With the explosion of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) around the globe, we often get a lot of people coming into the academy looking to get into MMA. And who can blame them? As far as sports go, MMA is the ultimate form of competition. However, the explosion in popularity has led to some miscomceptions about martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu jitsu that I hope to challenge / create a dialog about here in this article.
MISCONCEPTION #1
"I want to begin learning Mixed Martial Arts on my first day of training."
When a person expresses interest in MMA, we often take the time to explain to them what it is exactly they are looking into. MMA stands for Mixed Martial Arts--so if you want to learn MMA, you are looking to learn how to MIX several martial arts--thus, if you do not have any previous experience in SEVERAL martial arts, what do you have to mix?
Our program requires that you first build a base in Muay Thai (striking), Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (both with and without the gi, I'll get to this more in-depthly in a moment), and Wrestling, before you begin to mix these together. In this fast food world we live in people often become obsessed with a fast-track to success--unfortunately nothing worth doing in life is easy or happens fast, things that require skill take time to achieve--perhaps nowhere is this truer than with Martial arts. Raw aggression and even athletic talent represent little more than a capital letter to begin the sentance that is Mixed Martial Arts. The true path to success in Mixed Martial Arts takes time, dedication, and constant study to achieve.
MISCONCEPTION #2
"If I train any of the martial arts by themselves, it will prevent me from mixing them properly or make me dependent on one over the others."
While we are inclined to agree that whenever you are learning a martial art you should always be aware of what you plan to do with it (whether it be self defense or sport competition), and should taper your style accordingly, training a martial art ONLY with the intention of using it for sport can cause you to miss out on many of the fundamental lessons, techniques, and concepts of that martial art as a whole, and will make you a less skillful practitioner of the art in question. At Denver Jiu Jitsu we fully recommend a traditional approach to each individual martial art, while also taking time to mix them together in various training sessions as well so that you know which techniques to apply and which to leave out in a given sport or self defense setting.
Our outlook is that from a pure self defense perspective, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in it's classical form is without question the most effective self defense. However, a hybrid style of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that includes competent wrestling, striking, and other skills becomes important in a modern sport MMA setting, where everyone is well-versed in each of these. A traditional approach, particularly to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, provides MUCH more than sport training etc.--it promotes self respect, self control, intelligent and strategic decision making, courage under pressure, calmness under pressure, a gentle mindset, a balances spirit, and a physical activity that can last a lifetime. With this concept fresh on the brain I'd like to move on here to the next, and most common, misconception we encounter on a daily basis.
MISCONCEPTION #3
"If I train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in a gi, I will become dependent on the grips and submissions with the gi, and this will negatively effect me in MMA competition when there is no gi present."
We have had the oportunity to discuss this at pretty solid length with many BJJ blackbelts and high level grapplers competing in MMA, and have also heard both Relson Gracie and Fabio Santos (Both Red/Black Belt masters in Jiu Jitsu) speak on the subject, and the insight we have taken from these conversations, as well as from our own experience training, have been very informative.
In a sense, the gi is like a big rope draped around the neck. This rope may be used by either myself or my opponent to grab for chokes, control, sweeps, resistence, etc. at any time. The reality of this is that often as I am trying to advance position, maintain posture, pass the guard, hold / escape from side control or mount, etc., the gi can be used by my opponent to hold on to me, and to control me or manipulate my base and balance. It is QUITE a strong tool in this regard, and I must learn to resist it.
This builds my reflexes and sharpens them, and becuase grips on the gi can be so strong, it forces me to wacth my balance and base at all times. The basic concepts of grappling remain the same with or without the gi--therefore, a simple adjustment of my grips when training without the gi is all that is required for me to transfer the concepts I learn with the gi over. even while training in the gi I can choose to use nogi specific submissions and attacks.
However, when a person trains wihtout the gi they do not encounter the heightened sense of resistence described above. And while it is useful to take time and get used to training without the gi, were that person to train without the gi all the time they would not have the same reflexes, balance, sense of timing or leverage, as they would had they devoted some of this time to training in the gi. Thus their skill set will be weaker, their reactions and balance will be weaker, and their grasp of the concepts of jiu jitsu will also be weaker if they choose to ignore training in the gi.
CONCLUSION
Without question MMA is an amazing sport to watch, train, and experience: however, at the end of the day, it is also still a sport. The study of martial arts seeks to accomplish much more than simply having success in sport competition, and it is our hope as a training center and a team that we can continue to preserve this much more important aspect of training, while also helping those few who truly wish to compete to put their best foot forward so that they can have the most success they are capable of. This takes patience, self-honesty, and most of all self-mastery to achieve-all three of these concepts can be learned through the traditional aspects of training in martial arts. Thanks for reading, and feel free to discuss these concepts below the article or email us if you have any questions! ---DENVER JIU JITSU
Friday, January 6, 2012 at 4:35PM 
Hey guys, our Aurora location officially opens on Monday the 9th! For those of you who live in aurora this means a much shorter drive for your trianing--for the rest of you, it means another place to train and another group of teammantes and friends! 
