Looking for MMA Classes? Make Sure You're Actually Training MMA

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 devoted specifically to teaching MMA as its own sport.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that. BJJ and Muay Thai are both very important for MMA. Wrestling is important for MMA. A gym can have excellent programs in all of those areas and produce very good martial artists. But if your goal is specifically to learn MMA, I think there is an important question worth asking:

Are you training martial arts that are useful for MMA, or are you actually learning MMA?

Those aren't necessarily the same thing.

MMA Is More Than the Sum of Its Parts

You can become a very good boxer without knowing how to defend a takedown. You can become an excellent wrestler without knowing how to safely close distance against someone trying to punch you. You can become very good at Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and still discover that some of the positions and decisions you make need to change when the other person is allowed to hit you.

That's because MMA isn't simply Boxing + Wrestling + BJJ.

The individual martial arts obviously matter. You need to know how to strike, wrestle, grapple and defend submissions. But eventually, you also have to learn what happens when those skills interact with each other. A good punch can create an opportunity for a takedown. A takedown attempt can create an opportunity for a knee. A failed takedown can turn into a clinch, and the clinch can lead to a takedown, a strike, or an opportunity to separate. On the ground, a submission attempt might create an opportunity to improve position, while ground-and-pound can force a reaction that opens up a submission.

Everything affects everything else. That's MMA.

Training BJJ and Muay Thai Isn't Automatically MMA Training

Let's say you join a gym with this schedule:

• Monday: BJJ

• Tuesday: Muay Thai

• Wednesday: BJJ

• Thursday: Muay Thai

• Friday: MMA Sparring

That's five days of training, and you could absolutely become a better martial artist by attending those classes. Your striking and grappling would improve, you'd probably get into better shape, and you would be developing skills that are all useful in MMA.

But if the only time you're actually putting those skills together is during one MMA sparring session on Friday, you may be expected to figure out the MMA part on your own.

That can work reasonably well for an experienced athlete. If you're already a good striker and a good grappler, MMA sparring can help you start connecting those skills.

But what about the complete beginner?

How does someone with no experience know how to adapt their stance to defend takedowns? How do they know when a striking combination creates a good opportunity to shoot? How do they learn what changes when wrestling takes place against the fence? How do they know which BJJ positions work differently when strikes are involved?

Those are skills that need to be taught.

You don't necessarily learn them just by being thrown into MMA sparring and hoping everything eventually comes together.

MMA Has Its Own Skills

This is the part that I think gets overlooked.

MMA has skills that don't really belong entirely to any one of the individual martial arts that make it up.

Fighting in the clinch against a fence is different from wrestling in the middle of a mat. Taking someone down changes when that person can punch you, knee you, or threaten you with a submission. Getting back to your feet becomes a different problem when you also have to worry about strikes.

Even the individual martial arts themselves have to adapt. A traditional Muay Thai stance, for example, may leave you more vulnerable to takedowns. A boxer who is comfortable leaning heavily into punches may have to make adjustments when the person in front of him can grab his legs. A BJJ player may discover that positions which work perfectly well in a grappling competition become much more difficult when the person on top is allowed to punch them. None of that means those martial arts are bad or somehow incomplete.

It means they're individual martial arts.

MMA requires you to understand where those arts overlap, where they conflict, and how to adapt them when they are all happening at the same time.

Sparring Is Not the Same as Instruction

A gym may technically offer an MMA class, but it's worth asking what actually happens during that class. If the answer is primarily MMA sparring, that's valuable training. Sparring helps you find out what works, exposes holes in your game, and gives you opportunities to apply your skills against someone who is actively trying to stop you.

But sparring by itself doesn't necessarily teach you what to do.

Imagine someone who has spent two years training BJJ and Muay Thai and then attends their first MMA sparring class. They may quickly discover that they don't know how to connect their striking to their wrestling. They may get taken down every time they throw certain combinations. They may find themselves using BJJ positions that become much less comfortable when punches are involved. Those are valuable lessons, but ideally, the entire learning process isn't just a matter of trying something, getting punished for doing it wrong, and then trying to figure out something else.

A good MMA program should help students understand these situations and gradually develop the skills they need before they're expected to solve every problem under the pressure of live sparring.

You Shouldn't Have to Build MMA by Yourself

None of this means an MMA program shouldn't include dedicated BJJ, wrestling, or striking training.

It absolutely should.

Individual skills need focused practice. You don't become a good striker by only doing MMA sparring, and you don't become a good wrestler by spending all your time throwing punches. You also don't develop a good grappling game without spending time actually grappling.

The individual pieces still matter. But there should also be deliberate instruction in how those pieces fit together. A beginner should gradually learn how striking can create opportunities for takedowns and how defending a takedown can bring the fight back to striking. They should learn how the clinch connects standing and ground fighting, how to control someone on the ground while accounting for strikes, and how submissions fit into the larger picture.

You shouldn't have to spend years collecting individual skills and then hope they somehow assemble themselves into MMA.

What Should You Look for in an MMA Program?

If you're looking for an MMA gym, take a look at the schedule and ask some questions about how the program actually works.

How often are actual MMA classes offered? Not simply classes that are useful for an MMA fighter, but classes specifically devoted to learning MMA.

What happens during those classes? Is MMA primarily taught through sparring, or is there actual instruction in the skills and transitions that make MMA different from its individual components?

You should also ask how beginners learn to connect striking, wrestling and grappling. Is clinch and fence work included?

Are ground positions taught with the realities of strikes in mind?

Is there a structured curriculum that gives a beginner a logical progression, or are students expected to attend separate classes and gradually put everything together themselves?

There are many ways to develop good martial artists and good fighters, and these questions aren't necessarily intended as universal deal breakers. The important thing is understanding what you're actually signing up for.

If Your Goal Is MMA, Train MMA

BJJ can make you a better grappler. Muay Thai can make you a better striker. Wrestling can make you better at controlling where a fight takes place. All of those skills are valuable, and a good MMA athlete should spend time developing them.

But if your actual goal is to learn MMA, you eventually have to learn how to combine them. You have to understand how striking changes wrestling, how wrestling changes striking, how the threat of submissions affects ground fighting, and how the fence changes the clinch.

That's the part that makes MMA its own sport.

So when you're looking for an MMA gym, don't just look at the sign on the building or the word MMA on the website. Look at what the gym actually teaches. Look at the schedule. Ask what happens in an MMA class and how beginners are taught to connect striking, wrestling and grappling. Because training BJJ and Muay Thai can absolutely help you become a better martial artist.

But if your goal is to become better at MMA, make sure you're actually being taught MMA.