What Base Should You Start With for MMA?

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 an important distinction that often gets missed when people answer this question:

"What's the Best Base for an Elite MMA Fighter?"

And

"What Should a Completely Untrained Adult Start Learning If Their Goal Is MMA?"

Those aren't necessarily the same thing.

If we're talking about what background has historically produced successful MMA fighters, wrestling has a pretty strong argument. Wrestling teaches you how to control another person's body. It teaches you balance, pressure, positioning, takedowns and, maybe most importantly, the ability to decide where the fight takes place. A great wrestler who learns how to strike and grapple is a dangerous person.

But that's not really the situation most adults are in when they start looking for an MMA gym. Most people aren't deciding which martial art to train at age eight so they can maximize their chances of becoming a UFC champion. They're 25, 30 or 40 years old and thinking: "I'd like to learn MMA. Where do I start?" And I think that changes the answer.

At Some Point, You Have to Learn MMA

If your goal is to learn MMA, I don't necessarily think the best advice is:

"Spend the next three years doing BJJ. Then start MMA."

Or: "Become a good boxer first. Then learn how to wrestle."

Or: "Go wrestle for a few years and come back when you're ready."

At some point, you have to actually learn MMA.

And the transitions are part of MMA.

• Learning how to punch is important.

• Learning how to wrestle is important.

• Learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is important.

But learning how those things affect each other is also important. A punch changes a takedown. A takedown changes because the other person is trying to knee you in the face. Your grappling changes when the person underneath you is allowed to punch you. Your striking changes when the guy in front of you can grab your leg and put you on your back. You can be a great boxer and still have absolutely no idea what to do when someone shoots a double leg. You can be an excellent wrestler and still have to learn how to close distance without walking directly into punches. You can become very good at sport BJJ and discover that some of the decisions you make on the ground need to change when strikes are involved.

That's MMA. It's not just boxing plus wrestling plus BJJ. It's learning how all of those things fit together.

A Strong Base Is Still an Advantage

Now, if you've already spent years wrestling, boxing, doing Muay Thai or training BJJ, that's different. That's your base. Build on it.

• A good wrestler should absolutely use their wrestling.

• A good boxer should take advantage of their boxing.

• A good BJJ player should understand that they already have a significant amount of grappling experience.

You don't need to forget what you're good at just because you're starting MMA. In fact, having something you're already good at gives you somewhere to start. The challenge is learning how to adapt that skill to MMA. But that's exactly what MMA training is supposed to teach you.

Starting MMA Doesn't Mean Becoming Mediocre at Everything

This is where I think people sometimes misunderstand the argument.

I'm not saying that a beginner should spend 15 minutes learning boxing, 15 minutes learning wrestling and 15 minutes learning BJJ every day and expect to become good at everything.

You still need focused training, time to develop individual skills. You need to spend time learning how to strike. You need dedicated wrestling and takedown training. You need to learn grappling and submissions. And You need repetition and lots of them.

You need to spend enough time doing something to actually get better at it.

But you can do that while still learning how those skills fit into MMA.

You don't necessarily need to spend years building three separate martial arts before you're allowed to start putting them together.

So What Base Should You Start With?

If you have a background in another martial art, use it. That's your base.

Build on it. But if you're starting from zero and your actual goal is to learn MMA, my opinion is pretty simple:

Start learning MMA.

• Learn the individual skills.

• Spend time developing your striking.

• Learn how to wrestle.

• Learn how to grapple.

• But also start learning the transitions.

• Learn what happens when those skills collide.

Because eventually, that's the part you have to figure out anyway. The best boxer in the world still has to learn what happens when somebody tries to take him down. The best wrestler still has to learn how to enter safely against strikes. The best BJJ player still has to learn how to deal with punches.

The best base in MMA might be having one really strong skill.

But if you're starting from scratch, you don't have to spend years waiting to develop a base before you start learning the sport you actually want to learn.

At some point, you have to start learning MMA.

And if that's your goal from the beginning, there's a pretty good argument for starting there.