.
There are few of the MMA guys who are learning to strike better. Guys like Silva, Machida, Penn, and GSP are all champions because they all have not only good strikes, but great precision and timing. The remainder of MMA though, is far below average quality. To be fair you have to remember that most MMA guys are wrestlers and BJJ'ers who learn striking, as opposed to strikers who learn grappling. The sport is consistently growing in overall skill level though. It wasn't long ago when no one knew how to beat a grappler and keep it standing. Now you see a lot more standup because the strikers are learning to counter the grapplers. Give it time. They'll get better as a whole.
One of the things that makes MMA a good testing platform, is that universal truths make themselves evident and you will see a h0m0genization of techniques because what works works.
Though MMA is not the end all be all of skill testing (because it is limited by rules); it's probably the closest thing we have to real life one-on-one combat in terms of pressure testing.
Last edited by SAAMAG; 02-16-2010 at 11:46 PM.
"I don't know if anyone is known with the art of "sitting on your couch" here, but in my eyes it is also to be a martial art.
It is the art of avoiding dangerous situations. It helps you to avoid a dangerous situation by not actually being there. So lets say there is a dangerous situation going on somewhere other than your couch. You are safely seated on your couch so you have in a nutshell "difused" the situation."