What compliments boxing

FERGAL7

Hey guys I box at the moment and would like to get into mma when i have a good grappling background. I was thinking Judo would be the best way to go, getting a strong background in it and then starting BJJ when I go to college. A lot of guys say wrestling is the best way to go but in my opinion(correct me if im wrong) Judo is a better way to go :P it just seems a lot more about technique than brute strength, the throws seem like something that could be utilised excellently in the clinch and its not as common in mma to come across a judoka as a wrestler. plus it also has the submissions of BJJ. I understand BJJ places more emphasis on the ground game but with a strong backing in judo would I be right to assume BJJ would be easy to pick up?? A lot of people point out the lack of success of high level judokas in mma but i think one thing to note is alot of these guys come in with high level judo, but nothing else. One judoka who was well rounded was Fedor and we all know how successful he was. I trained Japanese jujitsu for a few months but travel arrangments put an end to that. So let me know what you think!!

arybvtcw0eolkf

If you had a background in judo I'd say yea give it a go, it'll take awhile to develope your take downs without the gi, but when you do people won't want to clinch with you.

Having said that you don't have a judo background, and it does have a steep learning curve and few (if any) judo clubs will train without the gi.

Another thing to consider if the new rules in judo forbid any leg grabs, which will hinder your MMA training massively.

Honestly without a judo background I'd say go with freestyle wrestling.

If you were just training BJJ then I'd say Judo has huge benefits to the BJJ'er.

There are high level MMA fighters out there with judo back grounds, and using a lot of judo but most people who have never trained judo won't recognize how throws are being set up with foot techniques/combinations so don't credit judo as part of the fighters game.

So my advice ~ wrestle.

FERGAL7

Jeffery Red Raid wrote: »

If you had a background in judo I'd say yea give it a go, it'll take awhile to develope your take downs without the gi, but when you do people won't want to clinch with you.

Having said that you don't have a judo background, and it does have a steep learning curve and few (if any) judo clubs will train without the gi.

Another thing to consider if the new rules in judo forbid any leg grabs, which will hinder your MMA training massively.

Honestly without a judo background I'd say go with freestyle wrestling.

If you were just training BJJ then I'd say Judo has huge benefits to the BJJ'er.

There are high level MMA fighters out there with judo back grounds, and using a lot of judo but most people who have never trained judo won't recognize how throws are being set up with foot techniques/combinations so don't credit judo as part of the fighters game.

So my advice ~ wrestle.

Thanks for all your advice you say there is a steep learning curve in judo. would i be right to assume comparing wrestling to judo is like comparing boxing to tae-kwon-do? in boxing there is only a handful of punches you will use which are learned early but after that a massive amount of time is spent perfecting the technique involved in delivering those punches effectively as where with TKD you are learning a large number of techniques the whole way through. so would wrestling be similiar to boxing in that sense and judo to TKD or any other traditional martial art??

arybvtcw0eolkf

I can't coach boxing, and I'm not a boxer so I can't compare too much.

However I've been asked to teach judo throws and I've tried to explain that teaching a throw is really difficult outside a judo environment as you'd really have to learn judo to use good judo techniques like the big hip and shoulder throws which everyone loves.

Its like asking a boxing coach to ONLY teach sucker punches, and ignore the other stuff which goes into making boxing a beautiful fighting style.

I will say if you're a quick learner, and people coming from a martial arts background 'tend to learn another style quicker (in my experience) and you train hard at a good judo club, I'm talking about a club which trains 50/50 standing & ground and with some middle to high level competitors you will use some judo effectively in MMA (at least in a club/sparring session).

My biggest difficulty was finding my grips off the gi, but Paul Cowzer is a patient and good coach and by working on on my grips, and combining them with some wrestling I believe I've pretty decent take downs from the clinch.

Where are you Fergal?.

FERGAL7

Well I live in Leitrim and the nearest Judo club is about an hour away in Cavan unless there are any clubs in the north that I'm not aware of.

cowzerp

FERGAL7 wrote: »

Well I live in Leitrim and the nearest Judo club is about an hour away in Cavan unless there are any clubs in the north that I'm not aware of.

Judo is great at elite level but to become elite at Judo will take years and lot's of dedication, Wrestling at a lower level will be easier to learn and to use straight away

What I'd recommend is just go to an MMA club and they will work your grappling, most will do bits of Judo, BJJ and Freestyle and Greco roman wrestling as part of their game.

At the end of the day if you want to get good at MMA, Train MMA.

tadix

MMA has moved on a lot from the days when it was a guy with a boxing and jiu jitsu background vs a kickboxer/wrestler.The guys who are rising to the top now are mostly training MMA from the get go ,so I'd recommend starting MMA now as its a martial art in its own right at this stage.
Of course training say MMA and BJJ or MMA and Boxing at the same time is very benificial but it can be confusing at the start so Its probably best just to train MMA on its own for the first year or to.Good luck all the same

arybvtcw0eolkf

tadix wrote: »

MMA has moved on a lot from the days when it was a guy with a boxing and jiu jitsu background vs a kickboxer/wrestler.The guys who are rising to the top now are mostly training MMA from the get go ,so I'd recommend starting MMA now as its a martial art in its own right at this stage.
Of course training say MMA and BJJ or MMA and Boxing at the same time is very benificial but it can be confusing at the start so Its probably best just to train MMA on its own for the first year or to.Good luck all the same

I'd pretty much agree with this.

Jason McCabe

If you want to do MMA then train MMA


Federer didn't do table tennis and badminton to get better at his tennis

If its a choice between wrestling and judo for MMA there is no debate. Wrestling has been proven to be much more effective