MMA (mixed martial arts) or mixed martial arts is a competitive fighting sport that contains elements of kickboxing, muay thai, boxing, and various other types of martial arts. MMA is becoming very popular now and is hard to break. The MMA title, or championship belt, is awarded to a fighter who meets the highest standards of achievement in his class (by weight). The organization or agency that manages MMA makes that decision based on the results of the championship fight. You can become the MMA champion by winning the scheduled fights.
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Part 1 of 4: Choosing the Right Gym
Step 1. Choose a gym that you have a good emotional connection with
Joining a great MMA team is one of the most important things for a fighter. If you don't have good training partners and coaches, your skills will not develop. Look for teams and coaches that have produced what you want in training, and follow the directions.
- When looking for the right gym, you have to find the people who work there. Watch their practice and learn if it's to your liking.
- Talk to coaches, and discuss your goals as a fighter, and see if the gym is a comfortable place to train.
Step 2. Find a gym that can show your weaknesses
Gym strength has an inverse relationship with your weaknesses as a fighter. Look for a gym that does offer an opportunity to work on your weaknesses, and help you become a better fighter.
- For example, if you have a basic Muay Thai martial art, of course you want to practice your wrestling skills so that you can become a more complete and better fighter.
- Being someone who is fully capable of fighting can make you the best. A good starting point is to find a gym that teaches a combination of boxing and yuyitsu (jiu jitsu).
- Pay attention to the size of the person working out at the gym you're looking for. If you are looking for a partner to train with a large body size, choose the gym that meets your desires. Practicing against bigger guys is very important so that you have a good picture when you later fight someone in the ring.
Step 3. Pay attention to the gym's attitude towards sparring
Make sure they have a line between practicing and injuring you/others. Pay attention to whether the coach is supervising the relationship between the fighters in the gym.
- The gym must facilitate everyone who wants to channel 110% of their ability at a certain time when sparring.
- The gym should also encourage everyone to care for each other so that no one gets seriously hurt. Practice is preparation, not a real MMA fight.
Step 4. Move to a city with lots of gyms
If you want to become an MMA champion, but you don't live in an area with lots of good gyms, you may need to move. Move to an area with lots of gyms, both in terms of quality and quantity.
- If you live in an area that only has one martial arts gym, maybe they should add other types of martial arts, such as wrestling, yuyitsu, kickboxing, and others. If the gym can't provide you with the other exercises you need to become a champion, it's a good idea to move to another city.
- If you move to a big city where there are many martial arts gyms, such as Jakarta or Bandung, you will have more choices of quality gyms there. You can join several gyms at once to practice different types of martial arts.
Part 2 of 4: Learning the Basics of MMA Combat
Step 1. Learn stand-up fighting
Upper combat generally includes knee strikes, elbows, punches, and kicks. Practice developing your footwork skills so you can easily dodge your opponent's attacks while in the ring.
- You have to practice various disciplines: karate, Kungfu, Muay Thai, kendo and of course boxing.
- To learn the basic moves that most amateur fighters need, try kickboxing more intensively. It's the most effective way to develop abilities in the top fight.
Step 2. Practice basic fighting techniques
Get ready for a top fight. Cover your face with one hand, and place the other hand down to protect your body.
- On the same side of your body as your main leg, throw a jab (short straight shot) using your arm with a straight punch.
- Use your back hand to make a straight cross punch into the air.
- Throw punches in a circular motion using your main hand to hook (short punches with elbows bent).
- To perform an uppercut, throw a punch from the bottom up while pointing your fist up.
Step 3. Minimize the success of the opponent's attack
You can do this with the basics of clinch combat for MMA fighters. Practice the clinch followed by the slam by learning techniques in judo, sambo (Russian wrestling), and wrestling.
- Learn how to wrestle so you can gain an effective understanding of how to clinch in combat.
- Begin the clinch when you are standing or on the floor.
- Approach your opponent and lock his body with your arms.
- Take down opponents with throws or slams.
Step 4. Learn how to beat your opponent by submission (give up because you're locked up)
Ground fighting is an integral part of the basics of MMA fighting. The bottom fight is used to make the opponent surrender.
- Lower combat can be in the form of yuyitsu, judo, sambo, and throw and catch type wrestling. Knowing how to protect yourself from being submitted is very important to winning a fight, especially in MMA.
- Most MMA fighters practice BJJ (brazilian jiujitsu) or Brazilian yuyitsu so you have to train hard to survive their submission attacks. You also have to learn how to submit in a fight.
- Try to get into a mount position (your opponent is under and on top of you) by being on top of him for maximum control. Mounting position can also be done from the side or rear.
Step 5. Do strength and fitness training at the same time as MMA training
For sustained strength training, do weight training to increase strength and fitness exercises to increase endurance. Good fitness training allows you to maintain stamina when competing.
- Begin a pre-match training program a few months before the fight. The training should cover everything you might encounter in a fight so that you'll be fully prepared for anything.
- Increase strength by training with weights. Build endurance in the fight by doing a variety of fitness exercises.
Part 3 of 4: Training Strength and Endurance
Step 1. Warm up first before starting to exercise
Start your routine by doing sprints to get your heart rate up. Do a 25-meter sprint, then turn back to where you started, then repeat the sprint for at least 5 more minutes.
Step 2. Work on endurance and upper body muscle strength
Do 15 push ups, 15 jumping jacks, and 15 bench dips. Repeat the exercise for 5 minutes and rest for about 90 seconds before moving on to the next step.
- Do the exercise at least 3 times a week with interspersed rest in the middle.
- Always record the length of time it takes to do each exercise to see how your workout is progressing in terms of time.
Step 3. Focus on increasing the body's capacity to expel
This is useful for building resistance to fatigue while performing extreme exertion. Start with 10 heavy burpee exercises.
- Start lightly by doing a burpee clean and a burpee press using 11 kg dumbbells 10 times.
- Continue to do 10 burpees using 7 kg dumbbells.
- Continue to reduce the amount of weight you use until at the end of the workout you are using only body weight. Do the burpees 10 times.
- Repeat this exercise for a full 5 minutes after the workout ends. After that, proceed to the next step.
Step 4. Condition the whole body with conditioning exercises
Keep your heart up when you do high-intensity exercise. Do this exercise and repeat for the full 5 minutes as you did in the other exercises before moving on to the next step.
- Lift your legs up high with a quick knee motion. Do this 10 times.
- Do mountain climber exercises. Repeat this exercise 10 times.
- Do a set of jumping jacks, plank jacks, and lung splits each. Each set must be performed 10 times to count as one full session.
Step 5. Perform aerobic and anaerobic exercises
Build power and strength while continuously increasing your endurance. You can do this by incorporating resistance training throughout the body.
- Complete the exercise by doing 10 squats, namely 10 squats with overhead press, 10 times tricep press, 10 times shoulder circle for each side, 10 times bicep curl, and 10 times bent over row.
- Once everything is done, repeat the entire exercise in full for an additional 5 minutes.
Part 4 of 4: Doing Your Best in MMA
Step 1. Stay motivated
Think of all the fun things about MMA. Think of great fighters like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Israel Adesanya, Stipe Miocic, Theo Ginting, or Suwardi. What do they have in common? Be consistent in practicing and always do your best to achieve the goal.
- Don't think about the other fighters and the progress they've made. By comparing yourself to other fighters, you will limit yourself. Focus on getting rid of all boundaries.
- Strive for the best. Focus on your growth and development as an MMA fighter. Keep pushing yourself to achieve success.
- Challenge yourself by setting goals. Evaluate your progress regularly, then set new goals.
Step 2. Gain experience in the match ring so you can fight to your full potential
You can train every day, but nothing compares to the experience of playing in a real ring. When you're ready, feel free to jump into the ring, and let the experience teach you everything.
Step 3. Be an outstanding person and stand out among other fighters
Pay attention to what the promoter likes in choosing a fighter. Get to know and learn what fans like. If you have become a person who is always talked about, this will make it easier for you to become a champion.
- Try your best to always finish off your opponent when you're in the ring. A win by knockout and a beautiful submission will be far more attractive than a victory by jury decision.
- Show your personality. If you can display a great and memorable personality, you will get a lot of attention.
Step 4. Take the opportunity to practice the technique
Whenever you practice, never miss an opportunity to practice the techniques you've learned from different types of martial arts. In any place, or under any conditions, you can take advantage of moves in martial arts. Use this opportunity to perfect the technique.
- For example, when you practice hitting the bag, don't just swing your punches blindly. Use different self-defense techniques, such as kickboxing and MMA moves.
- If you can keep your body position when your arms are ready to swing, you'll have a good chance of showing your best in the ring.
Step 5. Resist yourself from overtraining and fighting
The body needs to rest and recover. If you push yourself beyond your capabilities, it will have a bad impact on your performance. Learn to recognize these situations and when you have crossed the line. Give your body time to rest as needed.
- Symptoms and signs you may experience if you've overtrained in the past include: pain before a match, injury during training, poor performance and/or delayed peak performance.
- Symptoms and signs that you may experience if you are overtraining at this point include: increased heart rate, increased heart rate when training at a certain intensity, taking a long time to get the heart rate back between intervals, and/or being lazy or not very enthusiastic to practice.
Tips
- While you don't have to join the most expensive gym, it's very important to spend a lot of money on training so you can become the best fighter.
- Don't forget to focus on stamina, flexibility, agility, strength, and speed as you train to become a champion.
- Following a strict diet is an essential act for most fighters.
