Deciding on an art: MMA or Karate

[BigJohn1795]

I've decided to get back into martial arts. I did karate for several years and did good in it or at least goof enough to keep training. I stopped due to scheduling conflict. Also I got burnt out with it.

I've met the local MMA coach and his team and I love them. Great people and great coaching. They haven't had to many fighters come out of there yet but the one they did have until he moved is 4-0 amateur. The MMA gym has only been open a few years and they're not as big as their parent gym south of them so more fighters go there. The parent gym is open more (day and night) and so forth. The MMA I'm talking about, the new one, is fully capable of producing fighters. The have equipment and coaching to get it done.

I'll fill you in on what both offers below. I'm not sure which to join. I want to join both but I can't for money and time conflict. I eventually want to fight in MMA too along with do some kickboxing (both IKF style and like amateur MMA, you know without head gear)

Both gyms (karate and MMA) are good.

Both gyms cost the same ($90/month)

MMA gym offers free belt testing for Gi BJJ

Karate charges for a belt testing fee

Both are the same schedule for me (4 days a week and 1-3 hours per day)

MMA gym offers BJJ (Gi and no Gi) with Thiaboxing

Karate is just karate

And here is the TWO major conflicts. MMA is an hour away right now while college is on break. During the semesters is actoss the street (literally) and so that's no issue. Karate is only 16miles from my house and roughly half the distance of MMA.

Karate has tournaments throughout the year with other schools across the state and a nationals outta state and a world championship outta state.
MMA has only BJJ competitions they go to outside of amateur fighting in the cage or kick boxing. There are NO MMA Smoker Events and NO Kickboxing IKF Style. I've asked promoters and such and they just laugh or won't reply to my emails and phone calls. My state boxing/wrestling commission can be a joke when it comes to that kinda thing. They view anything outside of full on amateur MMA /Boxing/Kickboxing as "street fights" and don't appreciate it going on.

So karate is closer and has more competition. Pass that they're neck and neck. I want to finish up Karate and get my black belt (4 years or so) but in 4 years I could fight probably 3x or so between MMA and Kickboxing.

Any and all feedback is welcomed.

 

[flikerstance]

i didnt eead the whole post but mma is a no brainer youll get more out of it even if they are basic karate has died sadly i have many karate friends who fought in 70s 80s they hate it today they dont train like fighters its very watered down due to kids being wimps nowadays so id stick with mma at least youll be training how to really fight and getting more than just one style

 

[flikerstance]

also im about to start throwing tournaments in missisisppi bjj tournaments but also amateur mma i wana do something alot like sambo or kudo for kids and adults who want to do mma one day as long as you have head gear it is legal and shin guards mma gloves its great stepping stone for getting into the cage for guys and kids who want to fight one day

 

[BigJohn1795]

You're right on it being watered down. My former karate and who I'd be going back to fought in the 80's and such. I'd love some Kudo type fighting. Let the rookies get out there Andy glorify spar. Maybe sell tickets for like school fundraisers. I wish we could bring back smokers and such. There's a gym in Marshall that does it every few months or so. It's essentially open mat sparring the public could watch.

 

[MadSquabbles500]

Just do MMA. It will be more useful.

 

[j123]

Most MMA gyms these days don't let new fighters jump straight into it, they usually have you compete in kickboxing/muay thai, and BJJ tourneys before you transition into MMA. So with that said, you'll probably get some striking fights/exhibitions. The ratio will depend on the gym if they're more striker or grappling oriented.

My case, local sanctioned fights weren't available, so we headed down to the states to fight. Similarly, it would apply to you as well, if the coach wants to get the team for fights, you'd end up going to other states or places where you could.

 

[CFGroup]

What is the Karate lineage?

There are jems of good Asian MA in the states, but you know it right away and in that case it would be a no brainer to ditch the MMA for real body mechanics training.

After even a couple of years of the fundamentals with people that know both old school attention to detail and the modern physical training advancements will lay down a foundation you can solidify before transitioning to MMA.

 

[BigJohn1795]

Most MMA gyms these days don't let new fighters jump straight into it, they usually have you compete in kickboxing/muay thai, and BJJ tourneys before you transition into MMA. So with that said, you'll probably get some striking fights/exhibitions. The ratio will depend on the gym if they're more striker or grappling oriented.

My case, local sanctioned fights weren't available, so we headed down to the states to fight. Similarly, it would apply to you as well, if the coach wants to get the team for fights, you'd end up going to other states or places where you could.

They're more BJJ oriented. The head coach is mostly BJJ and helps ciaxh striking but hired others to teach it and they compete in several BJJ tournaments through the calendar year across the southern area from Dallas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and some as far as Alabama. So there will definitely be a lot of opportunities there.

 

[BigJohn1795]

What is the Karate lineage?

There are jems of good Asian MA in the states, but you know it right away and in that case it would be a no brainer to ditch the MMA for real body mechanics training.

After even a couple of years of the fundamentals with people that know both old school attention to detail and the modern physical training advancements will lay down a foundation you can solidify before transitioning to MMA.

Jhoon Ree taught Atlee Chittim who taught Robert Trias who taught the guys who taught me. It's technically TKD but we hated calling it that because everyone would associate it with the schools that popped up in the 70's and 80's and didn't teach anything good. I believe it's Chung Doo Kwon which has been fun and effective but tournaments have gotten watered down. It's the USKA. Some of our members in the big national organization of different schools (that aren't necessarily in the Chittim Line) have gone on to be apart of the summer 2020 Olympics. Others from our area that would come by our school from time to time have fought once or twice in actual MMA and did okay for local amateur stuff. It's definitely a respectable school and I loved being there. I learned stuff from it that will eventually help my branch over to MMA or Thia Boxing.

 

[CFGroup]

Jhoon Ree taught Atlee Chittim who taught Robert Trias who taught the guys who taught me. It's technically TKD but we hated calling it that because everyone would associate it with the schools that popped up in the 70's and 80's and didn't teach anything good. I believe it's Chung Doo Kwon which has been fun and effective but tournaments have gotten watered down. It's the USKA. Some of our members in the big national organization of different schools (that aren't necessarily in the Chittim Line) have gone on to be apart of the summer 2020 Olympics. Others from our area that would come by our school from time to time have fought once or twice in actual MMA and did okay for local amateur stuff. It's definitely a respectable school and I loved being there. I learned stuff from it that will eventually help my branch over to MMA or Thia Boxing.

Man that's solid lineage! Super cool!

I don't think any MMA is going to teach you focused high level technique like that.

Our old Sah Bun Nim Master Jin was one of those quite relative unknown masters who never was good at promoting himself before the internet but Bruce is representative of Master Jin's lineage in the New England region who fights MMA. All our older team scattered after
I moved out of the area and years went by.

Bruce competed on the world level before transitioning to MMA, so that's the kind of technical training I'm sure you'd find sticking with that resource near you. At least train up for your Il Dan, taking the 6 months of intensive camp can never be replicated in all the other belt promotions...It's just a whole other level...You're lucky to have great choices like that near you.

 

[BigJohn1795]

Man that's solid lineage! Super cool!

I don't think any MMA is going to teach you focused high level technique like that.

Our old Sah Bun Nim Master Jin was one of those quite relative unknown masters who never was good at promoting himself before the internet but Bruce is representative of Master Jin's lineage in the New England region who fights MMA. All our older team scattered after
I moved out of the area and years went by.

Bruce competed on the world level before transitioning to MMA, so that's the kind of technical training I'm sure you'd find sticking with that resource near you. At least train up for your Il Dan, taking the 6 months of intensive camp can never be replicated in all the other belt promotions...It's just a whole other level...You're lucky to have great choices like that near you.

I loved it. It was good solid stuff no doubt. There's aspects of it that Muay Thia won't teach me personally but that's fine. I like the Thia teep but I perfer the front thrust kick and snap kick of karate for self defense. Also that thrust kick is what we use in my volunteer fire department to kick in doors. Haha we rarely do that though. I do perfer the forward Thia stance for fighting BUT there have been good Thia fighters who stood side ways or at least more than normal. I think a Bruce Lee mindset will be best for me transitioning from Karate to MMA. You know make useful what is my own. And keep an open mind.

 

[BigJohn1795]

I could go to the Karate school and learn good stand up which would work in the cage but there's a few problems with that.
First is there would be no ground training. No grappling or submissions. That's a big deal in MMA. If I could get Judo or Wrestling that could be good trade for BJJ but there isn't any. It's just Karate.
The next struggle would be no management. That means I wouldn't know when I'd be fully ready to go from sparring and exhibits to actual MMA. My karate teacher knows about it but he also isn't an MMA coach so he's not as geared to management like the MMA coaches.

I could go to karate then just the No Gi Submissions and Kickboxing on Saturdays at the MMA gym for $10 but in a month thats almost half the price of a membership.

 

[flikerstance]

bjj and boxing tourneys are better than nothing to get experience but im telling you mma is a big difference when your in a cage and everything goes i wish sambo was big here i cant wait to start doing these amateur fights hopefully it takes off for people

 

[BigJohn1795]

bjj and boxing tourneys are better than nothing to get experience but im telling you mma is a big difference when your in a cage and everything goes i wish sambo was big here i cant wait to start doing these amateur fights hopefully it takes off for people

I actually looked at boxing through USA because they have them a lot up here in North Louisiana. Just need to get the book. I may do that too. It'll help me practice my punching before I get in the cage. I'm gonna spar as much as possible. Sparring/Rolling along with Bag work will be my two main things because they offer so much to make fighters better.

 

[Tayski]

You should edit the thread title, MMA is not an art.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Its time to move on. MMA is all about being well rounded nowadays. And MMA is completely different than karate. Kickboxing and BJJ matches are way different than MMA but it will help you get prepared for sure. You dont exactly need an MMA smoker rules if you also train MMA. But if you were to just train bjj and kickboxing and then go to MMA it would be a tough transition.

 

[Ilk]

It really depends. In Eastern Europe we still have some good karate schools which make their fighters tough and strong. My cousin did karate for many years and was a badass for real. He almost killed a robber with a punch making him a brain trauma. He had to even leave the country to escape prison time until the case was settled. However now he is 38 and has not trained for a long time and he has no technique. He was just a strong horse that can take a beating and beat hard too. I will always question Karate technique due that anectodical example.

I also have a friend who is a black belt karate and we have sparred when I had knees injured and barelly moving and he was not threatening at all. Maybe he was protecting me, but if I was able to move and explode I would have def dominate him as he did lot of bullshit hits with rotations and leaving himself exposed and not ballanced.

 

[Vil7]

I just have to say that $90 a month is really a fantastic price for a monthly membership. It's pretty cool they have the free bjj belt testing as well.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

are you a good kicker? if so it might be time to do some boxing. Having good hands will open up your kicks in a big way.

 

[BigJohn1795]

I just have to say that $90 a month is really a fantastic price for a monthly membership. It's pretty cool they have the free bjj belt testing as well.

It really is. Typically it costs more cause the fitness center membership where they're at is included but going to college I opted out to use our center on campus. Also come see with 1 free Gi.