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Writer's pictureRoni

"The Ultimate Showdown: MMA vs. Krav Maga - What Sets These Martial Arts Apart?"

Updated: Mar 13



That's so confusing that people think that it's the same thing ,because in krav maga you can spar and in mma you can spar , in krav maga there is a jiu-jitsu and mma has a jiu-jitsu.


So what is the difference?...


First of all mma has certain goals to accomplish and to achieve since its a sport with competitions and many huge skills on sparring and on the ground to learn, while krav-maga it's just a self defence system that allows you with certain techniques to kick you to the groin, eyes and other parts of the body, basically mma has a high level conditioning training in order to survive in 3 or 5 rounds for 5 minutes , and with those 5 minutes you have to kick ,punch ,defend ,and of course have a high oxygen to keep fighting to win , while in krav maga there is no conditioning as much is in mma , there is more techniques than really conditioning.


It's ridiculous sometimes to see that people paying to the same gym 250 or 300 dollars over and over again after they see that there is no growth, and to see the way they teaching women to kick the pads and teaching how to defend chokes, come on do me a favor... do you really think that a gorgeous skinny girl can defend herself from a predator who is coming to attack her with a knife???


On the other hand a girl who has been training mma and of course kicking and punching pads but with right technique and conditioning, and to defend the takedown or how to take someone down , yes she will probably be able to defend herself. I don't have to tell you that but you can see girls in mma fighting or in mma gym training vs girls in krav-maga gym training who do you think will win? The girl who is learning safe techniques so she will not get hurt but can hurt others and bigger people than her ? or the girl who getting always punching and kicking and mentally strong can beat any man with no fighting skill , believe me guys...


Forget about mma just in wrestling itself, a strong wrestling can win everybody and it has been proven that wrestling is what of the best martial arts, we see that all the wrestlers dominating in the ufc ,especially from Dagestan, you can learn to defend against a knife your whole life and how to defend chokes or spar with headgear without knowing what to do , if someone took you down on the ground the game is over.


Even if I'll bring an elite kickboxing vs a giant wrestler who do you think will win? Of course it depends on the kickboxer and wrestler , a wrestler has to know some striking defense on the other hand the kickboxer has to know ground defense which without it he is not called a fighter, why is that?


As I said in a street fight once you on the ground the game is over, some people just making fun of grappling and wrestling until they experience the real difference, and mma is an aggressive sport bring me now a guy who trained 5 years in mma that knows how to knock you out in 5 seconds and bring a krav maga guy who doesn't even know how to kick the right way, who do you think will win?


Now as I said krav maga has jiu jitsu too but not effective, it's just a regular grappling that maybe can be useful against someone your size but not bigger than you but do you think it will be effective on ground and pound ? Of course not ,the whole idea of self defence is to be able to defend bigger opponents and if you can't then you don't know how to fight , there is no accomplishment of win over someone your size or that he doesn't know anything ,anybody can do that believe me even a guy who never learned a martial art.


Now I'm not saying that krav maga is bad and it cannot win an mma fighter, the only thing is there is maybe 5-10% gyms now that can teach real krav maga with conditioning, and how to real defend bigger opponents, that's why krav maga used by the IDF to defend the country against terrorists, so it cannot just be a game, a real krav maga you will learn boxing , kickboxing, and ofcourse wrestling and how to finish your opponent or put him to sleep in 5-10 seconds, but again isn't going to take just one month of training like people thinking, it really should be a real experience, in real krav maga they will teach you how to be able not just to kick but to get kicked and punched and not giving up , so what should you choose then mma or krav maga?


Well look as I said if you will go to any mma gym right now probably after 6 months you'll know mostly striking, wrestling and submissions and you will gain much confidence and fighting skill better than anyone, of course again you have to choose your gym wisely not any gym is do same, 90% of the gyms care that you'll pay the $250 a month and they will probably will correct you in your movement drills but not to the details, in any movement especially in jiu jitsu there is a leverage and if you don't know it then you don't know the movement, but it's hard to find a coach who really cares about you and will say if you not going to listen I will refund your money,


And as I said in mma there is many fighting skills to learn and the goal is not to know how to defend against a knife, because if you don't know how to fight against someone bigger than you then why should you learn how to defend against a knife attack, unless you in the army but you don't need to ,the best goal to defend a knife attack is before he pulls the knife out and take him to the ground and punch him to the face.


Take Roycie Graicie for example who won all the ufc opponents who were bigger than him and didn't use any knife skill techniques or kick to the groin or something like that, he didn't even use any kickboxing, he just went straight to the ground and finished everybody because the whole idea is the technique not the strength and losing energy, even now days everyone does jiu-jitsu, but do you think all of them using same style techniques as Graicie Family ? Not at all, because it has been mixed everywhere and everyone started to teach it differently and that has become a big mess unfortunately with all the takedowns and submissions,


I know a guy from my gym who just trained mma for 2 years but he doesn't know 100 techniques, maybe 10 but useful and competed against someone who has been training jiu-jitsu for 11 years but this guy didn't know how escape side control properly, isn't his fault he just thought he is doing the right technique but unfortunately the instructor didn't care and he lost within 4 minutes to someone who trained only 2 years , unfortunately it's was a big embarrassment,


I always have been taught by older people is that who proves you wrong and saying the truth to your face cares about you and who doesn't then not , if you really wanna learn how to defend yourself and get self confidence and know how to fight, or you want your kids to defend themselves against bullying at school please don't send your kids to any karate and taekwondo gym. Because we both know that kick and say: aya!!!!... will not gonna work , so find yourself a good coach who proves you wrong and cares about you ,and a real gym with striking and you will be able to accept kicks and punches to the face without crying like a baby , in the end mma is the best martial art to learn since it has everything involved , and your son will gain more in mma against bullying than in krav maga classes with belts.


Just watch an mma fight and watch a krav maga fight, what is more aggressive? Of course mma so it builds you mentally strong, if you not mentally strong you'll not be able to fight believe me , if you can get a knee to the face or elbow to the face and keep fighting even though you bleeding of course you will win to someone who just can kick you to the groin or maybe punch or kick you.


Thanks so much guys for reading, I would really like to hear your comments below

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