Member-only story
Which martial art would be the best to master if one wants to compete in MMA tournaments?
Nowadays, you can find MMA gyms that have some form of striking, usually Muay Thai and grappling classes that are usually Brazilian Jiu-jitsu or wrestling. There was a time when it was considered wise to have a base in an art, then build off of that but as the sport has grown, the term “well-rounded” is thrown around a lot which pretty much means fighters train to be goo everywhere.
It’s weird to say but in mixing all the martial arts like boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu it seems almost like a new martial art was created and it’s called, “mixed martial arts.”
There can be a downside to that though. “Jack of all trades, master of none”, is another saying thrown around by the guys that have put years into a system and see all these fighters training in everything. It works, but then there are some occasions where one “well-rounded” fighter faces someone who has mastered a system that they’ve competed in, won multiple world titles in and switched over to mixed martial arts.
Guys like Demian Maia, who are specialists in a martial art and have found a way to impose it successfully on their opponents. Maia is the example from Brazilian Jiu-jitsu but for striking, Raymond Daniels comes to mind. He’s fought a lot in GLORY and fought not…
