The gym I work for is a bjj school with heavy MMA influence, If someone is trying to learn how to strike I will usually outsource them to my boxing coach, but we do work striking with the members that have MMA ambitions. Pretty much all of our sparring is MMA sparing. Even with 16oz gloves and head gear its rare that we don't incorporate wrestling into the sparring as well, so obviously my "striking style" is pretty well suited for MMA.
My biggest pet peeve is guys that come to our school that already have striking experience and say things like "I just want to learn enough to be safe on the ground" or "I just need to know how to defend subs and stand back up" Really silly to sell yourself short like that, not to mention you don't get good at defensive grappling by only drilling defensive techniques.
MT I believe is the hardest of all the striking arts to employ effectively in MMA, everything from the stance, to the small step footwork, to the clinch make MT techniques easy to exploit with wrestling if you are not already experienced in wrestling yourself.
TKD/Karate to me are suited well for MMA. The in and out foot work, and the more "long range" foot work make these styles effective for warding off clinch entries/takedowns. These styles also place emphasis on scoring without being scored on, and rely more on evasion than anything else for defense which is a plus for MMA with those little ass gloves.
Boxing is probably the most practical striking art for MMA IMO. The head movement you learn in boxing makes transitioning from striking to grappling seamless. Not to mention possessing a high volume, energy efficient striking weapon like boxing should be a no brainer for MMA fighters, even though there are other options available.
My biggest pet peeve is guys that come to our school that already have striking experience and say things like "I just want to learn enough to be safe on the ground" or "I just need to know how to defend subs and stand back up" Really silly to sell yourself short like that, not to mention you don't get good at defensive grappling by only drilling defensive techniques.
MT I believe is the hardest of all the striking arts to employ effectively in MMA, everything from the stance, to the small step footwork, to the clinch make MT techniques easy to exploit with wrestling if you are not already experienced in wrestling yourself.
TKD/Karate to me are suited well for MMA. The in and out foot work, and the more "long range" foot work make these styles effective for warding off clinch entries/takedowns. These styles also place emphasis on scoring without being scored on, and rely more on evasion than anything else for defense which is a plus for MMA with those little ass gloves.
Boxing is probably the most practical striking art for MMA IMO. The head movement you learn in boxing makes transitioning from striking to grappling seamless. Not to mention possessing a high volume, energy efficient striking weapon like boxing should be a no brainer for MMA fighters, even though there are other options available.
