What Martial Art best fits what I'm looking for?

[chunkylover]

I'm looking to start studying another martial art. I studied Shotokan Karate to 1st Kyu, but found it pretty useless overall.
I'm looking for a high contact, or at least vigorous style and something with a mix of strikes and throws/grapples.
The best thing I've seen so far is Hapkido, but I can't find anywhere local to study it.

My local choices are:

Muay Thai
Taekwondo
Krav Maga
Kickboxing
Boxing
Wrestling
Wing Chun Kung Fu

So which would be the best exercise and which has a good range of attacks?

Appreciate any help given.

[Cory]

I'd recommend either a mix of Muay Thai/Wrestling or Kickboxing/Wrestling.

Are these all local gyms? I just started last month, and its a monthy fee of $80 and you can go to all session, so I'm getting BJJ, Wrestling, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai (hate it) all at once.....but if you had limited resources, I'd say Kickboxing and Wrestling......but if you want the most forms of contact that'd be Muay Thai, and of course Wrestling has your throws.

[Big Gay Honker]

Don't bother with karate.  Nothing good will you learn in Karate.

I would see if they have contracts.  If not, that's good.  I would say start with Boxing.  That's the best thing you can start with, because you'll learn head movement better than thai boxing.  You'll be able to slip punches better.  It's also the best introduction to contact.  Strapping on those 16 oz gloves will make you more tired than you would realize, but also the movements you make moving around will also test you. 

Then after you're comfortable with your boxing move to thai boxing.  You'll learn how to actually kick with force instead of kicking for show as per how Karate teaches.  But if you do boxing first drop bobbing and weaving or you'll eat a knee.  This is also a style that will give you more exp with contact.  I don't think it will test your cardio like boxing will, but the reason I say boxing first is to--

COMBINE THE TWO.

If you can learn how to combine the two, you'll be a striking machine. 

Chunkay what part of England are you in?

[chunkylover]

Essex. Southend Area.

And Boxing and Muay Thai does sound like an idea, also means I can stay local for the time being, as I can walk to the Boxing gym.

[Big Gay Honker]

http://mcfannacademy.com/

Click links.  If any of those places are near you check them out first.  UFA is the organization I trained in and if they are on course then you're going to have a great variety in one school.

[Markus Stone]

I'd say anyplace that is Mixed Martial Arts. There's a reason they have that Mixed in there. Most places will train in kickboxing/Muay Thai, wrestling, and BJJ. From what you say you have locally, I'd say Krav Maga would be a decent choice. Yeah, it gets a decently bad rep, but there are some good foundations you can build upon in Krav Maga. For simply striking, I'd definitely go with a boxing and Muay Thai school. Krav Maga has a good grappling and submission foundation as well, however.

An amazing resource is also http://www.lockflow.com

When me and a friend used to train ourselves, we used that place for a lot of our learning since we had no place nearby to train at. They also have a school list, although I don't know how much they have outside of the US. Also, the forum community there is EXCELLENT. You don't really get any of those a-holes at other MMA forums that accuse everybody of being Keyboard Warriors and all that crap.

[MitchMMA]

Don't bother with karate.  Nothing good will you learn in Karate.

[Markus Stone]

That crossed my mind too, but I just decided not to say anything. It should be noted, that Lyoto took elements of karate to mold his fighting style around, and is not a karate fighter.

GSP also utilizes his karate background.

[MitchMMA]

That crossed my mind too, but I just decided not to say anything. It should be noted, that Lyoto took elements of karate to mold his fighting style around, and is not a karate fighter.

GSP also utilizes his karate background.

Exactly.

Karate might not be the most effective style for MMA, but to say "nothing good comes from it" is pretty ignorant. Every martial art has something good you can take from it and I'm a strong believer in that.

[chunkylover]

Go watch a guy with sole karate training try and attack anyone else.

[MitchMMA]

My point was you can take something from any martial art and blend it into your overall game.

If a guy who trains in only karate fights a guy who only trains in Muay Thai, normally the Thai guy will win. It's a more effective/more aggressive style.

However I 100% disagree with what Honker is saying here, "nothing good will you learn from Karate", lol dude come on now.

There are obviously a lot of bad habits that come from karate, but there are also many good things you can take from it as well.

Lyoto Machida is the prime example of that.

[Big Gay Honker]

Karate you kick using your foot.  Many bones can be broken while you assault the guy you're fighting.

Karate teaches you to snap a kick so it makes your pants pop and it looks pretty.  Thai boxing teaches you to kick and if you miss the power should be so great you have to spin with it.  I don't think I have to go into detail on which hurts the other guy.

Karate utilizes single arm blocks that leave you open for an attack.  Have a thai boxer throw a kick and watch what happens when the karate guy goes to block.

Non professional boxers can beat up black belts.  Karate does not teach you much about contact other than to not hit your sparring partner hard.  Learning what getting hit is like is an important lesson that karate does not teach.

Karate is great for small kids, and for people who want to get into a contact sport without the contact.  Yes there are Karate fighters out there who can beat a lot of people up out there.  But one hit, and they're more likely to crumble than a real martial art.  Karate is just a bunch of bad habits.  It's not useful.  There are arts out there that deserve your money more than karate. 

As far as GSP and Machida...  To be honest these guys are more concerned over their records than providing fights to the fans.  I remember more from Tank Abbott fights over a decade ago than any fight from Machida from the past year.  Machida is very boring to watch unless you're a die hard Karate fan.  There is a reason why there are only a few people out of thousands of MMA fighters who use karate successfully.  Karate sucks.  Saying otherwise is ignorant.

[Cory]

As far as GSP and Machida...  To be honest these guys are more concerned over their records than providing fights to the fans.  I remember more from Tank Abbott fights over a decade ago than any fight from Machida from the past year.  Machida is very boring to watch unless you're a die hard Karate fan.  There is a reason why there are only a few people out of thousands of MMA fighters who use karate successfully.  Karate sucks.  Saying otherwise is ignorant.

QFT

[MitchMMA]

Well that's your opinion.

Am I saying karate doesn't have bad habits? Of course not, like you mentioned it has several. The chambering of the kicks and the lack of contact being the biggest ones.

But you said nothing good comes from karate and I think that's BS. Who gives a shit if you think Machida is boring? The guy is undefeated, nobody has been able to figure him out and he uses his style of karate very effectively and mixes certain aspects of it in with several different martial arts.

But I guess it's nothing but a bunch of karate chops and flashy spinny kicks, huh? lol.

Once again the point I am trying to make here is you can take something good from ANY martial art out there.

Saying otherwise is just plain ignorant :p

Love ya Honker 

[Big Gay Honker]

Love ya too Mitch, But Karate sucks still.  It's not my opinion, it's fact.  It sucks to the point where he had to take aspects of other fight styles and add them to his. 

If Vitor does how I think he will, I think he's the one to finish Machida.