The one thing that I think we’ll see from the arrival of positional-style fighting is a development of other styles to counter that style. BJJ experts are going to have to up their game and figure out how to incorporate some more wrestling into submission attacks. Strikers are going to have to figure out not just how to defend a takedown but how to turn their defense into an attack. The same goes for escapes/sweeps/reversals.

That’s just part of the evolution of the sport. The Gracies showed how jujitsu could take out damaging strikers, and fighters everywhere added BJJ to their game. Muay Thai seemed to be the next thing because it was the best striking attack in the clinch — and there are those crossover fighters from K-1. So if you didn’t have as good a jujitsu game, if you got into a clinch, you could at least do some damage.

Positional wrestling seems to me to have evolved in mma in response to those two elements: Position could keep you in an attack position while avoiding submissions, gave you an attack posture from a clinch, and could close down a striking game. It’s no coincidence that greco has converted better to mma than freestyle — greco is much more about positioning do to the upper-body limitations. But after watching Askren take out Hornbuckle, I think there may be a place for freestylers and a position game that incorporates constant motion. However, it isn’t everything; Feijao showed what timing and distance can do against a solid wrestler.

I’m still waiting to see some real boxing get incorporated. After watching this past weekend’s Strikeforce and Sengoku fights, I was nostalgic for the days when ABC showed boxing on Saturday afternoons:

Tim Kennedy’s head seemed bolted in place to his shoulders, and his chin was at a 90-degree angle with the mat — he should have painted a bulls-eye on it.

Gurgel didn’t have much in the way of defense against a pro boxer.

Nick Thompson showed what happens when you don’t keep your elbows in and your chin down when Okuno dropped him flat.

King Mo talks a good boxing game, and maybe you can hang your arms in boxing like Carl Froch against Mikkel Kessler or Joe Calzaghe against anyone, _if you’re a good boxer_, but boxers don’t have to worry about a kick slamming into the side of your head or uppercuts being countered by knees.

Even the fantastic Santiago-Misaki fight showed some boxing lapses; Santiago’s head was straight upright after throwing that spinning backfist, and Misaki tagged with a hook that dropped him.

Maybe the Couture-Toney fight will be the needed shove for mma fighters to improve their boxing — I just hope it’s not because Couture doesn’t defend or counter Toney’s boxing incorrectly.

Then again, we’ve got great wrestlers like Bones Jones who’s finishing fights with strikes. (And let’s just note that Jones is trained by Greg Jackson, who gets a lot of the blame from the positional haters.)