Hayabusa MMA

How long it takes before you get into a ring to face some guy who will try and take your head off will depend on how ready you are prior to starting your training. You already have some basic skills with your backtground in wrestling and kickboxing so you have a head start on a lot of people. Get fit and have good cardio because going that bit longer might make all the difference if your opponent isn’t able to last as long as you. So go in at whatever weight you feel best at, it might be a bit or below 155 but you want to fight at the weight you feel best at. Training could last from a few short weeks to months depending on how fit, prepared you want to be before entering a ring. Also, your natural abilities may allow you to learn quicker or slower than others so puting a timetable on it isn’t fair at this point. This all depends on factor such as fitness, level you start at and how well prepared you want to be prior to fighting.

Sounds like you have a pretty good base. (In fact, you sound a lot like my son–he’s 19, started wrestling in high school, had about 8 years of experience in more traditional martial arts, and he’s 5′3″, 145 lbs.)

So, now you need to learn BJJ. With your wrestling background, you’ll pick it up fairly quickly. You’ll find that your cardio will be much better than most people who’ve only done BJJ. On the other hand, you’ll be very uncomfortable on your back, and you’ll have to overcome that.

As for your height and weight, it depends on how much fat you’re carrying now. If you’re all muscle (say under 6% body fat), don’t try to get any lighter. True, you’ll find other guys in your weight category will be 5′8″-5′11″, roughly. That seems to be especially true of people who’ve started with BJJ–they often seem to be tall and lanky. Still, my son competes against, and defeats, guys much taller than him.

As for tournaments, you weren’t specific enough. My son started competing in regional grappling and BJJ tournaments after about 6 months of beginning grappling. And he did fine, especially in the grappling end of it.

If you’re talking about MMA tournaments, that’s a different story. I’d suggest you start off with grappling and BJJ tournaments.

As for MMA tournaments, it really depends on the promoters. Some will take any warm body. Others have some criteria, and stick to it.

I really don’t know your skill levels, and I’ll defer to advice from some of the more experienced people on this forum. However, I’d suggest you intensively study BJJ and grappling for 8-12 months. Start entering some BJJ/grappling tournaments about 4-6 months in. See where you are after a year. Then consider a good MMA program to help bring all your skills together.

Hope that helps.

You don’t have to have any experience, some ppl will enter tournaments without any training just to make some money.