As MMA fans, we all know the deal: two people step into the cage, start throwing hands, hugging aggressively, and trying to beat down each other — all using their own fighting style.
That’s what makes this sport so wild. It’s Mixed Martial Arts — a blend of combat styles, where everyone brings their weapon of choice and tries to take the other person to the stretcher.
Back in the early 90s, the UFC was created for one reason:
“To throw all fighting styles into one arena and see which one could actually beat the rest“.
Fast forward to modern time, and it’s no longer about being a kickboxing master or just a jiu-jitsu nerd. It’s about blending, adapting, and surviving.
In this post, I’ll break down the styles that dominate modern MMA — the ones that are meta, the ones that are considered as must-have, and the ones that still make all the difference when that cage door shuts.

🤔 Why Style Still Matters in Modern MMA

Say — for some (dumb) reason — you get into a bar fight. First, some beef gets exchanged. A little shoving, a little barking, bad words flying — then things pop off. You’ve trained some kickboxing before, and your first thought is: “This guy messed with the wrong one. I’m about to teach him to respect the knuckles”.
You bounce a little, show off some stance and movement — trying to look slick. But suddenly, the guy changes levels and shoots for your legs.
Before you even process what’s happening… You’re lying on the floor, he’s on top, and your face is catching punches like a magnet. That’s called ground-and-pound.
You’ve never trained grappling. You can’t shrimp out, you can’t sweep, you can’t even breathe right now. The fight ends with your ego cracked, your face looking like a purple emoji, and the guy? Already disappeared into the night following Batman style.
That’s the cold water. Fighting style matters. It doesn’t matter how clean your hands are — if someone takes you to a part of the fight you’ve never trained for, it’s game over.
If you’ve only trained striking, and someone shoots on you?
Unless they’ve only wrestled once a month for the past year, then you might stand a chance. But if they’ve been training like a Dagestani, wrestling, and swimming upstream are part of their breakfast menu? You’re cooked.
Flip it. If you’re a grappler who only knows takedowns and clinch work, you might dominate most untrained folks. Most casuals don’t know how to punch right, let alone defend a double leg. But the moment you face someone with solid striking and distance management — someone who knows how
to stay just out of reach and punish you for coming close — your job just got 10x harder.
Bottom line?
MMA is about styles — and how well you’ve sharpened yours.
Your “home base” gives you tools to survive when things go sideways. The best fighters evolve and add layers. But your base? That’s your first weapon — and your safety net.

🦾 The Core Styles in MMA — Ranked by Usage + Effectiveness

Let’s be real — no martial art is flawless. Whether it works in a fight depends on the person, not just the style. If you’ve got solid training, clean technique, and sharp strategy, you can overcome almost anything.
But with that said… some styles are just way more effective in MMA than others.

Here’s the thing:
Whether you train BJJ, hit pads twice a week, or just bench press and hope for the best — when a fight breaks out, your body goes primal. You’ll swing, kick, clinch, maybe even shoot for a takedown. It’s fight or flight, and instincts take over.
Sure, you can be One Punch Man. Or you could go full barbarian: kick the groin, eye poke, throw haymakers and expect they land on the chin. But in the MMA, that’s not gonna fly.
Martial arts were originally made for self-defense — that includes everything: ball kicks, eye pokes, hair grabs, throat strikes, and stuff you usually only see in military combat or street fights. That’s why arts like Krav Maga go hard — but also why they’re basically banned in sanctioned MMA.
MMA and UFC have rules. No groin shots, no 12–6 elbows, no fish hooking, no eye jabs. If your whole style is built around hitting weak spots (you can say goodbye to Krav Maga), it’s gonna struggle inside the cage.

Now, if you wanna bust out some kung fu flair or tai chi-powered palm strikes, go for it. And just make sure:

• You’re not breaking the rules.
• You’re actually hurting the other guy.
• You’re not ending up flatlined while thinking you’re a main character from a kung fu movie.

In the next section, we’ll break down which styles do shine in modern MMA — the ones that win fights, get belts, and send highlight reels to Youtube.

Wrestling 🤼

When we talk wrestling in MMA, we’re talking about taking your opponent down, smothering them, and breaking their will — either by ground-and-pound until the ref steps in, or by squeezing a tap out of them.
There are a bunch of grappling styles that specialize in this: American Wrestling, Sambo, Judo — each with its own moves and flair. But the end goal?
Neutralize the other guy. Take away his power. Drown him in pressure. Make him fight your fight.
Here’s the wildest part: in pure wrestling match, there are no punches or kicks. It’s all about takedowns, control, and pins.
But this is MMA, so striking matters. If you wrestle without throwing hands while your opponent lands a few solid shots? Don’t be surprised when the judges give the win to the guy who actually did some damage.
So if you wanna copy a style that wins fights — here are some elite wrestlers who brought their game to the Octagon:

• Khabib Nurmagomedov – The Dagestani bear. Pressure god. Once he takes you down, you’re not getting back up. He smothers, mauls, and makes guys quit.
• Daniel Cormier – Former champ at light heavyweight and heavyweight. Olympic-level wrestler with heavy hands. He’s basically Khabib’s big brother at AKA.
• Georges St-Pierre (GSP) – This man built elite wrestling from scratch, with zero traditional background. Pure work ethic and obsession. He made wrestling part of his MMA toolkit and dominated with it. That’s GOAT behavior.
• Khamzat Chimaev – Straight-up menace. Scary-strong wrestler, blitzes with power and pace, leaves no room to breathe. The only weakness is that gas tank. But if you can’t survive the first round, it doesn’t matter.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) 🥋

Remember when the Gracie family shook the world and turned MMA into a real-life BJJ demo?
Royce Gracie, in those early no-rules UFC days, would just lie down like he was about to nap — while his opponent stood there, confused AF, wondering what to do next. That’s the magic of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. See, BJJ isn’t about takedowns (though they help). Where’s the real power come from?
Controlling the ground. You don’t need to double-leg someone like a wrestler — you can literally bait them into your guard, flip the script, and tap them before they know what hit them.
But here’s the deal — in modern MMA, it’s not that simple. If you flop to your back and your opponent refuses to follow? The ref stands you up.
If he does engage? You better have tight guard, sharp timing, and submission traps ready. Otherwise, you’re just eating elbows and losing rounds. Still, BJJ is crucial.
It’s the skill that turns a takedown into your advantage. That’s how you survive, reverse, and even steal wins in chaos. Wanna see BJJ at its deadliest? Check out these:

• Charles Oliveira – Walking highlight reel of submissions. Human backpack. Has the most subs in UFC history (16). If he touches your neck, it’s already over.
• Garry Tonon – OG member of the Danaher Death Squad. Leg lock savage. Ripped through ONE Championship until getting clipped by Thanh Le. Still dangerous guy to play with.
• Gilbert Burns – This guy throws bombs now, but don’t get it twisted — he’s a world-class BJJ beast. Grappling with him? Good luck surviving.

Muay Thai / Kickboxing / Boxing 🥊

There’s no MMA without punches. You get in a fight? Somebody’s catching hands. Maybe legs too.
Luckily, there’s a whole squad of martial arts built just for that — but if we’re talking what actually works in MMA striking, it comes down to this holy trio:
Boxing. Kickboxing. Muay Thai.
Boxing — The Sweet Science
Boxing is all about hands: jabs, hooks, crosses, uppercuts, shovel — and the art of mixing them into crispy combos. But it’s not just about throwing punches. Boxing teaches you distance control, head movement, footwork, and precision. You aim for the chin, because that’s where fights change in one second.
Kickboxing — Punches Plus Legs
Take everything from boxing — and now add kicks. Kickboxing opens up more combos, leg strikes, angles, and rhythm shifts. More tools, more chaos, more highlight reels.
Muay Thai — The Art of Eight Limbs
Straight out to Thailand, Muay Thai is called the “Art of Eight Limbs” — that’s fists, elbows, knees, and shins. And yes, the “eight” counts both sides of your body (left and right). This martial art is brutal, technical, and body-focused. Clinch work, leg kicks, knees to the ribs — it’s a full-body beatdown style.

The strikers list will be long, so I’ll make it short and give you a few of my favorite:

• Max Holloway — “I’m the best boxer in the UFC, baby!” And he proves it every time. Volume, pressure, combos for days. Walking highlight reel.
• Dustin Poirier — Think Max is slick? This guy beat him twice. Diamond in the sky. Clean technique with that Louisiana grit. Paid in full.
• Valentina Shevchenko — Women’s GOAT contender. 11x IFMA World Muay Thai champion. Smooth, deadly, precise — an actual assassin with ballet-level balance.

🧬Hybrid Fighters: The Modern Archetype

Gone are the days where you could walk into the cage with just one style and run the game. This ain’t 1993 anymore. Stop living in the past.
Today’s fighters? They’re smoothly blending 2–3 styles, flipping the switch between striking, grappling, and scrambling. Being elite in transitions is the real life-hack now — not just having one “base”.
Let me break it down with real fighters doing this at the highest level:

Islam Makhachev — (Sambo, Wrestling, BJJ, Pankration)
Strong wrestling core, smooth jiu-jitsu, and seriously underrated striking. He can maul you, sub you, go five rounds without a scratch… and, he might even knock you out. Real hybrid children.

Alexander Volkanovski — (Boxing, Wrestling, BJJ, Fight IQ)
Pound-for-pound genius. Volk mixes short-range boxing, insane balance, and goated scrambles. Take him down? Good luck holding him. He’ll pop back up or flip the script and sub you.

Jon Jones — (Wrestling, BJJ, Muay Thai, Fight IQ)
He gets hate. Drama, ducking, whatever. I don’t give a damn fuck. He’s one of the most well-rounded fighters ever — and undefeated for a reason. Not ’cause of KO power or elite grappling, but because he’s smart AF and knows how to read a fight. His fight IQ is what beats people. Period.

Being “well-rounded” is no longer a bonus — it’s the standard. The best fighters don’t just know different styles — they can switch gears mid-exchange:

Striker → Grappler.
Wrestler → Submission hunter.
All in one smooth-ass flow.

🧠 No Style Reigns Forever

No martial art is unbeatable — only the fighter who adapts is. Every style brings something to the table. Respect them all. Understand their roots. But when the cage door shuts, it’s not about style vs. style anymore — it’s about how well you blend.
Adapt or get left behind. That’s the modern game.
Strikers got to wrestle. Grapplers got to strike. And if you can’t switch it up on the fly, you’re just food for the new breed.

💬 Which martial art do you think dominates in today’s MMA? Drop it below in the comment!
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Until next time!

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What is MMA — The Art of Punches, Kicks, Fighting, and Hugging How Khabib Nurmagomedov made his way to become an UFC Legend The History of MMA: A Knockout Journey Through Time What Does BMF Mean in UFC? Explained with Fighter Examples