Wrestling or BJJ for Muay thai

[j123]

For some reason a lot people seem to think that clinch fighting and kicking goes together with spending a lot of time on guard, simply because a fair number of fighters happened to do so.

Personally, i think they go together like oil and water.

Not really its MT 101, you fight on the outside, then when they breach range, you tie up

 

[rmongler]

Not really its MT 101, you fight on the outside, then when they breach range, you tie up

Yeah, meaning, wrestling.

 

[j123]

Yeah, meaning, wrestling.

I guess, but its clinch fighting, a different type, but not as oil and water that you mentioned.

If it was we'd all be lost as soon as it gets to that range, but most aren't. Personally I've been drilled that since day 1 and I'm not lost, if anything its good, quite a few don't actually don't know how to deal with MT clinching and it ends up bad for them. That goes beyond myself, people who know how to thai clinch do well in that scenario, I guess its people don't know how to address getting hit while clinching and it messed with their game big time.

 

[rmongler]

I guess, but its clinch fighting, a different type, but not as oil and water that you mentioned.

I think you might have misread the first statement.

 

[dsdoubled]

I guess, but its clinch fighting, a different type, but not as oil and water that you mentioned.

If it was we'd all be lost as soon as it gets to that range, but most aren't. Personally I've been drilled that since day 1 and I'm not lost, if anything its good, quite a few don't actually don't know how to deal with MT clinching and it ends up bad for them. That goes beyond myself, people who know how to thai clinch do well in that scenario, I guess its people don't know how to address getting hit while clinching and it messed with their game big time.

One thing I found interesting, when Kevin Ross was on Rogan's podcast he talked about wrestling and MT from when he was gonna get into MMA. He said he did surprisingly well in Greco type wrestling situations. Is this common? I mean, I guess it makes sense. A well trained, strong, conditioned fighter well versed in clinch fighting can transfer that to a related realm. But in my experience a wrestlers strength and a strikers strength are quite different in application.

 

[dmwalking]

Depends on your preference.

 

[j123]

One thing I found interesting, when Kevin Ross was on Rogan's podcast he talked about wrestling and MT from when he was gonna get into MMA. He said he did surprisingly well in Greco type wrestling situations. Is this common? I mean, I guess it makes sense. A well trained, strong, conditioned fighter well versed in clinch fighting can transfer that to a related realm. But in my experience a wrestlers strength and a strikers strength are quite different in application.

The strengths are different as you've said.

At the end of the day clinching is grappling, although MT has it, its not a striking thing, its grappling, but a slight variant. Overall the same principles apply. Catch a kick to dump is the same principles as a knee tap double. When clinching you "feel" when they're light, not based out, and use that to time your sweep/turns or whatever.

Tosses from bodylock is common as well.

 

[cakemuncher]

For MMA you need to train everything and there is no way around it.

I'd personally focus more on BJJ and add a wrestling class here and then.

 

[Slatersan]

Id do bjj. Any legit bjj school youre gonna learn takedowns and takedown defense, enough to get you by at least. Bjj has so much stuff to learn that its literally endless knowledge. If you do happened to get taken down youll know what to do. Theres this huge misbelief that bjj guys are these skinny weak royce gracie types but go check out se bjj comps and youll see alot of these dudes are strong amd have great wrestling. Alot of the bjj guys go against high level wrestlers that switched to bjj and do just fine with them.

 

[rmongler]

Id do bjj. Any legit bjj school youre gonna learn takedowns and takedown defense, enough to get you by at least.

It's not about how many different things you train, it's about how much you train at things.

Bjj has so much stuff to learn that its literally endless knowledge. If you do happened to get taken down youll know what to do.

Ahh, the old 'bjj just means grappling in general' equivocation; one day it's 'bjj isn't weak at [X] because you can train [X] in bjj too which makes bjj just as good if not better for [Y] as [Z] is', then the next day it's back to thinking '...and thats why pulling guard is a winning strategy in MMA'.

Does it seem like there's a logical disconnect between these two statements? Like someone taking one word and using it with two or more different connotations then conflating it back together together at the end? It's because there is. Do you part to help fight schizophrenia today.

Theres this huge misbelief that bjj guys are these skinny weak royce gracie types but go check out se bjj comps*

*check out the top 1% bjj comps.

and youll see alot of these dudes are strong amd have great wrestling.

Against other bjj players.

Alot of the bjj guys go against high level wrestlers that switched to bjj and do just fine with them...

...in IBJJF rules competitions, which their counterparts are also specing their training around.


To give you a direct answer to your question OP, Muay Thai is a fine choice for MMA, and works very fine with a good focus on being strong in the clinch, especially wrt balancing (both balancing yourself, and unbalancing your opponent). A gym with training partners who have strong wrestling and/or coaches proficient in the field can greatly help in these areas.

 

[ArtemV]

I would say both, but if you only have one choice, then go BJJ. If you're gonna kick a lot, you had better be used to getting bull rushed to your back.