Travis Tooke's Blog

Often times when a new student comes to my MMA gym in Houston, Texas they will ask “when are your Mixed Martial Arts classes?” We do offer Mixed Martial Arts classes but I never let a brand new student start with them. I make them build a solid foundation first with our striking and grappling classes.

The logic is simple. You must sharpen your tools separately before you can use them together. Imagine trying to learn how to throw a basic jab-cross combination and your training partner keep taking you down with a double leg. Or, you are trying to work an armbar drill form the closed guard and you can focus because your partner keeps punching you in the face. You will develop sloppy fighting skills this way. It is imperative that you train Brazilian Jiu-jitsu with no striking and that you train striking (Muay Thai, Boxing, kickboxing) with no grappling or wrestling involved. When you have acquired the right skills in each area, you will then, and only then, be ready to start mixing it up. All of my fighters regularly train Brazilian Jiu-jitsu in the gi as well as Muay Thai and boxing where there is no grappling whatsoever going on. We then set aside special Mixed Martial Arts classses where we step into the cage and “everything goes”. What is the result. Our fighters are more technical, more focused and more prepared than they ever could be if all they did was train MMA in the cage.

If you are serious about gaining true Mixed Martial Arts skill and want to fight, then you absolutely MUST train Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Wrestling and striking (Muay Thai, Boxing, Kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do) separately as well as mixing it all together. If you don’t believe me, just look at the top Mixed Martial Arts fighters in the world today. Anderson Silva, B J Penn, Randy Couture, George St. Pierre; they all have separated their training schedules to focus on improving individual parts of their games. If you want to be a professional, then you need to train like one. Just look at the names I just mentioned and ask yourself if they would be good candidates to offer advise in Mixed Martial Arts training. Remember, they all sharpen their skills separately and you should too.