Blending Striking Styles

[Liver Punch]

I think that for the most part, the martial arts community has agreed with the idea that no one style is perfect, and that the combination of techniques that apply to a specific situation is almost always the best route to go. This is particularly the case in what makes up about 1/2 of my martial arts world: the sport of MMA. What I'm seeing on the Amateur level almost exclusively, and at the professional level to a huge extent, is that they are mixing a standup ingredient with a grappling ingredient, and sometimes adding in one range of clinch fighting.

I think that, to a point, this is a huge misinterpretation of what you should be as a (mixed) martial artist, and what one's system should be as a whole.

I would define myself as a Muay Thai practitioner. I would do so based on my time spent under a Kru learning Muay Thai techniques, wearing what I originally despised (and have come to love) in thai shorts, and my constant defense of Muay Thai as the hands down single greatest striking art in the known universe.

But if I endlessly define one style of anything as the "best", I'd be violating my own rule that you have to borrow from everyone to end up with something that constitutes complete.

It turns out that I wasn't taught Muay Thai at all. Sure, all the good stuff is there - the brutal kicks, the elbows and knees, the clinch work...all of that. But then there's all this other stuff that's absent from most traditional Thai fights that I watch. My elbows are pulled in and my hands cover a severely tucked chin, I throw an abundance of "fancy kicks", have head movement, feints, and a variety of other stuff that's been taught to me that I'm supposed to do. (Versus charging in and hammering on people, which I often times prefer to do)

So, with all of this in mind for some time, my question for the rest of you strikers here, what styles do you mix into your striking art? What blends, mixtures, and combinations do you find effective, and what have you discarded as ineffective for you personally, for your application of martial arts, or as just plain worthless.

[MasterPain]

Man.... Intercepting Fist. Strong side lead, lots of trapping.

Goju and kempo karate. Most of my kicks and some hard style blocks.

Muay Thai. Chopping leg kicks.

Krav Maga. I love their wedge concept.

Northern Mantis Kung Fu. THE CLAW!!!!

[tallgeese]

I think that MT is a great art. I spent time working with it during my two years at grad school, never to a great extent but certainly enough to be come comfortable to an extent. It does have great clinch and in fighting capability.

I think boxing is vastly under rated and alot of my hand/ head movements come from time spent training with some golden gloves guys early in my career. There is, of course, the signifigant lack of a well rounded game with only a single set of weapons used. However, the hands are at a science here. Foot work and angles are brought to a premium.

I'd also agree with MP, trapping is an exellent tool to incorporate. Although I've never been able to worok strong side forward, the acutal movements of interception work across a wide array of situations and shouldn't be overlooked.

I think the soft parries of goju, while hidden in kata that are often misinterperated it seems, lead into a nice variety of trapping movements as well.

Great obseration about the nature of "mixed" in MMA.

[bushido_man96]

Quite some time back I began working more on Boxing type hand movements as opposed to the "longer" movements of TKD, with the reaction force being a hand chambered at the ribs or hip. Although I have never had any true Boxing training, I did have the opportunity to train with an old guy who Boxed in the 40s and 50s as a middleweight. He was awesome. He would give me a few pointers here and there, and I would just try to make those adjustments.

Since I didn't have a lot of true Boxing experience, I just tried to take what I could with a Boxing arm base, and work some pads and a heavy bag in combinations. I really focus on getting good hip rotation into my punches to get power into them. I pretty much ditch any of the open hand strikes, as well, prefering the punch the most.

[Lee M]

Based on mma most practice muay thai as their all round striking art. We've seen a few elite fighters get an even bigger edge with pro boxing skills.

Dos Santos and GSP.

I think today is about strengths and weaknesses as oppose to styles.

Talking away the opponents strenghts...like Dos Santos did we Carwin beating him up with a superior jab.

But this is at elite level.