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Go and have a look at all the clubs around where you live. Train once or watch a session. Then pick the one that has the best instructor, the more friendly students, and the one you had the most fun with. Style is second to whoever is teaching you, to whomever you train with, and to however much fun it is. All in equal measures.
answered Feb 13 '12 at 17:24
Sardathrion - against SE abuse
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Kung-Fu fighters pop up from time to time in MMA style fights. Early on in the UFC, there were a small number of kung-fu fighters. But by the end of its first year, you didn't see any. Why?
Well there's a reason for that. The first UFC's were open to all. They were very much about putting style vs. style. So they had karate, Taekwondo, kung-fu, wing-chun, ...
21
A wrestler will say wrestling, a bjj player will say bjj, a muay thai fighter will say muay thai.
But to be fair, they are all right.
There isn't really one specific art that is better then the other for a base. I know, some people will argue with me for this, but if you look at the current state of mma, there are champions with a wide assortment of ...
20
Mind Maps
The BJJ community is big on mind maps, which are close but not an exact match in your search for ontologies. For instance, Aesopian has this one:
This is not surprising, since the entire concept that set BJJ apart from judo was the idea of an inexorable flowchart:
Takedown
Pass guard
Mount (using a broad definition of the term--not necessarily ...
19
Wing Chun is uncommon in MMA for three major reasons. First, its practitioners generally shun sparring. Second, its practitioners generally shun realistic wrestling, throwing, and groundwork practice. Third, the skill Wing Chun focuses the most time on--hand trapping--is a small part of fighting in general, and is easily overshadowed by boxing or clinch work ...
18
I concur with the previous answers - punching an immoveable surface is bad unless your knuckles and wrists are already conditioned. For example I frequently do single-knuckle strikes on doorway framings - while I do it considerably harder than the normal person I still don't do it with anything near the power I would use on a soft target.
I would strongly ...
17
Young male, not looking for anything specific, but I am a huge fan of
MMA in general.
You just answered your own question: try something that has already caught your interest. It's not at all hard to find a school in your area. Look some up and check them out.
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KUNG FU, MMA, and UFC
Roy Nelson, a top tier UFC fighter, commented on his kung fu background:
The Lohan school of Shaolin, I actually got started in my Sifu’s garage. I think I was 15 1/2, 16. Kung-fu is the root for I would say 95% of all martial arts. I practice it every day.
(With Sticky Hands) basically you’re just working with their body ...
14
As others have said, a knockout is typically not the result of a blow to the nose, but to the chin.
The brain is basically a loose spongy thing trapped inside your skull. When you receive a hard blow to the head, the brain will hit the inside of your skull – much like when you shake a nut, and you can hear it rattles against the shell. This will ...
14
I'm not convinced it was martial arts that caused your bad posture. There are other potential causes. Beware the post hoc, ergo propter hoc fallacy.
But sure, martial arts can cause bad posture. Kelly Starrett and Joe Rogan discuss this at leeeeength on this podcast, especially circa 46:30. If you hunch to protect yourself from strikes and you spend a lot ...
12
Sanshou (similar to sanda) is a major competitive outlet for kung fu styles, allowing kicks, punches, kick catches, and throws. Several fighters with sanshou experience have fought in the UFC, most notably Cung Le. Zhang Tiequan appears to also have some sanshou experience, but today seems to fight primarily as a grappler.
There are a small number of kung ...
11
"Wide or deep"? is a classical question in a lot of different domains, and I think the answer depends largely on what your goals are and how you define "expert." You will generally have some set of base techniques–usually but not always from a single style–that you will learn to instinctively fall back on under times of stress, but this doesn't preclude ...
11
I do BJJ/grappling and stand up jujitsu, and I've discovered the following works best for long hair:
Pull your hair into a tight, low ponytail on the side of your head, not straight back, else when you grapple it will get trapped under your head on the ground.
Quickly braid the hair and secure with a second band!
It's nowhere near the work of the full ...
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This is really simple. Not every impact to the head (whether jaw or nose) knocks someone unconscious. Plenty of soccer players get hit hard by the ball in the face and don't get knocked out.
You're more likely to be knocked out if you're weak, if you don't see the impact coming, or if you have a history of being knocked out (that is, people can develop ...
10
One of the eternal truths about martial arts is that you're going to get hit. And another eternal truth is that sometimes you're going to get hit hard. So it's a good thing to learn to take hits. Being struck in the belly is a good way to learn to tighten the abs and discover that they are an effective shield when they are properly developed and trained.
A ...
10
The question asks which is more effective: Doing MMA or doing multiple different martial arts.
There are a couple of different interpretations about what is meant by "effective" in this context, however. First, it can refer to how well all the different styles of martial arts are integrated into a cohesive system whereby all the techniques work together and ...
10
I'm a Taekwondo instructor. I would happily make an exception for a special case like this, put your phone on the loudest volume, somewhere at the side of the class where it's easily hearable. Even tell everyone that it's a special case for this phone to be on, if they hear it please make Danielle aware of it.
I would genuinely say just speak to your ...
10
A common precaution is to wear wrestling headgear, which is designed to protect the ears, while practicing. Cauliflower ear is caused by impacts or rubbing on the ear. Headgear will reduce both of these.
9
My master told its not good for bones.
and he is right. Practicing "non-sport" karate (bushido dzen) I am following a simple rule: hit soft with hard (like a punch to stomach or strike to throat) and hard with soft (palm-strike to the head can cause lots of damage if done right). Of course, if/when you wear gloves, everything will be different.
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There are no good solutions. Long hair gets in the way of training unless knotted or braided, and even then it is liable to wiggle free and get in the way during hard training.
All external tools--nets, headbands, bandanas, caps--are liable to come off. Well-executed braids and buns are slightly more reliable, but frequently come out anyway.
You must ...
9
Television and movies give people impressions of things that are never corrected.
What is the first thing an American thinks of when they hear "wrestling"? World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), which is definitely more entertainment, showmanship, and athleticism than wrestling or martial art. Wrestlers are enormous muscled men who jump off the ringside and ...
8
Personally, I've had classes in both traditional and more modern forms, and I have to recommend Muay Thai. At least in my experience it fits your requirements:
Base - Muay Thai is more or less where most modern MMA fighters start. And in that sense it's a bit more practical than (for instance) kung fu.
Ease to get into - Again this fits the bill. Get ...
8
There are 2 places where you can check a kick : the knee and the shin. If you check with your own shin bone, you are creating a shin to shin contact and, intuitively, one can expect the damage to be similar for both opponents. However, while the location of the hit will be similar, the results, at least if you want to talk about physics, will be very ...
8
Defending punches by putting a glove against your face is not a successful strategy without big gloves. With MMA's small gloves or without gloves at all, it is a Bad Idea. To be truthful, it's not an optimal strategy in boxing or kickboxing, either: you still take a substantial impact.
Instead, work your rolling, bobbing and weaving, slipping, and parrying, ...
8
There are all kinds of places on the body where fighters can get hit (the nose, the jaw, the solar plexus, the thigh, the liver, the kidneys, etc.), and each one of those triggers not just pain but subconscious, automatic physical reactions and altered psychological states. The pain is really the least of anyone's problems in this situation. It's the other ...
8
Your shin can break if you kick someone very hard and they block just right and all conditions align against you. You can break your hand punching someone, even aiming to soft targets like the ribs. You can blow out your knee throwing someone with ouchigari. You can get concussed into unconsciousness taking someone down with a double-leg if they time their ...
8
One thing to realize is that you have two factors that affect blocking a strike: 1) reaction time, and 2) tracking.
Reaction time is the time taken by your brain to notice the strike coming towards you, to calculate an appropriate response, and to begin to move to counter it. (Notice I said "begin" to move, not the complete movement.)
If a strike has a ...
8
The record is Mirko Filipović's cumulative record as of each fight. It is not a recording of what happened in that particular fight.
The breakdown is:
Wins - Losses - Draws (No contests)
Taking your example 2 as a concrete example:
34–11–2 (1)
34 wins
11 losses
2 draws
1 no contest (fight stop by officials without a winner)
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It is also a simple fact of aging. You could look at any sport, and see the same thing. Champions in any sport at extended ages are outliers. Some examples of these outliers would be:
Al Oerter - Olympic Champion in track and field, winning medals in events into his mid 40's
Gordie Howe - NHL player, played in 5 decades, last game at 52 (All Star electee ...
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