begining mma
 

hey guys, my buddy wants me to join a mma gym with him. the train in kick boxing, grappling, haganah, and kempo. are these good to train for mma fighting? i figured grappling and kick boxing are but arent sure about kempo and hagnah... any pointers?

i was gonna say just stick with grappling and boxing/kickboxing, but then i remembered why its called mixed martial arts. the best fighters are the ones that have the most tutelage under their belt. kempo is supposed to be a great striking art, but its a lot lesser known in the states and just make sure you're not being fed a bunch of bullshit. also i looked up haganah and i don't know much of a help that would be. according to the source i used to look it up(wikipedia) its just a self-defense system the israels used from the 1920s - 1940s. there haven't been any big practitioners since then so i don't know if i'd invest much into it. just do what you think makes sense, man. if something seems impractical like most self defense arts i 've seen, just leave it alone and focus on the offensive shit like BJJ and kickboxing and whatnot.

If you want to start in mma you'll be better off starting with wrestling, bjj & muay thai. No point in going for these obsure practices like haganah (? never heard of it!) unless you think t will benefit you (they probably won't though!).

There are people who start off in judo etc, but they never do too well unless they can defend a takedown or work a submission or two from the ground.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Kempo is what Quinton said Chuck is, a Kempo fighter. Quinton was saying this because Kempo uses a lot of headbutts and eye gouges - he was saying Chuck did these things....

But yeah, I see no point in going for Israeli military self defense or Kempo, stick to Muay Thai/Kickboxing for standup, BJJ for ground, and just fuse the two...but you basically have more choice with the grappling - BJJ/Judo/Wrestling/Sambo, etc.

Good luck.

Yeah, Kick boxing, BJJ, and wrestling would be a pretty good start.

It would help if you had experience in some kind of cobat sport before, seems like a lot of fighters were dominant in one discipline before switching over to MMA

start with boxing/kickboxing just like a real fight, it starts on the feet. i have 20yrs judo and 15wrestling, ive recently started muay thai, 2 years, and have realized how far behind i am in the overall package of a complete fighter.you can never go wrong with some bjj of course.

ok edit... KeNpo. not kempo. but he was telling me, in the class he throws in all techniques at once... but you can work on individual classes also!

I would recommend learning your chosen MAs separately to a degree of competence before bringing it together in an all encompassing mma class. Trying to learn everything at the same time would lead to confusion imho.

Not tried Kempo, but Krav Maga is the -real- Israeli defence ma (and has been adopted by most militaries and law enforcement specialists around the world). Many of its 'moves' are illigal in mma, but its main strength are its philosophies of absolute and pre-emptive aggression utilizing minimal defence. It's teaching techniques are also unique and useful.

git.

both are acceptable forms of the word, but kempo is more linguistically correct. i've heard more martial artists refer to it as kempo.

The best fighters are the ones that are well rounded. Any striking discipline is good as is any grappling. I would definitely focus on one or the other for the first few months to get a foundation of knowledge. A good instructor can intertwine the two and be very effective at it. My current instructor sometimes entwines the BJJ and San Soo at our school and the way he does it it makes sense and works. very effective form of teaching.