what type of background do you think gives a person, who is new to mma, a big advantage? if someone has a good foundation in say, bjj, boxing, etc, and then decided to start training to be a mma fighter, what is the best foundation to have? it seems to me that being a really good wrestler before mma training, is a very good thing to of been. actually i think its probably the best background to have. i don't think boxing gives any particular advantage in striking ability, but i think that perhaps for the body movement it is. yes its good to of had a good amateur boxing history first, but i believe a person can learn how to be an effective puncher thru' actual mma training. slightly different subject: on the tv we are told that 'this' fighter has a bjj style, or 'that' fighter has a wrestling background, i've yet to hear about a fighter having a tae kwon do style? or do those people generally go into kickboxing? also what about a background in judo? i would of thought it would be an advantage if you had practiced judo for a number of years before going into mma? so again, are there certain styles of martial arts that do not give any particular advantage to a person who goes into mma? i suppose aikido would be one?
I have seen multiple fights where Taekwondo is omitted from the fighters style list. One of which ended with a back kick (dui-chagi) body KO. I forget the dudes name but he trained with GSP (and did Taekwondo before that) who is also a Taekwondo Black belt. But for the most part I understand these omissions because it is usually not the persons main style, and because they didn't go very far in it anyway. However I do see primary taekwondo techniques used by a handful of skilled kickers. I see lyoto machida using back-kicks (dui-chagi) repeatedly in many of his matches very sucesfully. I saw cung lee succesfully backhook-kick (hulio-chagi) one time I believe. I think Fedor used to axe-kick people (chiki-chagi) back in the day. Obviously roundhouse kick to the body and head are used succesfully by many fighters. Obviously there are nowdays multiple martial practices which perform those techniques, however the people who are most sucesfull at them (cung lee, GSP, cro-cop) do the technique more similar to a taekwondo fighter than anyone else. They may have learned the technique from a different style, but many of those techniques were developed first by Taekwondo people. And I have no doubt that Taekwondo fighters perform those techniques vastly superior to any fighter in mma, or any other style for that matter. There I am discussing techniques which are specifically Taekwondo. They were shaped through vigorous competition and training and are performed at the highest level by taekwondo fighters. Taekwondo came from karate for the most part and did not have to reinvent the straight-punch. Why aren't there Taekwondo fighters in mma? There have been a few mid-level fighers who have been relatively sucesfull (Serkan yilmaz, park yong soo) but never made it very far. Park yong soo dd well in the beginning and then got lazy with his training. Serkan yilmaz gave one of the most sucesfull kickboxing and k1 champions, Masato Kobayashi, a run for his money and almost beat him. No top Taekwondo fighters have ever entered mma. I think they could do just fine as long as they developed some Takedown defense just like everybody else out there. Not many of them seem to have mich interest to do so. A lot of them are not big fans of grappling. I think the only problem they would run into would be the taekwondo stance leaving them slightly more open to takedowns due to the lead leg being very forward. As time goes on and mma continues to change I wouldnt be surprised to see the continued increase of taekwondo techniques being used by kickers. But I doubt any elite Taekwondo people are going to enter into UFC anytime soon. The highest level person trying right now is probably james moontasri who is US natioal team on and off. He trains BJJ with machado and has entered a few cage fights. I dont really know any other details. You can search youtube and try to find TKD vs. Muay thai, or TKD vs. mma, etc... but you tend to find either one completely shitty Taekwondo fighter vs. a muay thai guy who destroys him, or a completely shitty muay thai fighter against some taekwondo guy who destroys him. The ones where you get closer to higher level on both sides the fights are much less one-sided (yilmaz vs Masato, Yong soo vs. Rikijyo) I think that the most styles do not give an inherent advantage. Some are more popular than others, but when someone is well rounded enough to compete in mma it comes down to their athleticism. There are a few exceptions which would give a disadvantage (see, ninjitsu)
MMA rules give the wrestler the advantage. As long as they can score a takedown and nothing else they will win a fight.
jiu jitsu or wrestling first and foremost,look how fedor and nog were able to bypass the striking of crocop! i think fedor chose to trade with him just because he wanted to though lol striking will only get u so far as cheick kongo recently found out.
Everything ive seen points to wrestling for me. I started MMA training with a background in boxing and while ive developed some decent BJJ skills im a Bluebelt now I still lack in wrestling and Muay Thai. Its going to take me a couple of years before im fighting at my current gym. The guys who get in the cage the quickest are guys who had good wrestling backgrounds. There is no bias there its just they learn the other aspects the quickest most of the time.
All fights start on the feet, so a good boxing or Muay tai foundation would be beneficial. BJJ would definetly help if your boxing can't keep your opponents at bay and you get taken down.
Out of the proven arts its all about execution and how you tweak your style. A wrestler facing a strike will hold his hands up, move his head etc to get on the inside. These are not wrestling skills. A boxer will try to get a double underhook, sprawl etc. These are not boxing skills. I don't think any martial art vs another martial can be very successful without some tweaks and intelligence in execution i.e. striker trys to keep his range and pot shot with powerful shots rather than letting his hands go and being open to the take down. It really does depend. The proven martial arts so far are boxing, muay thai, judo, wrestling and bjj. I think karata, tkd etc are all very effective also. The kicks are quality and take away things like kata's and you got a serious style. Edit: In the beginning it was BJJ becauase no body had a scooby about subs. Now that people are more clued up they can just use good BJJ to avoid subs like Evans.
Well, three of the top four heavyweights (Carwin, Lesnar, Velasquez) were college wrestling champions and Mir also has some college wrestling background, so that seems to be a great place to start. At the same time, GSP has beaten the crap out of college wrestlers like Kos and Fitch by learning wrestling just for mma and BJ Penn beats the crap out of wrestlers with no strict wrestling background either. In fact, the only division where a fighter with a real wrestling background is champ is heavyweight. Also, Jake Rosholt was a very decorated collegiate wrestler and he washed out of the UFC pretty fast. So yeah, it's not as easy as all that.
I think it was interesting what one of the commentators said about wrestlers having an advantage from their tremendous work ethic they tend to have from the intensity of wrestling. I know a lot of people who get into martial arts/mma because they are looking for a quick, easy way to be good at fighting. Wrestling simply is not for people who lack patience and dedication. It seems to me that the majority of entrants into UFC are from western culture (the americas mostly). I wonder how the differences in ratios of styles styles contrast with more eastern based associations (dream? former pride?) Aslo, where is the middle east in MMA? my understanding is that they tend to be very good in martial arts. The Iranian Taekwondo team is second in the world right now.
A good wrestler decides where the fight takes place, standing up or on the ground, for this reason I give the advantage to wrestlers. Judo is good to know in the clinch, BJJ guys practice take downs but majority of the time is spent on the mat so the jiu jitsu guys can tend to have weak take downs.