competing at the low levels

i just started taking a judo class and am going to begin taking some bjj classes as well. im just curious how much chance for mma competition most of you guys find in the gyms that you train in? im 30 years old and harbor no dreams of wanting to start some sort of mma career or even compete in any sort of paying way, but the competition looks like a great way to test yourself and honestly it looks like fun.

do most gyms that train mma have the equivalent to sparring in boxing, or matches take place? i dont want to go into the classes seeming like im there because i want to fight someone, because that is not what its about for me, but at some point i would like to test myself some. does this go on?

matt

You should attend classes at an MMA gym for sure, Im sure a lot of the other guys there will want to compete too, but as for in gym fighting I dont know how much of that goes on, but there will be probably be posters up, or people you can talk to there, about local amateur competitions. A word of warning though, even low level competition hurts!

I know some gyms hold smoker matches, a smoker match is below an amateur fight. It doesn't count for anything, it's just to see if you have the skills and see if you can apply them in a fight. I don't know how you would join one though. If you want to try MMA though you should join an MMA gym, mostly everyone in there would like to compete, or are already competing in MMA so they would know what to do.

rolled with a bjj brown belt last night and realized how much i had to learn before doing any sort of real fighting. i would still like to compete at some point but it would definitely have to be against other rank amateurs. it would take a lot of training for me to even be able to do any sort of amateur competition. it was amazing to me how strong this guy, who was maybe a little smaller than me, and of similar strength, felt so much stronger than me. when he didnt want me to go anywhere, i didnt. very good learning experience.

anyhow ill have to check out the mma gym and see whats going on in my area,
matt

I know what you mean man, yesterday I was rolling with a big wrestler and I've only been taking classes for about 2 weeks and he puts me in a paint brush and it was the weirdest move. He figure foured my arm and wrapped his arms around my head and moved his hips forward and it was a key lock, but he did it with his legs! Crazy, I guess I have ALOT to learn lol.

yeah you said it, really makes you realize what you have to learn. even just in his guard i really felt like there is no way i was going anywhere unless he took mercy on me and let me. its one thing to watch on tv and be like "what is this guy doing, pass the guard" and another to have to do it when someone good has ahold of you. the submissions were so quick too. when your watching on tv its so easy to see the triangles and stuff set up and you wonder how people get caught, but when your in the middle of it trying to figure out how to do anything against this guy and before you even see it coming its locked in its a whole different ballgame.

matt