The Martial Arts of MMA: The Stand Up Arts

The premier striking style of MMA, made famous my Anderson Silva's decimation of Rich Franklin with the infamous Muay Thai clinch.

For anyone new to MMA, Muay Thai is a ring sport in Thailand, contestants wear western-style boxing gloves and are in a boxing style ring. Fighters are allow to punch, kick and also use knees and elbows to strike. Clinch striking is also allowed, unlike in boxing where they break apart.

The use of knees and elbows is really what sets Muay Thai apart, both represent the most powerful blows the human body can deliver. The Muay Thai clinch, where you place both hands behind your opponent's head and force it down into your knee, is also devastating.

It is a must for anyone entering MMA to learn how to throw knees and elbows, or at the very least defend against those blows. Muay Thai fighters represent some of the most devastating strikers in MMA and can never be taken lightly.

This includes several different types of kickboxing: American, Dutch, Savate and many others. Any sport martial art that allows only punches and kicks (no knees or elbows), fight in a boxing style ring and use western style boxing gloves.

This is an excellent base for a mixed martial artist, not only are the punches and kicks just as effective in the Octagon as they are in the ring, knees and elbows can easily be added to round out a fighter.

The head kick, a staple in traditional kickboxing, is an excellent weapon to have in an MMA match. Any time you are standing, the other fighter must constantly be aware of the one strike KO power of the head kick.

While some of the MMA kickboxing greats have passed into the twilight of their careers, such as Chuck Liddell, Mirko Cro Cop, and Rich Franklin, we have seen younger kickboxers entering MMA to great success.

The sweet science tends to have a hard transition to MMA, but when it is used well, it produces the most dangerous hands in MMA. The problems with boxing tend to stem from several reasons.

First, there is no clinch work in boxing, refs break fighters apart when they wrap each other up. As a result, many boxing style fighters have to learn what is termed as 'Dirty Boxing', which usually consists of on hand on the back of the opponent's head and striking to the face with the other hand.

The other major problem is that western boxers are only allowed to strike above the waist, thus boxers have never had to guard their legs. As a result many boxing style fighters end up getting hit with a lot of leg kicks early in their career.

But even with these problems, boxing is still very effective. Fighters like BJ Penn, Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, the Nogueira brothers and Marcus Davis have some of the most explosive hands in MMA.

One thing that may be noticed there is that most of those fighters are ground fighters first and strikers second. Boxing is an excellent striking art to teach athletic fighters not familiar with standing arts. They are not comfortable with the kicks of other arts, and the hands are a natural weapon on the human body.

While the transition is more difficult for boxing than kickboxing or Muay Thai, the results can be no less effective.

This once down-trodden art is experiencing a comeback thanks to several fighters, but none more so than Lyoto Machida and his Shotokan Karate. Karate fighters were denounced for having low hands and too wide of a base, and they suffered set back after set back in early MMA.

But of late fighters like Geroge St Pierre and Machida have combined their Karate bases with their amazing athletic ability and the results have been deadly. The footwork of Machida has been the real difference maker between him and past Karate fighters, he uses that wide base to be so quick and agile that fighters simply cannot hit him.

Karate's quick kicks and short, but powerful punches have been devastating of late and Karate is certainly the 'hot' stand up art at this time. I don't expect this to last.

I do think that Karate has earned back the respect it lost in the late 1990s for good and it will be considered a legitimate striking art in the Octagon. I do also think that without the freak athleticism Machida has it must be more integrated with other fighting arts that preach better habits, like keeping your hands up.

This proud Korean art has found it very tough to enter the world of MMA. Its focus on purely kicking, while powerful and flashy, has lacked success against other fighting arts.

There is no clinch work, almost no hand strikes, and the primary targets being the chest and head and as a result Taekwondo fighters often are lost when the space to kick is taken away. Also the spinning combination kicks leave a fighter very open to takedowns.

While Cung Le has famously integrated Taekwondo into his fighting style, he does not rely on it heavily and uses it very sparingly when in kickboxing or in MMA.

I respect this martial art, it takes an athleticism and flexibility I do not have but it is not a great combat art.

A Brazilian martial art, that is actually based in the African slaves that were brought by Europeans. Originally a form of kickboxing it was disguised as a dance to hide from European masters to true nature of the movements.

The movements are smooth, elusive, and dynamic but in the end they are largely useless in an MMA match. The movements require an amazing amount of energy, causing fighters to gas out quickly and don't produce results.

I know guys that do this martial art and it takes an aerobatic athleticism that most people don't possess, and I respect them greatly for that but not a useful art in the cage.

Also known as Sanda, and it is the base style of legendary kickboxer and Strikeforce middle weight champion Cung Le.

A kickboxing style that uses punches, kicks, and sometimes knees, but the real difference maker is the integrations of the takedown. Fighters receive points for takedowns and the more difficult the style of takedown the more points.

The result is a fighter who can not only strike with the most elite Muay Thai fighter, but also take fighters to the ground quickly and effectively. With Cung Le looking to exit as a fighter and make it as a coach, look for his primary pupil Anthony Johnson to use Sanshou techniques to great success.