First gym: boxing or mma?

[SocialJusticeFighter]

I'm an adult with no experience in any martial arts or wrestling. I want to start training to (maybe) in the very long run compete in amateur MMA.

I've heard however it can be better just to start with one style as a base then expand to others, so would you guys recommend joining a boxing gym and training there for a while first (open to other starting style suggestions as well) or just jumping right into a MMA gym and learning multiple styles at once?

Thanks guys any tips for a new guy not particularly fit with no experience is much appreciated. I am in pretty good shape with good cardiovascular, just not ripped

 

[Stillw1ll]

The days of starting with one base are beginning to wind down these days now that MMA is such a widespread thing. If you want to compete in MMA, go to an MMA gym.

Although, supplementing that with boxing would do wonders for your stand up game.

 

[Reyesnuthugr]

If Conor is your hero and you like his style, then go into boxing.

My thinking is this: if you go into boxing it will really pay off when you get into MMA and it will FEEL (and look) great. That's what you want, right? That's what everyone wants.

If you go into MMA, it wont help your boxing at all, and there's a chance you'll never take boxing. If you do go into boxing later, it will probably be because you found your MMA wasn't improving like you hoped it would and kinda would feel like you wasted time/$ (very common sentiment for those who go into MMA without any kind of base, from what I've seen).

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When you go, don't kid yourself. Neither is easy, and no one just finds out they're great at fighting right out the gate without any prior experience. You can see it on the faces of the all the hopefuls that come into the gym, but it just doesn't work that way- that's like finding you're an expert racecar driver without ever having touched a steering wheel. Even experts have to concentrate and calculate on what they're doing, and they can't concentrate if they aren't very familiar with knowing exactly what to do.

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Your cardo will help a little, but not nearly as much as you'd want it to. It's like owning a tuxedo doesn't make you a classical ballroom dancer, but it sure does help to already have pants.



Do you have any concerns about starting? I think there might be some good tips for your situation if you let us know what those are (only as detailed as you want us to know, but the more detailed the more accurately we can suggest)

 

[Popsaregood230]

I'd start with boxing. Because I like boxing, and because I'm a boxer.

 

[ItsTimeToShrekYouUp]

Try both figure out what you like.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

boxing if you want to get beat up, mma if you want to roll around with men

 

[Borass]

If you live in Ireland, i would say boxing. Mma gym with quality is hard to find in Europe... Gym quality prevails on your choice...

 

[PCP319]

I'm new to actually training combat sports in general in a gym, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I want to compete in boxing before eventually doing MMA. As someone else said, boxing will help you with your MMA standup game, but MMA won't help you in boxing. Boxing helps both. Also, you're never guaranteed to go to the ground, but you're guaranteed to always start standing up.

Look at all the top MMA guys. Most of them are solid strikers. Many have a strong boxing background. Lack of boxing skills is why Rousey thankfully got KTFO.

 

[Hotora86]

Visit both gyms, pick the one with more competent coaches, decent sparring partners and overall better feel.