Martial Art most effective in MMA?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Good Lord I must move to the UK!

I've allways wondered if Newcastle tasted a bit different in the UK?

My usual first choice of beers. next being Bass, Sam Adam's Oktoberfest (when around) is very good as well and a regular Sam is better than any other production American beer by far.

 

[chinto]

that is for you to decide. MMA is a sport. with rules and a ref. there is a difference in what it is designed to do then for most of your older arts. They were developed in general for self defense.

 

[Josh Oakley]

The Wierding Way. I say this only because Xue-Fu is far too deadly for the ring.

 

[nails]

I see boxing as being the most fundemental. Every fighter learns to box for MMA, regardless of their fighting foundation. They might already know how to punch and bob and weave and but at the end of the day, its all boxing.

 

[Tez3]

I see boxing as being the most fundemental. Every fighter learns to box for MMA, regardless of their fighting foundation. They might already know how to punch and bob and weave and but at the end of the day, its all boxing.

or karate or TKD or TSD etc etc. The stance in MMA is not a boxing stance by the way, that gets you taken down. So no it's not all boxing at all.

 

[ETinCYQX]

I really believe you can't apply any one martial art "as is." Each one needs modification to work well.

 

[TheArtofDave]

No one art is better than the other. You need them all to make you a better rounded fighter. If you can't use all of the styles to your advantage you may not last long in training or competition.

 

[ForeverStudent]

I'm not envolved to much in MMA, but..

I think MMA is pretty undefined. There is no rules which moves you can use and which you can't (except few like eye gauging etc.). You don't have to fight by any style, you create your own. From whichever art fighter trained, or arts, he extract what works best for him.

I think it's very honest way of fighting and testing your skills, if not the honestly one!

You can enter the ring and fight any style you want. It's free fight and i think it's more honestly than traditional martial arts competitions, where you must fight under rules of your style.

So my final opinnion that only style in MMA is the one that fighter creates.

And just one off topic question: is it true that in MMA fights hand joint locks are forbidden (like those you can see in Aikido or Hapkido)?

 

[TheArtofDave]

In Pro, although you'd have to look up the rules on it, or write directly to them if you didn't find an answer.

I think it would count as a submission to end the fight.

In Amateur I can see how they could be forbidden. Of course another opportunity to ask just to be sure.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Which martial art(s) do you think is the best and most effective in the MMA?

(ex: BJJ, Boxing, Karate, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and/or Wrestling)

-Scout

Well if mix in all arts as a possibility ...

FMA's and other blade systems.

Have you ever rolled with someone and had them pull a balde on you?
Not fun, unless you are the one surprising them with the blade. (* Traing baldes and folders can be bought and used for such. Also it helps to practice deploying the tool from your pocket even if you use it for nothing more than an impact tool or paiin amplifier. *)

Then again the Group Arts work as well. I mean while one or more grapple with you one waits outside and then takes his shots to hurt you real bad.

Then there are the firearm systems. close combat, looking for cover, dealing with multiple opponents, all the way out to you are the target, and you never see the person as they are 500 meters plus away from you.


Oh you mean sport MMA, as in the competition with rules.

Look at the rules, optimize your training to the rules.
i.e. Ring position and or control means defensive fighter look bad even if they suck the person into the side and then spin around get their opponent up against the ring. UFC 123 is an example of this or at least from the seat I had at the Palace gave me that percepion.


Also if you knnow one art, I would say that is the most important, as you cannot go learn twelve new systems to address specific rules. But you can learn tactics and technqiues that will help you keep in your range of preferrence for fighting.

 

[Skpotamus]

My $0.02:

It really is the fighter, not the style.

I think in the early days, it was pretty clear that in the style vs style fights, BJJ and other grappling styles did better than the striking styles (with bjj doing the best). It wasn't until Maurice Smith (a kickboxing champion with a lot of ground training under his belt) came around that mma in the US got a standup striker for a champ. That was 4 years after BJJ and wrestling had been pretty much king of MMA.

I don't think this was so much due to the art itself as it was the BJJ guys from brazil had been fighting in challenge matches for quite a while and were used to dealing with punches and kicks. They'd learned to adapt their art to the fight and make it work for them.

Now, I think some styles train a bit more...... I don't want to say realistically, because it is a sporting duelistic atmosphere, but with more pressure and in an alive fashion so their practitioners are more used to making their art work against pressure. Arts like Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, the other grappling arts, tend to train harder and with a fully resisting partner. Other styles, like most TMA schools, train with a "helpful" partner that means they don't get to work with failure and learn how to make their stuff work against different kinds of resistance.

I think if you train realistically, against fully resisting opponents, you can learn to make most styles work for you.

 

[sgtmac_46]

My $0.02:

It really is the fighter, not the style.

I think in the early days, it was pretty clear that in the style vs style fights, BJJ and other grappling styles did better than the striking styles (with bjj doing the best). It wasn't until Maurice Smith (a kickboxing champion with a lot of ground training under his belt) came around that mma in the US got a standup striker for a champ. That was 4 years after BJJ and wrestling had been pretty much king of MMA.

I don't think this was so much due to the art itself as it was the BJJ guys from brazil had been fighting in challenge matches for quite a while and were used to dealing with punches and kicks. They'd learned to adapt their art to the fight and make it work for them.

Now, I think some styles train a bit more...... I don't want to say realistically, because it is a sporting duelistic atmosphere, but with more pressure and in an alive fashion so their practitioners are more used to making their art work against pressure. Arts like Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, the other grappling arts, tend to train harder and with a fully resisting partner. Other styles, like most TMA schools, train with a "helpful" partner that means they don't get to work with failure and learn how to make their stuff work against different kinds of resistance.

I think if you train realistically, against fully resisting opponents, you can learn to make most styles work for you.

The statement 'it's about styles' doesn't just mean 'arts'........a fighter's particular style fighting is his 'style'. A fighter can be very successful with his 'style' versus many other fighters, but he meets a fighter with a different 'style' of fighting and he can't overcome that person, simply because his strengths and weaknesses are successfully countered and exploited by the style of that particular opponent.

So, when I say 'styles make fights' I don't mean it in the 'your tiger style kungfu is strong, but my dragon style will defeat it' sense, but in the boxing sense of 'styles make fights'.