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I remember doing Karate as a kid but never really liked it.  When i was in the army i started boxing and went on to win a couple of fights but all at a scrapy level, good fun though. Also tried to do a bit when i left the army but the gym was not very good and no real guidence.  Have always wanted to do kick boxing or Muay Thai so i joined a Muay Thai gym in preston just over a year ago and i absolutely love it, i have done 3 gradings now and would love to get all the way to the black grading, also would love to get into fighting inter-club and maybe competition at a amature level.  Would love to try BJJ but would never have the time.

Yeah i know, did all the research before i started and found out that grading was a western thing. i would have still done it without the gradings but it gives me something to aim for which is always a plus.  My instructer Master Chana has a really good reputation both in the Uk and Thailand so i know i will be put through my paces.

MarkL wrote:

not sure how true this is because MMA is so diverse i can't get my head around how you would measure progression

I could think of several ways to introduce grades into MMA, none of them would make any real sense or create any sort of comparisons.
Then again, grades are not really ever meant for comparisons between martial arts anyhow.
( aside from the obvious measure of how much you know about it)

Personally, I didn't go to karate or whatever as a kid. I have no idea why my mom never made me go do any of them, I did fit the usual troublemaker, martial arts discipline will sort him out type of kid. Strangely enough, some of the kids at school I got into fights with started going to judo and karate, so beating their asses got progressively harder.
Could never figure out why parents sent any of their kids to judo, I've never been thrown on the floor once.

So why would one specific martial arts ever be sufficient?

i was 8 years and 5kg lighter then.

dragon what do the gradings involve ?

ive done thai now for 2 years and we dont have gradings where i go, to be honest i go from half decent to bambi from one class to the next so im not sure id fair too well at a grading lol

id love to try bjj but dont have any time or extra cash to do it

I've gotta go with Mark, I love freestyle wrestling but over the last year I've been really enjoying Jiu Jitsu so Catch wrestling is probably a good compromise haha

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu because its so complex.

I did 3 years of Hung Kuen at uni, not very practical at all but good fun, like staring in your own classic kung-fu movie as it is based around the 5 animal forms. I also did some judo which was very enjoyable as a teenager as we had to practice ground work with the instructors kids who were both hot girls. (However trying not to enjoy it too much as springing a tent in your judo suit was going to be pretty obvious.) Favourite at the moment is probably WT, I had a friend who got pretty serious about it but what put me off was all the people doing it had nothing else in their lives and it's all they talk/thought about, but still punching someone ten times in aroud a second and fighting blindfold still sounded pretty cool.