Thinking about switching to mma class only - good or bad idea?

[Chris Fong]

I currently only have time to train twice per week. I've got about a year of nogi jiu jitsu experience. I'd like to become a well-rounded fighter (my striking experience is 0). I'm thinking about switching to an mma class instead of just straight jiu jitsu. Since I only have time to train twice per week, I figure it'd be difficult to make any progress in either discipline if I did 1 day of striking and 1 day of jiu jitsu, and in an mma class, I'd get to do both at the same time.

Is this a good or bad idea? Anyone have any experience or knowledge they can share about effectiveness, progression, and efficiency from taking mma classes instead of specialized striking and jiu jitsu classes?

[Charlemange August K.]

If you want to fight, do MMA, but if you really want to fight you are going to have to train more than twice a week.

[Jeremy Gates]

If I were u I would do 1 day striking 1 day grappling as 1 day mma but it sounds like your schedule won't allow you 3 days. It doesn't sound like a good idea for you to abandon the actual disciplined class just for mma. Your striking ad grappling would be a lot stronger of you stayed in the classes

[David Rosado]

What's your intention for wanting to pick up striking? To actually fight or for self defense?

IMO it's better to be good at one thing than sub par at 2 things.

[Mike Matthews]

Does your gym schedule offer jits & MMA back to back? I ask b/c at the gym I attend we have adult no-gi then MMA right after, so I can do an hour of jits followed by an hour of MMA all in the same night if I want. Is that a option for you? If you can do both back to back twice a week your cardio will go up alot.

[Chris Fong]

I don't have any plans to fight mma. I'm really just looking to be more rounded for self defense. The gym I'd be training at offers mma, muy thai, and bjj on different days during the timeslot I'd be able to train. So my options are 2 days of bjj, 2 days of muy thai, 2 days of mma, or 1 day each of 2 of those 3.

[Ron Almeida]

grappling takes many many years to be proficient at it. (thousands of techniques)

striking takes very little time at all to get proficient. (a hand full of techniques)

i would spend most my time grappling, maybe do twice a week for a couple weeks and then do 2 days of mma and then back to grappling, something like that, mix it up, but mostly grappling

when you learn the striking techniques you can practice at home on a bag

good luck

[Jason Koh]

From my experience, striking is much more easier to master than grappling. Just pick one and train it for a long time. Since you already have 1 year training of grappling, you should do 1 year of striking and then back to grappling. Then it will be much better to do MMA classes since you have experience in both aspects.