So I have my first MMA match this Friday. It’s a complete amateur thing and as far as I know it’s my opponents first match as well. The only real martial arts experience I have is 4-5 years of Judo, but that was ages ago and although I remember a good deal of the throws and such most of them were based on working the gi so I’m not totally sure how to transfer a lot of them over.
I’ve bumped up my cardio for endurance, but coming from rugby I have a good base for endurance to start with. As for ground work I’ve done some practice with one of the guys who fought in the last event up here and I’ve been practicing some of the rubber guard work on my girlfriend of all people. I guess you’ve got to work with what you’ve got sometimes.
Anyways I was wondering what advice you guys had for me. I’m just trying to pick up everything I can to use to my advantage.
My advice is to get out of the match. You have absolutely no idea what kind of experience level your opponent has, even if he hasn’t had a fight yet, he could’ve been practicing BJJ for 5 years, wrestled in college, boxed, etc. Why would you enter a match without any formalized training in the sport you are entering?
I like judo, but it won’t get you ready to get punched in the face, kicked in the liver, or mounted and pummeled like a cheap date. Neither will wrestling or BJJ for that matter, but why are you in such a hurry to compete in a sport whose ultimate goal is to injure your opponent? Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but have you had a live sparring session yet?
Seriously dude you’re not prepared at all. You’ve got balls and I like balls but chances are he’s gonna take a shit on your chest. Basic stand-up training will completely screw your judo unless you are quite a bit bigger and stronger than him.
[quote]rugbyfan wrote:
So I have my first MMA match this Friday. It’s a complete amateur thing and as far as I know it’s my opponents first match as well. The only real martial arts experience I have is 4-5 years of Judo, but that was ages ago and although I remember a good deal of the throws and such most of them were based on working the gi so I’m not totally sure how to transfer a lot of them over.
I’ve bumped up my cardio for endurance, but coming from rugby I have a good base for endurance to start with. As for ground work I’ve done some practice with one of the guys who fought in the last event up here and I’ve been practicing some of the rubber guard work on my girlfriend of all people. I guess you’ve got to work with what you’ve got sometimes.
Anyways I was wondering what advice you guys had for me. I’m just trying to pick up everything I can to use to my advantage.[/quote]
You, sir, are insane.
I spent my last 19 years practicing Jukite Jujitsu
1.5 years practicing BJJ
5 years practicing Boxing/Muy Thai
I JUST had my first amateur fight… while I won with relative ease, my opponent was fairly skilled. If I had been fighting against someone with your skill I would have pushed his face in… If I fought someone like Xen… I would get my shit wrecked…
Glad you practiced “rubber guard” on your girlfriend… maybe you should practice the “slap and tickle” too…
Not meaning to sound like an ass, but you REALLY should go and enroll in a school. You’ll find that sparring, shadow boxing, rolling are ENTIRELY different than the conditioning needed for Rugby… and that the skillsets you ONCE possessed in Judo are only the very basic foundation for MMA fighting… I just don’t want to see you walk in there and get hurt.
No I’m not a troll and yes I may be insane, but I’m going through with it. There’s no legit school anywhere near here to train. Trust me or I would have been there a long time ago. I have no idea how this whole thing started in my tiny college town, but I’m betting that has something to do with it.
A bunch of guys hopped up on testosterone who want to slug it out and not get arrested. No it’s not a macho thing, but I’m going to go in and give it all I’ve got. The promoter hand picks the match ups so he’s not going to put me against someone who has a ton of experience.
I’ve talked to the guy and he wants the fights to be as fair as possible otherwise what’s the point? This may be no better than a sanctioned brawl, but as long as I’ve got the chance I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.
Its a sanctioned mma match guys. You know how many amateurs enter smokers and shit? Kids who are 18, fresh out of junior varsity football armed with tapout gear to the gills.
Let him lose, maybe he’ll meet some locals who actually HAVE a team near him. Its worth the experience
Edit: If his profile stats are anywhere near current I retract everything I have said and this kid needs to take a few jogs before he gets in a ring…
I agree with everyone that has told this kid not to fight. I have been training 3-5 days a week at my college as part of the MMA club for the past year and a half. Only recently have I considered doing a fight in the near future. When I first started I was in relatively good shape, could play basketball, football, whatever for a couple hours no problem, rolling/sparring is a different kind of endurance.
Those first few practices are like torture. You will gas out and get tired in the first minute, yes, 60 seconds and you will be gasping for air, your opponent will hit you in the face, hard, and then possibly break one of your limbs. Good luck.
FWIW, I also like to practice moves on my girlfriend, I especially like when I can mount her
[quote]HangerBaby wrote:
Its a sanctioned mma match guys. You know how many amateurs enter smokers and shit? Kids who are 18, fresh out of junior varsity football armed with tapout gear to the gills.
Let him lose, maybe he’ll meet some locals who actually HAVE a team near him. Its worth the experience
Edit: If his profile stats are anywhere near current I retract everything I have said and this kid needs to take a few jogs before he gets in a ring…[/quote]
My stats are way different from then. I’ve since dropped 20lbs of fat. That was when I first started training at all so I’ve gotten in way better shape.
As for everyone else I appreciate your opinions and from the wrestling experience I have from high school I know that matching up against someone with similar stats is the most exhausting thing you can do. Not to say it’s the same thing, but I know what kind of conditioning it takes to do that.
To explain the comment about my girlfriend basically I meant that I’ve been practicing what I can. Since my gym situation isn’t any better than any of the other guys around here we practice in the gym when we can, that’s definitely gotten some looks once or twice, but when I’m home I’m doing what I can too. It’s not anywhere near what I’d like to be able to do, but for what it’s worth it’s better than nothing.
As for the comment about giving someone a teep to the face I’m not flexible enough at this point to kick someone in the head with the kind of speed that I’d need to, but I guess if I’m fighting a 235 lb midget, then I’ll give it a shot.
Don’t listen to the haters. I’m 39 and I took my first match within 3 months of starting training with a club. If they are the same MMA rules (no elbows to the face . . .) you won’t get hurt. We take guys to fights all the time that have had little training. You should do it for the experience alone.
You may lose but so what? What’s the worst that will happen? Choked out? Tapped? Knocked out? Big deal. If this guy you’re fighting is a former high school wrestler, rest assured he will probably run in on you trying to take you down. I’ve had four fights this year (my first) and I’ve ended them all by submission because these guys thought they were going to just run me over. Be ready for that.
The referees are there to keep you safe so don’t get freaked out. Treat it as just another sparring round. I’m sure you’ve done plenty of that through Judo.
Are you near St. Louis? We train out of a gym south of St. Louis in Festus Missouri. If you are near there let me know as I am looking for a big sparring partner such as yourself. No, I am not gay (not that there is anything wrong with that).
You may lose but so what? What’s the worst that will happen? Choked out? Tapped? Knocked out? Big deal. [/quote]
torn acl, mcl, rotator cuff, pec. fractured meniscus, broken nose, countless stitches, lost tooth, broken hand. That’s just the injury list from TRAINING that I have observed, what if this dude gets heel hooked and doesn’t know that he should tap? Great advice.
I should add that the worst injuries I have observed have occurred in training, not in the ring, but my stance remains the same, this is a stupid idea.
