It frustrates me to watch jiu jitsu guys lose in mma, which raises a question

[Seymour Green]

Watched a bit of mma recently and it really dissappoints me to watch technically excellent jiu jitsu guys not being able to get the fight to the floor or not being able to keep it there. This has made me think, if someone wants to enter mma which is the best combination of style, and in which order is most important. Wrestling/JiuJitsu/kickboxing, Kickboxing/Jiu Jitsu/Wrestling, Muay Thai/Jiu Jitsu? What do you think ?
Personally I think a good combination would be high level Wrestling then club level Thai with high level jiu jitsu. I realise its difficult to get to be a high level at each discipline and a lot will depend on the fighter. It seems to me some fighters neglect the wrestling element.

[sean applegate]

People need to round out. There are so many variables in mma though.

[Cora Sek]

This is why MMA is the most challenging of all hand to hand combat sports. You have to know everything. But knowing everything is one part, you have to be fit. And of course even with all of that, you need lady luck also. Luck not to get injured during practice, luck that you don't run into a punch or kick. Sometimes even if you are fit and know it all. One punch or one choke can end your night fast. Case in point, I was watch GSP vs Condit....GSP dominate most of the fight, but got dropped with a kick he didn't see. That almost ended his night, but luckily he was able to recover.

[DylanDoolittle]

Let's all just aim for flawless no gi jits, flawless wrestling, and flawless striking. Instead of being happy with "decent" anything, Eh?

[Javier]

If you strength is on the ground, you need either:

- high level takedowns. Everyone is working their takedown defense, so mediocre isn't going to cut it.

or

- your striking has to be good enough that people would rather take their chances on the ground.

Obviously, you want to be good at as much as you can, but there's only so many hours in the day, so it's good to find arts that have some synergy. If you are going to do Wrestling for takedowns, Boxing should probably be your primary striking art. If you are doing Judo/Sambo, Mauy Thai pairs up well.

[Cora Sek]

or you can just do the 3 stooges finger to the eyes follow by a Bruce Lee kick to the nutt sack and call it a day...;0

[miketubbs]

I would take either boxing or preferably a dutch style kickboxing over thai style. Thai style is typically to stationary. Many of the high livel jiu jitsu guys don't have good enough wrestling and/or jiu jitsu when striking is involved.

[Chris Garry]

It seems wrestlers have a more built in work ethic. I think this counts for a lot.

[HerbChao]

In my experience (observing from the UFC and other friends who compete) is that wrestling is the base of MMA, but I've noticed that it takes alot of wrestlers/grapplers a long time to get comfortable with their kicks (Phil Davis and Demian Maia seem to finally have some timing down), whereas I've seen alot of strikers start to develop a good jitsui game within a couple years. So it's a tradeoff-you might be a Div I wrestler with heavy hands and ok jitsui (Ryan Bader), an incredible jitsui guy and great wrestler but subpar striking (Jake Shields) a kickboxer with ok jitsui and subpar/par wrestling (Dan Hardy) rarely do you see someone truely well rounded (Jon Jones, Overeem, and both of them really started as MMA all at the same time although in Jones case he did wrestle in high school and college but he was already practicing striking and jitsui from youtube).


So no clear cut answer, it comes down to what your strengthes are what do u want to be as a fighter (or hobby of the sport) and how much time u have to train.

[Paul Hughes]

just from watching the sport for a long time, it seems to me wrestling is the best base for mma. a strong wrestler can always revert to their insticts if they are getting fucked up on the feet. Nowadays in mma though you have to be not just good but very good in all areas. take GSP vs Shields for example. Shields is a HIGH LEVEL jiu jitsu black belt and NCAA div 1 wrestler (i think), but he couldn't use it against GSP because his striking isn't at a level where his takedowns are effective against a guy like GSP.

How many times have we seen high level jits guys that cant get the fight to the ground and keep it there. I also think this is because there isn't alot of guys who are dangerous from the guard. If you have a guard that people are scared of like Aoki, or if Eddie was involved in MMA, no-one would want to go to the ground with them. So if Aoki had serious striking ability that kind of would negate his potential inability to wrestle.

There is no correct combo for what's the best skill set to have in MMA, you have to be good at all of it, in my opinion.