MMA as it's own style?

User89 said:
I take Kickboxing to mean a mix of boxing and kicking that you learn in a gym, always wearing boxing gloves. There are styles of Kickboxing, just as there are styles of Karate. And Karate is not kickboxing since they do not wear boxing gloves and they do not use the full range of boxing punches in sparring (or the contact specificities either)
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i mean...kickboxing in japan and US started out as full contact karate...so there is always that...
 
j123 said:
There are some interchangeable techniques between the two, but when you look deep you'll see a difference between the two. Ultimately depends on the more open the ruleset is. Full thai rules which means freedom on the clinch, you do see it pretty significantly.


Well, you normally look at what the style encompasses of at all levels, and aim for the higher bar to see the potential of what's offered. I don't think most people are going to look at sloppy brawlers in rural Alaska taking part in boxing fights and judge the system of boxing as a whole because the fighters there lacked significantly in movement, distance, and defense.
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damn what did alaska do to you? lol
 
American Kickboxing was originally an outlet for Karate and Taekwondo fighters to use full contact kicking and punching to the face. Once they opened clubs it was its own style called KB. But that came later
 
j123 said:
It's rare to have a MMA gym without a headcoach, I don't think I've seen that before, only heard about that arrangement from 2 instances from people who aren't from North America.

I do think it is becoming its own style. MMA is a ruleset yes, but practitioners practice and develop based on the rules so a style ends up being formed.
  • Fence work - a whole beast on its own. Would not be the way it is if MMA was in a ring, but because the cage, its the way it is
  • GnP - much more evolved, its almost an entire sub-category with it's growth since the 90s
  • Stance and approach

Calf kicks being the popular thing today would never get traction in kick fighting, but because of the stance and gameplan required for MMA, it does have some success. It's one reason why I think its not too fair to give a harsh critique on the finer details in striking to MMA, its a hybrid sport which ends up having certain areas lack for the jack of the trades combination it brings; In a related way, I can't exactly give a strict comparison of top elite boxers to the boxing of nak muays when its in a similar boat.

I get a feeling in the future there will be more Rory Mac types that came up in MMA than the classical specialists who transitioned over.
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No. All of the top MMA fighters ever, came from certain high level individual styles be it kickboxing, Judo, wrestling then rounded out their game when they transitioned to mma.
This approach will always defeat a non specialist who just learned 'mma' at a gym but is not elite at any one skillset.

There are adaptations to fighting in a ring or cage.
But the name MMA itself tells you it is not a style, and there are many styles that you could use to create a skillset to fight MMA.
 
Till this time not rarerly apporach to contract MMA athetes not rarerly was a) contract guys with proven amateur and if available, pro accomplishments in some fighting arts/ disciplines. b ) contract guys that had proved their abilities in less well known orgs.
This of course created approach and flowchart = good achievments in some non mma competitions = mma offers = good performance = mma offers to compete in more well known orgs.
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When these that started to train for mma since age of 13-14 will be 24+ years old guys, we might see another tendency, maybe.
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Until this, it ofc is enough to lurk even at Cejudo and Fedor or the same Khabib to get know their previous achievments in other competitions.
 
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Later it might appear like sport KB had his story in europe and there is no question about karate vs mt etc nonsens talks.
A. contract guys with previous achievments in another arts to do fights and sell tickets.
B. later more specific tutelage developed. for said rules to compete under of course.
C. with time some kind of established tutelage developed etc. Yeah, rule set but still, something new.

The same greco roman and freestyle had been seperated by .............rules and then later....... we do have 2 arts etc.
 
User89 said:
If I take a Muay Thai class in Europe, will I elbow someone in sparring? If I don't, then it's just like (traditional) Karate and TKD. Elbow, low kicks and knees to mitts but not in sparring.
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Don’t throw elbows in sparring, period.
User89 said:
If you want to distinguish Muay Thai from Kickboxing, you have to point to things they always train in Muay Thai that they never train in Kickboxing. Can you do that?
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clinch, trips, sweeps, dumps, elbows.
 
Cole train said:
I rank average alaskan guys striking higher than average new yorkers.

Nothing like redneck methhead strength and speed
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Yeah but the NY accent is pretty hard it forces ppl to shell up their ears or you get eardrum tko'd esp if they're long island accent trained
 
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TheMaster said:
No. All of the top MMA fighters ever, came from certain high level individual styles be it kickboxing, Judo, wrestling then rounded out their game when they transitioned to mma.
This approach will always defeat a non specialist who just learned 'mma' at a gym but is not elite at any one skillset.

There are adaptations to fighting in a ring or cage.
But the name MMA itself tells you it is not a style, and there are many styles that you could use to create a skillset to fight MMA.
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thus far you're right.
but a pure MMA guy can still specialize...there's nothing stopping that, just like different style of karate emphasize different things. some karate has a large focus on sweeps, trips, and throws, some has a large focus on head kicks and is more TKDish, some karate has a larger emphasis on punching and low kicks, etc.

i think MMA will become it's own style when there is a large number of gyms where the head coach is just a straight up MMA guy teaching MMA with MMA guys who are more specialized, rather than what we typically see now which is a boxer/MT/BJJ/wrestler/etc stylist who has cross trained is the head coach, with specialist coaches in MT and BJJ , boxing and wrestling, who themselves may or may not have cross training...

when it's about as easy to find a gym where all the coaches are simply 'MMA guys' that to me will indicate when MMA has become it's own style
 
TheMaster said:
No. All of the top MMA fighters ever, came from certain high level individual styles be it kickboxing, Judo, wrestling then rounded out their game when they transitioned to mma.
This approach will always defeat a non specialist who just learned 'mma' at a gym but is not elite at any one skillset.

There are adaptations to fighting in a ring or cage.
But the name MMA itself tells you it is not a style, and there are many styles that you could use to create a skillset to fight MMA.
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Thats in the present time, but in the future it will probably end up as its own style. The methods and techniques you start to see are in the early stages of that. Besides there are approaches that from single disciplines that would get you in bad doodoo in MMA.

  • rear back leg heavy in MT
  • MT clinching is asking to get sent to takedown city (the rules limit wrestling, so they're limited playing into the clinch game)
  • BJJ: sub hunting instead of using GnP is a bad call. Playing bottom because its safe in BJJ is going to get you pounded into meat. 2 to 1 grips will get you pounded and clipped. Sure the top guys can pull it off, but they are the exception not the rule. You have to always be looking to be on the move, staying stationary is not a good plan
  • etc.

Its also why pure bred striking studs get KO'd by lesser strikers in MMA because its a different sport. There are elements from striking that are in it, but its not the be all end all. Same goes for grappling

Yes, MMA is a ruleset that allows a more open format, but styles are formed around the rules of the sport. More restrictive, the more it will be limited to that. Sanda isn't a style either, its a ruleset, and you see the difference in style it is compared to other striking sports. Even though the rules are close to KB and MT, you see the difference.
 
Lmao. Just watched Thomson-Pettis for the first time from start to finish.

Thompson was litting him up both rounds and was not broken down at all. He got caught backing Pettis up in a totally one sided fight.

Anybody who thinks that was a vindication for Rofus academy is delusional
 
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