What do you think of this composition?

[TMA17]

This is what Shane Fazen feels is the current martial arts composition within MMA.

BJJ - 25%
Muah Thai - 25%
Boxing - 20%
Wrestling - 20%
Other - 10%

This is just his opinion. It looks about right to me. I think in the beginning of UFC other was a lot larger, but over time certain arts have proven to be more effective. What appears to be the obvious common denominator is boxing is the best base striking art, and BJJ/Wrestling are the best ground arts.

BJJ, while still one of the most dominant arts to know, has lost a bit of it's dominance to counter takedown defense and better striking.

This leads me to a question, for every day self defense what do you think is a better approach or more pragmatic:

A. Learning a little bit of the aforementioned arts above and getting the very basics of each down pretty well.
B. Learning one art at a time and becoming extremly proficient in it.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

If you try to be good on everything, you will end with nothing. You need to develop your "door guarding skill" and "general skill".

The day when you die, you will not ask yourself, "How many MA styles have I mastered?" You will ask yourself, "How many door guarding skills have I developed in my life time?"

 

[Flying Crane]

I remain completely unconvinced that boxing is the best base striking method. That’s just me. Meh.

I don’t have any comment on the rest of it.

 

[skribs]

The problem is, UFC is about what's best in a competition with UFC rules. It doesn't take into account either using or defending against:

• Attacks to the groin
• Eye gouges
• Spine shots
• Neck shots
• When the armbar has snapped the arm and the fight isn't over
• Weapons
• Firearms
• Multiple fighters
• Fighting in terrain

There's a lot that UFC doesn't cover, and going for a martial art for self defense based on what works in UFC can kind of be a misnomer.

I say learn one art. If you're going to learn two, keep a clear art as your primary art. What you'll find is that the deeper you go into an art, a lot of them start to bleed into each other. For example, I take Taekwondo and Hapkido. The two start in completely different places, but at higher belts there's a lot of overlap.

 

[Anarax]

A. Learning a little bit of the aforementioned arts above and getting the very basics of each down pretty well.
B. Learning one art at a time and becoming extremly proficient in it.

Getting a strong base in at least one art then incorporating other arts into your training later down the road I think is a better approach. I studied 4 different arts at once and it was difficult because I didn't have one art as my base. After becoming advanced in one of the arts I was able to incorporate other styles into my training much more effectively.

 

[hoshin1600]

I hope this doesn't turn into a what art is better thread. MMA proponents will say these are the best arts because that is what everyone uses. TMA proponents will say it's a sport and doest address factors that exist in a real self defense situation.
Both of these views are bias and are only looking at a superficial overlay of the issue.
These arts are used not because they are better arts in general. They are used because as a style they share a common framework platform. They work well together and have a common training methodology. Every art does punches, kicks, throws, ect.. but what makes these arts perform better for a MMA use is the methodology and platform.

 

[Danny T]

I'd say the figures above are close as to what is actually trained for mma.
In the UFC and many of the other mma productions the higher ranked fighters in almost every weight class are wrestlers not bjj.
Today many bjj organizations have added a lot of wrestling into their programs.

 

[Steve]

I hope this doesn't turn into a what art is better thread. MMA proponents will say these are the best arts because that is what everyone uses. TMA proponents will say it's a sport and doest address factors that exist in a real self defense situation.
Both of these views are bias and are only looking at a superficial overlay of the issue.
These arts are used not because they are better arts in general. They are used because as a style they share a common framework platform. They work well together and have a common training methodology. Every art does punches, kicks, throws, ect.. but what makes these arts perform better for a MMA use is the methodology and platform.

To put a finer point on it, the training methodology and the competition are the common denominator. We have seen that when you train other styles, such as karate or Kung fu in this way, and apply the skills, they perform well, too.

 

[TMA17]

If you try to be good on everything, you will end with nothing. You need to develop your "door guarding skill" and "general skill".

The day when you die, you will not ask yourself, "How many MA styles have I mastered?" You will ask yourself, "How many door guarding skills have I developed in my life time?"

You're certainly more knowledgable than I am on this subject of MA, but my thinking was a bit different.

For day to day self defense, and not training to be a fighter for sport per se, wouldn't it be better to know a few good ground moves, defenses and striking moves? In other words, keep your tool box varied in terms of styles, but not overly in-depth. But get good at the few techniques you practice within each style.

The alternative would be spending years on either a striking or ground style, which is great if one can afford that time. However, being really good at say boxing, but not knowing any ground style sets you up for getting destroyed on the ground.

Get good at several punch combinations, several types of kicks, take downs, chokes, esacpes etc. vs justing getting highly proficient at boxing or BJJ.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Get good at several punch combinations, several types of kicks, take downs, chokes, esacpes etc. vs justing getting highly proficient at boxing or BJJ.

Effective finish moves and effective set up are what we all train for.

- Can you knock your opponent down with 1 punch? Which punch? Which hand?
- Can you take your opponent down with 1 throw? Which throw? Which side?
- Can you choke out your opponent on the ground? Which choke? Which side?
- How to set up for your punch/throw/choke?

If you are good with one finish move, you will try to wait (or create) that opportunity. This way, you will have a "plan". In other words, your plan is built on your "door guarding skill".

.

 

[Flying Crane]

You're certainly more knowledgable than I am on this subject of MA, but my thinking was a bit different.

For day to day self defense, and not training to be a fighter for sport per se, wouldn't it be better to know a few good ground moves, defenses and striking moves? In other words, keep your tool box varied in terms of styles, but not overly in-depth. But get good at the few techniques you practice within each style.

The alternative would be spending years on either a striking or ground style, which is great if one can afford that time. However, being really good at say boxing, but not knowing any ground style sets you up for getting destroyed on the ground.

Get good at several punch combinations, several types of kicks, take downs, chokes, esacpes etc. vs justing getting highly proficient at boxing or BJJ.

Are you in a hurry? Quality often takes time...

 

[drop bear]

Are you in a hurry? Quality often takes time...

I am an advocate of fighting conservatively in self defence.

So a really good handle on a comprehensive basic skill set is pretty important.

 

[drop bear]

And more wrestling by the way. It will make everything else easier.

 

[TMA17]

And more wrestling by the way. It will make everything else easier.

There is another MMA gym near me that offers wrestling and muay thai. Reasonably priced. My contract is up with the other place I was at for 3 months. Wrestling is so important.

I'm not in a rush, just continously debating a system like Krav Maga vs a more MMA approach. I need to make up my mind and stop overthinking it. I do that a lot LOL.

 

[drop bear]

There is another MMA gym near me that offers wrestling and muay thai. Reasonably priced. My contract is up with the other place I was at for 3 months. Wrestling is so important.

I'm not in a rush, just continously debating a system like Krav Maga vs a more MMA approach. I need to make up my mind and stop overthinking it. I do that a lot LOL.

Without the MMA base. Krav doesn't work. It is almost that simple.

 

[hoshin1600]

I think MMA builds better skill sets. To me Krav is about a fighting mentality.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

This is what Shane Fazen feels is the current martial arts composition within MMA.

BJJ - 25%
Muah Thai - 25%
Boxing - 20%
Wrestling - 20%
Other - 10%

This is just his opinion. It looks about right to me. I think in the beginning of UFC other was a lot larger, but over time certain arts have proven to be more effective. What appears to be the obvious common denominator is boxing is the best base striking art, and BJJ/Wrestling are the best ground arts.

BJJ, while still one of the most dominant arts to know, has lost a bit of it's dominance to counter takedown defense and better striking.

This leads me to a question, for every day self defense what do you think is a better approach or more pragmatic:

A. Learning a little bit of the aforementioned arts above and getting the very basics of each down pretty well.
B. Learning one art at a time and becoming extremly proficient in it.

If you approach them as separate arts, learning a little of each is ineffective. If you could learn that same base from an integrated perspective (from someone who knows how they fit together), that would be useful. It would also be, essentially, learning a single system. For limited exposure, a single system is preferable, assuming you get a system that meets the need.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

There is another MMA gym near me that offers wrestling and muay thai. Reasonably priced. My contract is up with the other place I was at for 3 months. Wrestling is so important.

I'm not in a rush, just continously debating a system like Krav Maga vs a more MMA approach. I need to make up my mind and stop overthinking it. I do that a lot LOL.

Any system, IMO, for self-defense use (whether it's taught for SD, or simply being learned for that purpose) needs a simple fighting base. I've only seen a few actual significant variations on that base. Trained with resistance, most become more similar than different. If a KM school starts with that base (rather than going immediately to individual techniques for specific situations) and trains with resistance, then it can be a good vehicle. If it jumps right to the techniques (here's a sequence to break from a headlock), it'll take a long time to build competency. One of the good things about the approach often seen with MMA is they go right to the fighting base and develop that before adding gap-fillers.

 

[now disabled]

There is another MMA gym near me that offers wrestling and muay thai. Reasonably priced. My contract is up with the other place I was at for 3 months. Wrestling is so important.

I'm not in a rush, just continously debating a system like Krav Maga vs a more MMA approach. I need to make up my mind and stop overthinking it. I do that a lot LOL.

Everything works and nothing works

It not all down to the Art or system it is down to how it is taught and then bluntly it is down to the student if they can absorb it and then apply it ...........so much these days is blamed on the specific art etc etc etc where it might possibly be ...the student or the teacher

 

[now disabled]

I dunno how many times I have heard and seen people slap my art saying no it don't work (and stronger) and yup I agree at a base level it doesn't and if it done like the demos are it won't ... However after putting in the time (which people today do not really wanna do - they want it like yesterday or the day before) then can you see where you can make it work (in todays society) and what will never work

That said most dojo's have to walk the line between being practical and giving the students what they want and sometimes just sometimes they want the flowery moves and techs cause they want that and it can make your extremely poor if you burst their bubble by saying to early on ...oh btw that don't work but there a reason I'm teaching it that way for now