Boxing > MMA tonight

[DeJulez]

Haha you said you’d use that clip! Didn’t waste any time! The spinning heel kick he tried was even more comical

Ive used it about 3 or 4 times the last couple days.
Its one of the greatest gifs ever made.

 

[Sir Punchalot]

My fights go, I hit them and its over. Maybe you wee lads need to come to America and get some muscles on your skinny asses so you dont get thrown around.

Loving your posts on street fighting. Funny stuff, seriously.

 

[Sir Punchalot]

Yet when I worked the doors, most of the guys I worked with were boxers (a few MT practitioners as well), and all big guys. And far more often than not 1 or 2 punches ended any fight. People seem to either forget, or not realise how much harder boxers hit than everyone else.

Yeah, a lot of people don't seem to get that boxing is GREAT for street fighting / self defense, for a variety of reasons (timing, footwork, distance, proper punching, reflexes, head movement, getting used to taking shots, conditioning etc). I was a bit of a hothead in my youth and experienced first hand, several times, how effective boxing can be. It did more for me than perhaps anything else (with years of training, mind you, and eventually 39 fights in the amateurs). A few times a street fight would honestly feel a bit like a joke, like I hadn't been in a real fight at all, because an untrained opponent would be so fucking slow compared to what I was used to with my sparring partners etc that I almost feel like I'd cheated. Like my adrenaline had been pumping like crazy (it usually did) for... nothing. And I've known plenty of boxers who said the same thing.

By itself, though, boxing is just highly incomplete. To argue that boxing prepares you better for the street than MMA does, with enough proper training in both, would be beyond ridiculous. For me, it was only after I also started training BJJ in the mid nineties that I really felt confident that I would not get my ass kicked in a one on one confrontation. Because I always knew that boxing, as well as the traditional martial arts that I'd trained, would do fuck all for me if the fight ended up on the ground, and fights obviously often did. Boxing does work very well when you're standing across from someone with enough distance between you, but fights don't always start like that, and they very often don't end like that either.

That said, I still find myself telling people to start in boxing, at a good gym and with a good coach (which can be hard to find, admittedly). Just focus on that one thing for a while (which is of course more than enough). Then, only when they've got some basic skills down (which probably takes a couple of years, if they're still doing it - most people obviously won't be), start adding in the other stuff. It's a much better way to go than starting everything at once, like a lot of people are doing these days. Real focus is so incredibly important, whatever you're trying to achieve some level of skill or success in. And the problem with a lot of MMA gyms is that they try to teach too many things at once. That's a terrible approach IMO, and I say that after some 33 years of doing all this fighting stuff. Ideally, people should start with one thing. And I recommend that one thing be boxing. Two years seems like a terribly long time for a fifteen year old kid who's getting into fights, though, so a bit of a compromise with some BJJ or wrestling training here and there might be the way to go. And learning enough BJJ for it to make a meaningful difference in your ability to defend yourself does NOT require a big time investment anyway. Far from it.

Whatever they do, they might of course still get shot or stabbed or jumped by eight guys when they're all alone. Life sucks.

 

[Jonny Ninja]

Yeah, a lot of people don't seem to get that boxing is GREAT for street fighting / self defense, for a variety of reasons (timing, footwork, distance, proper punching, reflexes, head movement, getting used to taking shots, conditioning etc). I was a bit of a hothead in my youth and experienced first hand, several times, how effective boxing can be. It did more for me than perhaps anything else (with years of training, mind you, and eventually 39 fights in the amateurs). A few times a street fight would honestly feel a bit like a joke, like I hadn't been in a real fight at all, because an untrained opponent would be so fucking slow compared to what I was used to with my sparring partners etc that I almost feel like I'd cheated. Like my adrenaline had been pumping like crazy (it usually did) for... nothing. And I've known plenty of boxers who said the same thing.

By itself, though, boxing is just highly incomplete. To argue that boxing prepares you better for the street than MMA does, with enough proper training in both, would be beyond ridiculous. For me, it was only after I also started training BJJ in the mid nineties that I really felt confident that I would not get my ass kicked in a one on one confrontation. Because I always knew that boxing, as well as the traditional martial arts that I'd trained, would do fuck all for me if the fight ended up on the ground, and fights obviously often did. Boxing does work very well when you're standing across from someone with enough distance between you, but fights don't always start like that, and they very often don't end like that either.

That said, I still find myself telling people to start in boxing, at a good gym and with a good coach (which can be hard to find, admittedly). Just focus on that one thing for a while (which is of course more than enough). Then, only when they've got some basic skills down (which probably takes a couple of years, if they're still doing it - most people obviously won't be), start adding in the other stuff. It's a much better way to go than starting everything at once, like a lot of people are doing these days. Real focus is so incredibly important, whatever you're trying to achieve some level of skill or success in. And the problem with a lot of MMA gyms is that they try to teach too many things at once. That's a terrible approach IMO, and I say that after some 33 years of doing all this fighting stuff. Ideally, people should start with one thing. And I recommend that one thing be boxing. Two years seems like a terribly long time for a fifteen year old kid who's getting into fights, though, so a bit of a compromise with some BJJ or wrestling training here and there might be the way to go. And learning enough BJJ for it to make a meaningful difference in your ability to defend yourself does NOT require a big time investment anyway. Far from it.

Whatever they do, they might of course still get shot or stabbed or jumped by eight guys when they're all alone. Life sucks.

Agree with all of that dude. Most people can’t fight, and have their feet routed to the floor swinging, sometimes with their eyes closed. As you say being able to hit hard, throw combos, move your feet and body, timing, judging distance Etc, will generally make a fight with a boxer a complete mismatch. Even with someone who can fight, they are still in danger of being knocked out instantly

My background is pretty similar. Took up boxing in the forces as I was always getting in to rows. Took up kick boxing and MT in my early 30s and have done judo as a kid. Would love to have done some MMA but by the time I was in to it, I had back problems, so couldn’t risk grappling. Tend to use my feet if I get in to a row as it keeps it long and is a stark warning that I can fight. A hard front kick has been enough to stop any trouble in recent years and is a good warning