If you're a professional MMA competitor, then yeah, train in a bunch of different styles...BJJ, wrestling, muy thai, boxing. But for most people who have other lives outside MMA, and can only do one art, again BJJ, wrestling, muy thai, and boxing are all good choices; maybe judo and hapkido too.
Pro boxing is a little underrated in MMA because none of the elites have entered MMA. The money is a little too good right where they are. But those fast, devastating paws combined with a little wrestling would be a serious force to be reckoned with. Laverne Clark wasn't even an elite boxer but he still came into MMA and kicked some serious ass with pure western boxing.
Then, if you're only doing one art, there are the bad choices...all those different styles of kung fu, TKD (don't give me that "my school is different" BS), karate, aikido, etc. I hate hearing from aikido fans that they like aikido because they like the idea of 'redirecting' their assailant's attack, it makes me want to crack their jaw and see what the hell they'll do to 'redirect' my attack. Or those traditional standup guys who think that just because they get their black belt that they could take a pro boxer in a fight, stupid because they can't.
Any place that has fat people or little kids with advanced belts is to be avoided too. You know what kind of fat I mean, not the Igor Vovchanchin or Karl Malone or George Foreman type of fat, but real fat.
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