Over 40 and MMA

bazfitness

I'm 41, been working hard past 4 months on getting fitter and have made steady small strides. I'm enjoying doing Karate for past 4 months. In general I'm a friendly easy going guy but I feel like I'm a more intense person now and have noticed part of me wants to really see just what I can do and have the urge to fight! I'm obviously long past having the possibility of being a serious competitive fighter but just wondering how many if any have taken up something like MMA in your 40s cold (i.e. with little or no fighting background). Can you do it at your own level like could I fight someone who I'd actually stand a chance against hehe

trackercasey76

I am 36 and have been doing TaeKwonDo for about 4 mo and have the same urges as you!! I am currently signed up to point spar at the AOMA nationals on Aug 4th, but that is TKD sparring not MMA. I told my wife that when I hit 260 (max weight for MMA heavyweight) I am cage fighting at least one time.

TheRoadDog

Enterred a few "Tough Man" competitions in the 70's. Had fun. Won a few. Only $50, but I wasn't in it for the money.

Also b longed to a "Fight Club in the late 80's and early 90's. Also fun. Too old now for that kind of stuff, but I made a lot of friends that are still friends today.

Tat2dDom624

I am 36 and have been doing TaeKwonDo for about 4 mo and have the same urges as you!! I am currently signed up to point spar at the AOMA nationals on Aug 4th, but that is TKD sparring not MMA. I told my wife that when I hit 260 (max weight for MMA heavyweight) I am cage fighting at least one time.

I'm 43 and have been taking TKD for almost 9 months now, and i've had numerous students (along with my instructor) tell me that they want me to spar. Last week one of the black belts there told me that the power in my left leg was ridiculous! So, i'm thinking maybe towards the end of the year i'll purchase some gear and give it a whirl.

bagge72

I think you can do it at any age, but you have a lot of learning to do so just take your time and do it the right way. You can jump in there against somebody with your current experience right away, because there are tons of unqualified people (not saying you are unqualified) every day who want to do this sport just to say they did it, but they don't get taken seriously at all. I have a friend that actually is a veteran kick boxer, and instructor, but in mma he has won 3 out of 7 fights, and the people he has won against are a combined 0-13, and his next match is against a 40yr old who is 0-5, but that doesn't stop him from talking crap on line like he is the greatest, and his friends thinking he is a god, but that does make a lot of the people in the Massachusetts MMA world laugh at him, and make jokes about him behind his back.

So I say if you do decide to do it, please take it very seriously, and train your *kitten* off in every part of the fighting game, because only knowing 4 months of karate will most likely get you tapped out. There are some great schools out there, and if you are serious please find a qualified one, and do what they say! You never know you could have the potential to be great with the right trainers. My trainer was 42 when I started training, and he was a beast out there so I say go for it.

If you are good at your karate, learn wrestling and bjj, and you will be ahead of a lot of people, but they will show you some different ways to kick, punch and defend than kempo or other traditional karate's. So just pay attention, and soak up all of the great info you can get!

If you want to just stick with what you are learning now, and get into sparring with karate that is fine too, there is just a big difference, because in mma you will learn to defend against all other types of martial arts when usually a type of karate only teaches you how to defend agains that.

trackercasey76

I am 36 and have been doing TaeKwonDo for about 4 mo and have the same urges as you!! I am currently signed up to point spar at the AOMA nationals on Aug 4th, but that is TKD sparring not MMA. I told my wife that when I hit 260 (max weight for MMA heavyweight) I am cage fighting at least one time.

I'm 43 and have been taking TKD for almost 9 months now, and i've had numerous students (along with my instructor) tell me that they want me to spar. Last week one of the black belts there told me that the power in my left leg was ridiculous! So, i'm thinking maybe towards the end of the year i'll purchase some gear and give it a whirl.

We spar almost every Class, our White belts spar with everyone, we train a little BJJ and a lot of self defense. My 8yo son took 3rd in the state in his second tourney earlier this year. Some other schools refer to us as a "fighting school" and that is fine with me, I like the fighting and really am not a big fan of the forms. Our instructor requires that you have full gear by the end of your first month of class. BTW sounds like we have similar interests so I sent a friend request.

bazfitness

Very interesting replies, made for good reading. Think MMA is probably not a realistic option for me anyway as I live in the middle of nowhere, rural Portugal. I'm not Portuguese btw, I'm Irish. Guess I'll just continue now with Karate. Also getting more into Kettlebells, so hopefully that will help develop a lot of things for me and when Karate gets more combative I'll be ready for it.