MMA or KICKBOXING?

[TheAbyss]

In a few months I was thinking of starting a combat sport.

I have the choice between mma / kickboxing / jiujitsu. Jiujistu I plan to do later and I know it is very good. But first I want to learn how to fight standing up.

My only experience is having done Vietnamese martial arts for a couple of years as a kid. It would be nice to do martial arts all the time but these are not as effective nowadays or at least the way they are taught.

So does that leave MMA or KICKBOXING? The choice is basically between doing a sport with a mix of styles or just focusing on one style.

My goals are to have a better performing body. To learn a basis of combative experience and eventually know how to defend myself in a dangerous situation on the street (if I cannot run away).

Which one would be the best choice?


In Italian cities it's becoming more and more fashionable to simulate what's narrated in shitty rap/trap songs, the 16-24 year olds can't distinguish music from reality. It is trendy to have 'gangs', to pick fights, to steal, to beat each other up. The rudeness around is alarming. Plus mass immigration and the presence of gypsies degrades everything.

((A curiosity, in the subways of Milan and elsewhere, there are female gypsies who keep stealing handbags etc. every day, when they are caught by the police in custody they are released after 24 hours, why? Because they claim or pretend to be pregnant. So there is a regulation that forces the police to release them. And they go back to stealing the next day, there are many videos around now people know about them, a serious problem in addition to the discomfort to the citizens is that they cause great harm to tourists who are unaware of this, creating a bad image of the country. Not to mention the documentless refugees who steal and vandalise and are never caught by the police))

 

[Paladin of Khepu]

In a few months I was thinking of starting a combat sport.

I have the choice between mma / kickboxing / jiujitsu. Jiujistu I plan to do later and I know it is very good. But first I want to learn how to fight standing up.

My only experience is having done Vietnamese martial arts for a couple of years as a kid. It would be nice to do martial arts all the time but these are not as effective nowadays or at least the way they are taught.

So does that leave MMA or KICKBOXING? The choice is basically between doing a sport with a mix of styles or just focusing on one style.

My goals are to have a better performing body. To learn a basis of combative experience and eventually know how to defend myself in a dangerous situation on the street (if I cannot run away).

Which one would be the best choice?


In Italian cities it's becoming more and more fashionable to simulate what's narrated in shitty rap/trap songs, the 16-24 year olds can't distinguish music from reality. It is trendy to have 'gangs', to pick fights, to steal, to beat each other up. The rudeness around is alarming. Plus mass immigration and the presence of gypsies degrades everything.

((A curiosity, in the subways of Milan and elsewhere, there are female gypsies who keep stealing handbags etc. every day, when they are caught by the police in custody they are released after 24 hours, why? Because they claim or pretend to be pregnant. So there is a regulation that forces the police to release them. And they go back to stealing the next day, there are many videos around now people know about them, a serious problem in addition to the discomfort to the citizens is that they cause great harm to tourists who are unaware of this, creating a bad image of the country. Not to mention the documentless refugees who steal and vandalise and are never caught by the police))

Perhaps you should try Penchak Silat. It’s pretty good to try.

 

[Egon]

If you are going to learn BJJ anyway so might as well focus on Kickboxing and become proficient in striking. Why not try both? The advantage of MMA is that you will apply some of the techniques of BJJ without the kimono which is more realistic, but again with MMA you are halving your training session in grappling and striking.

 

[Veritá_666]

...

I would personally opt for a martial art, according to my oppinion it is better than boxing. Boxing seems a clumsy and crude discipline (just my oppinion).

Martial arts give you the ability to defend yourself against anyone and block even a large opponent.

 

[Egon]

He didn't mention any Boxing, he said Kickboxing, MMA and Jiu-Jitsu, and all of those are martial arts. Anyway training Boxing itself is already extremely useful as it is.

I would personally opt for a martial art, according to my oppinion it is better than boxing. Boxing seems a clumsy and crude discipline (just my oppinion).

Martial arts give you the ability to defend yourself against anyone and block even a large opponent.

 

[WiseDragon]

...

Boxing seems a clumsy and crude discipline (just my oppinion).

Real fights are like that. Boxing, Kickboxing and Grappling are what real combat looks like. Real fights are not like what you see in Bruce Lee's movies.

 

[CaspianTheDreamer]

MMA is the only thing thats actually useful in street fights and self defense. Maybe learn self defense techniques too and learn how to use different weapons.

 

[F_For_Flamingo]

If you plan on doing jiujitsu later, I would advise that you go with muay thai, if there is a muay thai gym in your area. And if you are choosing between kickboxing and mma, I think that kickboxing is the better choice.

Whatever you choose, i wish you good luck on your martial arts journey!

 

[Mazdd]

...

I would personally opt for a martial art, according to my oppinion it is better than boxing. Boxing seems a clumsy and crude discipline (just my oppinion).

Martial arts give you the ability to defend yourself against anyone and block even a large opponent.

In theory. I heard that today's martial arts are more like fitness, and they dont teach any strength trainings.
There are lots of videos on yt where master of some martial arts gets fucked up by a casual MMA fighter.
Todays martial arts luck in real world scenerios when it comes to figthing.

 

[hailourtruegod]

I would recommend kick boxing as well if that's your choices. I've taken kick boxing and shadow kick box when I can and plan on taking BJJ next.

If I could I would take Muay Thai but best next thing is kick boxing if not just as good. I'm sure there can be arguments for which one of those is better but kick boxing seems to be easier access for most of the world and does get to the point as opposed to other types of martial arts.

Don't forget to do your daily yoga as it will help you advance in this field faster than those that don't do yoga and only get their stretches during training. Not just because of being flexible but grounds you and helps one focus during sparring or fights. Daily power meditations adds to this exponentially as well.

 

[TheAbyss]

Perhaps you should try Penchak Silat. It’s pretty good to try.

I don't think it is taught in Italy, but I will watch some videos just for the sake of learning.

MMA is the only thing thats actually useful in street fights and self defense. Maybe learn self defense techniques too and learn how to use different weapons.

I will see. For now I am more inclined towards MMA. And I agree that learning self-defence techniques would be very useful.

If you are going to learn BJJ anyway so might as well focus on Kickboxing and become proficient in striking. Why not try both? The advantage of MMA is that you will apply some of the techniques of BJJ without the kimono which is more realistic, but again with MMA you are halving your training session in grappling and striking.

Maybe better MMA that I learn a bit of everything all round. I'll give it a try, we'll see based on how much I like striking.
Maybe in a realistic situation knowing both grappling and striking might be more advantageous.

 

[TheAbyss]

If you plan on doing jiujitsu later, I would advise that you go with muay thai, if there is a muay thai gym in your area. And if you are choosing between kickboxing and mma, I think that kickboxing is the better choice.

Whatever you choose, i wish you good luck on your martial arts journey!

Actually, there would be a muay thai gym, but it is a bit further away and taking into account timing and my future commitments right now I have to drop it.
However a new question arises, is it better MMA or Muay thai? XD

Ignorant question (muay thai practitioners don't take offence) I read once that in a muay thai you don't work much on footwork, which I thought might be important in an outside situation. Is this true?

However I know someone who practices muay thai who has become really strong. His mere presence is threatening and you realise he could beat the shit out of you if he wanted to.
Unfortunately I've heard from his friends and from him himself about how he often gets into fights in clubs and that he beat up like 3 guys by himself and so on, like every weekend for a while lol. Unfortunately this thing is degenerating but to say that it makes a difference to know how to fight and everyone should know how to defend themselves a little.

Thanks by the way ^.^

 

[TheAbyss]

...

I would personally opt for a martial art, according to my oppinion it is better than boxing. Boxing seems a clumsy and crude discipline (just my oppinion).

Martial arts give you the ability to defend yourself against anyone and block even a large opponent.

In theory. I heard that today's martial arts are more like fitness, and they dont teach any strength trainings.
There are lots of videos on yt where master of some martial arts gets fucked up by a casual MMA fighter.
Todays martial arts luck in real world scenerios when it comes to figthing.

MMA would also be a martial art, but we understand each other. Karate and similar things I actually like a lot, however I think they have lost their value nowadays or are not taught as they used to be. There is no longer the energy work with ch'i which should enhance physical performance a lot etc.

There are lots of videos on yt where master of some martial arts gets fucked up by a casual MMA fighter.

I heard around that these fights were actually done to give a bad image of traditional martial arts. These were once I believe the best fighting forms because of the way the human body is structured, they make use of the mind the body and the soul (spiritual force).

 

[TheAbyss]

I would recommend kick boxing as well if that's your choices. I've taken kick boxing and shadow kick box when I can and plan on taking BJJ next.

If I could I would take Muay Thai but best next thing is kick boxing if not just as good. I'm sure there can be arguments for which one of those is better but kick boxing seems to be easier access for most of the world and does get to the point as opposed to other types of martial arts.

I see that more than one person is recommending kickboxing instead of MMA.

Don't forget to do your daily yoga as it will help you advance in this field faster than those that don't do yoga and only get their stretches during training. Not just because of being flexible but grounds you and helps one focus during sparring or fights. Daily power meditations adds to this exponentially as well.

Yes, thanks for the advice. It will also be interesting to see if I can use the energy combined with combat in some way.
Also void meditation should be great to have complete control over the mind while fighting.

 

[The Alchemist7 [JG]]

Which one would be the best choice?

I my opinion the best fighting method that you can learn is the one that is closest to real life occurences where you can be involved in physical fighting. I guess street fight is a type of fight on its own that you can learn. You need to be able to defend yourself from all sort of sudden movements from the attacker and also from knife attacks, also to be able to create enough damage to allow you to run if the situation requires it. Sometimes you win a fight by merely running away and not letting the attacker(s) to accomplish their plan. I know someone on youtube who has praciced Krav Maga for years (israeli dirty fighting practices) but at this point he is able to easily fight more people at once and clearly dominate in a fight.

I've been interested into Dim Mak but with a single effective punch in a particular area (there are several areas) one can be killed and is not a situation you would want to be in. However if you get to master such practice I'd assume you would be able to strike and cause enough damage to put the attacker down but not kill them so you have enough time to either run or stop the fight.

 

[TheAbyss]

Which one would be the best choice?

...
I've been interested into Dim Mak but with a single effective punch in a particular area (there are several areas) one can be killed and is not a situation you would want to be in.

I had heard about it too and was fascinated. I remember fantasising that if I was able to apply it correctly, the idea of accidentally killing an attacker worried me. But it's definitely not that simple and it takes years of experience.

However if you get to master such practice I'd assume you would be able to strike and cause enough damage to put the attacker down but not kill them so you have enough time to either run or stop the fight.

This would be an ideal situation for sure.

Anyway, I agree with you that in a real situation there are a lot of unpredictable factors at play and knowing some self-defence techniques would be advantageous.
Not to mention the psychological pressure in a situation where you feel your life is in danger. Obviously martial arts such as MMA don't teach you this compared to something like Krav maga.

 

[SSinHeartandSoul]

If you plan on doing jiujitsu later, I would advise that you go with muay thai, if there is a muay thai gym in your area. And if you are choosing between kickboxing and mma, I think that kickboxing is the better choice.

Whatever you choose, i wish you good luck on your martial arts journey!

Actually, there would be a muay thai gym, but it is a bit further away and taking into account timing and my future commitments right now I have to drop it.
However a new question arises, is it better MMA or Muay thai? XD

Ignorant question (muay thai practitioners don't take offence) I read once that in a muay thai you don't work much on footwork, which I thought might be important in an outside situation. Is this true?

However I know someone who practices muay thai who has become really strong. His mere presence is threatening and you realise he could beat the shit out of you if he wanted to.
Unfortunately I've heard from his friends and from him himself about how he often gets into fights in clubs and that he beat up like 3 guys by himself and so on, like every weekend for a while lol. Unfortunately this thing is degenerating but to say that it makes a difference to know how to fight and everyone should know how to defend themselves a little.

Thanks by the way ^.^

If you are gunning for being able to fend for yourself in a street fight i would definitely recommend Muay Tai over the other options. Muay tai combines kicks and punches quite well which the other option do not, kickboxing is 95% punching and 5% kicking, MMA is more like 40% puch 10% kick and 50% grappling (Grappling in a street fight is a huge nono especialy if its not a 1 on 1 fight)

All in all i would say that Muay Tai is more well rounded and would be a better choice for self-defense. So if this option is open for you definitely give it some thought.

 

[hailourtruegod]

If you plan on doing jiujitsu later, I would advise that you go with muay thai, if there is a muay thai gym in your area. And if you are choosing between kickboxing and mma, I think that kickboxing is the better choice.

Whatever you choose, i wish you good luck on your martial arts journey!

Actually, there would be a muay thai gym, but it is a bit further away and taking into account timing and my future commitments right now I have to drop it.
However a new question arises, is it better MMA or Muay thai? XD

Ignorant question (muay thai practitioners don't take offence) I read once that in a muay thai you don't work much on footwork, which I thought might be important in an outside situation. Is this true?

However I know someone who practices muay thai who has become really strong. His mere presence is threatening and you realise he could beat the shit out of you if he wanted to.
Unfortunately I've heard from his friends and from him himself about how he often gets into fights in clubs and that he beat up like 3 guys by himself and so on, like every weekend for a while lol. Unfortunately this thing is degenerating but to say that it makes a difference to know how to fight and everyone should know how to defend themselves a little.

Thanks by the way ^.^

If you are gunning for being able to fend for yourself in a street fight i would definitely recommend Muay Tai over the other options. Muay tai combines kicks and punches quite well which the other option do not, kickboxing is 95% punching and 5% kicking, MMA is more like 40% puch 10% kick and 50% grappling (Grappling in a street fight is a huge nono especialy if its not a 1 on 1 fight)

All in all i would say that Muay Tai is more well rounded and would be a better choice for self-defense. So if this option is open for you definitely give it some thought.

I would go for muay Thai from a good gym/trainer because it involves more knees and elbows and that itself is more useful in a street fight than just punches and "long reaching" kicks in my opinion. It brings more options to use.



I have to strongly disagree on your statement about kick boxing as it's no where near the truth. I had to incorporate more punching on my own time when I was taking kick boxing classes as I felt we did no less than 80% kicking. Not that I was complaining as it's fun for me doing kicks and learning new ones.

Even some cardio routines involved leg work only while others involved most of it. 

We did make time for more punching in some days perhaps to make up for the lack there of, now that I think about it.

In the purely kick boxing proffesional fights one can see every 3rd to 5th strike is a kick if not doing more kicks than that. It usually doesnt fall under 40% even in the later rounds. Lowest I've seen personally could be argued 30% but it's relative to the fighters. Each weight class might differ in this but I have never seen anywhere near "5%" in such fights.

If one has a kick boxing trainer who is only teaching them punches mostly then they have a bad trainer or a trainer trying to compensate with andrapods who don't do any type of stretching let alone yoga so when they go for a side kick they barely can raise their whole leg at hip level. Regardless this isn't a good trainer because he/she can have their students do specific stretches to help them reach high with their kicks no matter what kind. Or straight solid kicks at the least.

This is specifically targeting the false statement that kickboxing is "5%" kicking or anywhere near that. If this was the case then it wouldn't be taken up by professionals whatsoever.



Muay Thai looks more well rounded as you said and I personally would go to a highly skilled trainer for it and even wish to travel to Thailand to experience it from there since from what I saw professional mma fighters who trained in Thailand say it's nothing like the training outside of that country since it's a literal lifestyle for them in that country.

 

[SSinHeartandSoul]

I would go for muay Thai from a good gym/trainer because it involves more knees and elbows and that itself is more useful in a street fight than just punches and "long reaching" kicks in my opinion. It brings more options to use.



I have to strongly disagree on your statement about kick boxing as it's no where near the truth. I had to incorporate more punching on my own time when I was taking kick boxing classes as I felt we did no less than 80% kicking. Not that I was complaining as it's fun for me doing kicks and learning new ones.

Even some cardio routines involved leg work only while others involved most of it. 

We did make time for more punching in some days perhaps to make up for the lack there of, now that I think about it.

In the purely kick boxing proffesional fights one can see every 3rd to 5th strike is a kick if not doing more kicks than that. It usually doesnt fall under 40% even in the later rounds. Lowest I've seen personally could be argued 30% but it's relative to the fighters. Each weight class might differ in this but I have never seen anywhere near "5%" in such fights.

If one has a kick boxing trainer who is only teaching them punches mostly then they have a bad trainer or a trainer trying to compensate with andrapods who don't do any type of stretching let alone yoga so when they go for a side kick they barely can raise their whole leg at hip level. Regardless this isn't a good trainer because he/she can have their students do specific stretches to help them reach high with their kicks no matter what kind. Or straight solid kicks at the least.

This is specifically targeting the false statement that kickboxing is "5%" kicking or anywhere near that. If this was the case then it wouldn't be taken up by professionals whatsoever.



Muay Thai looks more well rounded as you said and I personally would go to a highly skilled trainer for it and even wish to travel to Thailand to experience it from there since from what I saw professional mma fighters who trained in Thailand say it's nothing like the training outside of that country since it's a literal lifestyle for them in that country.

I am in no way an expert when it comes to martial arts, so i was just conveying what i have seen and experienced. Take what i said with a grain of salt especially cuz it is not possible to put a definitive number on any martial art, every trainer or school trains in a different way while loosely following certain guide lines.

Very informative tough thank you for correcting me there.

 

[hailourtruegod]

I would go for muay Thai from a good gym/trainer because it involves more knees and elbows and that itself is more useful in a street fight than just punches and "long reaching" kicks in my opinion. It brings more options to use.



I have to strongly disagree on your statement about kick boxing as it's no where near the truth. I had to incorporate more punching on my own time when I was taking kick boxing classes as I felt we did no less than 80% kicking. Not that I was complaining as it's fun for me doing kicks and learning new ones.

Even some cardio routines involved leg work only while others involved most of it. 

We did make time for more punching in some days perhaps to make up for the lack there of, now that I think about it.

In the purely kick boxing proffesional fights one can see every 3rd to 5th strike is a kick if not doing more kicks than that. It usually doesnt fall under 40% even in the later rounds. Lowest I've seen personally could be argued 30% but it's relative to the fighters. Each weight class might differ in this but I have never seen anywhere near "5%" in such fights.

If one has a kick boxing trainer who is only teaching them punches mostly then they have a bad trainer or a trainer trying to compensate with andrapods who don't do any type of stretching let alone yoga so when they go for a side kick they barely can raise their whole leg at hip level. Regardless this isn't a good trainer because he/she can have their students do specific stretches to help them reach high with their kicks no matter what kind. Or straight solid kicks at the least.

This is specifically targeting the false statement that kickboxing is "5%" kicking or anywhere near that. If this was the case then it wouldn't be taken up by professionals whatsoever.



Muay Thai looks more well rounded as you said and I personally would go to a highly skilled trainer for it and even wish to travel to Thailand to experience it from there since from what I saw professional mma fighters who trained in Thailand say it's nothing like the training outside of that country since it's a literal lifestyle for them in that country.

I am in no way an expert when it comes to martial arts, so i was just conveying what i have seen and experienced. Take what i said with a grain of salt especially cuz it is not possible to put a definitive number on any martial art, every trainer or school trains in a different way while loosely following certain guide lines.

Very informative tough thank you for correcting me there.

It's all good.

I did not want to assume but wanted to add that part about having a trainer teaching in unbalanced way in case this is what you or others might have experienced.

------------

It is best for the individual to find the best suitable place for what they're looking for in their area they live in since like you said, the gyms/trainers will all teach differently.

 

[TheAbyss]

Update for anyone interested: I've been doing kickboxing for about a month or so now and I feel very good. Later on I will go to another gym where they also teach muay thai and try it out. Then eventually I will choose one between these two which I will do for a couple of years (barring unforeseen circumstances) trying to build a good solid fighting foundation.

I feel like this is something I should have done a long time ago, damn me when I was a kid and all of a sudden after years of martial arts I had given up. But it doesn't matter you can always start again and there is no excuse for not improving.

 

[Shemsu]

It's think it's great that you're doing something and hope you continue along that path. From reading all the suggestions I saw that people don't differentiate between martial arts and combat sports. Those that don't do breathing exercises and focus only on the physical are not martial arts. Anyway, I would recommend doing both as neither can provide you with what you seek at a beginner/intermediate level. Even if you don't do any of those a good combination of strength and speed training and a decent chi cultivation technique done consistently will always prove more effective than anything else. In closing let me tell you a funny thing. In my experience (and I'm not a master or a very buff guy or anything) the best and most applicable thing I've learnt is tai chi. I know it sounds silly but trust me in a real life fight it is a good balance of speed, power and precision that does the trick. Hope you never have to use anything but if you do than make sure you come on top. Good luck