A story old as time AKA MMA vs. Boxing. Since UFC 1 was in its infant form, the comparisons between MMA and boxing have been hotly debated.
Who could forget Joe Rogan and Lou DiBella showing up on ESPN to defend the merits of their respective sports? Look up that several minute yell fest for a taste of the passion both MMA and Boxing have in their fandom. This post is not about that though.
In terms of physical fitness, self-defense, and ease of use, for beginners, what should they try to learn? MMA or Boxing? In the guide below there are pros and cons for both sports as well as the big differences in training both.
MMA or Boxing, What’s the Difference?
A simple question with a somewhat complicated answer. Due to its history pretty much every sports fan knows what boxing is. Boxing’s massive head-start and place in pop culture lore makes it easy to define.
As for MMA? With a little 25 years of “organization”, MMA is still a very new sport. To this day most people don’t know that MMA is training more than one sport. MMA combines grappling and striking subsets of martial arts under one umbrella.
Boxing is strictly working on your punches and defense. While MMA is a little bit of everything. MMA has Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, wrestling, and even boxing elements added into it.
MMA vs. Boxing, What’s Better for Self-Defense?
Real-life self-defense is a tricky subject to tackle. Even in 2019, there are plenty of con artists preying on folks who know nothing about martial arts. If you are looking for self-defense training, you could do worse than MMA or boxing.
Both MMA and boxing are good bases in a larger self-defense program. The key here is to do your research. Read reviews of your local MMA and boxing gyms. Scout their social media pages. See how long they’ve been around. What’s their reputation? After doing your due diligence, you’re now in a good spot to do a gym tour and inquire in person about self-defense.
What’s Easier to Learn? MMA vs. Boxing
Easy to learn, difficult to master applies to both MMA and Boxing. Well, in all honesty, both are tricky to learn right out of the gates. In the end, it’s all about coaching. Finding the right MMA or boxing coach maybe even more difficult than finding the correct gym.
A lot of amazing gyms, with great staff, have some bad coaches lingering around. When training MMA or Boxing, if you don’t vibe with the coach it can throw everything else off track. Don’t be shy about changing out coaches. Find the fit that’s right for you and your combat sports schedule.
Is MMA or Boxing Better for Fitness?
This is another no brainer. Both MMA and Boxing are great workouts. Whether its core strength, conditioning, or cardiovascular improvements both sports have you covered.
A weekly regime in any proper MMA or Boxing gym will get you physically fit. The type of workouts where your body discovers muscles they never knew they had before. Due to its format of shorter but more rounds, boxing may have a strict cardio edge. On the other hand, the nature of MMA grappling will do wonders for a person’s core strength.
Should You Train MMA or Boxing?
After combing through both sports, MMA and Boxing are the same yet different. So which should you train: the sweet science or cerebral science? For fans of both sports, you really can’t go wrong.
Interested in the grappling arts? Then MMA should be your go-to. Then again there’s just something about the history of boxing that drives people. Raging Bull, Rocky, Creed, Boxing is a great workout and a good base for self-defense training.
Want to be well-rounded with kicks, submissions, and wrestling training? Find a good MMA gym area and start today.
Whether its MMA or Boxing, hopefully, this guide gave you a few answers to some commonly asked questions.
Want more MMA vs. Boxing debates? Check out Mixing The Arts: The Top Ten Strange MMA Vs. Boxing Super-Fights That Already Happened.
