Should I do boxing or should I do MMA at University?

[TheDempseyKid]

Go to MMA, you're too ****** for boxing. You'd need a trainer to work you like a puppet and you'd need to let them. MMA's full of tards who think tard things ... Diego and ****.

Should I do boxing?

[TheDempseyKid]

how much time do you have at the university?

short = boxing
long = mma


if you are short on time, i would take boxing instead... learn the basic, how to throw a punch, block, footwork, etc... I think boxing is a lot easier to learn to pick up the basic as compared to mma...

4 years at university. I know the basic punches in boxing as I did Muay Thai for 2 years (2021-2023) and MMA for a few sessions (2023).

[TheDempseyKid]

What do you aim at?

Training as an MMA fighter (because there is no such style - this is a set of rules) will give you different skills, a wider set of, but no solid basis - what do I mean? Every MMA fighter has a high-level background in something, whether Kickboxing, Wrestling, Sambo, BJJ etc... They all build on top of that basis when they transition to MMA. Considering boxing is one of the main pillars of fighting, why don't you start with it for 1-2 years, then go to MMA if you can't do both, relying mostly on boxing in the beginning?

Good point. I did Muay Thai for 2 years (2021-2023) and a few MMA sessions (2023), but I wasn't a high level and I didn't have any fights, just a lot of sparring sessions.

[Smash]

id go for a combo of boxing & swimming

swimming is such an amazing exercise (best by a long way imo) for cardio and feeling good boost, only people who swim know this

boxing we all know about has its good points as well

[IceTrayDaGang]

4 years at university. I know the basic punches in boxing as I did Muay Thai for 2 years (2021-2023) and MMA for a few sessions (2023).

if 4 years then i would get into mma instead... 4 years training mma, and that should give you enough experience.

[TheDempseyKid]

if 4 years then i would get into mma instead... 4 years training mma, and that should give you enough experience.

It should give me plenty of time to learn the different disciplines of mma and also allow me to focus on strength and conditioning as well to help me with mma.

[HandsofIron]

Boxing for the stand-up, wrestling and/or judo for the grappling. Everything else is supplementary.

[TheDempseyKid]

Boxing for the stand-up, wrestling and/or judo for the grappling. Everything else is supplementary.

I remember Bruce Lee saying that a person who trains in boxing and wrestling can defeat a trained traditional martial artist. Unfortunately, there is no wrestling at the university.

[HandsofIron]

I remember Bruce Lee saying that a person who trains in boxing and wrestling can defeat a trained traditional martial artist. Unfortunately, there is no wrestling at the university.

Yeah man, Bruce's original, Kung Fu techniques were mostly defensive based, using an opponent's attacks against them, countering and stuff like that. So, Bruce incorporated Boxing into his Wing Chun, martial arts style and eventually created his own Jeet Kun Do.

But yeah, Boxing and Wrestling hands down are the best, they are your base and foundation, and Judo is great too, it complements the wrestling.

[N/A]

Grappling is really the basis of mma, if you can’t grapple you are at a distinct disadvantage

And while boxing is a great discipline, traditional boxing is much different than mma dirty boxing, just like traditional wrestling is different than mma wrestling

Because the rules are different, so infractions in the traditional disciplines are advantageous in mma

So all of my training in the traditional disciplines gave me a baseline, but I had to adjust for mma

Mixed martial arts is exactly that, so there is a lot of variation, it pretty much a controlled street fight

Plenty of good fighters and champions who are strikers, just as enough average grapplers - the argument "striker vs. grappler" is pointless. Sure, grappling is essential, but it can't be described as "the basis of MMA" for the reasons I mentioned: MMA is not a style, but a set of rules (reading through your post, I think we both agree on that) and being successful in MMA requires you both striking and grappling.

There is no "dirty boxing" or "dirty wrestling" in MMA - the rules may and so far always allow you things that are not in the other two disciplines, but they still forbid some tactics, making them illegal, so this is a wide term, I don't even find it very professional, right because of its dual nature. Tell me how can you learn "dirty boxing" without knowing how to properly do boxing? The same goes for wrestling. I also have to adjust boxing to Kyokushin (I train both), but it isn't "dirty boxing in Kyokushin".

A street fight is something that happens in an uncontrolled environment, with no referees and rules and no limitations on what you can do. While MMA, even as freed of limitations, as PRIDE, it goes nowhere near to a street fight. Going into details like you wear some shoes in the street, but you don't in MMA. Also, you have no gloves to protect your hands when you fight in the streets, which matters to an extent. You can pull hair, eye poke, bite, or hit the opponent in the groin - that completely changes situations, as well as the fact you fall on hard and dangerous surfaces and you can take something to serve you as a weapon or fight one who got it himself. It is an illusion that MMA has anything to do with street fight, but of course, an MMA fighter does great in one, just as a wrestler, a boxer and other types of fighters if they face a non-trained person.