MMA fighting is a passion that is led by many folks, who wish to fight their way to fame and glory. Entering the cage is a pretty heroic thing, not denied but it takes a lot of practice and hard work to keep your foot inside.

Follow BuzzFeed producer Aria Inthavong (as he tries to break out of his 'nice guy' label by competing in an actual MMA. You’ll have to learn a large variety of techniques. The main essence of mixed martial arts is.

Why is that so?

For one, a mixed martial arts fighter needs years of practice and determination to get there. Each time, you will be practically pacing with your ability to tackle the pressure and the competition, combined together.

Today MMA fighting is largely regulated and one of the most fancy sport, growing at a rapid pace. Do you also want to become a MMA fighter? Becoming an MMA fighter has its own merits apart from the money. Let us get to know what it takes to become a fierce and competent MMA fighter today! The below guide will take you through the details of the discipline and how you should go about it.

But before that, what exactly is MMA?

What is MMA?

The exclusive fighting sport is a combination of combat techniques, drawn from various art forms like boxing, Muay Thai and more. The most prominent and unique feature of a MMA fight is that it is fought within a cage, at most times.

What does a MMA fighter do?

The goal of any fighter within a cage is to overpower his opponent using strikes and gain control over them. Today, every MMA fight is conducted within sets rules and regulations, which is why, you need proper training to become a MMA fighter.

What Does it Take to Become a MMA Fighter?

Now let’s get to the part where we understand what it takes to enter the cage! Before getting to the specifics, here are a few general things that you must know about MMA fighting.

Lot of learning involved

MMA fighting is a single cohesive system of fighting that takes bits from almost every form of martial arts. It isn’t like boxing where you only have to work on your punches. Kicking, punching, grappling, striking, name the move and it is most likely something that you will have to learn.

To become a seasoned fighter, you will have to learn a variety of these techniques and martial art forms.

Becoming a MMA Fighter Takes Time

Since there is a lot to learn, you might find yourself out of time or spending too much of it at training yourself. You may not find enough time to perfect yourself at any one form of art.

You May Have To Wait Many Years

You will really have to make a big name for yourself to get noticed and this will take a lot of hard work at your end. It might be a few years before your luck turns in your favor. This being said, it is worthy to note that not everyone ends up being a major league player in this field.

The Weighing Scale Matters

MMA Fighting is no joke. Sometimes, the training may require you to lose up to 4 kg of your weight in a matter of few hours. With very little water weight to begin with, this can be a tough challenge. Being a MMA fighter, you will have to get used to scaling your weight up and down on a frequent basis.

Coming now to how you can become a MMA fighter.

How To Become A MMA Fighter?

Start With Choosing Your Martial Art

For someone who is just beginning his training in MMA fighting, this is a vital question. The most popular arts chosen by most players are wrestling and jiu jitsu. These help the player in working on their striking positions and forcing submission from the opponent. Other arts that you can opt for, include karate and kickboxing.

Given the wide scope of MMA fighting, you have an endless number of options to choose from.

Consider Your Age and Gender

Age is a prominent factor when it comes to starting your MMA fighting career. The younger, the better. In order to make a career in MMA fighting, it is better to start out early in your life. This will help you become conditioned in a variety of martial arts. Starting early gives you the advantage to settle down for the type of lifestyle and diet that this field requires.

Starting in your twenties will give you a fair chance to expect a settled career in a few year’s time. Usually, the art form admits both, males and females.

Equipping With The Right Gear and Equipment

Before entering the cage, it is important to equip yourself with the right gear. Proper equipment will ensure that you are safeguarded against serious injuries, which might impact your performance at the game later. You cannot feel uncomfortable in your gear since that will negatively impact your performance while fighting and training.

Basically, depending on the game that you are practicing to play, you must don on the right gear for it. For example, the perfect set of mma gloves if you are training, the right head gear to cushion the impact of aims on your head and more.

Enrol Yourself At a Gym

This one is a crucial step in your MMA fighting career. You need a trained crew to handle your grooming when it comes to building your MMA career. From instructors to physicist, you will need the expert advice of these professionals while training. This makes it important to choose the right people for the job.

Sometimes, MMA fighters rely on online videos to obtain training but that is not advisable in the long run. Whether you choose to join a boxing gym, or a Muay Thai gym, it will be okay, as long as you are under the supervision of seasoned experts. Later, you can join a proper MMA gym that excels at polishing trained fighters. Perhaps, you will find better disciplined and seasoned trainers at these gyms, as compared to others.

Make this a long term decision for your fighting career and pay attention to your choice of gym seriously if you indeed plan to make this a proper career for yourself.

Linking Together

In order to reach the highest point in your MMA fighting career, you will need to build strong links with the people in this field. Regular participation in competitions and events might give you exposure to the desired links and prominent people from this field.

It is quite important to be a part of the network of professionals in this field, which allows you to start your professional career as a MMA fighter, at the earliest.

Take cues from online platforms and existing people, who attempt to market their name through the web.

Following these steps will get you started on your journey to become a MMA fighter. Soon, you will be able to join at a professional level in this sport and make a name for yourself.

Let us discuss a few more matters about MMA fighter training.

Is It Safe?

Probably, after reading the points above, you would have got this question on your mind. With so many martial arts involved, can it be safe for someone to practice the art form for a lifetime?

Believe it or not, MMA fighting still proves to be safer when compared with arts like boxing and Muay Thai. Take the case of a head injury or a ligament fracture and you will find that MMA fighting is still safer than playing football.

For obvious reasons, the sport is quite rough and can be a challenge to combat for some. However, with the right supervision and direction, you will find yourself well placed to practice the sport without undergoing any major injury.

The Conclusion

We have covered the essential requirements to become a pro at MMA fighting and kick starting your MMA fighting career.

Most aspiring fighters find themselves fixated at one problem. Sometimes, work commitments can keep people from joining a gym or giving enough time to training. Although, there is a reason why joining a gym is recommended to MMA fighters, when circumstances keep you from attending it on a regular basis, the only way out is to build one for yourself at home. This will of course, require investment of some funds but is quite doable.

Working out at home can be quite satisfying and help you cope with the shortage of time. If you want to learn and train yourself at the art, there are many ways for you to go around the shortage of time and inability to commit to a gym.

MMA fighting can be quite rewarding for those who have the passion and desire to excel at the martial art form. All you need is the right commitment to regular training and someone to guide you along the journey. With this combination, you will be able to charge yourself to excel at the art form and accomplish your goals.

Becoming an MMA fighter requires total dedication and love for the game. The sport is currently one of the fastest-growing in the world. It’s a sport that can help you get in top shape and prepare you for a successful pro career. However, attaining a pro-level statue takes hard work.

In this guide, you will learn what it takes to be a pro-MMA fighter.

What are the Steps of Becoming MMA Fighter?

Joining an MMA Gym

One of the biggest obstacles to becoming an MMA fighter is the time needed to train and the right gym for quick learning. This is one big issue that requires thorough research before venturing into. To get the right place to practice your skills, you need to look around for gym centers that have the proper training equipment.

Just remember that the first gym you started with might not be your last as you might likely get to know that the gym does not have all the bells and whistle to turn you into a champion. Also, you need to talk to the coaches you will be working with because sometimes, you might discover that the best coaches are not necessarily in the fancy gyms.

This is why it is essential that you first do thorough research on the gym and the coaches that you might likely be working with.

Get protective gear

Practicing to be a good MMA fighter can sometimes result in an injury. That is why it is recommended to always wear protective gear like putting on your boxing gloves, your headgear, and shin guards. These protective gears are specially made to protect you from severe injuries in some areas of the body that might be fatal in case of an accident.

Some gyms may provide you with some gears when you register with them. However, it is also vital that you ask the manager what other tool kits to bring along in case they don’t have it, and it’s necessary for your training.

Here are some necessary gears if you are preparing to become an MMA fighter:

• Headgear

Maintain a healthy diet

Becoming a professional MMA fighter is not limited to hardcore training alone. You won’t get anywhere if you don’t balance your training with a healthy diet.

Professional MMA fighters are known to spend months perfecting the right diet plan to go along their required training sessions. So if you are starting as an MMA fighter, you can take advantage of some diet rich foods like fruits, vegetables, including healthy fats.

It is also essential to limit yourself on your carbohydrate intake and make sure you drink plenty of water before, during, and after every training session.

You can also try increasing your metabolic activities to support your MMA training sessions by consuming 5-6 small meals throughout the day so it can speed up muscle growth.

Eating enough protein is very vital to building and maintaining muscle. For optimum results in your training schedule, you should aim for 0.5 to 0.9 g of protein per 1 pound (0.45 kg) of body weight per day. For instance, if your weight is 150 pounds (68 kg), your protein consumption should be in the range of 75 g and 135 g daily.

Have stand-up fighting knowledge

Becoming an MMA fighter, you must know how to stand and fight. Your training must include developing your footwork so that you can dodge your opponents, kicks, elbows, punches, and knee strikes. Your footwork makes you a better fighter in the ring.

Therefore, to up your training, it is good to train in varieties of disciplines like Karate, Muay Thai, and boxing. However, the best way to develop your footwork and make you agile is through kickboxing.

Learn To Master The Ground Game

List Of Mma Fighters

Another essential basic technique of MMA training is the ground game. The ground game is where you finish up your opponent by making sure you put them to submission. Ground game techniques are mostly used in Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and Judo.

Also, knowing the right way to defend yourself when you are on the receiving end (and you are already on the ground) is very crucial to winning any fight, especially MMA fights.

Many MMA fighters you’ll come across probably have gone through the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu art, so you need to be very careful and well prepared to defend yourself against submissions. So you must learn and train your submission tactics when you have your opponent on the ground during a fight.

When your opponent is on the ground, you need to find a way to mount him so you can have optimal control. The mounting position is from the back or the sides.

Related: Best BJJ Gi’s for Beginners

Take opportunities to practice technique(s)

Whenever you are training, always make sure to practice different techniques you were taught from a different discipline. No matter what game you finally settled in, your techniques from other disciplines like Karate, Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, etc. will come handy and can be employed when it’s most needed.

For example, when you are hitting the heavy bag, there are lots of ways you can control the bags either with your punches, knees, elbows, etc. you need to put into action what you have learned to make sure the bag heeds your controls just the way you want it.

Also, make sure you know how to keep your composure even when you are dead tired in training. This way, if translated into a real fight, you have a much better chance of coming out of danger when you are in the ring.

In conclusion, even though the MMA is a regulated outfit, there are still many fighters that get injured for one reason or another.

How To Become A Fighter

However, to stay safe from joint injuries, be sure to wear your protective gear and make sure your coaches and sparring partners understand the extent to which you can go in training.

Become A Ufc Fighter

Also, in cases of serious injuries, especially in cases where you think you might have broken a rib, bone, or a concussion consult with your medical professional to ascertain your fitness level.