Mixed martial arts has a long understood tradition of high percentage bases for fighting. Wresting first of all, then Muay Thai, then BJJ, and after that Judo, Karate, and a few others.
However, UFC heavyweight Walt Harris, a former Division I player out of Jacksonville State University, believes that basketball too can serve as excellent preparation for the cage.
Jordan Newmark has the story.
The 30-year-old has learned a lot about knockouts first hand with his two hands. At 6-2, all of Harris’ wins are by KO with all of them under 2 minutes into each bout. If that wasn’t impressive enough, The Big Ticket has a reported amateur record of 23-1, with all wins by KO. Since switching his athletic life’s focus to boxing and MMA, most of Harris’ opponents have been dealt with via hard knuckle sandwiches at the end of the 6’5 fighter’s lengthy reach, but The Big Ticket admits he didn’t expect to be the flooring machine he’s become.
Of course, whenever someone starts boxing that’s their dream, but I never thought it would be my main thing, reveals Harris. I just wanted to get well-versed in the sport and work on my stand-up. My coach Jon Dye and I focus on being technical and being sharp. I am technical, my training is technical and we focus on the small things. That’s what I’ve been trying to do in my career. That’s why I get those knockouts. A lot of guys throw those big looping punches, but I throw straight down the middle and I’m going to get them first. At the heavyweight level, it doesn’t take much.
Like Travis Browne, Harris believes his background in basketball brings a lot to the cage.
Hand-eye coordination and footwork, says Harris. Basketball is a lot about angles and positioning your body and having your feet in the right position. A lot of the footwork drills and conditioning we do in MMA we did in basketball: explosive drills, box jump. It’s the same type of athleticism to fight. Basketball players are lean, long, and explosive. I think it translates perfectly. Basketball is a lot of up and down, stop and start, quick explosive movements from side to side. A lot of the boxers I knew who came from basketball did very well. I think more basketball players should cross over. I think in the next 10 years you’ll see more basketball players migrate over to MMA.
On Saturday at UFC on FOX in Chicago, Harris fights Ukranian Nikita Al Capone Krylov. Krylov, who turned pro only in July of 2012, has a background in Kyokushin karate.
