When you think of striking in mixed martial arts, former K-1 champions Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt likely come to mind. Or vicious Muay Thai practitioners like UFC bantamweight champion Jose Aldo or welterweight Duane Ludwig.
These fighters have been crafting their art nearly their whole lives and have demonstrated time and again what an advantage striking can be in sport.
For the rest of the MMA world, learning how to properly time punches, kicks, elbows and knees is part of the evolution. Fighters coming from a wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or even Judo base must learn these techniques in a short amount of time to succeed in the sport.
Striking is all about split seconds and fractions of an inch, something that each of the following fighters has begun to understand and master.
Rob Tatum is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA. You can also find Rob’s work at TheMMACorner.com. For anything related to MMA, you can follow Rob on Twitter @RobTatumMMA.