Boxing bs Thai Boxing
- Thread starter Mider
- Start date
The path should be:
boxing -> MT -> Sanda -> MMA
boxing - punch
MT - punch + kick
Sanda - punch + kick + throw
MMA - punch + kick + throw + ground skill
One of many paths (if MMA is your goal). You can start with mma if you want and learn everything there. You could go kickboxing - judo - BJJ - MMA, where you learn each separately and combine. You could replace kickboxing with MT, or boxing and TKD. You could replace Sanda with BJJ or kenpo, or judo with wrestling. Or start out with just MT and go straight to MMA. Any number of paths are possible.
MTguy
Yellow Belt
You could also find a gym that teaches boxing, muay thai and bjj. That is MMA basically. Even Muay Thai and BJJ. Most America schools have more boxing oriented or Dutch style kickxong anyway. few gyms teach authentic style of Muay Thai. There just aren't many ifghts for amatuers or pros in the US. MMA is about the only thing going.
MTguy
Yellow Belt
If I were to take a kid and build him into a MMA fighter I would first put him in wrestling then boxing then bjj and muay thai. All done seperately and in their own context. In my own journey this is what I did back in the 90's and early 2000's because there were no good MMA gyms at the time. I even put my ego aside as a guy in my 20's and wrestled with the high school freestyle team practices. My wrestling improved tremendously by putting my ego aside. the kids accepted me because I would occasionally teach them a submission.
I'd be pretty close to this but add judo or bjj and muay thai in at the beginning. Mainly because I've met some kid judoka who really understood what they were doing, and it's a nice segway to wrestling. Plus, wrestling you can't do most places until middle school, so if the goal is to have a mma fighter I'd want them to still build some sort of foundation.
You have to enter the
- kicking range before you can enter the punching range.
- punching range before you can establish a clinch.
- ...
If we follow that order, the most logic path should be:
kicking skill -> punching skill -> wrestling skill -> ground skill.
MTguy
Yellow Belt
That's strange, my son and almost every area in the metro has a youth wrestling club but if you don't then yes, Judo or bjj would be good. One of my good friend's son won his state championship this year with a judo move. So, he has boxed as an amateur, wrestled and done BJJ and wrestling. He's 18. Might be fun for a kid to mix it up as well. Not every area has quality schools for every sport, especially Muay Thai?. MMA and BJJ especially is 85 percent of combat sports in KC. Asking a person to hit and get hit, well it isn't for everybody and you have to be a little off to enjoy it. lol
Yeah to my knowledge no wrestling clubs, youth or otherwise, around me. I've looked, though not for a few years. It seems to all be based around the schools.
MTguy
Yellow Belt
Well, I can tell you that some parents have their 12 year olds who are studs burnt out from travelling and wrestling over 100 matches a year. And the parents are 'wrestling' Dads driving their kids to hate the sport and by the time they get to high school they are not wrestling any more or doing anything else.
The competition for college scholarships is so small compared to 20 years ago and colleges focusing on revenue based sports have taken away one of the best character building sport and the cheapest sports to put together. Especially when they already have the facilities for it!!! . I'm getting old enough, I'm 49 and my son is 25 that I've seen all the paths kids go. Hindsight is 20/20. With my son, he was definitely a losing wrestler but he learned physical courage. hard work and he ended up a varsity swimmer. Losing Varsity swimmer but all of it was good for him. Too bad his dad was a MMA/Muay Thai coach and he never wanted to train. Actually fighting is something that your brain works a bit different and almost to a man there is something in their background the compels them to do it. The desire to hit and get hit and possibly endure injury takes a different sort of person.
