My circumstance and how should I go about this if I want to fight MMA?

[Ogata]

I am in a weird spot right now. I have independent coaches in sambo/wrestling and Karate right now. My main style is boxing and karate. I train privately but there are two MMA gyms that I frequent. One is a giant MMA gym with like a million people and the other is 10th planet jujitsu which is far away. But every MMA gym is exactly the same in terms of it being Muay Thai and Jujitsu.


Now my dilemma is that if I do stay at a gym then my time and energy will be spent in Muay Thai and Jujitsu only. I do not want to become a cookie cutter Muay thai jujitsu fighter. Can I fight independent while only going to MMA gyms for rolling only?

I don't know anyone elses situation here. I assumed MMA gyms were at least going to have a wrestling and boxing program at the very least. But my town its just Thai Kickboxing and Jujitsu.

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

Sherbro you can do whatever you want, it's your life. If you wanna fight independent while only going to MMA gyms for rolling only, go for it. Do what is best for you.
The only recommendation I would have for you is to sometimes try to MMA spar in the MMA gyms.

 

[Ogata]

Sherbro you can do whatever you want, it's your life. If you wanna fight independent while only going to MMA gyms for rolling only, go for it. Do what is best for you.
The only recommendation I would have for you is to sometimes try to MMA spar in the MMA gyms.

I agree, MMA sparring is a must. The gym in downtown is a very commercialized gym which is more geared towards the recreational members and getting them to the door, its nice that its close by and all. The 10th planet jujitsu seems more like an intimate gym. I also like the 10th planet jujitsu stuff and their ideas.

My thing is conflict of interest, if I try to fight independent or under my own private dojo, will I get kicked out from their place?

 

[JonJonesNeedle]

I agree, MMA sparring is a must. The gym in downtown is a very commercialized gym which is more geared towards the recreational members and getting them to the door, its nice that its close by and all. The 10th planet jujitsu seems more like an intimate gym. I also like the 10th planet jujitsu stuff and their ideas.

My thing is conflict of interest, if I try to fight independent or under my own private dojo, will I get kicked out from their place?

I don't see why you would get kicked out, if you're a paying customer. Never hurts to ask them

But honestly, if they are the type to kick you out for that, you're better off not going to them. Personally I wouldn't wanna go to a gym like that, it implies they are ego driven or too prideful/sensitive

 

[Ogata]

I don't see why you would get kicked out, if you're a paying customer. Never hurts to ask them

But honestly, if they are the type to kick you out for that, you're better off not going to them. Personally I wouldn't wanna go to a gym like that, it implies they are ego driven or too prideful/sensitive

Good call!

I am from the old school and going to a different gym was a BIG NO!

The instructor/owner would have everyone swarm you in sparring to teach you a lesson. I guess its a different era. I heard Ralph Gracie doing stuff like that. That is why I feel like 10th planet jujitsu would be a more safer place.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

you can fight independent if you want, as long as you have a corner man and have a way of lining up fights but if you want to go far you need a good coach and team. Also, why don't you want to learn Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu? It would be beneficial to you in the long run. Close mindedness like that won't help you improve your game. Forget about the cookie cutter non sense. Just cause you learn a style doesn't mean you HAVE to fully adopt it. Just take pieces of what you like and add it to your tool box.

 

[RonMachineGunJhun]

Good call!

I am from the old school and going to a different gym was a BIG NO!

The instructor/owner would have everyone swarm you in sparring to teach you a lesson. I guess its a different era. I heard Ralph Gracie doing stuff like that. That is why I feel like 10th planet jujitsu would be a more safer place.

At this stage in your career you can do what you want. Dont feel beholden to one place or another. Usually if you show some promise or start being successful it is good to find a centralized team or gym that will invest in you with good training partners and coaching. At this point just enjoy having the freedom to pick what ever spots you want to train at an absorb all the knowledge you can. Also sounds like the availability and resources you have to have private coaching puts you a leg up on a lot of other fighters just starting out so definitely take advantage of that. Also never commit to a team due to there being a name there be it a certain fighter or coach. Ask around look at the team as a whole. Look at their training and sparing. Are they safe with each other do they try to injure fighters. Do they all the fighters on a team when they invest the same energy in all the fighters who have fights coming up not just the super star. Try to find a place that will invest in you just as much as you invest in them. Make sure you do them a service as well by training hard and being a good team mate. When you get to that point. Mahalos and good luck on your career my braddah. God bless

 

[Ogata]

you can fight independent if you want, as long as you have a corner man and have a way of lining up fights but if you want to go far you need a good coach and team. Also, why don't you want to learn Muay Thai or Jiu Jitsu? It would be beneficial to you in the long run. Close mindedness like that won't help you improve your game. Forget about the cookie cutter non sense. Just cause you learn a style doesn't mean you HAVE to fully adopt it. Just take pieces of what you like and add it to your tool box.

I have trained in Muay thai and jujitsu. Nothing against jujitsu because at the end of the day, grappling is just grappling. I like sambo because it starts on the feet.

Regarding Muay thai, the classes force you to stand squared up. I train side ways for most parts because of having mentors in boxing and Karate who taught me so much about side-stance fighting. Meanwhile muay thai classes everywhere is your typical combo. Its not bad but if I keep showing up at muay thai then I won't have the energy to develop my own boxing/karate style because its either/or situation.

Energy and recovery are very important. That and in karate/boxing, we work on cutting off angles, distance, timing, counters, leg sweeps, lead hand strikes, jumping in and out and using feints. Of course there are the color spin kicks because being in a side-stance allows you to do them.

That being said, if I was in Thailand, I would train muay thai. But the Thai kickboxing places in my town are not true Thai boxing. Its sloppy generic stuff with guys just wailing on each other. Its all about having the right teacher and I found two in boxing and karate. This is where life took me.

At this stage in your career you can do what you want. Dont feel beholden to one place or another. Usually if you show some promise or start being successful it is good to find a centralized team or gym that will invest in you with good training partners and coaching. At this point just enjoy having the freedom to pick what ever spots you want to train at an absorb all the knowledge you can. Also sounds like the availability and resources you have to have private coaching puts you a leg up on a lot of other fighters just starting out so definitely take advantage of that. Also never commit to a team due to there being a name there be it a certain fighter or coach. Ask around look at the team as a whole. Look at their training and sparing. Are they safe with each other do they try to injure fighters. Do they all the fighters on a team when they invest the same energy in all the fighters who have fights coming up not just the super star. Try to find a place that will invest in you just as much as you invest in them. Make sure you do them a service as well by training hard and being a good team mate. When you get to that point. Mahalos and good luck on your career my braddah. God bless

Thank you so much. I wish I was in America. I do not trust the part of Canada I live in. Ron you are the machine gun but you are also the man. What you say is world class advice. Its rational and sensible and I appreciate hearing it from the MMA community. One place I really liked is Ryan's gym. He was teaching at Lally brothers in Arizona. Met him, seems like a nice guy. I will probably split time between his gym in regards to him getting me fights+ sparring his guys while working with my personal teachers in boxing, sambo and karate.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I have trained in Muay thai and jujitsu. Nothing against jujitsu because at the end of the day, grappling is just grappling. I like sambo because it starts on the feet.

Regarding Muay thai, the classes force you to stand squared up. I train side ways for most parts because of having mentors in boxing and Karate who taught me so much about side-stance fighting. Meanwhile muay thai classes everywhere is your typical combo. Its not bad but if I keep showing up at muay thai then I won't have the energy to develop my own boxing/karate style because its either/or situation.

Energy and recovery are very important. That and in karate/boxing, we work on cutting off angles, distance, timing, counters, leg sweeps, lead hand strikes, jumping in and out and using feints. Of course there are the color spin kicks because being in a side-stance allows you to do them.

That being said, if I was in Thailand, I would train muay thai. But the Thai kickboxing places in my town are not true Thai boxing. Its sloppy generic stuff with guys just wailing on each other. Its all about having the right teacher and I found two in boxing and karate. This is where life took me.




Thank you so much. I wish I was in America. I do not trust the part of Canada I live in. Ron you are the machine gun but you are also the man. What you say is world class advice. Its rational and sensible and I appreciate hearing it from the MMA community. One place I really liked is Ryan's gym. He was teaching at Lally brothers in Arizona. Met him, seems like a nice guy. I will probably split time between his gym in regards to him getting me fights+ sparring his guys while working with my personal teachers in boxing, sambo and karate.

This is just my perspective but I trained Goju Karate for 10 years and got my black belt. Shortly after I trained in Traditional Muay Thai for years. I didn't have a problem personally cross training with both when I was doing it years ago. I just took what worked from each style and applied it in my own sparring/fights. Though if you say you're having a hard time finding a good school I can understand that. You mentioned you're from Canada, what part of Canada are you in? If you're in Ontario where I am there are a lot of legit Muay Thai gyms I've trained at personally and can vouch for.

 

[Ogata]

This is just my perspective but I trained Goju Karate for 10 years and got my black belt. Shortly after I trained in Traditional Muay Thai for years. I didn't have a problem personally cross training with both when I was doing it years ago. I just took what worked from each style and applied it in my own sparring/fights. Though if you say you're having a hard time finding a good school I can understand that. You mentioned you're from Canada, what part of Canada are you in? If you're in Ontario where I am there are a lot of legit Muay Thai gyms I've trained at personally and can vouch for.

I am in Vancouver and regarding your Karate style. You train in an Okinawan style which is a very squared up style as is Kyokushin and other Karate styles that fight close range. I train in a mix of Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo which is called Korean Karate. In Korean Karate we stand very sideways and its a style that relies on getting in and out as oppose to staying on the inside. My boxing coach also trained me to fight side ways.

The side-stance is a very important aspect of me learning the martial arts, it makes me a smaller target and the techniques I trained are built on making my self as small as possible. The guards, hand positions an all required lots of time to learn and make natural and effective.

Regarding legit Thai trainers. We have a great guy named Master Song. He now teaches at an MMA gym. I trained with him years ago and he is the real deal without a question. The problem is not his teaching or what he knows. The problem is that Vancouver is freaky expensive and even respectable trainers have to get people through the door to make ends meet and that is why the quality takes a backseat to quantity.

Anyways the person that taught me boxing usually travels to different places and my karate instructor is a prodigy and a genius but he soon is planning to move out of here. I am as well since I am looking to move to L.A

 

[CatchtheseHands]

I am in Vancouver and regarding your Karate style. You train in an Okinawan style which is a very squared up style as is Kyokushin and other Karate styles that fight close range. I train in a mix of Tang Soo Do and Taekwondo which is called Korean Karate. In Korean Karate we stand very sideways and its a style that relies on getting in and out as oppose to staying on the inside. My boxing coach also trained me to fight side ways.

The side-stance is a very important aspect of me learning the martial arts, it makes me a smaller target and the techniques I trained are built on making my self as small as possible. The guards, hand positions an all required lots of time to learn and make natural and effective.

Regarding legit Thai trainers. We have a great guy named Master Song. He now teaches at an MMA gym. I trained with him years ago and he is the real deal without a question. The problem is not his teaching or what he knows. The problem is that Vancouver is freaky expensive and even respectable trainers have to get people through the door to make ends meet and that is why the quality takes a backseat to quantity.

Anyways the person that taught me boxing usually travels to different places and my karate instructor is a prodigy and a genius but he soon is planning to move out of here. I am as well since I am looking to move to L.A

Yeah, that is true. In Goju everything is squared up. So I'm guessing your style looks similar to Raymond Daniels, Machida's and Wonder Boys? In Ontario here there are quite a few quality gyms scattered through out, but the big issue is Pro Kick boxing and MMA is basically illegal here so everyone has to cross the boarder or go to other provinces to get pro fights. Yeah, I heard Vancouver is expensive. Though I have to ask, wouldn't L.A be just as expensive or even more expensive than just staying in Van?

 

[Ogata]

Yeah, that is true. In Goju everything is squared up. So I'm guessing your style looks similar to Raymond Daniels, Machida's and Wonder Boys? In Ontario here there are quite a few quality gyms scattered through out, but the big issue is Pro Kick boxing and MMA is basically illegal here so everyone has to cross the boarder or go to other provinces to get pro fights. Yeah, I heard Vancouver is expensive. Though I have to ask, wouldn't L.A be just as expensive or even more expensive than just staying in Van?

Yup, Tang Soo Do/Taekwondo aka Korean Karate is about dynamic movement, very active in terms of bouncing and always being mobile which all those fighters mentioned are as well as Michael Page. Also if nothing else, I like the idea of Karate and teaching it.

Weird that MMA is illegal in Ontario, I remember Justin Bruckmann and Mac Daddy flex Aka Barry Macdonald. I have heard that people in Ontario are very friendly. I remember in 2006 that tons of fighters were coming at out of Ontario. I mean not high level but people loved competing. I have always likd people from Ontario. Friendly and easy to talk to unlike my town.

Regarding L.A, people in my town are so angry, cold and unfriendly or straight up creepy regardless of male/female. I can only interact with people that have a golden retriever. I have gotten jaded so bad. I grew up here most of my life. I only met friends when I was learning Japanese 8 years ago and when I was in the yoga community and meeting out of towners. Vancouver has nice scenery and the worse human beings. Racism is rampant despite being a woke town. Its all a big show. I hate it living here so much. I cope by telling myself that at least I am not in North Korea and of course I have a decent family that I live with and help out.

L.A is expensive but I am in to raw foods and healthy eating. I fantasize visiting so many different places from Sacramento, North Hollywood, Tarzana, Glendale and greater parts of LA as well as San Fran and San Jose. So while both are expensive, this is normal in Vancouver:





Also to go back to the topic. In L.A, there are tons of boxing and combat sports fights that people can always compete in. This is good because I am always in shape these days and I am down to fight on short notice and might be better off since the anticipation may not wreck me mentally if I just jump in whenever someone drops out.

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Yup, Tang Soo Do/Taekwondo aka Korean Karate is about dynamic movement, very active in terms of bouncing and always being mobile which all those fighters mentioned are as well as Michael Page. Also if nothing else, I like the idea of Karate and teaching it.

Weird that MMA is illegal in Ontario, I remember Justin Bruckmann and Mac Daddy flex Aka Barry Macdonald. I have heard that people in Ontario are very friendly. I remember in 2006 that tons of fighters were coming at out of Ontario. I mean not high level but people loved competing. I have always likd people from Ontario. Friendly and easy to talk to unlike my town.

Regarding L.A, people in my town are so angry, cold and unfriendly or straight up creepy regardless of male/female. I can only interact with people that have a golden retriever. I have gotten jaded so bad. I grew up here most of my life. I only met friends when I was learning Japanese 8 years ago and when I was in the yoga community and meeting out of towners. Vancouver has nice scenery and the worse human beings. Racism is rampant despite being a woke town. Its all a big show. I hate it living here so much. I cope by telling myself that at least I am not in North Korea and of course I have a decent family that I live with and help out.

L.A is expensive but I am in to raw foods and healthy eating. I fantasize visiting so many different places from Sacramento, North Hollywood, Tarzana, Glendale and greater parts of LA as well as San Fran and San Jose. So while both are expensive, this is normal in Vancouver:





Also to go back to the topic. In L.A, there are tons of boxing and combat sports fights that people can always compete in. This is good because I am always in shape these days and I am down to fight on short notice and might be better off since the anticipation may not wreck me mentally if I just jump in whenever someone drops out.

It's because our Province is still carrying these Archaic rules about combat sports which is why it's so hard for fighters here. MMA itself isn't illegal, it's just full MMA rules competitions are so far and few between cause of all the yellow tape you have to get by to even have an event. It really depends on who you're talking to here. Ontario has just as many idiots and racists as anywhere else in Canada. I see, well I can understand your reasons for moving then. Thanks for the insight and satisfying my curiosity. Good luck with your move whenever it happens and I hope you succeed in L.A.

 

[Ogata]

It's because our Province is still carrying these Archaic rules about combat sports which is why it's so hard for fighters here. MMA itself isn't illegal, it's just full MMA rules competitions are so far and few between cause of all the yellow tape you have to get by to even have an event. It really depends on who you're talking to here. Ontario has just as many idiots and racists as anywhere else in Canada. I see, well I can understand your reasons for moving then. Thanks for the insight and satisfying my curiosity. Good luck with your move whenever it happens and I hope you succeed in L.A.

Thank man, I got an appointment for passport on Monday. All goes well I will leave Thursday and Friday just to check the place out. Hopefully there is a flight to the greater part of L.A but I am down for any place in California. Hell I will even go to Stockton or Fresno if I have to.

Any change of scenery is going to be nice.

Btw, who is the lovely person in your avatar?

 

[CatchtheseHands]

Thank man, I got an appointment for passport on Monday. All goes well I will leave Thursday and Friday just to check the place out. Hopefully there is a flight to the greater part of L.A but I am down for any place in California. Hell I will even go to Stockton or Fresno if I have to.

Any change of scenery is going to be nice.

Btw, who is the lovely person in your avatar?

Awesome bro. Sounds good! If you end up in Stockton you might be able to run into the Diaz Bro's and learn that legendary Stockton slap. The girl in my Avatar is Umi Shinonome.

 

[MMAATHLETE]

You might be overthinking it. Just train wherever you can as much as possible and compete in as many things as you can find. Competition is going to help your progress a ton.

 

[seandamon211]

You are a sherdogger! You are already champ champ material! Do you champ!