Is it crazy to enter this mixed martial arts tournament?

I have been training for over 21 years in martial arts. First, Karate, then Wing Chun Kung Fu, later, Yang and Chen Tai Chi.





I have not trained at a club for 7 years, so lack regular sparring practice. Recently I got invited to enter a MMA tournament and they found my MA site, where I encourage students to train with me on a personal basis because in the last 7 years, I have trained in China and Japan. The rules are that you enter as a black belt if you have trained for four years or more. But my last grades were taken off me by my former instructor who said I had to start again from white after missing some time through ill health. Is it crazy to think I could actually compete well with these guys - or should I say no thanks I instruct now, not compete...!? Thanks.

Is it crazy to enter this mixed martial arts tournament?
If you have any doubts avoid the fight, bummer about your grades by the way
Reply:Just gotta think of it as fighting someone for real. Not to kill the person or anything just to submit or knock them out. Or Technical KO. Most your mma fighters now a days train Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitus. I don't know much about Karate, Wing Chun Kung Fu, or Yang and Tai Chi. I trained Kickboxing and BJJ for about 6 months straight and thought I was going to get serious into it but decided to just do it for fun from time to time.
Reply:MMA has become a style in its own right these days assimilating a lot of what works from other discaplines. If serious about it, train and spar with somebody already doing it to get up to standard
Reply:i don't understand how you can get your grades/belts taken back once you've earned them. Sure if you miss some time you'll have rust but you shouldn't have to start completely over again. You are obviously going to know alot more than someone that is truly just starting out.





As for the tournament thats completely your call. If you feel uncomfortable competing at that level than don't participate. Start training hard again until you feel like you'd be ready to step into a cage/ring for a MMA fight. Thats when i'd start looking around for events.
Reply:Please do not take this the wrong way but if you are having to ask this type of question on here I do not think you should be competing. There is no way for anyone to gauge from what you say on here, whether you are up to it or not and give you good advice. I have decided not to compete anymore due to injury but when I did I knew in myself when I was ready.


Out of interest what is your web site?





Just had a look at your site. It looks very good.
Reply:The basis of "perfection" is practice, whether by yourself or against others. I encourage you to find another group to spar with, as the experience against different opponents is invaluable. However, if you are unable to do so, then train by yourself. You are your own strongest opponent. I myself do most of my training by myself, (Usually in the backyard. I have pads strapped to the trees, as I can't afford expensive equipment.)Keep it up, and I hope you do well.
Reply:as a passionate mma fan and practitioner of bjj i would say dont enter! firstly ur out of practise and that will mean out of shape. also the arts u have experience in will not fair well in the octagon or ring and i dont mean to disrespect those arts its just a fact that some martial arts do well and some dont. the only karate player tat perform well are those at the top end of worldwide karate and im guessing thats not u, kung fu has never performed in mma and i mean never!





if u wanna fight in mma then i suggest ur start training with an mma or bjj club there are many around
Reply:If I were you I'd find a local dojo, club, whatever that trains for or competes in MMA tournaments. Have some serious sparring rounds with some of their black belts and see how you do. You'll quickly be able to tell if you're able to compete with them or not. I think that would be a lot smarter than going straight into a tournament where you could get seriously injured.
Reply:Personally I'd reject the mma tournament appeal !!!





Firstly don't forget that mma these days compered to when it first started ,now has weight divisions,and very safety conscious rules, I suppose It depends on your out look ,I've never bothered with such competitions of any sort that depends on rules as I started and continued my ma studies based on self defence for me.


As some of my fave techniques in real self defence involve ,headbutting,eye gouging,striking joints or single finger digit grabs etc that are not allowed in mma for safety reasons.





Tried and successfully tested !!!!





Former jiu-jitsu coach,boxer,karateka and Bouncer .





Best wishes !!!!!
Reply:Well your instructor has an advantage over the rest of us in that he knows you. If he removed your black belt there must have been some reason. What was the reason given?





Secondly, I think you would be nuts to enter a tournament without sparring. Are you even in shape right now? You need to be sparring in an MMA style every day. I trained for only 3 weeks before my last tourney and that was really pushing it. I did gas out and if I didn't get that last submission probably would have just tapped due to exhaustion. You can really get hurt in that situation.





The money is good right now in Asia, but you also need to consider that there might not be any time limits to the matches, or any weight classes. They also have a habit of standing you up at the first lack of action. If you aren't in shape you have to consider being stood up when you are sucking wind. If your ground skills are not up to muster, then you should know that everyone is grappling over here now. But, if you are talking about the big Unified Martial Arts tournament in Korea next month, that should be pretty safe. I might even see you there.
Reply:You should start training in MMA. It's very different from what you've been doing and the guys tend to be younger.





It sounds like you really need to get back into shape first. Could you go 3 1 minute rounds?





I have friends that compete in amateur MMA who are skilled/fast and have both good striking and ground skills and they get KO'ed in seconds.