ARTICLES
OUR PHILOSOPHY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Mixed Martial Arts are definitely growing in popularity. They are also evolving and developing, incorporating a variety of martial arts.
The only problem we see with the way the new sport is progressing - it seems to be more of a mix of martial arts, rather than mixed martial arts or an even blend, implied by the word “mixed”.
Some schools employ different coaches, who are remarkable specialists in their art. It can be an accomplished boxer, or Thai boxer, wrester or grappler. The downside of this style of training is lack of smooth transition from one mode of fighting (stand-up) to the other (ground). When people are standing they box or kick-box; when they go to the ground they go in grappling mode. In other words, they “forget” to punch on the ground, because normally they train in a grappling class, and punching is not allowed. Same way, standing up, they “forget” about holds, grabs and trapping, because they normally train in straight boxing or Thai boxing.
Of course, trainers and coaches recognize this problem and add supplemental training of judo or Greco-Roman wrestling to help transition from stand-up fight to ground, implementing throws and take downs.
However, it is still difficult to teach a MMA as a system with this approach. Taught with this approach MMA consists of disjointed practices, which have no harmony between them.
We try to teach MMA, keeping in mind, that stand-up game and ground game are not separate from each other. The principles and techniques of one apply to the other. We also realize the dangerous of performing in MMA a technique that works really well in a particular art. For example, certain types of tackles work only, if the knees to the face are not allowed, otherwise you end up “eating a knee”.
We concentrate on teaching students to not separate stand up fighting and grappling. When grappling, they should be able to punch and while standing they should be able to sweep and grapple.
It takes physical training – to get enough repetitions that it becomes muscle memory. It also takes mental training – to be ready for anything at any moment and remember there is no “grappling mode” or no “stand up mode”. For us, it is just fighting mode.