hi im a taekwondo practitioner and i was wondering how taekwondo has done so far in mma as part of a fighters stand up
Very badly at first but some elements (power spin kicks) are gaining ground today. It'll never match boxing or Thai though.
Before we get the MMA Tapout nuts posting on here I would like to ask a question. Why does this matter? A TKD student, or indeed a student of any art should be comparing themselves to where they were yesterday. It matters not what another stylist is doing. It matters that you are doing to improve yourself, and to a lesser degree your art. I do think if you are interested in self defence it helps to train with guys from other styles because it is an eye opener. If you are interested in competition then other styles don't matter. They have their rules, you have yours. MMA is slightly different because of the cross training they do, although most will still specialise. I wouldn't try to compare TKD with anything else. It stands on it's own merits.
Yeah, some of the elite guys can put TKD into there style, but it's still quite rare. Keep it up though dude, you could always be the breakthrough
well thats wat im palnning on doing but first i plan to become a champion in gtf taekwondo then get back to mma training
The knowledge and experience certainly cannot hurt. Gives you a slight edge of having a little bit extra to pull out of the bag though application would very much be scenario dependant.
yeh think that might be why most fighters dont try a really difficult kick like a tornado kick just incase they miss and there wide open which will happen in sport taekwondo aswell
You could apply that to any combat sport really where over application is concerned. It's something I'm having to learn at the moment with my Muay Thai / Kickboxing (I do both) having come from a Ninjustu background, when to use something and when not to in a combat sport environment. As always, timing and technique is crucial, regardless. That comes with training and experience.
ninjutsu must be really cool to learn. i use to train in both mma and muay thai never had a fight in muay thai but ive had 3 fights in mma and won but ive stopped fighting to concentrate on college and also taekwondo competitions
I enjoyed it, though I'm finding Muay Thai to be alot tougher training (probably because it's been near 6 years since I last did Martial Arts) if I'm honest. I found Ninjutsu had a quick in and out nature about it. Counter, strike, discard, sort of thing. Muay Thai, etc is more about lasting the pace, pugilism (at least how I currently view it). Fitness levels needed for Muay Thai are far greater aswell in comparison (which I enjoy). Conditioning is on the same level but for different aspects. Both focus on making your body ready to take respective hits, which is another thing I like about both. I went into Muay Thai and was able to take some strikes fairly early on because of my past training (rather than coughing and spluttering at the first front kick ). I think the point from this is there's always going to be some benefit even if it's only a small one. Even if it's only something you might ever use once, you used it and it's only because you learnt it that you could.
A lot of the strikers from the UK have a background in traditional martial arts, several in TKD, dan hardy is one, paul daley I believe another (in the USA I think Benson Henderson is also a tkd blackbelt) and you see them occasionally use TKD kicks, spinning side front BUT what you have to understand is they also have years of Thai or Kick boxing experience as well and that is the base most of them use, with TKD being something extra they add in now and then. I cant think of a single striker that uses TKD as their base (they might be out there but I cant remember seeing one) and certainly you don’t see much of their repertoire: IE no ridge hands or knife hand strikes for example, or back fists, no cresent kicks, jumping kicks (apart from the occasional jumping spinning kick) what they do looks like straight up thai and boxing with a few kicks added in, on a side this goes for a lot of the emerging Korean fighters they seem to be heavily into thai and boxing not the traditional Korean arts
I don't know him personally, but I train at the same gym as he does sometimes. I live in the same city.
What you live in California Back when Dan used to train out of Leicester shoot fighters when he was getting ready for a fight I used to see him a fair bit and roll with him on the odd occasion, nice guy
No I live in Nottingham. I saw him a few times training at Liberty Gym (which is in the town centre near Sneinton Market). One of my friends, who's a total MMA freak, trained with him aswell. Was a while back though as I don't train there anymore.
I think the latest Fighters Only magazine mentions UFC fighters with TKD backgrounds. Most notably would be Stephan Bonnar as he was constantly throwing wheel kicks deep into the 3rd round in TUF1:Finale. Joe Rogan is a BB, Danny Abbaddi (TUF3) was a TKD coach and of course Showtime Anthony Pettis and his 'Matrix Kick' Although with Pettis, a lot of people credit his cage-jump-kick to his TKD, I say its from what he mentioned in post fight interviews where He and his team play around in the cage
Wow, just how many "MMA Tapout nuts" do you think we have on here? As a practitioner of karate, boxing, and Catch/Shoot wrestling, I have a bit more of an interest when guys with backgrounds in those systems compete. Part of it is emotional, but part of it is to see how the things I've primarily trained in are applied to a virtually all-in arena. I imagine the OP has similar questions. To the OP, a number of fighters come from a TKD background, and most have been mentioned already: Anthony Pettis, Ben Henderson, Dan Hardy, Stephan Bonnar, Bas Rutten, Mirko Filipovic, David Loiseau, Cung Le, and Anderson Silva are among them. These fighters tend to throw a wider variety of kicks (though not by much) and seem more comfortable delivering kicks with their lead leg. They generally train their striking full-contact these days, in kickboxing, Muay Thai, or San Shou sessions. I'd wager that most haven't attended a TKD class in years. Does that make what they do "not TKD"? I don't think so. It certainly has a different "flavor" than those trained in kickboxing or Muay Thai. There are subtle differences in stance, movement, and kick mechanics. I imagine that they focus on effective techniques, which when it comes down to it are going to be your basic punches and kicks. Backfists, except for the spinning variety, carry much less power; crescent kicks are a bit telegraphed and slow; ridge hands not only endanger the thumb area of the hand, but are generally taught in a telegraphed manner; jumping kicks are just plain stupid under most circumstances. Round ("turning") kicks are by far the most used kicks in striking competitions that allow such things, and aside from the jumping kicks that typically put the practitioner straight on his butt (watch footage from the Olympic TKD competitions), the kicks these practitioners use- the fundamental round, front, side, and spinning back kicks- are what is seen most in non-MMA competition. A technique doesn't have to be fancy to be part of a system. I spent more time doing reverse punches in karate than any other technique.
you undersell the validity of his question, MMA is a sport which aims too simulate a fight as can best be done in the context of a combat sport, just because the training is more standardized now as opposed to a proponent of one martial art vs another doesn't make it a style in of its self. I am guessing this was done so that when a "tapout nut" came along and pointed out that with the exception of a few elite patrons who already knew tkd before they ever took an mma class taekwondo hasn't done very well in mma, which if everyone is being honest would put your assertion that TKD stands on its own merits into question, the OP maybe wouldn't listen. You make it sound as if he said something outlandish like "how does taekwondo do in Judo competitions" ?
While he displays so many unique skills and mastery of every element of striking. Anderson Silva's footwork, evasion, motioning and even his showboatery in some of the matches have a particular TKD'esque feel to them in my eyes... Call me on it if you will
