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Which one for me?

6K views 36 replies 11 participants last post by  zanderwylie_bjj 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi, I've been interested in MMA for awhile now. I'm 16 years old, wiegh about 97-101 pounds, about 5'5"-5'5'1/2" in height and was looking into muay thai. But then I started wonder about my ground game and all that good stuff. And i started wondering if Muay thai was really for me. Well I was wondering what kind of martial art would be best for me. And I would like a martial art that lets me just K.O someone like nothin'. All comments and martial art types are appreciated. Thank you.
 
#2 ·
i'm no expert but if you're looking to KO someone in a street fight muay thai is definitely your best bet. if you're looking to get into the octogon you should probably look into muay thai AND bjj (at least some form of standup in addition to ground game). i plan on getting into muay thai soon and once i get out of the beginner phase i'm probably gonna take up bjj.
 
#3 ·
ill go against the grain and recommend boxing.

but only on the grounds that you're a small dude. and no offense but i see you have trouble with a lot of areas of attack that we frequent in kickboxing or even muay thai. and you're 16 so id also recommend to do wrestling if thats available at your high school. not just for the great balance, ability to do and defend against take downs but wrestling is a great way to build complete body strength.
 
#5 ·
no wing chun >_< most martial arts are a joke.

you said you wanted to KO people, because of your size and height id say boxing is the best way to go about that. and i recommended wrestling because shorter guys are harder to take down and your physical condition will contribute greatly to your ability to fight regardless of whatever style you choose, but sure bjj is a good one also.

id recommend avoiding karate, tkd and wing chun.
 
#6 ·
I wouldn't exactly agree with Xeb's last post entirely, but there's some truth to it I can't deny.

The fact is is that Wing Chun is not the "KO art" you're asking for. Basically, boxing is going to be the art that will teach you how to deliver the most raw concussive force with your hands. Developing power in Chinese martial arts requires years and years of practice, or to butcher the art by brute forcing through the techniques.

If you want to take Wing Chun, then by all means study it. It's still a solid art with a lot of good technique to it, and can teach you a lot. But it just isn't the most sport applicable thing around, and like I said, it's not the "BOOM, KO" style you were asking for.

So, yeah. I would say boxing. I'd also say Muay Thai or kickboxing - not sure what part of those sports Xeb thinks you'd have a problem with, I can't imagine. (Explain, Xeb?)

PS. I can understand kind of not wanting to do what everyone else is doing (which is at least what I thought you meant by 'traditional'), but if you're looking to learn how to fight quickly and acquire that KO power, you do what you have to do.

-North
 
#13 ·
Well I started in boxing. Did so for 7 years before I went to college and started kickboxing. And well.. im 5'9" and ive become very flexible over the years. But if you're 5'11"-6' tall I still cant kick you in the face. So one of my biggest weapons as a kickboxer becomes void. Move that around and make me 5'5" now I can't kick guys 5'7" and taller... see what I mean. its not entirely practical to be rolling leg kicks, and body kicks (other than groin kicks) in a real fight.
 
#7 ·
boxing probably gives you the most powerful punch but muay thai teaches you to use more than just your fists which can keep an opponent off balance. imagine trying to defend someone coming at you only with punches...you can parry/duck/weave much more easily than if someones throwing different types of strikes.

on the training side, the best way i know of to build upper body power is explosive push ups.
 
#8 ·
Well, I was thinking Muay Thai would have a good bit of K.O power because I was watching videos of it and it's really brutal. And I think that I would have the K.O power but instead of it being with my fists it would be with my elbows, knees, and kicks correct? And another question I have is, I have heard a lot of people say that because Muay Thai has a wide stance it makes you slower than usual and easier to hit. Is this right?
 
#14 ·
Ah, I gotcha now Xeb. Somehow I managed to overlook that. I can understand then kicks being dropped out of the equation for his height/reach. I'm curious though, if then wouldn't the clinch range serve him especially well considering the reach he'll have with his arms? He'll have to get on inside the reach of anyone bigger than him, so wouldn't having elbows and knees for that range be pretty beneficial too?

Just spitballin'.
 
#15 ·
well, clinch range will definitely serve him well. but standing elbows and clinching probably wont. i don't have a ton of experience clinching as I'd just prefer to get away or uppercut. i think he'd probably have trouble getting his knee to his (probably) taller opponent, and using elbows would limit his range even further.

i like to use mike tyson as an example... guess what his reach was? 72inches. how he was able to topple opponents with a foot more reach was with his boxing skills. which is great for small guys, learning to utilize lateral movement to get past the jab is a beautiful thing.
 
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#16 ·
you're young enough that you can probably pretty heavily sample each of the the major arts at an mma gym and pick out which ones you like best from that. boxing will teach you precision and technique if you're looking for the stand-up power to KO someone. you sort of need all of them though, especially since you're worried about your ground game even though you seem to prefer striking.
 
#17 ·
ring: muay thai or boxing
street: krav maga

and to xeberus, im only 5'5 and kicks are probably my most effective weapon, im also a tae kwon do guy though so that might be why...but you dont have to go for the headshot with the kicks, leg kicks and body shots are really effective. and in a street fight, that leg kick turns into kicking the side of the knee, they cant follow you after that :)
 
#18 ·
It in essence doesn't matter which Art you select, as long as its trained with a specific purpose in mind. That is to say a Karate and Muay Thai practitioner both have the same potential for KO power, as long as that power is properly trained. Same can be said for TKD or Boxing/Kickboxing practitioners.

All of that being said. With Arts like TKD, or Karate, the goal of in class teaching(unless geared towards full contact sport) are not designed to train for the KO. If all you want to do is throw KO bombs, training in Boxing/Kickboxing/MT is a good bet.

no wing chun >_< most martial arts are a joke.

you said you wanted to KO people, because of your size and height id say boxing is the best way to go about that. and i recommended wrestling because shorter guys are harder to take down and your physical condition will contribute greatly to your ability to fight regardless of whatever style you choose, but sure bjj is a good one also.

id recommend avoiding karate, tkd and wing chun.
Sometimes your posts are disgusting.
 
#24 ·
I think the problem with the traditional martial arts is, that hey lack a full contact competetition system. If you box, you can fight full contact boxing, same with kickboxing and thaiboxing. But martial arts like karate, wingchun and many others normally dont have a full contact tourney system.
For example in germany, 90% of karate tourneys is pointfighting. The full contact system in germany is kyukushinkai, which is senseless because you cant strike to the head. The only full contact karate tourney system I know is daido juku, but this kind is only be teached in japan and eastern europe.
The problem with full contact I have, is, that you get punched with full contact in the head too often. That cant be good.
 
#25 ·
You're probably right. And your post made me think of andy hug. He started as a full contact karate fighter, and the guy was such a badass it took cancer to take him down.

RIP andy, 10 years today
 
#31 ·
What the f*ck just happened in here?

This thread took a weird, and depressing turn.

Every martial arts practitioner takes what they need from a given art. They may get more or less out of it. This reflects just as much on the individual as it does on the art.

I'm very, very tired of hearing absolutes applied to any martial art or combat sport.
 
#34 ·
after having a few drinks i realize, that we are all loyal to our perspective styles of fighting.

i say as long as we are kicking arse who cares about the details :p
 
#35 ·
after having a few drinks i realize, that we are all loyal to our perspective styles of fighting.

i say as long as we are kicking arse who cares about the details :p
That's honestly the coolest thing you've ever said.

You should try to remain at this level of drunkenness at all times my friend. We'll never agrue again:thumb02:
 
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