How long does it really take an elite striker to train to crossover and dominate the sport of MMA?

[Snoowpy]

depends on the fighter.

MMA striking recently has been mostly boxing centric with boxing footwork and elements, adding in a low kick and some elbows ontop.

Punching is more important in MMA but it isn't pure Boxing if that makes sense. A whole different range, dips, bobs and weaves feel way different. And the sweet spot for attempting a strike is also different. Low kicking when you've boxed for years upon years won't yield any benefits as the high level feints, awareness and distance are hard to maintain against other high level MMA practitioners. Last thing you need is your shin getting destroyed in an exhange by a check when you've got beginner low kicks.

 

[El Fernas]

It depends on the boxer, Claressa Shields barely beats regional level talent, Holm made it to the title, no other elite boxer has actually comitted to MMA while still in their prime, elite kickboxers is where its at i guess, elite male boxers get elite pay so we will never actually know.

 

[storeybuckle]

Terrence Crawford or Vasily Lomachenko could be champs with a year of training.

Crawford is a great wrestler and has come from a lineage of wrestlers.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Depends entirely on the fighter, obviously. Some people pick it up very quickly, some people never adapt well at all.

Claressa Shields for example is arguably the best female boxer in the world but despite the fact she's been training MMA for a few years now she still barely scrapes by absolute cans.

Claressa doesn't have KO power despite her size. The strikers that have KO power will always have an easier time transitioning since they have something other fighters will fear/respect.

 

[arcadeperfect]

HWs would have the best chance since it's always going to be the weakest in terms of talent pool. A guy like AJ would most likely be an excellent MMA fighter due to his KO power and his build. He'd probably be able to learn grappling defense easier than others due his athleticism and discipline.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Joe Schilling another example. Never really set the world on fire in MMA.

Muay Thai outside of Thailand is pretty crap. It's also pretty crap in the higher weight divisions.

 

[Dogpound2020]

an absolute elite striker not very long. But someone like Monster Inoue makes so money boxing and is only 122 lbs, he has zero need to try out MMA.

 

[chaos_36]

Crawford is a great wrestler and has come from a lineage of wrestlers.

Both of them are good wrestlers. That's why I said those two.

 

[chaos_36]

These guys would do reasonably well. Both are very adaptable people and willing to learn. Crawford was a very good wrestler in his younger days I'm pretty sure.

Yeah Lomachenko wrestled as a kid too, he's fairly decent.

 

[WillyWill]

someone who is athletically gifted and dedicated, a few months to a year. obviously that’s not winning abu dhabi, but enough anti-wrestling to keep the fight standing.

agreed. Someone athletic and healthy enough can learn to be a straight beast on the mats within a year; if their physicality is such, they could be subbing average BB's within a year. I suppose the path an established striker would take, however, would be more about TDD and a lot of that is instinctual, depends on balance and athleticism, though there are some finer MMA centric details that would take some honing in.

If i were an elite level striker making my way to MMA, knowing what i do know now about grappling/BJJ, i would like, almost exclusively train nogi BJJ (submission grappling) and start each roll stranding up. Training 5x a week with a competition oriented school, omitting gi (which never needs to be done for MMA) training for MMA specific stuff.