If you want to do MMA, just join an MMA gym and attend the classes that they most likely offer in BJJ, muay thai, etc. If you want to compete in MMA, that is the fastest way to get the ball rolling. They will have different coaches for each part (usually) and you will be able to compete in sparring as you go along.

Can you build a house without a foundation?

You will be a laughing stock in MMA without a style. Sure, you can find some place that charges 200 a month and teaches you submissions and strikes. You may even be a natural at it! But without a base, you will fail.

My base is Kempo. It teaches us the stances, movement, and principles needed to survive the street. That is also transferable into tournaments, or MMA. My other base is BJJ. Our instructor is also a 4th dan in Judo, so its like I'm learning both judo and BJJ. Finally, I have Muay Thai, which is mainly different strikes/clinches than Kempo. So I combine those moves with the principles of Kempo.

Here's what Mean by principles, to list a few:

1. Probably the most important to me, although very few people do it (and it is not necessary) in MMA: Respect. The victor running around the ring with his hands in the air has always disgusted me. If you were to fight someone in the street and knock or choke them out, would you get up and run around and scream like a fool? No. That is one thing that has always bugged me. I don't mind when they raise their hands in the air. But climbing the cage and stuff is just showing off. In MMA, I would respect my opponent.

2. 4 inch rule: If something is outside four inches of your body, you don't have to block it. That's where movement comes into play, which leads to the next one, using your opponents...

3.Momentum against them. You can block someones punch. Or, you can let it hit you. Or, you can get out of the way. Or, you can get out of the way, grab their arm, and pull it into a punch of own. They will be off balance and fly right into the power of it.

4. Power ranges. Larger people have larger circles of power. So for smaller people against larger people, you have to fight in closer to avoid their largest weapons (like kicks) but also avoid their close range weapons (knees, elbows, and of course, throws).

That's just some of the dozens of principles we have. Kempo (karate, kung fu, and Japanese Juijitsu) is my standup base. My groundfighting is my BJJ. My Muay Thai is devestating techniques, which I combine with the concepts/principles. This is my fighting style. I have done Kempo for almost 4 years, it is my base, and once I got comfortable ( I will not say mastered) with the basics, I began to build with groundfighting and Bunkai. This is worth much more than if I had just learned moves and submissions just to win an MMA match. I have been taught how to survive.

(edit): To back my theory up, think of all the best MMA fighters. GSP is a blackbelt in BJJ (or maybe JJJ) and a blackbelt in Karate. Ronda is an olympic medalist in Judo. Jon Johns was a wrestler before he won a national Judo Medal, and he also has Fantastic Muay Thai.

check out Kimbo Slice. He was a huge powerful man without training who would win backyard brawls but when he went to MMA, his loss to a Shito-ryu Karateka, dropped his popularity. I hear that he is now in boxing.

So I would say yes you can if you do a lot of backyard brawls.

Sounds like a base people like to hear a story.

no

I want to be a mixed martial artist when i turn 18 but i can't practice a base because i'm dealing with high school and teenage problems and i also play football so i can't do a base mixed martial art