I'm with your mom in that I'm not a fan of fighting.
Where you live will determine if you need her consent.
As others have said, since you EVENTUALLY want to compete why rush? Get good as good as you can and then when you're ready go for it if you still feel the same way you do now.
FYI, one year may seem long to you, but if you train hard for the next 6 months before even considering competing you'll see how short it really is. After you turn 18 you can then do as you like (in most places).
You eventually want to compete? Eventually mean in the future so this is not an issue yet. Another thing is that you rarely compete in that sense in MMA. In any given area you have tournaments each year. But usually they are few and far in between. What usually happens is that local gyms arrange fights between their fighters.
There are official fights and unofficial. Unofficial fights you don't need anything. Official fights you probably need a clearance from a doctor and your moms signature. My advice? Fake the signature. It's not exactly rocket science. I used to do all the time when I was a stupid teenager and wanted to get out of school. I think in a given year I went 10 times to the doctor and 10 times to the dentist.
That's what kids do.
(Hmmm. Usually better advice offered here than what you've got so far. Problem is that most of the more frequent posters and those knowledgeable about MMA haven't gotten here yet.)
A bit of background: I have a son, 23, who competes in MMA. He has a background in high school wrestling, has competed in BJJ and grappling tournaments from the age of 17, and has had a couple of Muay Thai matches.
There are a couple of different issues here. The first is that moms can't stand to see "their baby" fighting. My wife hasn't been to any of my son's MMA fights...or even the Muay Thai, BJJ, or grappling matches. I attend, and she waits for me to call or text her to tell her how it went. And that's not unusual. Many of the women at MMA fights are the girlfriends or wives of the fighters. Very seldom the moms.
Point is: It's unlikely you'll ever get your mom to be enthusiastic about you fighting. So: Aim for tolerance. She may not like it, but your objective is to get her not to object to you fighting.
So: How do you do that?
Compete in events that are less violent. Specifically: BJJ and grappling. Yes, you can get hurt in those, but that's not the objective. And while you may be too young to be in a sanctioned MMA fight, there are plenty of BJJ and grappling tournaments you could compete in. Besides, competing in those tournaments is excellent experience. It gets you used to the competition mentality, as opposed to simply rolling in the gym with your teammates.
You also need to compete in one or two kickboxing or Muay Thai fights. The reason: To see if you can tolerate actually being hit. There are some people who do great in BJJ and grappling. They even do fine in Muay Thai or kickboxing lessons. But put them in the ring for 3-5 rounds where they're actually getting hit...and they can't handle it. I mentioned my son fights MMA. His real background was in wrestling and grappling. But I required (and his coach required) that he get in the ring at least once to see if he could handle being hit. He had 2 Muay Thai fights (one won, lost a close one), and showed us and himself that he actually could take a punch (and kick). You need to do that, for yourself and for your mom.
Back to your mom for a moment. You say her concern is less about you getting hurt than it is about fighting. OK. That's progress. You need to show her that MMA is a controlled competition. There ARE rules. No kicks to the head of a grounded opponent. No groin shots. No gouging. And, as you know, there's a lot more to MMA than striking. In my son's fights, for instance, he's won them all via submission. He's a good striker, but the submission opportunities have appeared and he's taken them. So most of what he's done could have been done in an advanced-level grappling tournament.
Maybe the best protection (though it's uneven) are the refs. They don't want to see people get hurt, especially amateurs, and especially people without much experience. So often their tendency is to stop a fight early, rather than letting it go on.
My suggestion: Compete actively in BJJ and grappling tournaments. Your mom probably doesn't think of those as "fighting." Get her used to you competing. Then it isn't as big of a leap from BJJ and grappling tournaments to an MMA competition.
But do NOT: Fake signatures. Move out of the house in order to fight. Engage in informal fights. Lie to your mom. You need her support (or at least acquiescence) and you definitely need her trust. If you work at it, her opposition probably will ease.
Hope that helps.
It’ll be hard for you to convince somebody in that situation. You’ll have to get someone else to plea on your behalf. But I would advise you to just train hard for one more year. At that point you’ll be even stronger and it’ll increase your chance at no loss record.
Basically, I take mixed martial arts classes and I eventually want to compete through it. My mam of course doesn't want me to, less for the sake of me getting hurt but more because she just doesn't like fighting. I'm 17, do I need parental consent to fight?
If so, how do I convince her?
