The MMA fighting style is a much-respected form of combat sports that calls upon its athletes to have learned skills and techniques from various martial arts disciplines and to participate in an MMA fighting style competition with other capable athletes. The MMA fighting style is a sport that revolves around dominating your opponent using different techniques and skills. And it is often debated which fighting style is the best for the MMA fighting style sport. It is also true that many champions of the MMA fighting style have specializations in one or two disciplines of the martial arts
However, there are many opinions regarding this particular topic and many firmly believe that an athlete should be able to perform well in all the disciplines involved in the martial arts. On the other hand, the second opinion (which we agree with) is that you need to train smarter rather than harder if you want to excel at the MMA fighting style.
This means that you need to be able to perform well in three basic fighting styles which are:
Sticking or Stand Up fighting
These involve being able to attack or strike your opponent and disciplines such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai or Karate teach this
The disciplines involved in these MMA fighting styles are mainly:
- Boxing
- Kickboxing
- Karate
- Muay Thai
These forms will help you improve as an athlete immensely and really contribute heavily to the MMA fighting style. So pull up your MMA gloves because learning attacking and striking skills as taught by these disciplines will allow you to:
1. Improve your Cardio
An improved cardio system will help you to feel healthier and improve your blood circulation. Cardio helps to increase your endurance and you are more likely to last any competition for longer.
2. Improve your Stamina
Imagine participating in a sport and you need to take intervals to catch your breath! You will be knocked down in no time! These disciplines help to increase your breathing threshold so you can perform at optimum level till the very end.
3. Help Build your Balance
Having a good balance is extremely important in the MMA fighting style because you need to be able to stand your ground in order to be able to grapple or knock down your opponent.
4. Improve your reflexes
It is commonly believed that in the MMA fighting style, one should be able to deliver punches or hit hard enough that the opponent falls down, however, having sharp reflexes is just as important if not more. Having sharp reflexes determines your ability to act without thinking; which not only shows how well you have anticipated your opponent’s next move but also shows that you have excellent mind and body coordination. This ability will definitely help you thrive in the MMA fighting style.
5. Work on your Stance
To be able to change your stance efficiently helps to determine how well you know your techniques and your skills. It is very important to keep changing your stance in the MMA fighting style; not only because it will keep your opponent alert but also because it will help you determine the safest distance from which you can deliver your moves.
6. Help Strengthen your Upper and Lower Body Muscles
Upper and lower body muscles are extremely important in the MMA fighting style; because they not only help you become stronger, allow you to punch and attack more efficiently but also because it helps to avoid serious muscle injuries.
Takedowns or Clinch Fighting
This means that an athlete should be able to lift, carry and take down their opponent efficiently and martial art disciplines such as Wrestling and Judo teach this
The disciplines that are mainly part of this fighting style are:
- Wrestling
- Judo
Again, no MMA fighting style can be complete without learning and excelling at the skills taught by such disciplines because they give you the advantage of exhibiting strength and domination over your opponent. Wrestling and Judo are the two types that will help you lift, carry and overthrow your opponents with ease. These will also help to:
1. Build Upper-Body Strength
Upper body strength is extremely important in the MMA fighting style because it helps you to excel and dominate your opponent easily. Imagine being weak and frail, in that case, you won’t be able to attack or hold your opponent with the kind of force required to win or excel.
2. Build Muscle Mass
Having big, strong, and well-defined muscles will help give you a very intimidating look which will help to make your opponent feel weak in the knees during the MMA fight style! Muscle mass also helps to exhibit even more strength and makes it difficult for your opponent to easily move you around.
3. Increase Endurance
Endurance simply means that you will have a good threshold against pain and that will help you keep focusing on the game rather than give in to any kind of aches and soreness. During the MMA fighting style, you can’t be bothered about any pain.
Ground Fighting/Grappling or Submissions
Finally, once on the ground, the opponent should be able to keep the opponent submitted so that they can’t escape easily. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu teaches such techniques
If an MMA fighting style athlete is able to perform these three fighting styles effectively then they can very easily excel at winning a match without any difficulty. Of course, these fighting techniques are not easy and require a lot of hard work and training, however, this also helps to narrow down and efficiently guide novice MMA fighting style athletes to train smartly and efficiently.
Let’s look into each fighting style and the respective disciplines to analyze how well it contributes to an individual’s performance in the combat sport of the MMA fighting style.
The discipline that is mainly associated with such fighting styles is
- The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Now imagine that you have successfully taken down your opponent, but now you have to keep them down and submit, for that you need to learn skills to keep them locked down and prevent them from escaping. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu however does not only teach you just that, it also teaches you the escaping techniques so that if you do ever find yourself in a situation where you are being held by an opponent, then you can easily work your way around that position to dominate your opponent.
Basically, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will not only teach you how to grapple your attacker but also teach you techniques to escape as well. So in order to really excel at the MMA fighting style, you need to be well equipped in both techniques; because you never know what position you end up in!
Learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will help you:
1. Help Create a Safe Distance from your Opponent
The BJJ does not only teach attacking techniques but also techniques that help you create a distance between yourself and your competitor. This helps you to buy time to analyze the game, give you time to reassemble your position, and also determine your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.
2. Help Exhibit Escaping Techniques
No matter how difficult it may seem to escape from under your opponent, the BJJ will help you learn about the human body and you will be able to alter your opponent’s formation to your advantage.
3. Help keep the opponent in a lockdown position
The BJJ will help to make it extremely difficult for your opponent to be able to escape successfully.
So pull up your MMA shorts and get ready to train like a professional MMA athlete with these disciplines!
Medical Disclaimer: All the content available on the website is just for informational purposes. It’s not a substitute for any Professional advice. Don’t take it personally. As a medical student, I’m just trying to use my information through my content, and please keep in mind it’s not written by a professional doctor. Use the data just for educational purposes.
Having completed my Bachelor’s degree in medicine and currently pursuing a house job at a well reputed hospital in California, I decided to utilize my spare time in sharing knowledge with others through my blog. Apart from my time spent in the medical field, I love to read fiction novels and go on long drives.