Speed is everywhere.
From the lanes we drive in to the keyboards we bash our fingers into, speed exists in countless and abundant ways.
But in sport, speed is much more than a measuring tool.
For in sport, speed serves as an equalizer. Something that allows athletes to counteract power and technique with quickness.
This is never more relevant than in mixed martial arts.
But exactly how important is speed in today’s battle for in-cage supremacy?
Simply put, monumentally.
With an array of combatants hailing from various corners of the planet, MMA encompasses the most widespread pallet of talent around.
This never-ending revolving door not only keeps the sport fresh and unpredictable, but it makes it more difficult for individuals to sustain perennial glory.
Whether it be a tactical technique or a mastered discipline, fighters possess endless capabilities that often border perfection.
With that, lesser or equally equipped participants are forced to find other means to stand out from the pack.
Natural speed helps flip the script and even the odds.
Champions like Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and TJ Dillashaw have found great success by beating their opponents to the punch.
Now while Johnson possesses other menacing talents and Dillashaw is an outstanding wrestler, their immediate success can be attributed to their innate ability to break the sound barrier.
In the process, they’ve chipped away at some of the very best athletes in the game. From wrestlers to unorthodox strikers, heavy hitters to accurate assassins, their quickness has refuted most.
But Johnson and Dillashaw are just the tip of the iceberg.
Plucked from a long list of fighters, Jon Jones, Vitor Belfort, Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber and Lyoto Machida serve as other MMA superstars who have built careers around speed.
Now even though each and every one of them go about their jobs differently, they are all benefactors of speed.
Whether it be Jones’ oblique kick, Belfort’s combinations, Edgar’s footwork, Faber’s transitions or Machida’s counter-striking, they all partake in this grand scheme of rapid movement.
Obviously their abilities are not limited to or capped by speed, but it’s important to understand how many of these elite-level fighters knock off deserving adversaries.
It’s speed.
Behind every movement, every punch, every block, every takedown and every split-second decision there is speed.
It’s that relevant and that prominent.
Sure some fighters rely on it more than others and in some cases it’s all they have, but the very good fighters, the ones who compete for championships, have all found their own means of greatness by slinging leather or shuffling their feet at a mind-boggling tempo.
The real question at hand should be whether or not speed trumps power in a collision of natural tools?
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