Same goes for fighters like Conor McGregor, no matter how good your boxing is, if you find someone like Nate Diaz with better stamina and Jiu Jitsu you’ll end up getting submitted. But if Muay Thai is so good, what could possibly be ranked higher? For this reason, it is (funnily enough) known as “The Art of Nine Limbs”. Almost every fighter has some sort of Muay Thai training because it’s so common and powerful in professional MMA. Boxers are used to constantly taking a hit, and so they know the best ways to block or absorb them with minimal damage. Kickboxers, karateka, nak muay, sanda fighters- all of them must study the hand strikes of boxing for success even within their sport, let alone outside it. By this, I mean that sparring is very common. If you know a bit about martial arts, then you know that the vast majority of martial arts can be put into two categories: grappling arts, and striking arts. Not only does it include the punches and kicks contained in many of the other martial arts already listed, but much more. I personally believe that there is a specific formula needed to find the perfect MMA fighter that involves only a few disciplines. The techniques used in Karate are very common in MMA. Muay Thai also is known for ”art of the eight limbs”, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques, which means, Instead of constant use of punches and kicks, Muay Thai fighters are able to use deadly knee and elbow attacks to hurt their opponents. Karate is a traditional martial art hailing from the Ryukyu Kingdom (which is now apart of Japan). For all the reasons listed, it is easily the number two best striking martial art available. Jon Jones vs Rampage is also a good example. How about kick him? If you have dreams of one day competing in MMA, then Muay Thai is an excellent start. It earned this name due to its diverse strikes, which allow striking with the elbows, fists, knees, and feet (hence 8 limbs). It is obviously effective, noted by the fact that it is practiced by UFC fighters Zabit Magomedsharipov, Cung Le, and Strawweight Champion Zhang Weili. Taekwondo is #6 on our list of best striking martial arts. It is a very complete martial art, encompassing many different types of striking techniques. Boxing is a sport that has been celebrated by the masses throughout history. A good grappler can absolutely take control of an entire match if they have a good set of takedowns and takedown defense. At the end of the day whoever has superior wrestling can ultimately decide where the fight takes place. To sum it up in total, their are three major fighting styles that an MMA fighter will have to train in order to be successful in professional MMA. The second-best striking martial art on our list is Muay Thai. Wrestling is a physically intense activity, and it has a very competitive culture. These attributes typically carry over when the wrestler starts learning other martial arts. You train for best practicality. Always respect your instructors who pass down their knowledge onto you. Please continue to visit The MMA Guru whenever you are looking for the best MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai, and Jiu Jitsu knowledge and guides. It can be very difficult for wrestlers to transition their game to learning striking, while other fighters such as Champion Tj Dillashaw (who started his career as a wrestler) have done an amazing job learning Martial Arts such as Muay Thai. Muay Thai also focuses on the clinch technique which is useful for many other martial arts such as judo and wrestling. For this same reason, Muay Thai is one of the few martial arts that includes a block for low kicks, known as a “check”. So what is the best style of fighting for MMA? Do you understand what I’m getting at? There are many defensive techniques that are taught in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and that are very useful for a real-life situation. 2. Who doesn’t use wrestling in MMA? The martial art is very similar to Muay Thai due to their geographical proximity, as Myanmar is on the northern border of Thailand. This is because punches to the head are banned in Olympic Taekwondo. Muay Thai fighters, like Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Jose Aldo, have superb conditioning and are capable of extreme violence. Kinda hard to defend yourself when you can’t punch right? Another reason Karate ranked so highly is due to its popularity. Because it is a "southern style" Chinese martial art, Wing Chun places heavy emphasis on fist and palm strikes, as opposed to "northern style" Chinese martial arts, which emphasize kicking more. It is an often used term in mixed martial arts circles, as mixed martial arts fighters tend to combine and draw from several different stand up fighting disciplines. At #5 on our list, we have the official combat sport of China: Sanda. Not only is Karate popular in movies, but it is also going to be seen in the 2020 summer olympics. It really depends what your goals are as a martial artist. Fighters in the UFC have succeeded with a wide variety of styles, even ones that we didn’t mention here like Wing Chun. Although he doesn’t use many traditional karate style kicks (mostly focusing on boxing technique), he still imitates the wide stance of a traditional karate practitioner. For good reason too. Karate isn’t a martial art that translates very well to MMA, however there are fighters such as Stephen Thompson who have been an outlier in the UFC. Respect your fellow students as well, who at the end of the day are trying their best to learn the martial arts. The best Martial Art for MMA is a combination of the fighting styles we talked about above. As far as striking martial arts go, Muay Thai is the most effective. MMA is one of the best martial arts for female self-defense. This doesn’t sell PPV’s and doesn’t have the same notoriety as fighters who use their superior striking. Boxing has been practiced for centuries, and has been used as a competitive sport since as early as 1600 BC. I would honestly say Muay Thai is the most important stand-up discipline you can train for MMA. Rather, each type or style possesses its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Muay Thai is extremely high intensity training that involves conditioning of the shins and core. Karate is a more complete version of Taekwondo. Almost every fighter that competes in MMA has some form of BJJ training. To put it in perspective, almost every MMA fighter has taken a Boxing class. In this way, it is very similar to boxing, due to the tough nature of its training. Former UFC champion Cody Garbrandt is one of the best boxers in MMA, putting his defensive boxing abilities on display when he beat Dominick Cruz for the Bantamweight title. This could include boxing and kickboxing, along with Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, and more. level 2 It’s the only sport that involves different cultures and different backgrounds, which is why MMA is so special. The term striking in martial arts generally refers to stand up fighting, or everything that’s not grappling (though strikes can be executed on the ground as well). Karate is seen as a non-contact Martial Art and is very appealing to parents with young children. There aren’t too many defensive techniques in Muay Thai when compared to the footwear and weave techniques learned in Boxing. Striking arts such as Muy Thai and Savat employ kicks and punches. Also, if your primary weapon is the takedown you better be sure to have the ability to take your opponent down.. or you’re gonna have a bad time. Karate is one of the most popular martial arts, and also one of the more prominent fighting styles seen in movies from the 60s and 70s. He has been able to use wrestling as a superior advantage throughout his long career in the UFC. Well, no need to wonder my friend. However, it is a subject I have given a lot of thought to over the years due to my career. BJJ has a lot of similarities with other grappling styles but its finishing ability has no equal. That’s right folks, headbutt knockouts are legal and fairly common in Lethwei fights. Another MMA fighter that practices Judo is Fedor Emilianenko. Muay Thai is a kickboxing art from Thailand, and is known as “The Art of Eight Limbs”. While I consider #1 (at the bottom of this page) to be the most effective martial arts style for self defense, not every martial art is for everyone (so I suggest you watch the video on each). Other fighters include practitioner TJ Dillashaw, he studies “Bang Muay Thai”, which is actually a hybrid form of Muay Thai created by Duane Ludwig and inspired by Bas Rutten. This forced other practitioners to adapt with other styles and thus, mixed martial arts started to evolve. Karate isn’t all that important in professional MMA today. Spinning kicks and jumping kicks are staples of Taekwondo, and they can generate a lot of power. His style has kept him a top-ranked welterweight for years, and has even earned him two shots at the title. Mixed martial arts began with style vs. style competitions and based off that, we got to witness first hand what happens when a karate guy fought a BJJ guy; or what happens when a Kung Fu fighter was pit against a champion kick-boxer. Demian Maia is one of the best BJJ practitioners that was able to translate his BJJ dominance into the UFC as well. Karate is very similar to Taw Kwon Do in which both involve a variety of kicks, however most aren’t practical for MMA. Sparring is one of the most important aspects of any martial art, as you don’t know what works until you try it in real life, right? To kick off our list, we have Savate at the #7 spot. Grappling arts like judo involve submissions, throws, and pins. Wrestling is a combat sport involving takedowns, throws, holds, tilts, and pinning combinations. Aside from that, striking martial arts are pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll waste no further time. However when they do, things can get interesting. That is the main reason Boxing is so high on this list. In this post, I’m going to rank the best striking martial arts by how effective they are. No matter the martial art you choose on this list, give everyday 100% of your heart and effort. Known as the ‘Art of Eight Limbs’, Muay Thai utilizes the body’s natural weapons — the fists, elbows, legs, and knees. Karate is the parent style of Taekwondo, but it does come with some key differences, as well as an explanation for why it is ranked so much higher than Taekwondo. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu will also teach you some amazing life lessons. Other great boxers in MMA include: Cody Garbrandt, Jorge Masvidal, and even BJJ practitioner Nate Diaz has great boxing. Robert Rousseau is a martial arts expert and a former senior writer for MMA Fighting. MMA is a mix of all Martial Arts that were created worldwide. Muay Thai is a kickboxing style sport that started in Thailand. Fighters like Muhammed Ali and Floyd Mayweather have completely changed the sport of Boxing. Having great Judo like Ronda Rousey will only get you so far, especially when you match up against someone like Holly Holm who has next level striking and takedown defense. The big downside to wrestling is that they are seen as boring MMA fighters. Now at first glance you might think, “Hey that kinda looks like Muay Thai doesn’t it?”. It’s also extremely effective in self-defense situations, as most fights start standing up. That depends on how much you value grappling and ground techniques. What I liked most about the early UFC’s was the hype videos before the fights. Yoel has the ability to completely dominate someone on the ground, it’s absolutely terrifying to watch. There are many different styles and disciplines that professional MMA fighters train in, and for good reason. That depends on how important you value stand up fighting techniques. And this is Lethwei’s major (and pretty much only) distinction from Muay Thai. Another great wrestler is Yoel Romero, who is a physical freak. A newer BJJ practitioner that has a great guillotine and triangle choke is Brian “T-City” Ortega. It earned this name due to its diverse strikes, which allow striking with the elbows, fists, knees, and feet (hence 8 limbs). Muay Thai is extremely important in MMA. Outside of the self defense arts of sambo, krav maga and their international relatives, boxing simply offers you the best overall control of any situation. So Lethwei is the best striking martial art by the allowance of headbutts. Of course, this is a subjective list and you are free to disagree with me if you wish. The 7 Best Martial Arts Styles for Self Defense. Wrestling is also offered at many MMA schools and is normally offered at BJJ schools as well. Thanks for reading. However, in addition to the diverse striking capabilities of Muay Thai, the martial art is known for its clinch which is a definite feature of MMA. themmaguru.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. It’s very common for BJJ competitors and college Wrestlers to start training Boxing while learning MMA because it will help them round out their game. Judo is also included in Olympic sport so it’s very popular among all ages. Sanda is a full-contact martial art, developed by the Chinese military by combining modern kickboxing techniques with traditional Kung-fu forms. It’s safe to say that Judo is one of the most physically demanding martial arts out there. Muay Thai is a kickboxing art from Thailand, and is known as “The Art of Eight Limbs”. Wing Chun practitioners can often been seen practicing on wooden dummies to improve their skills. Savate is an interesting martial art, that is probably the least popular from the ones on our list. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the objective is to either throw or takedown an opponent to the ground. However, any martial art in this list can be effective in a striking competition if you know how to use it. Stand-up MMA fighters had to adapt and learn this specific discipline so that they could stop getting submitted by BJJ specialists such as Royce. Mixed martial arts ... Every MMA fight begins on the feet so it’s fair to say that all fighters must have at least basic striking skills. Before you start, you must learn the basics of MMA training – endurance, grappling and striking. Muay Thai Vs. Boxing: Which style is more effective? It’s not only a great workout, but it’s also great for self-defense as almost every single fighting situation starts standing up. Boxing encourages head movement, lightness on the feet, and is highly strategic, hence its nickname, the “swee… MMA wise, Muay Thai definitely is the best martial art to transition from, but then again striking in MMA is still very much more different than that. You can't call yourself a strong Mixed Martial Arts fighter unless you understand the nuances of grappling. Your email address will not be published. This is because Karate practitioners are more used to punching than Taekwondo fighters are. This makes the sport a very efficient one in terms of hitting without getting hit, as you have to be in closer range to box than to kick. This means martial arts that include kicks, punches, and any other kind of strikes (including some unorthodox ones on this list). The leg kick is a strike unique to Muay Thai that is effective enough to end fights on its own. It wouldn’t be fair to compare Judo to MMA as one is a martial art (Judo) while the other is the combination of all martial arts for combat purpose (MMA).. BJJ started to become more popular with prominence of master Royce Gracie and his use of BJJ to put on dominating performances in the UFC. It’s well known that wrestlers have dominated MMA from the very beginning of time. However, there is one major difference between Lethwei and Muay Thai that puts ‘Burmese Boxing’ at #1 on the list. However, due to the limited usage of Savate in modern-day combat, it is last on this list. After time, this pain eventually went away. Of course, Sanda is still the more complete fighting style, but strictly due to popularity, Karate edges it out for the #4 spot. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to those select disciplines as they are all great and there have been successful championship fighters that specialize in each. Jujutsu And one of the most effective techniques in any martial art, is the leg kick. Here is an explanation on a few of the more common striking disciplines. In its arsenal, Sanda includes the basic punches of boxing, but also combines techniques used in Muay Thai and Taekwondo, including hook kicks, roundhouse kicks, and wheel kicks. I no longer feel pain in my shins when I kick heavy bags. This site is a go-to resource for MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu enthusiasts. If you have ever received a hard leg kick, then you know they work. When you think of one of the best fighters of all time, Daniel Cormier’s name comes to mind. 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