Let's say I want to learn to fight well enough that I could both defend myself and compete at an amateur level in MMA (meaning I would need to learn both striking and grappling).
What's the very cheapest way I could do this money-wise? I'm willing to put in a lot of effort but extra money is limited. Would it be going to an MMA gym? Boxing + judo?
Obviously quality of instruction is very important, so I'm fine with spending more on the same martial art for a better instructor, but I'd rather pay the same amount to be taught well in a cheaper MA than poorly in one that just generally tends to charge more.
Pic unrelated. I don't want to accidentally kill anybody.
Judo isn't so great for MMA.
It's best to do some no-gi grappling, and for MMA today, you'd need a well rounded striking art.
First of all, you get the best quality from training at a quality MMA gym.
If you're doing 1 striking art and 1 grappling art, you need knowledge possessed by MMA trainers to blend arts, or you need the intelligence to blend the arts effectively in an MMA context.
For MMA today, you need a well rounded striking art. Muay Thai is popular for that, and very good for that.
You need American Kickboxing at the very least.
As cool as Boxing is, it needs heavy modification to work in MMA. Even the Diaz brothers throw kicks and modified Boxing for it to work. They don't use Boxing, they use MMA Boxing.
Wrestling is often said to be a great base for MMA or just about any other grappling art.
Just like with striking, grappling needs modification before it works in MMA.
And unless you're in high school, it'll probably be difficult to find wrestling instruction.
One of the cheapest ways to train MMA money wise is if you have no training whatsoever, take Muay Thai for a month, take no-gi BJJ for a month, take quality MMA for 6 months, and find someone at the MMA gym who's willing to train with you on the side free of charge. You also have to be very dedicated and go often, to make the most out of your time spent training.
>>1126594
For hand to hand self defense, you can add groin kicks, and 12-6 elbows, throat strikes are also free game.
On the ground, you can pry at your opponent's fingers, and you can even break them; you can bite, you can head butt, and you can squeeze their groin.
Against multiple opponents, learn Parkour.
If you for some reason can't Parkour, or you're trying to be a hero or something, being a hero is dangerous and possibly stupid but fine, stay on the outside. Don't let your opponent's surround you, and don't spend a lot of time with one opponent. Avoid grappling at all costs. If one of them grips your jacket or shirt, and you can't get free, you're fucked, unless you're Batman or almost as skilled as Batman, or just fortunate.
Also, pepper spray, tasers, stun batons, batons, knives, shooting someone is a dick move but guns.
With a gun, you could very well pretend like you're going to kill the person, but never shoot the person.
You can just stand there and point the gun at a guy and say
>DON'T FUCKING MOVE OR I'LL BLOW 5 HOLES IN YOUR CHEST!
and call the cops.
You could even fire a shot by the guy's feet to make him think you're more serious.
If he's standing there, but you don't want to risk him charging at you, you can shoot him on the leg.
>>1126594
For self defense Judo + Boxing will teach you more than you will ever need. Just as Wrestling + Kickboxing or BJJ and Muay Thai would.
For MMA..
Well, Boxing + Judo are not inherently bad. Other guys went to MMA with this combination before, so yeah, it's doable. But as the other guy said, it's not especially suited for MMA.
Let me put it like this: if you are really good at Judo, you can also kick ass in MMA (maybe with a little cross trainig before). But in Judo you also learn a lot of cool stuff you can't use in MMA. So it's a matter of "return on investment":
If you love Judo and are dedicated, there is a chance that you will be able to actually fight in MMA. But you will get in the cage much faster with Wrestling or BJJ. Judo is amazingly powerfull, but it takes some time until you get on a decent level. MMA would be more of a side effect after some years.
Boxing on the other hand is an absolute "must have". There's a lot of amazing MA fighters who don't bother throwing kicks, and if you know how to box, a month of "kicking defense" (i.e. Kickboxing with focus on blocks and counters) will make you ready to go.
>>1127149
>in Judo you also learn a lot of cool stuff you can't use in MMA
what?
isnt it the other way around
>>1130203
Of course you will learn stuff in MMA you can't use in Judo, starting with "punching someone on the face" or some leg grabs.
But in Judo you'll learn a lot of cool stuff that rely on a Gi (or clothes).
Judo contains a lot of chokes, the chocke "without clothes" (Hadaka Jime) in only one way, you can't use the others in MMA
Also aA lot of the unbalancing stuff relies on a firm grip. That's why wrestlers desperaty fight about gaining (or preventing) control over hip or neck, because a gip on the arm just isn't that strong. In Judo grip fighting strategy, a firm grip on the sleeves is already a strong start, you can do a lot of throws with sleeves grip alone.
Last but not least you also learn how to break free from grips or use them to your advantage. This is a good thing to know, but not important in MMA (for example "stiff arming" wouldn't work so well in No-Gi fighting).
So you get a lot of tools you can't use.
Nevertheless I heard a lot of BJJ guys say that it's important to learn Gi fighting before No-Gi. It's not like you suddenly loose all of your training because you fight No-Gi, but you need to get familiar with the differnt grips (i.e. overhooks/underhooks instead of lapel grip) an the speed/control is different. Also No-Gigives you other options. So while there's a big overlap, some things are definately differnt.
