Will my martial art take me to the UFC?

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a meteoric rise in popularity and viewership ratings in recent years. Love it or hate it, it seems the UFC is here to stay. Consequently, many men in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic are becoming more interested in martial arts. After seeing great forwards like Chuck Liddell, Anderson Silva and Houston Alexander and seeing the incredible fighting and wrestling skills of Randy Couture, Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, many martial artists are wondering, “Will my martial art lead me to the UFC? ?? “

The answer to this question is very simple.

No, your martial art will not get you to the UFC!

Okay, I can already say that some of you may be surprised by that written phrase of you, your chosen martial art, and your UFC aspirations. After all, I don’t know anything about you, but let me expand my answer so you know where I came from.

First of all, no style has all the elements of a complete fighting system to succeed in the Octagon, but many styles have a lot of them. The UFC, Pride, WEC, and Elite XC are all tagged in the “Mixed Martial Arts” category. This should tell you a lot regarding the question of whether your martial art will lead you to the UFC. Mixed martial arts are exactly what they say they are – a combination of several different martial arts brought together to create the full set of techniques necessary to survive in the ring, cage, or octagon.

To be a successful UFC fighter, you need to have great standing play and great ground play. In addition to this, you need to learn takedowns and takedown defenses. This doesn’t even include the physical conditioning or mental aspect of preparing for a fight. So here are some suggestions on what styles you should study to have the best chance of becoming a good fighter.

Amazing skills: Boxing, Muay Thai, Shotokan, Taekwondo, Kickboxing, Savate

Take-Downs: Judo, Hapkido, Sanda (San Shou), Sambo

Grappling and Submissions: Wrestling, Brazilian Ju-jitsu, Japanese Ju-jitsu, Aikido

There are many other martial arts that are not on this list and that also deserve an in-depth study; and some of them on the list include all of the above skills to a greater or lesser degree.

So will your martial art lead you to the UFC? Not on its own, but if you combine the strength of your chosen art with the missing elements you need from some of the other styles above, you are well on your way.

For more detailed information on many of the most commonly practiced martial arts, get my FREE “Beginner’s Guide to Karate”. You will find how to download it at http://www.freekarateinformation.com

Good luck and best wishes on your karate journey.