Just as there's striking specific to MMA, is it common for there to be gyms or any organisations that have a belt system etc whose focus is on MMA? So they could strip away some of the stuff suited for grappling without striking but not with.
No-gi doesn't have a belt system or at least the gyms that I trained at didn't, and I've never heard of a school that does. Though I'm there some school that has something like that. Obviously guys who focus on mma do a lot more no-gi than gi training. BJJ with no-gi is much more limited than with the gi. When you take away all the different lapel, pant and sleeve grips, gi chokes, etc, there are far fewer weapons and set ups to use. Also, no-gi is much more scrambly in a wrestling sense and faster pace than gi. In contrast, gi due to the different grips and just the friction of the fabric itself, it's contested at a much more slower and deliberate pace. The sweat from no-gi, or mma for that matter, can make it much harder to hold certain grips while the gi always remains dry. As far as what mma fighters should focus on, that's a bit of a harder answer. You obviously need to do a lot of no-gi training to not only get used to what it feels like to "fight" without it, but also to know all the things you not available to you that a gi would allow so you can discard that and focus on what does translate. On the otherhand, I think you need to train gi, too, because it improves your overall technical skill, even if a lot of it doesn't translate, because it is fought at a more technical and slower pace than the more athletic pace of no-gi. When I was training BJJ before I got sick and had to quit, I had a few friends that I grew up with in high school beforehand who also had wrestling experience. They did some amateur mma, while I just trained martial arts for passion and fun. I was a blue belt with like four stripes closing in on purple belt level, while they were still white belts. But although I had an advantage in gi, we were pretty comparable if not me being at a disadvantage in no gi. The skill level was somewhat similar, but I just knew all the little tricks you could do with a gi that they didn't due to a lack of experience with it. I've heard a lot of people say that even if you intend to do mma or focus more on no-gi, you should start off learning in gi to develop the necessary fundamentals and habits, etc. Kind of like a boxing coach teaching their fighter to develop their basic footwork before punching to develop good habits as it's easier to teach the correct foundation right the first time than it is to try to correct huge flaws retroactively. Take that for what it's worth.
Thanks for the in depth reply. I was wondering because we had an "animal day" at my club the other day, we pad up and spar hard when/if both guys are on the ground a 3rd party takes the padding off and then it's a roll, but if only ones down all striking is still allowed (including dropping knees). I'd just noticed guys with a lot of BJJ experience who are great when we roll not being able to use most of their skillset and being inclined to pull guard a lot when under pressure, which wasn't very effective at all. I really like the art but would prefer to learn it in the context of striking bein allowed for the most part.
