Miah88 Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 I am 17 years old and i am really wanting to start training in mma. Am i too old to start or not. Any advice would help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_bear413 Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 You are not too old. Do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmtl Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 You are never too old as long as you can dedicate the proper time to training and learning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_Fre5h Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 I started at 17, so I would say no, it is a fine age. My twin boys get the pleasure of starting at 9! hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martino231 Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 You're not too old at all. Jon Jones didn't start training in any martial arts until he was 14, and look where he is now at such a young age. If you put the dedication into training then even up to the age of 30ish, you've still got a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamhet Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 I started doing MMA at 6 years old. Now I'm 25 and can't compete against guys who started at 4 or 3. They're all way better than me now. (((( I will never be able to make up for the lost time. Dude, when I was 17, I already had a black belts in kempo karate and in BJJ, and I was at an advanced level in sambo, muai thai and wrestling. Just give it up and buy yourself a Playstation. You'll never be worth anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverRbit88 Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 GO FOR IT!!! dude im turning 20 and im barely starting, of course i dont expect to get far but ive always had a passion for the sport!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentson Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 I started doing MMA at 6 years old. Now I'm 25 and can't compete against guys who started at 4 or 3. There are way better now. ((((I will never be able to make up for the lost time. Dude' date=' when I was 17, I already had a black belt in kempo karate and in BJJ, and I was at an advanced lever in sambo, muai thai and wrestling. Just give it up and buy yourself a Playstation. You'll never be worth anything.[/quote'] I loled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyokushin4life Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 you can do it, alot is practice and dedication but for some people its just about raw talent. Thats why some guys train since there kids and never acheieve anything great and some people start in their late teens and can get to a high level. The key is to find a really good school. The school or dojo is the single most important thing. I train Kyokushin Karate since i was about 14 (im 23now) and practiced solid in the uk for 7years at two different dojos, then i went and lived in japan and after one class there i gave up my blackbelt as i was not a true black belt level as the difference out there is unbelievable and i started again right at the start. If you start now at a top dojo/school/acedemy then you have a great chance by 23-25 with good natural talent and good dedication of being a good martial artist. You should say on here where your from so maybe people could give you advice on some good dojos/schools/acedemies that is the best start. You also need to decide your martial art that you want to do and if you really have a passion for training this martial art. If you ask most people on here who do martial arts they will tell you they dont train now their first martial art, i tried Tkd and found it was not for me at all. Then i found out about my hero Mas Oyama and i was hooked on Kyokushin Karate. But were all different. Hope this helps you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmtl Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 you can do it' date=' alot is practice and dedication but for some people its just about raw talent. Thats why some guys train since there kids and never acheieve anything great and some people start in their late teens and can get to a high level. The key is to find a really good school. The school or dojo is the single most important thing.I train Kyokushin Karate since i was about 14 (im 23now) and practiced solid in the uk for 7years at two different dojos, then i went and lived in japan and after one class there i gave up my blackbelt as i was not a true black belt level as the difference out there is unbelievable and i started again right at the start. If you start now at a top dojo/school/acedemy then you have a great chance by 23-25 with good natural talent and good dedication of being a good martial artist. You should say on here where your from so maybe people could give you advice on some good dojos/schools/acedemies that is the best start. You also need to decide your martial art that you want to do and if you really have a passion for training this martial art. If you ask most people on here who do martial arts they will tell you they dont train now their first martial art, i tried Tkd and found it was not for me at all. Then i found out about my hero Mas Oyama and i was hooked on Kyokushin Karate. But were all different. Hope this helps you.[/quote'] Very well put post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle_Al Posted March 25, 2010 Report Share Posted March 25, 2010 There is never a shortage of people telling other people they cant do something. Imagine the 100s of 1000s of people who are and were the best at what they do, and if they would have given up because people told them it couldnt be done. I recently heard someone in the UFC quote someone famous and I dont remember who. He said the danger is not in setting your goals to high and not reaching them, it is in setting them too low and reaching them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stealthpro Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 17's fine. Just dedicate yourself to it 100 percent. I just recently rejoined a boxing gym and there are some 17 year olds who have never boxed, and after about the 6th month they're in there mixing it up competively with the more experienced guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePredictor Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Its not too late. Look at Kimbo! ha ha just kidding, you should go for it bud. You're not too young at all. Go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingShogun Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 do it if you're serious man dont worry about what others say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorporalClegg Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 You're not too old at all. Jon Jones didn't start training in any martial arts until he was 14' date=' and look where he is now at such a young age. If you put the dedication into training then even up to the age of 30ish, you've still got a shot.[/quote'] I don't know about 30ish if you are starting off. This isn't 1997 when a 34 year old Couture could bring his Greco to the sport and then evolve from there as the sport did. I'm 24 myself and even with a BJJ bluebelt at 19 I haven't trained in forever I think I would be at the oldest you could get to get in too MMA right now and even think about a professional career. Now some 30 year old that wrestled and maybe trained some jits and striking earlier in life but didn't become a fighter would be a different story but someone who hasn't trained at all by 30 at best could end up a Kimbo if they are built well with decent hands and a poor ground game plus a lot of youtube videos beating up fat guys who can't fight. Oh yeah but to the poster no 17 is definitely not too old. I was about a month shy of my 17th birthday when I started taking BJJ after getting hammered in a fight with running back and strong safety(HS FB this is the 4th LB really) of the football team who was just an ignorant thug that despite all his talent didn't have a brain and never went past the high school level as a result. Anyway getting beat the hell up by someone who had 60 pounds on me made me think about the first UFC tournaments that my stepfather and his friends would order and how 175 pound Royce was taking out 250 pound Kimo and I figured I needed to learn how to fight unless I wanted to run from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisCrowing Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 You are NEVER too old to train. Remember that the likelihood of actually making a living as a professional mixed martial artist is vanishingly small, even for people who have been training since they were kids. You have to train because you WANT to train - not because you expect to be facing GSP in 2 years time. That said, MMA is a strange case, because as a relatively new sport the talent pool is quite small, but then so is the number of opportunities. Also, the amount of time that MMA has existed (in the modern context) meand that only very few people can have been training 'since they were kids'. If you track modern MMA from UFC 1 (1991) - then I could only have trained MMA from the age of ten - that said, I'd been doing karate for 2 years at that point. In fact training for MMA specifically (as in dedicated cross-training in dedicated MMA gyms) has only really caught on in the last ten years once the likes of Frank Shamrock showed that cross-training was better than style vs. style. The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to do it for yourself, for the fitness aspect, the social aspect, the mental aspect and the sheer love of the sport. If the answer is yes, then damned well go for it. But DO NOT EXPECT to win your first match, hell don't expect to even GET a first match for a year or more once you start training. DOn't get all pithy when your application for the Ultimate Fighter gets turned down flat etc. Sure, you might make it - but thats a question for a few years down the line. Training is GREAT fun, makes you feel great (while also being incredibly painful and makes you feel like crap - because being punched is NEVER fun) - especially if you are into the concept of perfecting a discipline (like GSP says, be a martial artist - not a fighter, and that way your form and technique are an end in themselves, not requiring the lowbrow attention that comes from 'winning'.) But you need to treat it like your band, or playing soccer at the weekends. It's something you enjoy and something you work at getting better at - but enjoy it for the experience and the journey, NOT because you think you'll be lifting UFC gold in three years time, because it's 99.9999999999999999% certain you won't be... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strokerman Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 2 words: Randy Couture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legionarivs6 Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 you can do it' date=' alot is practice and dedication but for some people its just about raw talent. Thats why some guys train since there kids and never acheieve anything great and some people start in their late teens and can get to a high level. The key is to find a really good school. The school or dojo is the single most important thing.I train Kyokushin Karate since i was about 14 (im 23now) and practiced solid in the uk for 7years at two different dojos, then i went and lived in japan and after one class there i gave up my blackbelt as i was not a true black belt level as the difference out there is unbelievable and i started again right at the start. If you start now at a top dojo/school/acedemy then you have a great chance by 23-25 with good natural talent and good dedication of being a good martial artist. You should say on here where your from so maybe people could give you advice on some good dojos/schools/acedemies that is the best start. You also need to decide your martial art that you want to do and if you really have a passion for training this martial art. If you ask most people on here who do martial arts they will tell you they dont train now their first martial art, i tried Tkd and found it was not for me at all. Then i found out about my hero Mas Oyama and i was hooked on Kyokushin Karate. But were all different. Hope this helps you.[/quote'] Shotokan owns kyokushin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtp Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Im 24, started last year and now im 2-1 in amateur fights. Good luck and give it everything you have. I will say to shut up and listen without compramise. I lost the first fight because I didnt pay attention, wish I had... Id be on my way to being the next Fedor!!! I was Kidding. About the Fedor part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmerin Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 17 is young dude, most mma fighters dont train for actual MMA until they are about your age or even older, look at randy, he may have had boxing and wrestling experience but MMA is a whole nother ball game, in reality randy started training for MMA at like 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorddeano Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 If you really want to do it then go for it, theres many reasons to get into mma, like.. if you love to fight, want the extreme level of fitness the training brings or already if you have a martial arts background and want the challenge. Dont forget the UFC is the elite, the pinnacle of where every fighter wants to be, but only the best in the world get to fight there (and Kimbo). But you dont have to be the best in the world to train and fight in mma, theres lots of other (lesser) organisations out there, so if mma is what you really want to do, there will always be somewhere for you to do it. Just dont set your expectations too high and think you will be fighting in the UFC in a few years time. But hey, who knows.. we all have dreams right! Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robpiccott Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 There is never a shortage of people telling other people they cant do something. Imagine the 100s of 1000s of people who are and were the best at what they do' date=' and if they would have given up because people told them it couldnt be done. I recently heard someone in the UFC quote someone famous and I dont remember who. He said the danger is not in setting your goals to high and not reaching them, it is in setting them too low and reaching them.[/quote'] just so u remember GSP said this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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