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Best Base for Mixed Martial Arts: Making the Transition into the World of MMA

Ever since the beginning of MMA competitions, the age old question of which martial art style is the best has been all but answered: there is no one discipline that is the be all and end all of martial arts, rather a broad knowledge of all aspects of fighting covering a broad spectrum of fighting styles is the formula of becoming a successful modern MMA fighter.

Forever seeking topics for a good debate, MMA fans has instead started asking about: which martial art serves as the best base for a MMA fighter? Meaning if you have to pick a fighting discipline to begin training at a young age so that a transition into the world of MMA can be relatively easy and smooth later on, which martial art discipline should it be?

A Look at the Ultimate Fighter Winners

By simply looking at past UFC champions in an attempt to analyze the success of each style serving as base to their MMA success would paint a somewhat inaccurate picture since all the champions are seasoned fighters already possessing extensive training in other forms of martial arts. A more revealing group of fighters would be up coming fighters still in the infancy of their MMA careers struggling to make the transition. One such group of fighters can be found competing on the popular Spike TV/UFC reality show: The Ultimate Fighter.

Already having 9 seasons of the reality series in the books, the show has crowned 15 winners in various weight classes thus far. A look at the martial arts backgrounds of the winners can perhaps serve as the basis of discussion to which martial art discipline provides the best base for MMA.

Season 1 winner Forrest Griffin- According to Griffin’s website, Griffin trained at the HardCore Gym for five years under Adam and Rory Singer and developed “a raw combination of martial arts fused with a bare knuckle barroom technique.” Forrest Griffin can thus be considered as training in Mixed Martial Arts right of the bat.

Season 1 winner Diego Sanchez - Diego Sanchez was a high school wrestler with Karate training starting at the age of nine.

Season 2 winner Joe Stevenson – Started wrestling at the age of 11 and started jiu-jitsu at the age of 13.

Season 2 winner Rashad Evans – An all-state wrestler in high school and also wrestled for Michigan State University. Rashad is also a jiu jitsu specialist. 

Season 3 winner Kendall Grove – Wrestled in high school before starting his MMA training.

Season 3 winner Michael Bisping – According to an article from the Sun, Michael Bisping started training in a traditional form of jujutsu known as Yawara Ryu at the age of 8.

Season 4 winners will not be included in this discussion since the season focused on veterans attempting to make a comeback which is not within the scope of this discussion.

Season 5 winner – Nathan Diaz started Gracie jiujitsu under Caesar Gracie as a teenager and is currently a brown belt.

Season 6 winner – According to UFC.com, Mac Danzig started training jiujitsu at Casey Leonard’s gym in Pittsburgh in 2000.

Season 7 winner – According to UFC.com, Amir Sadollah began his training in MMA at Team Combat located in Richmond, VA.

Season 8 winner – Efrain Escudero was a NJCAA All-American wrestler before competing in MMA.

Season 8 winner – Ryan Bader was a two time NCAA Division I All-America wrestler at Arizona State University before training in MMA.

Season 9 winner – According to UFC.com, Ross Pearson started Taekwondo and Judo at an early age.

Season 9 winner – According to UFC.com, James Wilks first started training in Taekwondo and JKD, but later moved to the US to improve on his ground fighting skills and trained under Eric Paulson in submission wrestling. Erik would use a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi in many of his matches.

Ground Fighting is Key

Out of the 13 winners included in the discussion, 7 of them have a base in wrestling, 4 in jiujitsu or some forms of jujutsu, 1 has a judo and Taekwondo background, and 2 started outright with some combination of mixed martial arts training. Even though winners with a wrestling base make up over half of the TUF winners, it can be argued that it is due to the culture of wrestling in the USA; with a higher percentage of athletes competing in wrestling, it increases the likelihood of a wrestler becoming a good mixed martial artist later on. The same can be said of judo in Japan or Korea as that would be their most popular form of grappling.

A common thread which is obvious here is the ground fighting background that all of the TUF winners possess which would be a strong argument that a grappling base would be a better one than a base in a forming of striking art.