1
Weeks 1–3
Choose and commit
Audit the gyms you can actually reach, take trial classes in more than one sport, and then commit to a single discipline for three months.
Beginner pathway
Your first six months across the combat sports
A sequence for someone starting from nothing: understand the landscape, learn the fundamentals that transfer everywhere, then specialize with the rules and safety knowledge already in place.
5 stages12 guides available
2
Weeks 3–6
Learn the map
Read how the striking and grappling families differ, so the vocabulary used in your own gym makes sense within the wider sport.
3
Weeks 6–12
Shared fundamentals
Work the skills that carry across every ruleset: managing distance while striking, and controlling posture and grips in the clinch.
4
Months 3–4
Rules and transitions
Add takedowns, learn how your scoring criteria reward them, and start analyzing training rounds instead of merely completing them.
5
Months 4–6
Structure and longevity
Organize the training week around camp structure, set sparring intensity deliberately, and settle weight class questions long before any entry.
Where to next
Browse by category
Once the pathway feels comfortable, work through a single category end to end.
FightGuide.TV
Every combat sport, explained next to the others.
A cross-discipline guide to combat sports: how boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and mixed martial arts differ in range, rules and scoring, and where the fundamentals overlap enough that training one sport quietly improves another.