There's a school near my Tae Kwon Do academy which bills itself as a "MMA Class" - anyone have any idea what type of martial arts techniques they teach. I was always under the impression that MMA fighters were trained in a specific martial art(s) (ex. Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, etc), I was never aware that there was such a a thing as an "MMA school", so I'm skeptical of it's credibility.
Guys that watch too much ufc, order gracie jew jitsu films and watched them on their couches, practiced headlocks with stuffed animals, usually open MMA schools. They may have participated in a santioned low budget match, in someones backyard, and use that as credentials for impressing newbies. It's a big scam, that uses UFC to bring traffic, and UFC itself is a dumb sports league, because all the rules don't make it a real 'mixed martial arts' bout, its just a bunch of steroid wrestlers fighting guys who just learned how to kick and box.
If it is a good MMA school, they will teach Boxing/thai boxing, BJJ, and wrestling in the MMA style. All of these disciplines taught separately, are taught much differently. The best example of this is wrestling as Greco Roman style, this is almost useless in MMA, where freestyle wrestling take downs are one of the most dominating moves under American scoring. BJJ is almost defined as MMA styling in jits. Edit: sorry BJJ = Brazilian Jujitsu.
This^^^ Though, in addition to BJJ and various forms of wrestling (typically, specific wrestling techniques), an MMA gym will also incorporate a lot of Judo as well. Judo and Jui Jitsu are like peanut butter and jelly, opposite sides of the same coin. Unfortunately though, Judo is often overlooked.
I belong to to the MMA (Mainstream Militia Academy) where we're taught to fight totalitarian governments run by leftists.
most ufc fighters are blue collar dunces, and had no job opportunities other than a prison sentence or fighting for a living. Shane and the few with college degrees, got them from private online colleges, where you send in a check to get a diploma, and don't have to do any work. most of these guys are dumb as bricks, and open these scam artist MMA schools to swindle little kids, and 'tough guys'. its best to go the traditional route and get a black belt in each discipline, then merge them with experience in tournaments.
Liberalminority has a point. Most schools will be limited to the skills of the owner. The old-school way of learning how to fight was to get into a bunch of fights. A better way was to wrestle, box and take karate for two years each, find out what you are best at and then merge them with an emphasis on your skills (based upon height, weight, athleticism, etc.). Maybe there is a better way today. You can't learn by speculating. However, you can get knee injuries so be careful.
A lot of martial arts studios are trying to cash in on the MMA craze. If MMA is what you want, try to go to a regional MMA tournament. Network youself at the tournament. While you are there you will see who is good and who is bad in your area. You can figure out which are the good schools by seeing who win the tournament.