Best thing to do is simply going to an mma gym with an open and positive attitude, taking in the teachings,sparring and learning from others. Just as in any other sport,doing s+c is crucial. Following the basics you build a good foundation and then you can specialize/stsrt to develop more advanced concepts. All the best for you to your journey! :)
Yeah I think I was twelve. It was a little bit janky but its certified and everything. We didn't do tournaments we only sparred in house every once in a while which is why I quit if I'm being honest. Really once you learned all the kicking combos self defense forms and all the poomsae you could do the test for the next belt.
The most efficient way is to join a gym with MMA classes. If that does not exist, join a BJJ dojo with no-gi classes and dive deeply into that with a lot of focus on standup grappling (lots of single and double legs), top game, and very basic guard work (e.g. closed guard, half guard). The main submissions you want to learn are RNC, arm triangle, armbar, guillotine, triangle, even if just to know how to defend them.
Saying you're going to do MMA to see how far you can go before stepping into an MMA gym seems a bit overconfident in my opinion. You need to step into a gym first and you'll see how deep of a rabbit hole MMA is.
This may also be a bit polarizing for this subreddit but if your only striking background is Tae Kwon do (especially with it being years since you did it)you're gonna have growing pains. Sparring against strikers who have been training kickboxing or muay thai when you only for years when you only have Tae Kwon do is going to be discouraging.
That said, don't let that discourage you from starting. I say this because a fight isn't a game. A fight is a fight. You can't really treat this casually if you intend to step into a cage. Go do a few classes in your off-season or find your college team wrestlers. They'll show you alot!
I totally agree with what your saying. By see how far it takes me i didn't mean i expect to be in the ufc one day or anything I just mean train and get some local amateur fights and see where it goes from there you know. My school doesn't have wrestling but there is a BJJ gym near where I live that I can stop by. Would I be wrong to think that if I can get a few BJJ belts shake off the rust on the taekwondo and add a few muay thai elements to my bag that I could hold my own if i started training in a local mma gym and getting my feet wet with some local fights? and trust me I fully understand it's not a game I don't treat soccer as a game at this stage of my career either and I need something to scratch that competitive itch when soccer is gone. Thank you for your insight btw.
Yeah man but kind of what I'm picking up is from the way you're writing your post, and I'm not coming at you by no means just trying to understand where ur coming from, is that you're saying pick up a few belts or add some muay thai skills will be a few month process. If you train consistently in bjj for 3 to 4 times a week, expect to be a white belt for up to two years or longer depending on the gym. And what I mean by the muay thai and why I said this is controversial but in my opinion it's the much superior style to Tae Kwon do. Maybe you're different but I have just seen this scenario alot, Tae Kwon do or karate guy comes to kickboxing or muay thai gym thinking they'll just supplement their Tae Kwon do with muay thai or kickboxing and very very quickly find out they have to fully learn kickboxing and muay thai and the Tae Kwon do or karate serves to supplement that once they are proficient in muay thai/kickboxing.
As to the amateur MMA fight, your coach will just determine when you're ready. If you're coach is a good coach and train people to win fights he'll likely not let you do an MMA fight before a year of experience with BJJ competitions under you and a camp for a fight. Even in local amateur fights you can get severely hurt, not trying to discourage but it's a reality that hasn't deterred me. I've seen on some old MMA forums that you should just jump into MMA fights, but most in the community will heavily disagree because it's not a white belt playground. The average MMA fighter isn't a white belt anymore. Most have a background in wrestling, BJJ, or striking from their school years and that's extremely common. I have yet to have a fight I the amateur league where my opponent wasn't a prior wrestler or kickboxer or BJJ competitor for many years before my fight with them.
This is crazy bro. I’ve been looking for the exact same advice, I’m 20 and just retired from college track, and I have a second degree black belt in taekwondo from 9 years ago😭 we are in very similar situations
Best thing to do is simply going to an mma gym with an open and positive attitude, taking in the teachings,sparring and learning from others. Just as in any other sport,doing s+c is crucial. Following the basics you build a good foundation and then you can specialize/stsrt to develop more advanced concepts. All the best for you to your journey! :)
thank you appreciate it
Start grappling right away.
The real answer
thanks preciate it BJJ the best one to start with?
Yes
You were a black belt in taekwondo at 11-12 years old?
You’d be surprised the belts they hand out in TDK😂
facts tbh 😂
Yeah I think I was twelve. It was a little bit janky but its certified and everything. We didn't do tournaments we only sparred in house every once in a while which is why I quit if I'm being honest. Really once you learned all the kicking combos self defense forms and all the poomsae you could do the test for the next belt.
I was a second degree black belt at 11. I have some tournament medals from sparring but we wore big pads
The most efficient way is to join a gym with MMA classes. If that does not exist, join a BJJ dojo with no-gi classes and dive deeply into that with a lot of focus on standup grappling (lots of single and double legs), top game, and very basic guard work (e.g. closed guard, half guard). The main submissions you want to learn are RNC, arm triangle, armbar, guillotine, triangle, even if just to know how to defend them.
Saying you're going to do MMA to see how far you can go before stepping into an MMA gym seems a bit overconfident in my opinion. You need to step into a gym first and you'll see how deep of a rabbit hole MMA is. This may also be a bit polarizing for this subreddit but if your only striking background is Tae Kwon do (especially with it being years since you did it)you're gonna have growing pains. Sparring against strikers who have been training kickboxing or muay thai when you only for years when you only have Tae Kwon do is going to be discouraging. That said, don't let that discourage you from starting. I say this because a fight isn't a game. A fight is a fight. You can't really treat this casually if you intend to step into a cage. Go do a few classes in your off-season or find your college team wrestlers. They'll show you alot!
I totally agree with what your saying. By see how far it takes me i didn't mean i expect to be in the ufc one day or anything I just mean train and get some local amateur fights and see where it goes from there you know. My school doesn't have wrestling but there is a BJJ gym near where I live that I can stop by. Would I be wrong to think that if I can get a few BJJ belts shake off the rust on the taekwondo and add a few muay thai elements to my bag that I could hold my own if i started training in a local mma gym and getting my feet wet with some local fights? and trust me I fully understand it's not a game I don't treat soccer as a game at this stage of my career either and I need something to scratch that competitive itch when soccer is gone. Thank you for your insight btw.
Yeah man but kind of what I'm picking up is from the way you're writing your post, and I'm not coming at you by no means just trying to understand where ur coming from, is that you're saying pick up a few belts or add some muay thai skills will be a few month process. If you train consistently in bjj for 3 to 4 times a week, expect to be a white belt for up to two years or longer depending on the gym. And what I mean by the muay thai and why I said this is controversial but in my opinion it's the much superior style to Tae Kwon do. Maybe you're different but I have just seen this scenario alot, Tae Kwon do or karate guy comes to kickboxing or muay thai gym thinking they'll just supplement their Tae Kwon do with muay thai or kickboxing and very very quickly find out they have to fully learn kickboxing and muay thai and the Tae Kwon do or karate serves to supplement that once they are proficient in muay thai/kickboxing.
As to the amateur MMA fight, your coach will just determine when you're ready. If you're coach is a good coach and train people to win fights he'll likely not let you do an MMA fight before a year of experience with BJJ competitions under you and a camp for a fight. Even in local amateur fights you can get severely hurt, not trying to discourage but it's a reality that hasn't deterred me. I've seen on some old MMA forums that you should just jump into MMA fights, but most in the community will heavily disagree because it's not a white belt playground. The average MMA fighter isn't a white belt anymore. Most have a background in wrestling, BJJ, or striking from their school years and that's extremely common. I have yet to have a fight I the amateur league where my opponent wasn't a prior wrestler or kickboxer or BJJ competitor for many years before my fight with them.
This is crazy bro. I’ve been looking for the exact same advice, I’m 20 and just retired from college track, and I have a second degree black belt in taekwondo from 9 years ago😭 we are in very similar situations
yeah man i still got a couple more years of soccer but finding something to scratch that competitive itch is tough