Ajarn Forum - Living and Teaching In Thailand - View Single Post

mrburb · 6th July 2008, 08:38

Nice debate - going back to the original questions (Can you mix styles) I would say YES! I train MMA, but have floated though Muay Thai, Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu for around 6 months each. I love sparring and my good friend here is a good Wing Chun practiioner. In Samet once we decided (we were both drunk) to fight, I took him to the ground and put him easily in different locks, chokes and the like. He found it fascinating and decided that Wing Chun was incomplete. Since then he has taken up Muay Thai, and now when we spar just 'stand up' he gets more hits on me. His Wing Chun style combined with Muay Thai helps him a lot, he's confident staying in hitting range and throws many quick fire (wing chun) punches. He's been teaching me some basic Wing Chun also which I'm sure will help my MMA game.

Last weekend there was a Mixed Martial Arts competition in Bangkok, it was all Thais competing and was very similar to the early UFC days ie, style against style. Not suprising the BJJ guys won 90% of the fights, but it was fun to watch Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Karate and other martial arts going up against Muay Thai strikers. The Muay Thai guys weren't hurt by many hits, and when they retaleated the others covered up and prayed

It's unfair to compare full contact sports (MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai) to defensive arts, as they both have different philisophies. You can mix both together and become very succesful (JKD is a popular stand up technique in the UFC and Karate is used effectivly by Kyoto Machida)

Most importantly though, enjoy!

6th July 2008, 08:38	#54 (permalink)
mrburb mrburb is on facebook? New Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 50 vCash: 500 Rep Power: 0	Re: Martial Arts Nice debate - going back to the original questions (Can you mix styles) I would say YES! I train MMA, but have floated though Muay Thai, Boxing and Jiu-Jitsu for around 6 months each. I love sparring and my good friend here is a good Wing Chun practiioner. In Samet once we decided (we were both drunk) to fight, I took him to the ground and put him easily in different locks, chokes and the like. He found it fascinating and decided that Wing Chun was incomplete. Since then he has taken up Muay Thai, and now when we spar just 'stand up' he gets more hits on me. His Wing Chun style combined with Muay Thai helps him a lot, he's confident staying in hitting range and throws many quick fire (wing chun) punches. He's been teaching me some basic Wing Chun also which I'm sure will help my MMA game. Last weekend there was a Mixed Martial Arts competition in Bangkok, it was all Thais competing and was very similar to the early UFC days ie, style against style. Not suprising the BJJ guys won 90% of the fights, but it was fun to watch Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Karate and other martial arts going up against Muay Thai strikers. The Muay Thai guys weren't hurt by many hits, and when they retaleated the others covered up and prayed It's unfair to compare full contact sports (MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai) to defensive arts, as they both have different philisophies. You can mix both together and become very succesful (JKD is a popular stand up technique in the UFC and Karate is used effectivly by Kyoto Machida) Most importantly though, enjoy! __________________ -- All my comments are my own. Which, seeing as I posted them is pretty obvious.