Military's Special Forces in MMA

[Bend NvR Break]

I'm sure there are a handful. Tim Kennedy and Brian Stann are examples. I was in the Marine Corps and was also a martial arts instructor for their martial arts system and let me tell you, its pretty laughable, at least when compared to other martial arts like Bjj, Muy Thai and boxing. Don't get me wrong, it has its place, but its very watered down, as stated by others. Most guys that transition from the military to high levels of MMA generally have more extensive experience in outside martial arts. Simply put, military training is far different than martial arts training and doesn't transition over, like i said, unless they have outside experience. In fact, its very rare that guys that are in the military really do much other training aside from what their job entails. Generally, martial arts and hand to hand combat in the military, at least from my experience, is something to keep the guys occupied when they have down time. 99% of the training they are doing is field op driven, where they basically train to close with and destroy the enemy with firepower, not hand to hand combat.

Exactly

 

[Hairrow]

Brian Stann was just an infantry Marine... who, like me, rode around in Humvees (very mobile), rather than in troop carriers or such.

Billy Evangelista was a Airborne infantry in the U.S. Army.

Rode in a Humvee as well, with a 50 cal. No need for jab or passing the guard. Haha

 

[Hairinmouth]

Go to a mma/bjj gym close to any major military base. Special ops guys do train, and they are tough, but they're normal dudes--not world beaters.

Give them a rifle though, and it is a different story. Game over.

 

[former-monger]

Yea the idea that soldiers are bad ass had to had fighter even even killers is way over hyped the only people SF or otherwise that do well in mma is because they train at a real gym the military is just what they do for a living to pay for no different than being the ufc heavy champion and also a firefighter. The military teaches you how to shot guns and move as a team not operate as an individual

 

[former-monger]

Go to a mma/bjj gym close to any major military base. They do train, and they are tough, but they're normal dudes--not world beaters.

Give them a rifle though, and it is a different story. Game over.

Give combat arms and only combat arms the rest would just miss

 

[TheStrangler]

Are all of you retarded? TS isn't claiming that SF guys can beat MMA fighters. He's saying that to make it into a SF team, you would need to have an incredibly strong mind and an incredibly strong body. This should translate very well to MMA. That's why the TS is asking why we don't see more of them.

Tools.

This is exactly what I'm trying to say. I don't mean their hand to hand combat training is superior to MMA fighters pertaining to MMA rules. That would be idiotic to assume. I'm saying with their mental and physical limits are on a whole different level. Their conditioning is amazing. I was just saying you would think that they would be able to transition to MMA, they are beast of men. MMA training should come easy to them.

 

[Pacemaker Joe]

1. Brian stann wasn't special forces. He was an infantry officer which is still bad ass.

2. Soldiers/Marines/operators are taught to KILL not fight.

3. Take a UFC fighter, drop him in a forest preserve and the military guy will eliminate that threat quick. Take the military guy and put him in a cage and he's going to get beat up.

Condit sparring with some troops. They don't last long:
"Hit me as hard as you want to get hit"

 

[laleggenda27]

Military Combatives programs are essentially watered down MMA. Your average UFC-level fighter would annihilate a Special Forces member..

Exactly. Being special forces doesn't mean someone would be great at fighting in a cage. Just like being an MMA fighter doesn't mean someone would be a great Navy Seal. Badassery comes in many forms.

 

[Shindig44]

This is exactly what I'm trying to say. I don't mean their hand to hand combat training is superior to MMA fighters pertaining to MMA rules. That would be idiotic to assume. I'm saying with their mental and physical limits are on a whole different level. Their conditioning is amazing. I was just saying you would think that they would be able to transition to MMA, they are beast of men. MMA training should come easy to them.

This is true. However, as stated by some others on this thread, a lot of it has to do with time. Most of the team guys generally don't have time they can dedicate to training MMA. Most of the guys I know who are currently still with MARSOC (Marine operators) for example, are generally swamped with mission essential training and deployments, that the last thing they want to do after they get off work, is go work their ass off elsewhere, when they could be with their families or relaxing. You are correct though, they have the mental toughness/ability to be good at anything, its just a matter of if they want to or not.

 

[JSN]

They would dominate if they could use AR-15s and 9mm pistols.

 

[information]

They don't train to compete, they train to kill. Different instinctual responses, which could be dangerous in MMA.

 

[Sgt Smith]

Unarmed combat is an absolute last resort. Their gun-fu is strong.

 

[opie]

being in the military is a better career than being an mma fighter.

steady paycheck. pension.

 

[Lanshire]

1) Special forces spend most of their time training to kill people with modern weaponry. Hands cant compete with guns and explosives.
2) The limited amount of time special forces spend on hand to hand combat is with the intent of disabling/killing the opponent as quickly as possible. MMA with all it's modern rules severely hinders that.

 

[Buckeye4Life]

These guys you're talking about are operators man. Meaning they do train a ton of hand to hand, but their thing is get in, do the job (mostly kill) and get the hell out without being noticed. I'd be pretty confident that a fighter making his UFC debut probably starches most of these operators in an MMA fight. Now street fight, the circumstances will def. change.

 

[Blayt7hh]

There's always a ton of misconceptions when this comes up. They get the basics from their job but that is it. I see posts where people seem to think they know deathstrikes or something that you can't use in the UFC because of pansy ass rules, but they don't. They know basic bjj essentially. Because it works. I'm sure plenty of them do mma as a hobby, but most guys in SF are already in or around their early 30s by the time they get there so it would be a little late in life for them to be trying to transition to a career in professional sports.

Most of them are great marksmen too, but that isn't the whole picture. When they are sent out, their job usually is not to engage and kill people per se. They're carrying out strategic operations behind enemy lines, and have a ton of skills they have learned to help them survive behind enemy lines. They aren't going to go take on a company of infantrymen at 10 -1 odds or anything epic like that. Not professional combat arms soldiers anyways, and that isn't their purpose. Also, most of them wouldn't pass USADA

 

[MMAart]

LOL, teenage Sherdoggers and their fantasies of "Shaolin monks, Ninjas, special ops troops," beating pro fighters in hand-to-hand combat.

You guys have been watching too much Hollywood films.

 

[Thanat0s24]

A green beret? Did he ever recover from being a hat?

If you're going to rip someone over semantics, you need to get your own shit straight. A beret isn't a hat, it's a cover.

 

[Terminal Strike]

Unarmed combat is a very, very small part of a special forces members training regime.

There's just not enough hours in the day to train it, considering all the other more pertinent skills they have to hone.

I'm sure they'd cross over well to the training lifestyle of a professional fighter, they'd have the resilience and fitness to handle any workout thrown at them.

 

[Haj01]

I absolutely love all the special forces. But they just are not skilled enough in unarmed combat to compete with the best in mma. Because they have so much other things to focus on such as armed combat. But these guys are way more tougher than most mma guys. MMA is pansy shit compared to what these guys do.