It's pretty clear that the arising of mixed martial arts competition, specially No-Holds-Barred (NHB) events like the UFC, has completely changed the martial arts world. Even to those who don't have a deep knowledge of the subject it's obvious that the fighting mentality — and thus the training methods involved in the preparation for such events — has completely changed in the last couple of years.

Thinking back at the first world-famous NHB event, the premier edition of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we can draw a clear picture in our heads. We had eight contenders, and each of them visibly represented a single fighting style. There was, of course, exceptions. Some fighters had more than one martial arts background, but they were usually restricted to a single area. For example, strikers could have trained in more than one style, but usually all styles were closely associated to stand-up techniques. A great method of classification was then born — fighters were gathered in two basic classes, grapplers and strikers. At the time it was easy to classify a fighter into one of the two categories.

Nowadays, only those who really know what they're looking at can identify to which fighter class does one belongs, in terms of style. Some people think this classification of fighters between grapplers and strikers is no longer valid, since no one seems to be training on a single area anymore. I do not agree with this; as I later expose in this article even if you train hard to develop certain skills, you'll always be deeply attached to your origins. Furthermore, you'll always be better at one of the two basic aspects of fighting — striking or grappling.

What no one can deny is that there has been a brutal change in fighting, and that you no longer see a fighter that only trains in one style, at least not in high level competition. This is due to a long process that has changed the way of thinking of martial artists all over the world. It was the birth of cross-training as we know it.

The first change in mentality that was easily detected among fighters was that of the strikers. All of a sudden, strikers were watching helplessly as time after time usually smaller grapplers took them down to the ground and beat them easily. This only happened because once on the ground, the strikers simply didn't know what to do. They were absolutely out of their environment. Imagine yourself locked up in a room you've never been before, and then someone shuts the lights out and tells you to try to come out on your own. Well, it surely isn't an easy task.

Strikers then realized that the best attitude was to try to learn the ground game. That does not mean they were trying to transform themselves into grapplers — they just wanted to learn enough ground skills to be able at least to understand what's happening once the fight goes to the ground, and then to try to react properly.

Much later, grapplers began to understand the importance of also enhancing their abilities by learning striking skills. This was a rather slower process, since grapplers tend to have a traditional stubborn attitude towards learning other styles. I do not think this is a healthy position. Although I'm myself a grappler I do believe the more you learn about other styles the more you'll be prepared to face different situations. Learning how to strike is vital to a grappler, specially to be able to avoid punches before the clinch — that's the moment when grapplers are most vulnerable.

Although it took some time, even grapplers accepted the reality. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stylists started to adopt boxing as their "back-up" martial art. Clinching becomes a lot easier when you know when the opponent is going to kick or try to land a punch.

Both grapplers and strikers profited a lot from cross-training. Then a problem developed: certain individuals started to modify their fighting style in order to "try out" their new skills. This led to a great controversy on the purpose of CT. Was it aimed towards offense or defense?

Stop and think about this: it takes years of effort from a fighter to achieve a good level of expertise in his area, whether it is striking or grappling. Thus, it's completely utopic to expect that, in a short period of time — months or maybe a few years, an individual will be able to completely master a new area of fighting and feel comfortable with it as much as he does with his "root" skills. It's impossible for a striker to turn himself into a grappler in six months, as it is impossible for a grappler to become a confident striker in the same period of time.

It's important to emphasize, though, that both groups would benefit tremendously from training in other areas. Though not becoming a top-notch grappler, strikers can learn enough ground fighting mechanics to be able to counter some basic moves when facing a experienced grappler. In other words, the skills acquired in a short period of time through cross-training would basically serve as very important defensive tools. Although a grappler won't be able to throw a perfect kick, he'll be able to dodge punches when trying to close the distance to a powerful striker.

Of course, time makes wonders. Perhaps those who are gifted learners will, within a few years, start to feel very comfortable with the newly acquired techniques, being able to take one step further: turning those defensive skills into offensive ones. This should be regarded with extreme care, though, since even if you have spent a great amount of time working on CT, it's vital that one never forgets his "root" area of expertise. It's true that you, a grappler, can have achieved a high level in striking. But when you're fighting an expert striker, are you going to try to strike or to take him to the ground? Although most people will quickly answer "ground him, of course", it doesn't happen that way in mixed martial arts competition. Fighters get easily carried away, and with bad decision-making can turn the outcome of the fight against themselves.

One of the best examples of that attitude was found on the notable match between "Conan" Silveira and Maurice Smith, at the Extreme Fighting Championship. At that time Conan was, undoubtfully, a better fighter on the ground then Maurice. But Conan, having cross-trained in boxing, decided to strike Maurice — in my opinion, a very bad decision. Even if you're comfortable with your recently acquired punching skills, you can't be as comfortable with them as a striker is, specially a very skilled one as Smith. So, Conan decided to punch, and you all remember what happened. If Conan had never cross-trained in boxing, he would have probably tried to take the fight to the ground right away. I'm not affirming that would happen for sure, that is impossible to tell — in fact, that's one of the good points about NHB competion, the outcome is always unknown — but if it did happen, then I would say for sure that he would have had a better chance.

Cross-training is, undoubtfully, a very useful training aid, and should be used for any fighter aiming to compete in high-level NHB circuits. CT will provide you with enough background on other fighting styles so that your defensive skills against these styles will increase tenfold. CT can also provide you with offensive tools, but as mentioned before this should be examined with extreme care. I'm not saying one can't use techniques acquired through CT, I'm just saying that you should stop and think a lot before trying something new.

I truly believe that the key point is always to keep in mind what your strong points are — be realistic, there is no way someone can be extremely good in ALL aspects of fighting; that is utopia. But also keep in mind your weaknesses, and CT is a powerful tool to diminish them. And last, but not least, be aware of your opponent's weaknesses. Based on those you're going to determine your strategy and fight plan.

Picture your fight with your opponent as a task similar to climbing a mountain. There are two ways of reaching your goal, which is to win the fight — to get to the top of the mountain. One, is the safe way, going by the road, keeping yourself on the track, doing what you know, which would be to be faithful to your fighting origins, whatever they are. The other one is to go mountain climbing, that is, to try to apply techniques that you are not 100% familiar with. Although you'll get a lot more praise if you reach your objective through the latter, you know you'll have to take your chances, and that the risks are immensely higher.

Anyway, the view from the top is the same, whatever way you take, so why taking any unecessary risks?