When Can I Fight?
I coach striking (kickboxing, muay thai, sometimes boxing) at an MMA gym. We have about 10-15 people on our fight team, competing in amateur MMA, kickboxing, Muay Thai, and BJJ events.
So we’ll often get some eager new students who finish a month or two of training at our gym, amongst the fighters, and ask, “can you get me a fight?”
In this blog post, I’ll answer some questions I frequently get from students about competing in a sanctioned fight, and I’ll also share my thoughts on what I think is a good route to getting a fight.
Question: How do I get in shape for a fight?
Think of the absolute hardest workout you’ve ever done. How did you feel during/after?
Ok cool that’s what 30 seconds into Round 1 feels like. Oh and there’s a guy trying to punch you in your liver also.
Being in fight shape is different than being in regular shape. You need to learn how to breathe a certain way so that if you do take a hit while you’re punching, you don’t get the wind knocked out of you. You need to be able to control the pace of the fight and put pressure on your opponent when they tire. And you need a certain level of mental toughness to keep going even when your arms and legs feel like they’re filled with cement.
When these new students ask me about fighting, I ask them what their training looks like outside of the gym. And I often get an answer along the lines of “well I’m here at classes 5x a week.”
That is the bare minimum. Outside of training kickboxing (for example), you need strength training, you need to run, you need to work on an Air Bike. You need to get your diet right, your sleep right, your recovery right.
*Note: I’m not going to cover weight-cutting here, but that is a whole other element of this process that may exclude a lot of wannabe fighters.
All in all what I’m saying is, fighting is really hard. I am not trying to steer anyone away from pursuing a sanctioned fight. However, there is a common saying in this world, “you don’t play fighting.” You can get badly hurt in this sport if you are not prepared.
Question: How do I get a fight?
Let’s say you are doing all the right things to get yourself in proper fight shape. The following is the route that I would recommend to getting your first sanctioned fight.
*This all assumes that you do not just self-train in your garage - rather that you currently train at a gym with a head coach who has fight experience and can corner you in a fight.
Start with sparring events and developmental leagues.
If you live in a decently sized city, it’s likely that there are gyms in your area that invite other gyms out to spar in a safe and controlled manner (i.e. no head kicks, refs will intervene if someone starts to dominate, etc). These are a great place to hone your skills and make some friends.
Events like the Muay Thai Development League (“MDL”) are another good way to get some real “ring” experience, but in a safe and controlled manner. They intervene if the intensity gets out of hand, and they make you wear headgear and a chest protector, but the vibe is still different when you’re fighting a stranger with bad intentions vs one of your usual sparring partners.
Smokers!
A smoker is like a scrimmage game. It’s full intensity, with referees, simulating the real thing - there are just no official winners or losers.
Smokers are the real test to see if you’re ready for a sanctioned fight. I recommend doing as many smokers as you can before you pick up your first sanctioned fight.
Sanctioned Amateur Bouts
Once you’ve proven yourself to your coaches and to yourself with your performance in Smokers, you’re ready for a sanctioned fight. Your coach will be in charge of getting that set up for you. Don’t just sign up for a sanctioned fight and expect your coach to corner you.
Your coach will ask the promoter the important questions about your potential opponents’ backgrounds.
For example, let’s say you are trying to make your amateur MMA debut. You don’t want your first fight to be against a former state champion high school wrestler while you’re a fresh blue belt in BJJ. Sure you might both technically be 0-0, but there are levels to it.
On the other hand, you also don’t want a fight against some random self-taught scrub who reached out directly to the promoter. You want a fair challenge.
In Summary
Fighting takes a lot of dedication and consistency. And unless you’re some freak of nature athlete, if you’re brand new to the sport, you’ll probably have to train for a pretty long time before you ever get a sanctioned fight. But if you’re willing to put the work in, I think anyone can get there.
