How important is pure boxing training to a student of MMA?

[sourdiesel209]

Anderson Silva is a good boxer who knows how to deal with kicks. Jose Aldo is a good nak muay who knows how to box. None of them got world class striking though.

lol jose aldo is no nak muay... he does have good boxing and muay thai, wrestling and supposedly bjj as well.. Pretty well around, no wonder hes on a 10 win streak or sumthing

we have never seen a real nak muay with thailand-level clinching skills in the cage yet.. well, a couple have fought on lesser mma orgs.. but anyways, it would be interesting if they learned some tdds, almost unlimited clinching mma rules would favor them

 

[KounterPunch]

I'm pretty sure Aldo has had a couple of MT fights.
That would make the term 'nak muay' fairly accurate.
Not everyone has to be a Lumpinee calibre kickboxer to be termed a NM anymore than somebody has to be WBC ranked to be called a boxer .

Mma rules clinching wouldn't favor mt clinching.
That's why they have those techniques banned in the stadiums.

 

[nomilkforsanta]

it depends on your approach to mma:

If you believe you should learn each art by itself then "keep what is useful" you want to learn all the core arts (wrestling, boxing, muay thai, bjj).

If you believe you should learn a hybrid style you want should just take MMA classes.

 

[Ramsey Dewey]

"Good" boxing is much more important for MMA than "pure" boxing.

 

[KennisTheMenace**]

I noticed a muay thai fighter at our gym has found success attending our boxing sparring sessions. He won his first two fights easily and really believes his opponents are ignoring boxing in the context of muay thai and focusing more on kicks, sacrificing their hands, which is giving him the advantage.

 

[sourdiesel209]

I'm pretty sure Aldo has had a couple of MT fights.
That would make the term 'nak muay' fairly accurate.
Not everyone has to be a Lumpinee calibre kickboxer to be termed a NM anymore than somebody has to be WBC ranked to be called a boxer .

Mma rules clinching wouldn't favor mt clinching.

That's why they have those techniques banned in the stadiums.

well technically he would be a farang.. Im talking about a nak muay from thailand transitioning to mma and learning some wrestling and bjj.. would be a killer

And why wouldnt it favor the mt clinch?? fighters end up clinched against the cage all the time.. the bear hug and other wrestling techniques may counter it, but with some basic tdd they would be able to implement their game and fuck ppl up... Just imagine someone like samart or buakaw in mma.. and they dont have the same excuse as pro boxers, because theres not millions of $$$ in muay thai like in pro boxing....

 

[Discipulus]

"Good" boxing is much more important for MMA than "pure" boxing.

Pure boxing is good boxing.

 

[KounterPunch]

well technically he would be a farang....

Farang just means foreigner.
If you're a Mexican in the us ....guess what , you're a farang too !

Nak muay just means a muay thai student / fighter.

I think you've just got the wrong idea of the terms.

 

[KarateStylist]

When have you ever seen an MMA fight where the guys don't punch at each other?

Seeing as how punches are a majority of the strikes thrown in a fight, i'm blown away that more fighters don't train in it extensively. It's just the opposite of logical. Now, i don't know alot of pro MMA fighters, or any for that matter. But from the looks of it, i think it's a pretty safe assumption.

^^^ You said it....

^^^ Just take a look @ SINISTER'S boxing expert videos---most MMA striking does {generally} not even approaching expert boxing.... what a difference that would make for a newer MMA fighter {NLM, they're calling you}.

OH, OH, I see Sinister posted below.... what's he have to say?

KarateStylist

 

[Bubblun]

Boxing and wrestling are the cornerstone skills of fighting.

Fedor once mentioned that's all you really need to be a good fighter. But that's just my opinion, and his.

can you link the interview?
i can't imagine Fedor saying that.

 

[fightingrabbit]

can you link the interview?
i can't imagine Fedor saying that.

Why can't you imagine Fedor saying that? I'd really like to know the reason.

I can't find the interview, but heres a 2007 thread on BB.com in which one of the posters there took the interview off of our very own Sherdog.

Q. What do you think are the best MA styles to learn in order to compete in MMA?
A. Wrestling (includes subs in Russian, bor'ba) and boxing.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2468321&page=1

Bruce Lee also once said that to beat a black belt, all one would have to do is take a year of boxing and wrestling. Why is it so hard to imagine?

Yes, these are just opinions, but they are based off logic. Not to mention logic from the minds of two very notable practitioners of fighting (one being arguably the baddest man on the planet). Is it really all that hard to understand how or why they would make these statements? Do they seem like the kind of characters who would spout off vapid, baseless statements out of their asses? No, It came from experience, and experience is the best teacher. These guys knew their craft. True students of the game, they studied it and lived it. They knew exactly what was going through their heads when when they made those statements.

Boxing and Wrestling are the oldest forms of combat sport. Centuries before there were any rules, gloves, rings or cages, people were wrestling and bludgeoning each other bloody and senseless in loincloths. That means these two skills are the BASIS and FOUNDATION of what one human will use to disable another human when in an altercation, be it on the street, or in a cage fight. So is it really all that surprising that being proficient in both will also in turn, make you an extremely proficient fighter? And that lacking in either one of the disciplines will make you a very limited fighter?

Look at MMA, and how far just a pure wrestler can get and how well he can do based on wrestling ability alone. Add the ability to box and you've got not a perfect and unbeatable fighter, but a very dangerous fighter that has most of his bases covered and is well equipped to handle whatever an opponent is going throw his way and likely come out on top.

And isn't that what MMA is about?

 

[Nuclearlandmine]

Wow rabbit. I'm sure the guy is just wondering a bit. That's a tad too much dont you think?
Although your reply made me remember how in the bareknuckle era boxing and wrestling goes together hand in hand, and how many important basics and fundamentals of combat had degraded since then.

 

[fightingrabbit]

Wow rabbit. I'm sure the guy is just wondering a bit. That's a tad too much dont you think?
Although your reply made me remember how in the bareknuckle era boxing and wrestling goes together hand in hand, and how many important basics and fundamentals of combat had degraded since then.

Never!

 

[KounterPunch]

"........, and how many important basics and fundamentals of combat had degraded since then.

lol

 

[Frode Falch]

Pure boxing is good boxing.

pure boxing is pure boxing

mma is not pure boxing.. its a complete fighting format

 

[StopDucking]

well technically he would be a farang.. Im talking about a nak muay from thailand transitioning to mma and learning some wrestling and bjj.. would be a killer

And why wouldnt it favor the mt clinch?? fighters end up clinched against the cage all the time.. the bear hug and other wrestling techniques may counter it, but with some basic tdd they would be able to implement their game and fuck ppl up... Just imagine someone like samart or buakaw in mma.. and they dont have the same excuse as pro boxers, because theres not millions of $$$ in muay thai like in pro boxing....

You have no idea what the terms farang and nak muay mean don't you?

 

[Nuclearlandmine]

pure boxing is pure boxing
mma is not pure boxing.. its a complete fighting format

Then why many MMA fighter out there sought pure boxing trainers to train their boxing and improve their stand up? Why don't they just learn its skewered cousin MMA boxing? Pure boxing is good boxing. Just like pure BJJ is good BJJ, or pure Wrestling is good Wrestling.

Funnily enough, i noticed how there's a bias when it comes to adapation for MMA. How many people have stated with muay thai/boxing/karate/stand up arts needs to change to fit MMA, and yet how little people have stated that BJJ/wrestling/judo, or any grappling arts for that matters needs to change to fit MMA. UFC 1 bias much?

 

[ssullivan80]

Funnily enough, i noticed how there's a bias when it comes to adapation for MMA. How many people have stated with muay thai/boxing/karate/stand up arts needs to change to fit MMA, and yet how little people have stated that BJJ/wrestling/judo, or any grappling arts for that matters needs to change to fit MMA. UFC 1 bias much?

Bjj/wrestling/judo MMA adaptation = No Gi..........

It's not that boxing, karate, mt need to change to fit mma. The mma practitioner is the one who needs to change/adapt the style to suit the venue. If your a student of MMA learning pure boxing, karate, MT then it's your duty to adapt the style to suit MMA, not the other way around.

 

[Nuclearlandmine]

Bjj/wrestling/judo MMA adaptation = No Gi..........

It's not that boxing, karate, mt need to change to fit mma. The mma practitioner is the one who needs to change/adapt the style to suit the venue. If your a student of MMA learning pure boxing, karate, MT then it's your duty to adapt the style to suit MMA, not the other way around.

Only if that is so simple. Taking account punching alone while grappling on the ground is itself a big change that grapplers need to adapt. This is not to mention other attacks like knee against takedown, elbow in clinch range....so on and so forth. Every pure arts learned by MMA practioners will be change and adapt to fit his/her wants and needs. That's a given. But people from grappling arts does not have a privilege of not to go through the same progress just like people coming off a striking background.

 

[ssullivan80]

Only if that is so simple. Taking account punching alone while on the ground is itself a big change that grappler needs to adapt. This is not to mention other attacks like knee against takedown, elbow in clinch range....so on and so forth. Every arts coming to MMA needs to change and adapt accordingly, and grappling arts does not have a privilege to not to go through the same progress.

Well, what leads you to believe that grappling arts have not made adaptations for MMA? Look at several of the most decorated BJJ practitioners in MMA, are they winning all those fights via submission? Well, then what gives you the impression that they have not adapted their art to suit the venue....... MMA?

The very idea of "submission by punches" is a grappling arts adaptation to MMA.