Another one... Kickboxing / competitive fighting???

Question

Due to my looong drive to an MMA gym as of now - and falling behind in class as I would only be able to go once a week..

I took the advice of someone who said to take on kickboxing until I move closer to an mma gym in a few months...

My question is -- will kickboxing give me a lot of experience before getting into competitive fighting, or will it throw me off with the differences learned in that class as opposed to what I will be taught in martial arts????

Will I be getting ahead, or in the long run learn habits that maybe aren't taught in marial arts?

Answer 1

In kickboxing you'll refine your striking ability so that's a positive.  You'll also improve your cardio which is good. You need striking in MMA.

Since you've made the decision to do kickboxing first, I say learn as much as you can from it - work hard and develop strikes and footwork.  Once you move to the MMA gym, be prepared to change your stance, throw fewer combinations (or at least shorter ones) and less showy kicks.  High kicks in MMA = takedowns.  But having a good striking background will definitely help your overall game.

I personally prefer striking, and am learning the ground game essentially to keep my fights standing up.  I have recently started to focus on escapes, sprawl, and control in the clinch so that I can continue to do what I'm good at - hitting hard!   You can't have a well-rounded MMA game without having striking, so embrace it.  Evolve when the time is right, and use the parts of kickboxing you find applicable to your approach to MMA when you start your other training.  You may find out that you prefer grappling later, but you'll always need striking.

Answer 2

Okay, taking your questions 1 at a time.

Your kickboxing gym should give you sometime before they set you up with any competitive fights and any that you feel like you aren't ready for they should be okay with, at least until you've gotten some time in there. If it is a true fight gym they may want to get you into competition fairly quickly, you'll have to feel your way through this and let them know if you think it is too soon for you.

There will definitely be differences between kickboxing and mma, but at least you will have the kickboxing skills going into MMA which beats going in with no experience and having to learn everything at 1 time. Most of what will change is just adjustments that have to be made to any stand up striking style for MMA to give yourself a better chance at stuffing take downs.

Yes, there will be habits you will have to change, but again better to have the skills and then learn to make the adjustments later. Just the adjustments to prevent take downs and depending on where you live maybe some limitation as to legal strikes.

Answer 3

I think kickboxing will give you some good skills for long and medium range fighting.  The distance and strategy is a little closer for wrestling and grappling and as long as you work at learning how to make those adjustments you should be fine.  Some people don't think about such things or have trouble with that but the fact that you asked this question and are thinking about this tells me that you should be fine once you learn how and what adjustments to make as that distance changes and you close the gap with your opponent.  Skills at long, medium and short range together with wrestling and grappling aspects will make you much more rounded and make you a much more complete martial artist and capable of defending yourself.