Best real world functioning martial art for self defense

[iChokePeople]

Your friend Andrew must really suck. One of the things about BJJ is that you can do it, for real, 100%, with thinking, resisting opponents. Good schools do that every day. The skills you learn there, in a good program, are tried and proven. I'm sure you're a ninja and have skills that UFC fighters haven't learned, and you could have escaped frank Mir's armbar on Tim Sylvia or his guillotine that put cheick kongo to sleep, but for normal human beings, BJJ is about as 'fight-tested' as it gets. And good luck with that 'nads and throat thing on a decent fighter...

Completely agree that you often don't want to be on the ground, though, and even the Gracie family is very open about that. But it's sure a good tool to have when you end up there.

Also, just for keeping it real, the us army rangers have contracted BJJ instructors many times. The whole army combatives program is FULL of BJJ.

 

[ckcollins2003]

Your friend Andrew must really suck. One of the things about BJJ is that you can do it, for real, 100%, with thinking, resisting opponents. Good schools do that every day. The skills you learn there, in a good program, are tried and proven. I'm sure you're a ninja and have skills that UFC fighters haven't learned, and you could have escaped frank Mir's armbar on Tim Sylvia or his guillotine that put cheick kongo to sleep, but for normal human beings, BJJ is about as 'fight-tested' as it gets. And good luck with that 'nads and throat thing on a decent fighter...

Completely agree that you often don't want to be on the ground, though, and even the Gracie family is very open about that. But it's sure a good tool to have when you end up there.

Also, just for keeping it real, the us army rangers have contracted BJJ instructors many times. The whole army combatives program is FULL of BJJ.

I'm anything but a "ninja", nor do I want anyone to think that of me or that I am being ignorant or egotistic. I have however been in my fair share of fights and have plenty of experience with stand-up and ground. I'll be the first to admit that I suck on the ground. I don't know a damn thing about fighting on the ground which is why I like to get out of that situation as soon as possible and stand back up.

From what I've seen of the Ranger's combatives program, it's mostly throws and blows. Even in MCMAP they teach you a little BJJ but in all reality it's not useful in a street fight where you may have more than 1 opponent. I agree it'd be a great skill to learn in case you end up in a situation where it may come in handy, but it's not hard to keep a fight off of the ground.

Take it for what it's worth. It's my opinion, but I'd hate to see someone physically attacked by 3 people and have to rely on BJJ as their only fighting chance.

 

[tatertot]

I'm anything but a "ninja", nor do I want anyone to think that of me or that I am being ignorant or egotistic. I have however been in my fair share of fights and have plenty of experience with stand-up and ground. I'll be the first to admit that I suck on the ground. I don't know a damn thing about fighting on the ground which is why I like to get out of that situation as soon as possible and stand back up.

From what I've seen of the Ranger's combatives program, it's mostly throws and blows. Even in MCMAP they teach you a little BJJ but in all reality it's not useful in a street fight where you may have more than 1 opponent. I agree it'd be a great skill to learn in case you end up in a situation where it may come in handy, but it's not hard to keep a fight off of the ground.

Take it for what it's worth. It's my opinion, but I'd hate to see someone physically attacked by 3 people and have to rely on BJJ as their only fighting chance.

Well if you have more than one trained opponent, the vast majority of times you are not going to win the altercation period. As far as what you said earlier regarding rear naked chokes, the person applying it most likely did not have it applied properly. And as far as using "brute force" against someone, what if that person has more "brute force"? In my experience technique will trump "brute force".

 

[ckcollins2003]

Well if you have more than one trained opponent, the vast majority of times you are not going to win the altercation period. As far as what you said earlier regarding rear naked chokes, the person applying it most likely did not have it applied properly. And as far as using "brute force" against someone, what if that person has more "brute force"? In my experience technique will trump "brute force".

You must see brute force as strength. In a way they are similar but not exactly the same.

Look, I'm not going to sit here and argue on the interwebs. BJJ is taking your opponent to the ground and applying joint locks or chokeholds. If you agree that the last place you want to be in a street fight is on the ground then there's no reason to argue. If you believe you'd rather be on the ground then go learn your BJJ and have at it.

The biggest problem you run into in this thread is that you guys seem to think every swinging dick on the street is a UFC fighter or that a street fight is going to be like a UFC fight. There's lots of rules in UFC that don't apply to a street fight. If you want to go ahead and learn your BJJ, go for it. But Hapkido, Krav-Maga, and many other developed martial arts take BJJ and extend it to strikes to better the persons ability to actually defend themselves in the real world.

 

[jeremy]

In my experience technique will trump "brute force".

In my experience Speed and Severity have stopped far more brawls than technique...

 

[iChokePeople]

Look, I'm not going to sit here and argue on the interwebs. BJJ is taking your opponent to the ground and applying joint locks or chokeholds. If you agree that the last place you want to be in a street fight is on the ground then there's no reason to argue. If you believe you'd rather be on the ground then go learn your BJJ and have at it.
:

Well, not exactly... But the simple fact is that many fights go to the ground whether you like it or not. A decent BJJ academy teaches a lot more than your attempt at a summary, things like position and getting back to your feet, if you choose to do so. You've clearly never played with a grappler who likes or is good at knee on belly or several of the available 'ride' positions, both of which are great for street/bar fights. If you're so confident in your 'vertical' skills and takedown defense that you don't think you need to learn ground work, good luck when you meet someone who wants to play on the ground and doesn't suck.

ETA: I would not advocate BJJ by itself as the best choice for self-defense, as you can see in my original answer. The only people I know who study JUST BJJ do it solely for sport. But the notion that it's 'useless' for self-defense is completely laughable.

 

[iChokePeople]

In my experience Speed and Severity have stopped far more brawls than technique...

Speed and severity are huge, particularly if you have the element of surprise or if your opponent sucks. If not, you better have more tools in the bag. Like a big hunk of wurst.

 

[jeremy]

Speed and severity are huge, particularly if you have the element of surprise or if your opponent sucks. If not, you better have more tools in the bag. Like a big hunk of wurst.

You can have the big chunk of Sausage in your hand...

I'll be the one using a feststein...

I have only seen that not work one time.

 

[LPMan59]

I recommend Italian Martial Arts.

For those not familiar, Italian Martial Arts is where 3 of your buddies wearing wifebeaters and gold medallions hold tyour opponent on the ground while you kick the **** of him.

It works quite well.

 

[jeremy]

I recommend Italian Martial Arts.

For those not familiar, Italian Martial Arts is where 3 of your buddies wearing wifebeaters and gold medallions hold tyour opponent on the ground while you kick the **** of him.

It works quite well.

Huh...

Sounds quite similar in execution to Irish Martial Arts...
Just less Gold...

 

[paddling_man]

Huh...

Sounds quite similar in execution to Irish Martial Arts...
Just less Gold...

Much like Bikr G-Yang Dawg Pie EL... it uses more leather.

 

[Boz]

If you're not far from Chicago, look up Nate Defensor. He is badass. He is trained in multiple Filipino martial arts styles and has some other backgrounds too. Look up 'Defensor Method"

This guy will teach you to be deadly with a blade, or empty-handed.

 

[Double T]

Brute force is the winner 9 out of 10x in my experience. At my classes we had sparring and self defensive sparring with multiple opponents, and grappling.

The best place to fight is on your feet. You have more ability to put hip torque into a pumch or kick. You can be more offensive. If a fight goes to the ground someone is not getting back up.

Hands above the waist, punch xyphoid, hammer fist to clavicle (most delicate and easy to disrupt), knees to the abdomen/chest/face, kick the knee/thigh. Quick jabs to the eye. Never look your opponent in the eyes, stere at their sternum. It is impossible to get surprised by an attack as regardless the sternum will move with an opponents attack.

Be one step ahead of your opponent, practice with a wooden or rubber knife. Dummy gun, etc.

The only way to be properly prepared is to not have to think about how to disarm/disable an opponent, be thinking about how to avoid the fight or finish it before it even occurs.

If you want to spar, I would highly suggest a set of century foam gloves, feet covers, soccer shin pads, and head gear. You can go full contact and not get severely hurt with them.

If you take a class that only teaches tourney sparring you are wasting your time.

 

[Kutnupe14]

You can disagree all you want. The last time a guy tried to put me in an armbar I rolled backwards and was back up on my feet before he was. He tried a rear naked choke after that. That didn't work either. Of course the Marines trained me how to easily get myself out of one of those. This was of course a friend of mine who is twice my size and has been doing BJJ for about 8 years now. Lucky for him we were just grappling and not actually fighting.

If you want to try your chokes and ground skills in a fight be my guest. Even if you manage to take your opponent down, the last place you want to be is on the ground. The ground makes you vulnerable to incoming attacks by your opponents friends. Which is another reason I don't go to the ground if at all possible. I was once on top of a guy beating the snot out of him and his buddy came and hit me in the face with some pvc pipe. Not sure where he got it but I sure didn't see it coming.

I'm not saying BJJ is completely useless. It has it's advantages if you are into MMA and only against a single opponent. However you'll never see a soldier or cop try to apply an arm-bar on their foe.

I'm no rookie to fights and it's not something I'm particularly proud of, but I can tell you from experience that that crap won't work. I'm 5'10" 190 pounds. My friend Andrew who was the one I was showing how to get out of everything BJJ taught him is 6'4" 260+. He even admitted afterwards that my military fighting style well surpassed his BJJ.

As I said, try it and be my guest. I know what BJJ teaches. Chokes are taught in almost every martial art. Blood chokes, air chokes, it doesn't matter if you can't hold them. This is where brute force comes into play. Let them try their choke, throw them down, break their arm, and stomp on their face. See if they try it again.

THIS!

 

[Indy Wing Chun]

A few things I've learned over the years:

1) There's a fine line between wanting to teach and wanting to show others what you can do.

2) The longer I train, the more a I realize that self-defense/fighting is more your mindset than your skill set.

3) Arguing about which martial art is the "best" is like arguing over which car is the best and most people doing the arguing can't drive for ****.

 

[Shift Zombie]

Interesting.

 

[blamecharles]

mma does sport it up a bit. you dont learn weapons, you dont bite, you dont gouge, etc.

imo it will teach you more than enough to defend yourself. look up mma legend bas rutten. that is one man you do not want to get into a bar fight with

Bas Rutten is a badass. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oc4BGmOp-A"][/ame]

 

[Dsgnr_81]

The one you know.

 

[dlbrown75]

Go Ju Ryu

 

[blamecharles]

I have spent hours watching videos on Que's Internet training website.

Not really here is some Bas Rutten beat downs though.

[ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7oc4BGmOp-A[/ame]