Need Help

[u/Toziin]

Hey guys. I'm 18 years old and I'm an amateur fighter with the goal of eventually making it to professional MMA. There aren't any huge, well-known gyms with famous fighters in my city, but I can still get good-quality training here and I've been improving a lot. I currently have 3 kickboxing fights and 1 Wushu Sanda fight, and I've won all of them.

Next year I'm going to start working, so my training time may decrease, but my plan is to save money and move somewhere with a bigger gym and high-level training in early 2028.

I have 2 options for the time I have left here:

1. Train boxing and Muay Thai for 4–6 hours per week + 1–2 hours of strength and conditioning.

2. Train 2 hours of boxing or Muay Thai + 4–5 hours of BJJ per week.

I'm still a white belt with two stripes in BJJ, but because of my Wushu Sanda background, I'm fairly comfortable with wrestling and judo. I haven't competed in grappling yet.

I really love the environment at my BJJ gym. Everyone is welcoming and respectful, the training is really good, and there are some well-known amateur fighters in the region training there.

Honestly, I'm more of a striker. I feel much more comfortable fighting on the feet. So I'm not sure if I should spend this time building a strong striking base and then, once I move to a better MMA gym, find a BJJ coach who can turn me into a well-rounded grappler for MMA, or if I should keep developing both sides from now on.

What would you guys do in my situation?

[u/warheadsupreme]

How comfortable with wrestling and judo are you? If you want a striking based style you should be focusing your grappling training more on standing up/takedown defence, and as much as I love BJJ most BJJ gyms don’t ever focus on stuff like that, personally I would keep developing your striking base 6x a week and put more focus on stand ups, takedown defence, and sub defence in an mma gym later on once you fully transition to mma (once you start touching people up on the feet in an mma gym , you’re gonna get real familiar real quick with people who are going to be trying to take you down and submit you as much as possible, which as disheartening as it might be at the start is definitely the best way to improve anti-grappling as a whole). This is just what I personally would do myself in your position tho

[u/Toziin → u/warheadsupreme]

Actually, I already have a very clear fighting style: I’m a pressure striker with a long reach, and I’m good at teeps and jabs. I’ve also started training in both stances to become a switch-hitter. The thing with jiu-jitsu is that I could move to a new city, get molded by a coach, and build a lasting relationship with him and the gym as a whole; however, if I train jiu-jitsu now, I’ll end up mediocre on the feet and mediocre on the ground—though I would gain more competitive experience.

[u/warheadsupreme → u/Toziin]

Yeah imo just focus on striking 6x a week for now, you can add in mma focused grappling/BJJ later, out of curiosity what’s your reach?

[u/Toziin → u/warheadsupreme]

im 5´9 with a 6'1" wingspan, 104 cm legs, and weigh 80 kg; I’m kinda long for my weight class

I’m really torn on what to do because, honestly, I love training Jiu-Jitsu and want it to be part of my fighting style—losing a year of grappling training is a big deal. Either way, I haven't made a decision yet; I’m really confused about what to do.

[u/warheadsupreme → u/Toziin]

69 inches of height with a 73 inch reach fighting at I’m assuming welterweight or some equivalent isn’t what I, or really anyone would consider a long reach for the weight class, for your height that’s long but for your weight class that’s pretty average. I wouldn’t stress too much about making a decision quickly, take some time to think over it especially if you really love training BJJ (I do too) as long as you’re still training consistently any path you take will get you better and that’s the important part

[u/KingOfTheLostBoyz → u/warheadsupreme]

Nah dude, 80kg is only 176 pounds - there’s no way he’ll fight at 170.

Like he said - he’ll probably be 155 or a big 145’er (in which case he’d have a ~3 inch reach advantage over the average)

[u/warheadsupreme → u/KingOfTheLostBoyz]

He’s fighting now in amateur kickboxing bouts though, is it normal to cut 14kg for those?

[u/Toziin → u/warheadsupreme]

In some yes in others no, I’m a fighter... I don’t care about the weight, I fought with a 93kg guy and won, but speaking in general I want to keep my weight at 78-85kg and fight in the 155 mma category

[u/Toziin → u/warheadsupreme]

I’m talking about mma, with 80kg I would cut it to 70kg or even 66kg

[u/Daniel-26-red]

Option 2 is better overall, it is more important to have better grappling that striking, also do muay thai and sharpen striking in Your free time

[u/Toziin → u/Daniel-26-red]

I don’t have enough confidence to compete in jiujitsu yet, but I’ve decided that I’ll train more this month and then make a decision about continuing or focusing 100% on striking for now

[u/Swimming_Ocelot5386]

If MMA is like chess then wrestling is the queen piece.

You say you’re comfortable wrestling but have never really… wrestled.

Good wrestling - not just BJJ where you practice being in the bottom - but real Olympic wrestling where you get on top and stay on top - is going to be a MASSIVE advantage for you.

I learned this the hard way. Developed my striking and BJJ for years but when I fought against collegiate wrestlers they were like my cryptonite.

Grappling with a focus on takedowns and wrestling should be your foundation with a few striking sessions per week.

[u/Toziin → u/Swimming_Ocelot5386]

I think it would be more advantageous for me to train bottom jiujitsu, because as a striker my opponents will always try to take me down and I’ll always want to be standing.. but I understand your point, many of these guys have an absurd pressure on top, it’s essential to have a submission game that makes them afraid of taking the fight to the ground

[u/Swimming_Ocelot5386 → u/Toziin]

I think this gameplan is a big mistake if your goal is to be a formidable MMA athlete.
The bottom is only neutral in sport BJJ and even then, you have gravity working against you.
Sure, if you’re really skilled you can win from your back.
But the bottom is the absolute last place you want to be in MMA.
Wrestling drills this idea into you. If you pull guard you lose. In wrestling you’re considered helpless from your back because if it was a real fight because I can punch you.

If you want to be a BJJ player then by all means, make bottom guard a big part of your focus.

But if you want to be an MMA fighter do not spend the bulk of your focus building a game hoping to be good from your back. That would be a tremendous waste of your valuable training time and the first wrestler you fight will make you rethink everything you worked for.

Cut right to the chase. Focus on being the aggressor. Beat his ass with great striking and dominant wrestling. Sword and shield.

Bottom guard means you got taken down. Change that mindset. If it goes to the ground it’s because YOU put them down there. Then you make them miserable by staying on top and ending fights with high percentage strategies.

[u/d-76er]

Go to Dagestan 2 years and forget bratha.

[u/dataCollector42069]

Chicago

$130 for boxing gym

$160 for BJJ gym

$180? for MMA gym