Martial Art Mecca

By: Sarah Aswell

The stand-up game consists mainly of strikes, knees, and kicks – kickboxing and boxing. Here quickness, striking power, and reach are important attributes. Because of MMA’s smaller five-ounce gloves, fighters can be knocked out with few punches and even with one well-placed strike. Going for knockouts or technical knockouts is the best strategy to end the bout while on your feet, although even now and again you see a fight end with a standing guillotine choke.

The ground game consists primarily of wrestling, striking, and submissions – fighters strive for good positions (such as a side mount or full mount) or situate themselves so that they can ground-and-pound their opponent. Just as a good defense is needed in the stand-up game, fighters on the ground constantly have to protect their various limbs and their neck from being caught in joint locks or choke holds.

With such different but effective types of competition, there is a great debate as to which type of fighter is more dangerous: an expert on his feet or an expert on the ground?

Many argue that the key is to be good at either take downs or take down defenses – that is, if you are better fighter standing up and are fighting someone who is a better fighter on the ground, you have to excel at keeping the battle on the feet. If your opponent takes you down, you will no longer have the advantage, whereas if you are able to stop his takedowns, you will continue to have the upper hand.

Similarly, if you are a ju-jitsu expert and are fighting a kickboxer, the best way to control the fight would be to have great takedowns. If you can take down your opponent, you can take him out of his comfort zone and dominate him using your more polished skills.

However, as MMA becomes more popular, and as athletes are beginning their training in mixed martial arts as a whole as opposed to wrestling or boxing first, the wrestler vs. striker debate has become almost irrelevant. In the early days of cage fighting, it was enough to be an expert in one or the other in order to become a dangerous fighter. In the larger talent pool of today, however, you can be nothing less than well-rounded in order to become successful.