best striking base for mma

[FStep]

sorry if this has been posted before i couldn't find anything in the search ... anyway i've been wrestling for about 11 years, bjj for 4, judo for about 7 months so i consider myself a good grappler now ... i'm looking to get into mma but the only striking i've ever done was karate when i was a kid (reason being i had a job where i couldn't afford to have my face banged up) so now that i'm done with it i'm looking to pick up on some striking art that will allow me to keep the fight standing long enough to take the guy down

so my question is what is the best striking art for this (i'm not looking to turn into a liddel type fighter, grappling is my strength and i want to keep it that way i just want a base for defensive purposes and since i wanna start competing very soon it shouldn't be something that takes a long time to pick up like bjj for example)

 

[The Gubbinz]

You'll probably be told Muay Thai. Thats a staple of the diet.
I've never seen guys like Matt Hughes throw kicks though, so maybe just boxing would be cool.

 

[Jaxx]

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=305581&highlight=MMA+striking

 

[zenshin]

modified Thai boxing knees, elbows and hands

 

[OpethDrums]

what strike is thrown most in mma?

 

[peregrine]

muay thai with some good boxing lessons both styles need to be modified for mma

 

[Marvin Covar]

muay thai for kicks, knees, and elbows. boxing for footwork, punches and head movement, parries, etc.

 

[CowboyPete]

muay thai for kicks, knees, and elbows. boxing for footwork, punches and head movement, parries, etc.

Bingo. The Thai boxing is necessary for defense against kicks and knees and such. The boxing will make your standup positioning and overall effectiveness much better.