Best striking style to compliment BJJ for MMA?

[Paul Dion]

Hey, so here's my dilemma. I have been training in BJJ at Gracie Barra and absolutely love it. In the near future...maybe once I obtain a purple belt, I will look to add a striking art to get into MMA.

I have a local boxing gym 10 minutes from my house and I think there are a lot of options for me in my nearest city, Manchester. They have muay thai gyms and MMA gyms like Straight Blast.

So which of the two should I use for my offensive stand up? Muay thai gives a lot of great tools, but boxing gives a very focused skill with the hands, and you don't need 8 body parts to knock someone out... one shot can do it.

So...Muay Thai or Boxing?

Maybe even others like Karate, Krav Maga, JKD...etc.

So what do you recommend?

[Luke]

I'd go for Muay Thai, but it depends on what's available in your area.

[buddha Boy J]

You need both boxin and Thai! Basically Boxing will give you better striking skills but will leave you open to leg kicks and takedowns because you plant your front foot. So Thai will help you stay lighter on your toes, help with kicks and clinch work... all vital parts!

Dnt wait for your Purple Do it nooow!!!

[thaison]

if you can do both thai and boxing, if not then find a good thai gym

[GreekGod]

It seems as though Muay Thai & BJJ are the general consensus for MMA these days which ii am personally completelly opposed to..
IMHO go with what you have liked the look of, try it out and go with which suits you.


Btw... JKD is no style; In fact, it's some what similar to MMA.. though the concept was developed for self-protection on the street and originated earlier..






GG

[Paul Dion]

Well at my BJJ gym, they have MMA conditioning classes and JKD classes. So doing JKD would be ideal as it's at the same location and I would get discount for classes...but I really don't think JKD is good for MMA.

I am leaning towards doing boxing rather than muay thai because I'm only 5'9 and my legs aint that long...plus kicking doesn't feel natural to me.

[IranianWarMachine]

I like boxing most stoppages in mma are from overhand kos, and punches in general, a guy "getting caught" boxing limits that as well as a good boxing defense would be hard to deal with but being able to deal with leg kicks is a must. A good example of boxing in mma is how much maia improved since honing his hands, then obvious good boxers like dos santos able to ko a guy like yvel, due to his weaker defense, bj penn, fedor, arlovski.

[Paul Dion]

I like boxing most stoppages in mma are from overhand kos, and punches in general, a guy "getting caught" boxing limits that as well as a good boxing defense would be hard to deal with but being able to deal with leg kicks is a must. A good example of boxing in mma is how much maia improved since honing his hands, then obvious good boxers like dos santos able to ko a guy like yvel, due to his weaker defense, bj penn, fedor, arlovski.

So you think boxing is better than muay thai for learning a good stand-up defense in MMA? Hmmm... you got me thinking of the defensive aspect of stand-up now... maybe karate is one of the best for that...ala machida!

[Sengoku]

start off with muay thai if for mma

and then if possible find a boxing gym after a year or so

[thaison]

Well at my BJJ gym, they have MMA conditioning classes and JKD classes. So doing JKD would be ideal as it's at the same location and I would get discount for classes...but I really don't think JKD is good for MMA.

I am leaning towards doing boxing rather than muay thai because I'm only 5'9 and my legs aint that long...plus kicking doesn't feel natural to me.

Im 5ft 9 muay thai seems to work for me, infact 5ft9 would make you well above average height in thai.

In my experience thai boxers adapt quicker to mma than boxers (generalisation) but its what ive seen in gym/fights, id still suggest either training in both thai and boxing, of finding a good thai gym that produces good punchers,

Originally Posted by IranianWarMachine
I like boxing most stoppages in mma are from overhand kos, and punches in general, a guy "getting caught" boxing limits that as well as a good boxing defense would be hard to deal with but being able to deal with leg kicks is a must. A good example of boxing in mma is how much maia improved since honing his hands, then obvious good boxers like dos santos able to ko a guy like yvel, due to his weaker defense, bj penn, fedor, arlovski.

most ko's in Muay Thai also come from punches