Judo's transferability

[Gluckmann]

Obviously judo brings a lot to anyone's MMA game in terms of clinch-grappling, submissions and all that. Next year I'll have the chance to do judo for a year at the uni judo club, and I'm just wondering whether if would be worth it, from an MMA perspective.

Is a year of training enough to gain some transferable expertise? I'll be starting at the very beginning, so presumably I'll have to learn ukemi and gripping and so forth before I learn any throws. My fear is that I'll spend a year as a judo noob and not learn enough to substantially improve my non-judo grappling.

Is this a possibility, or is judo immediately applicable to MMA, even without a gi?

[Nickosaurus]

Surely ukemi is a transferable skill? The ability to not be phased by falling? Not sure for MMA but I have certainly used it in Skiing and when I have had one to many drinks

[Wolfskin]

I gess it depends of the place and the instructor... Where I train you can start doing randori (mostly ground grappling but sometimes stand up too) and technique drills from day one if you wish to, just be prepared to be completely owned most of the time and to learn to fall right fast or you may get hurt. But even my instructor admits that we are a bit on disavantage on safety compared to classes that have more focus on ukemi.

But regarding how long you need to train Judo before being usefull on MMA I'm in no position to answer you but I can gess that at least a decent amount of ukemi can be very useful to many things in life, ofc combat sports being one of them.

[PointyShinyBurn]

A year of Judo will make you an infinitely better MMA grappler than a year of sitting on the sofa, if that's what your asking?

[Keej613]

A year of Judo will make you an infinitely better MMA grappler than a year of sitting on the sofa, if that's what your asking?

I'm with this guy. A year of any martial arts training is better than a year of no martial training.

[doofaloofa]

I did a couple of months MMA with 4 years or so of judo (green belt)

I was able to throw every body there from the get go, was very hard to take down, but suffered on the ground

Addapting to no gi and a less restrictive ruleset were the main issues (though we do train no gi from time to time at our club)

[Dave R.]

Obviously judo brings a lot to anyone's MMA game in terms of clinch-grappling, submissions and all that. Next year I'll have the chance to do judo for a year at the uni judo club, and I'm just wondering whether if would be worth it, from an MMA perspective.

Is a year of training enough to gain some transferable expertise? I'll be starting at the very beginning, so presumably I'll have to learn ukemi and gripping and so forth before I learn any throws. My fear is that I'll spend a year as a judo noob and not learn enough to substantially improve my non-judo grappling.

Is this a possibility, or is judo immediately applicable to MMA, even without a gi?

In my opinion it really depends on how many hours you spend doing Judo over the next year. I think you have realistic concerns on where you may be after a year of Judo and I say that because what you may want to get out of Judo may be completely polar opposite of what the instructor’s teaching agenda is. I see this a lot when BJJ guys try Judo. They stick around for a month or so but become impatient when they see it doesn’t directly tie into what they want to do. I think if you approach the Judo class from the viewpoint that’s it’s an added tool in your arsenal then you’ll find benefit after a year but only if you practice regularly. If you’re only going 2x a week I don’t think you’ll see any real benefit after a year.

[Gluckmann]

A year of Judo will make you an infinitely better MMA grappler than a year of sitting on the sofa, if that's what your asking?

Haha, I should think so.
There are a couple of other options, given that it's a British uni and therefore full of clubs. I thinking about muay thai or kickboxing, but honestly my grappling needs a lot more work than my striking. I have no intention of hanging around on the couch all year, judo or not.

[1point2]

Dipping your toe in the ocean of groundfighting and grappling sounds like a fine idea. Hopefully it'll give you at least some understanding of groundwork positions, and get you used to falling and taking falls and keeping your balance.

The best thing I've gotten from judo, with regards to my broader game, has been shen fa, general body use skill. Compared to when I started, I'm harder to push over, and I keep my weight on the opponent better.

[Naszir]

A year of solid judo training will definitely help you especially if you have no grappling experience from an MMA perspective. Your balance will improve. You should develop some takedowns and grappling as well. It can't do anything but help you, especially if TKD is your only MA experience. Good luck to you.