What Is The Best Fighting Style For MMA?
Mixed martial arts (MMA) is widely known as one of the most complex sports in the world. What makes is so hard is the fact that all fighters must be good in multiple combat styles. This is because the MMA can be broken down into three categories:
Striking (standup fighting)
Takedown/Clinch fighting
Ground fighting
As we can see, every MMA fighter must be good at three (or two) martial arts styles to prepare for all scenarios that may happen inside the cage.
There are hundreds of martial arts styles out there and picking just three or four was not an easy task. But over the years, the MMA competition itself gave us a lot of answers. Many martial arts styles proved useless inside the cage while the other emerged as very effective.
Thus, the sport itself shaped itself around just a few styles you need to master to compete in MMA. We have decided to go deep into each category and present you with the martial arts styles that are most effective in MMA.
For many MMA experts, the “perfect fighting style for MMA” is a mixture of the styles presented below.
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Striking
Every MMA fight begins on the feet so it’s fair to say that all fighters must have at least basic striking skills. Even the best wrestlers like Daniel Cormier or BJJ fighters like Fabricio Werdum needed to add a standup game to their grappling base. With that said, let’s look at the most effective striking styles in MMA.
Boxing
Boxing is one of the purest forms of fighting and there’s no argument against that. It has been around for more than a century and a part of MMA fighting since day one.
Many people overlook the importance of boxing in MMA since boxers use “just” their hands to do damage. But in reality, not a single martial arts will teach you better footwork and head movement than boxing.
Some martial arts like kickboxing may look better for MMA because they include kicks. However, kickboxers have a tendency to be stationary in MMA fighting and be an easy target since their head is almost always in the centerline. This is where the footwork and head movement you learn in boxing can make a ton of difference.
One of the best boxers in MMA are the famous Diaz brothers and of course, the notorious, Conor McGregor.
Muay Thai (kickboxing)
Muay Thai has perhaps the highest strike per damage ratio out of all striking styles out there. So, it’s not a surprise that Thai boxing is the main part of MMA and a must-have tool of every fighter. It is so important that many MMA fighters are moving their entire fight camps to Thailand.
Also known as the “art of eight limbs”, Muay Thai includes kicks, punches, knees, and elbows. Elbow and knee strikes are especially useful in MMA and can produce a lot of damage.
Muay Thai is perfect for the fighters who have a strong base in wrestling. These fighters can easily initiate the clinch or establish the top control on the ground. From these two positions, they can unload with vicious elbows and knees.
In modern MMA, almost every fighter has some background in Muay Thai. The technique is very powerful and it perfectly goes with some other martial arts like wrestling and Judo.
Grappling
Back in 1993, Royce Gracie showed the world the importance of grappling in MMA by winning the UFC 1 tournament. He put BJJ on the map by defeating fighters who were much bigger and stronger than he was.
Over the years, the grappling game has only evolved and you just can’t compete in MMA without basic grappling skills. It’s almost impossible. There are three main grappling styles in modern MMA and they are all interconnected.
Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ)
It’s fair to say that BJJ is synonymous with MMA. It took many years for other martial arts to prove its efficiency in MMA. But BJJ has been there since the beginnings and it has only evolved through the years.
The world of nasty chokes and joint locks is a perfect self-defensive martial art since it allows a smaller fighter to defeat a much bigger man. This concept transfers well in the MMA cage as Royce Gracie showed us back in the 90s.
Without a doubt, BJJ is an important tool you must have to fight in the cage. Sooner or later, the lack of ground game will backfire on you, and there’s no way you can succeed in MMA without BJJ skills.
Even the most decorated strikers like Max Holloway need to have an elite BJJ game to compete at the highest levels.
Wrestling
The dominance of powerful wrestlers in MMA has started in the mid-90s. It was brought by the likes of Dan Severn and Mark Coleman who used powerful takedowns and strong top control to overwhelm the best of the best fighters at the time.
Like many other styles, wrestling has evolved over the years. And it’s fair to say that its importance is larger than ever. I mean, almost half of all UFC champions in history have had some background in wrestling. That’s amazing.
The thing is, Wrestling fits very well into the MMA rules. Some judges score takedowns the same as knockdowns. Also, the scoring system values octagon control the most, and as we know, wrestlers can control the rival for almost the entire match.
Everybody uses wrestling in MMA and along with BJJ, it is the most important tool of every fighter. All MMA fighters must have at least the defensive wrestling skills. Even the ones competing at the lowest levels.
If you want to learn more about the importance of wrestling in MMA, be sure to check our article on “Why Wrestling Is Dominating MMA” here.
Judo
Judo is a grappling based martial art and the Olympic sport. It is also known as a very hard style and its athletes are among the strongest people on earth. Also, their grappling skills transfer well into MMA and the perfect example is Ronda Rousey.
Judo techniques are very useful in MMA, notably the throws from the clinch position. But judo has been outshined by more effective styles like wrestling.
What about traditional martial arts?
The effectiveness of traditional martial arts in MMA has been one of the favorite arguments on martial arts forums. The truth is, many traditional arts are useless in MMA. But some of them have mistakenly fallen into that category.
The thing is, some styles like Karate or Taekwondo are not useful like wrestling or Muay Thai. But there are some elements in both of these martial arts that are very useful if you combine them with other styles.
Taekwondo
As most of us know, Taekwondo fighters have arguably the best kicking skills in the world. MMA fighters with the background in taekwondo have very powerful kicks and they can throw them from all angles.
What especially stands out are the spinning kicks and they can often result in amazing knockouts. What’s more, we have picked some of the best spinning KOs in MMA history and you can check out the top list here.
Some of the most popular taekwondo fighters in MMA are Anthony Pettis, Edson Barboza and Anderson Silva.
Karate
Karate is one of the most popular traditional martial arts and a future Olympic sport. But like Taekwondo, some elements of it are very useful.
One of the first fighters who transferred the karate skills into MMA was the famous Lyoto Machida. At the time, Machida used a wide karate stance and footwork to attack with lightning speed and escape troubles.
Today, we can see many fighters with the base in Karate like Stephen Thompson competing at the highest levels of MMA. So it’s fair to say that this traditional martial art has its place in modern MMA.
Also, be sure to check our list of best karate fighters in UFC/MMA history here.
