I am a senior in high school and I want to be a MMA fighter. I want to start training as soon as i graduate. I dont know if I should get a trainer or just go to the gym and train. I live in Baton Rouge, LA and I dont know of any good MMA gyms around here. I dont want to move out of the south but if I have to I will. Somebody help me.
Fish Sticks says:January 13, 2011 at 8:07 amGoogle gyms in your area. You don’t have to wait until you graduate.
flik says:January 13, 2011 at 9:05 amWell, you don’t need an MMA gym per se. What you need is good instructors in some or all of these areas: freestyle wrestling, subwrestling, BJJ, Judo, SAMBO, boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai.
Training in any other discipline would be a waste of time for MMA.
Mean R says:January 13, 2011 at 9:12 amYou dont have to move, i live in bangor maine and we have one up here, there must be something in your area
mma4life16 says:January 13, 2011 at 9:34 amOk, first of all you can start training now if you want to. But anyways, if you are really serious about training for the UFC, then I would suggest you go to a specific place to train. Some Martial Arts that are necessary for MMA, would be Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Jiu-jitsu/grappling. Judo would be another Martial Art to consider, however, nowadays in the UFC the most effective take downs are the simple ones, so fancy Judo throws would not be a priority. You would need Muay Thai to improve your clinch, how to get your opponent in a clinch and control them, and how to defend yourself in one. From here you learn vicious strikes such as elbows, knees, etc. Kickboxing would be used to help you with your standup game. You would learn how to keep your opponent at bay with sidekicks, front kicks, etc, and learn to use your reach (jab, to feel your opponent out), and your strong cross punch for that knockout. Or you can study boxing to learn how to get inside with your opponent and box (if you are shorter and have the reach DISadvantage). Jiu-jitsu would be to improve your ground game. You will learn how to take your opponent down, how to pin them in controlling positions, and more importantly, submissions.
You could also just train at an MMA gym, which you will learn everything. But this depends on how serious you are. Most of the great fighters have all trained with certain ones individually, which will make you a better fighter. I am not familiar with your area, but you can google or ask around for different gyms in your area.
As for just going to the gym, honestly that won’t help you with MMA, but it would help your conditioning. All of these are essential to becoming an MMA fighter, but it all depends on your dedication and resources.
Hope this helps, good luck.
R says:January 13, 2011 at 10:14 amplenty of decent schools in your area. Start there. Don’t leave your area unless u must. You never know it might not be your thing, but try it out, you don’t want to regret it later.
Al says:January 13, 2011 at 10:25 amMMA stands for Mixed martial arts
The best fighters are well schooled in a variety of fighting arts
A general rule is: Boxing for stand up, Wrestling for take downs and BJJ for ground work
Does your school have a wrestling program? If so that would be a great place to start
I am sure if you spend 2 minutes on Google you will be able to find Boxing and / or BJJ gyms in your area
Good luck!
