Someone recently asked me whether wrestling against the cage is an advanced MMA tactic that isn't really as applicable to amateurs, or whether it should be learned right alongside the basics of grappling. To me, the answer is pretty clearly the second one. I don't think fence wrestling is some advanced skill that you learn after you've mastered wrestling, BJJ and striking. I think it's one of the fundamental skills of MMA. That doesn't mean I think a brand-new student needs t

Every once in a while I'll see someone ask a question like, "Is it bad to train five days a week?" My honest answer is that I have no idea. I don't mean that I don't know anything about training. I mean that the question doesn't contain enough information for me to give you a meaningful answer. I don't know how long those five sessions are. I don't know what you're doing during them, how hard you're training, how much of the work is technical practice, how much is live sparri

There is a piece of advice you'll hear from a lot of martial arts gyms that I've never been completely comfortable with: “It doesn't matter what shape you're in. Just come in and we'll get you in shape.” I understand why gyms say it. Nobody wants to make a new student feel unwelcome, and obviously you don't need to be an athlete to start learning a martial art. The average person who walks into an MMA gym isn't going to be in incredible shape, and that's perfectly fine. You'r

If you've never trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu before, walking into a BJJ gym for the first time can be intimidating. You probably don't know what you're supposed to wear, you don't know anyone, you don't know what half the words mean, and you may have absolutely no idea what is going to happen once class starts. That's pretty normal. Every experienced BJJ practitioner was once the person standing outside the room wondering what they had gotten themselves into. You don't need to

Every once in a while I'll see a young guy on Reddit asking some version of the same question: “I want to be in the UFC someday. How do I get started? What should I train? Should I wrestle? Should I do BJJ? Should I box? How many days a week should I train? When should I have my first fight?” It’s a completely reasonable question. If you're 15 or 16 years old and you've fallen in love with MMA, there’s nothing wrong with dreaming about becoming a professional fighter. Having

One of the most common objections I hear to teaching MMA as an integrated sport from the beginning is pretty reasonable. "Shouldn't beginners learn the fundamentals of BJJ, wrestling, and striking first? If you try to teach them all at once, aren't you just going to create someone who is mediocre at everything?" I understand the argument. In fact, I agree with part of it. Beginners absolutely need fundamentals. They need to learn how to punch, how to move, how to defend taked

Taking your first MMA fight is a big deal. You are going to do something you have never done before, against someone you have never fought, in an environment that is very different from your normal training. There is going to be adrenaline, nerves, an audience, officials, a time limit, a corner, and an opponent who is actively trying to impose their game on you. You can't eliminate all of the uncertainty. That's part of competition. What you can do is eliminate as many unnece

A lot of people think of fundamentals as something you learn so you can move on to the “advanced” stuff. I think that’s backwards. The fundamentals aren’t a stepping stone to advanced techniques. They are the foundation of everything you will ever do. Knowing a technique and mastering it are two very different things. You can know how to throw a jab, shoot a double leg, pass a guard, or escape a bad position without being particularly good at any of them. Mastery comes from r

If you're looking for MMA classes, you probably assume that joining a gym that advertises MMA means you're going to learn MMA. That seems pretty obvious. But it's worth taking a closer look at what a gym actually offers. A lot of martial arts gyms advertise MMA. When you look at their schedule, however, most of the classes are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, Boxing, Kickboxing, or Wrestling. They may have an MMA sparring class once a week, but very little actual instruction d

One of the things I think people get wrong about training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is how closely they watch their progress. They want to know if they're getting better. Which is understandable. You're spending time, money and effort on this, so of course you want to see a return. The problem is that people often look for that return immediately. Did I do better today than I did last class? Did I submit somebody? Did I escape more? Did I get smashed less? Did that technique finall

One of the most common questions people ask when they're thinking about starting MMA is: "What martial art should I learn first?" Should you start with wrestling? Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? Boxing? Muay Thai? The answer usually depends on who you ask. Wrestlers will tell you wrestling. BJJ guys will tell you BJJ. Strikers will tell you that MMA starts on your feet, so you'd better learn how to punch and kick. And honestly, they all have a pretty good argument. But I think there's a

If you're thinking about starting martial arts at BLAST MMA, one of the first questions you'll probably have is: Should I train MMA or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? Both are great ways to train. Both will challenge you. And both will teach you skills that you can continue developing for years. But they're also very different training experiences. At BLAST, we've found that the people who gravitate toward MMA and the people who gravitate toward BJJ are often looking for different thing

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) has become one of the most popular martial arts in the world—and for good reason. It’s practical, engaging, and deeply rewarding both physically and mentally. But one of the most common questions adults ask before stepping onto the mat is: “Am I too old to start BJJ?” The short answer is no. In fact, adults often make some of the best beginners in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 40s, or beyond, it’s never too late to begin your

I've been thinking a lot about how MMA should actually be taught, especially to beginners. At BLAST, we use a structured 48-lesson Core curriculum followed by a 72-class Development curriculum. There's a reason we chose to do this instead of simply teaching whatever technique seems appropriate that day. MMA is an enormous skill set. A beginner has to learn striking, wrestling, clinch, fence work, takedowns, ground control, escapes, GNP, submissions, etc. The problem with simp