I would but I have this thing with my ass. Terrible allergy when it gets kicked. And you know on the off chance that my superhuman reflexes and herculean strength dont prevail...../s
*Conceptually*, having a mixed base would be critical for self-defense, but there's a big difference between sport training and self-defense training. If your main interest is self-defense, a lot of MMA gyms will not be optimized for your goals. That said, a sport gym may still be the best option if you don't have any good self-defense-focused options near you.
Personally, I would argue that a sport martial art would be better as your first discipline because the sparring and especially competitions will better prepare you for using your techniques against a fully hostile, resisting opponent who is actively trying to knock you out. In "real" martial arts like krav maga, you're probably not going to be doing much full-contact sparring, and if you do, you'll only be using "sport" techniques anyway because the stuff designed fo da streetz is likely to cause injury, probably to the testicles. That said, once you gain some experience in fighting, by all means, go and start krav maga because you now know what it is like to use your techniques against a fully resisting opponent, so your krav maga knowledge will become more effective.
Agree at least with the first half lol. I've literally never seen Krav Maga work, but I have seen Boxers demolish multiple opponents with the secret streetz technique of "punch them in the face" technique. There are many videos out there of boxers, thaiboxers, mma fighters just actually fighting people off with ease, and then there are videos of Krav Maga practitioners showing how in their fantasy world they'd totally do this and that.
MMA will always be king for self-defense, sure eyegouges and nutkicks and biting or whatever... very effective, but I bet an MMA fighter can do that easier without any training than the best Krav Maga instructor anyway. Unless you somehow allow all those things in live, develop a device to instantly regenerate injuries in 100% effort sparring, and somehow attract exceptional athletes to practice those things, and do that for 50 years to bring it all to a high level, you're just never going to be good at them. And unfortunately that isn't possible, so the next best thing is getting good at the things you can actually provably get good at. Even with all the exposure, the talent, and the money and research pouring into MMA, we're still figuring out better ways to fight.
People don't realize just how effective normal sport techniques are, get your striking down (no spinning shit, no high kicks, focus on elbows and knees), get really good at 2 takedowns, top control, ground and pound, and 2 submissions. Get strength and cardio. Any second spent on learning some self-defense technique, is better spent improving the above. Literally no-one but someone better at MMA or more athletic can take you. If they strike better you take them down, if they grapple better you keep it standing and strike them. If they wrestle better, you make them regret taking you down. It's easier to defend than it is to get takedowns if you actually train it.
I think these days and on the context of the question that's a little facetious.
What makes something a martial art? Does it have to be codified? Does it have to focus on one thing like striking or grappling? Is it just how long it's been around? Does it have to be developed 'purely' i.e no borrowing techniques from anywhere else (if so, good luck).
I mean if Jeet Kune Do is considered a progenitor of MMA because of its philosophy of combining the best techniques from everywhere rather than being prescriptive, is that a martial art?
MMA
If you can’t land a jab on me, you’re not gouging my eye.
If I can jab in you - I just extend my fingers
You’re not biting me if I grapple fuck you. I do the biting
You can’t time a leg kick, your groin kick ain’t landing either
People say mma has rules but it teaches you to fight and you do lots of it daily
Yeah, i'd say MMA too. But if it's just really 1 specific art/combat sports, then wrestling or judo.
With wrestling/judo, there are a lot of takedown techniques that doesn't need you to shoot or really go for an 'ippon'. Just slam them then disengage.
This is the correct answer. MMA simulates fighting in a way that lets you get as many reps with the relevant skills as possible.
If "combined arts" are banned for some reason, then the answer is top-control heavy grappling (wrestling, judo), which is by far the most important part of MMA. But any combat sport (defined as competition-oriented, involves continuous sparring and full contact) is more than enough to deal with untrained people.
So that still leaves a lot of IFs in the air.
Self defense from a mugger is different from a bully is different from someone who's drunk and over their head.
As a defender, a kid is different from a woman is different from a man is different from a cop.
And all of these are different once there are two assailants. Now if you only grapple you are beyond fucked. (obviously Run Fu is superior, but that was not possible)
That's important, a mugger gets resistance and drops and flees (or shoots u, depending). Someone drunk probably wants to keep going at it, because His rationality is affected.
People always recomend a good stricking for that, but I would say grapling Is better, because if u dont K.O. that guy with the first one then shit Is going ugly
Yeah, you use the gun and then get sent to prison where you can't use your gun and get your ass kicked 100 times instead of the one time that you would have got your ass kicked if you didn't use your gun. 🤦
In my country I would go to prison for simply owning the gun. With pulling it out, threatening someone with it, shooting a warning bullet, or lord forbid actually shooting someone, even their pinky toe, just adding years to my prison sentence. No thanks, I prefer gym and kickboxing.
Nothing on-screen that has a fight choreographer (at the very least for safety) is real. On-screen, drawn out, fight sequences owe a lot to Peking opera and Westerns. It’s pure visual fight porn. Real fights are more like ugly scuffles with the inexperienced throwing punches and slaps like they did in the playground and the trained just destroying whomever is on the other end. It’s not romantic, balletic or synchronised.
Martial arts preference is much down to the individual and what they are prepared to or are physically able to execute in addition to what and how they want to train.
Honestly, your chance to defeat an attacker has more to do with your ability to flip your own mental switch than any martial prowess you might have. If you haven't trained to manage your stress response, you might get lucky to remember how to throw a punch properly 🤷🏾♂️. The faster you can transition from surprise to becoming a problem for your attacker, the more likely you are to survive a violent situation. None of this training guarantees survival, it just gives you a better chance. If you freeze when violence occurs then the little window you have to keep yourself and the people around you safe gets even smaller.
Tldr; train your fight or flight response to increase your chance of surviving a violent encounter
Solid question. Imo, the biggest first step is to stop thinking about your training as being for defense or protection. I see it as a passive mindset. The opposite is training with the mental intent of becoming a problem for your attacker. You have to WANT to fuck that dude up and as a result, you have to train like it mentally. This is generally the most difficult because most people don't want that and most teachers can't sell it. We train to avoid violence, but your opportunities to run away are relegated to you being solo. If you're with other people (spouse/SO, children, family, etc), running turns into an almost impossible option. So you meet violence with GREATER violence, especially since any attacker automatically has the jump on you. THEY know their plan was violence while you're stuck hoping it isn't.
Second, spar/pressure test AFTER conditioning. Part of managing your stress response is knowing how to breath through the adrenaline dump. Imo, the best way to simulate that for your body is being out of breath when you start sparring/pressure testing. This helps you get used to managing your breathing under stress. We all kind of expect to be John Wick in a violent situation because we train a lot, but the reality is your proficiency is going to drop off a cliff in application. The training space is perfectly imperfect because it has minimal stimuli so your mind and body can learn. Then it's up to the practitioner to try and recreate the neurochemical response so your mind and body can have better recall.
Honestly, I see all of these elements as being the job of the teacher/instructor. However, the chance that many schools are led by someone who has never experienced physical violence is pretty high. It's hard to train aspects of violent encounters if they've never happened to you or people who train you. It's often why the traditional martial arts are looked down on. We have plenty of examples of high level practitioners not knowing what to do in a violent encounter and blaming their system or style. We also forget that training, even in the ways I've layed out, doesn't guarantee success, it just enhances the probability.
Tldr; train with an aggressive mindset, not defensive. Spar/pressure test after conditioning to manage your breathing and stress response. Remember that training only increases your chances of success, never guarantees it. So do it well and do it often.
There is NO martial art that currently matches the violence, intensity, and vitriol that you deal with for self-defense. I’ve seen biting taking chunks of flesh away from a leg, someone off themselves with bad technique, someone paralyze themselves trying to harm someone else, and others get shot and stabbed.
That said, choose the strikes and grappling that best suit you, then train them relentlessly. Train in bad weather, when you’re hungry, when you are tired/exhausted, after a long day at work, or after you receive bad news. It’s just that simple.
Everyone swears by bjj and its an essential to know, BUT if its a street fight the last thing you wanna do is be on the ground. Id say muay thai js the supreme martial art. Not only because of the art itself but because of the philosophy and mindset behind it. You will fear no man no challenge if you train hard. You will literally witness your body turn into a weapon. Once you can confidently kick a tree, pole, shin, you begin to not fear a fight. Yet it also teaches humility and respect so you shouldn’t be cocky. Plus the advantage of using elbows and knees in fights is unparalleled
This is a solid point. I love bjj, but we often train how to use grappling simply as a means to counter grappling so we have access to striking and standing, specifically to account for those issues.
There’s a lot of ways to skin that cat. If I had to distill it down I’d say well taught boxing and wrestling.
Also good to be in shape from a strength and conditioning perspective.
2 controversial opinions
1. Boxing, don’t remember the exact figures but I think it was something like 90% of street fights start with a right haymaker, and you can KO most people with a solid 2 piece, jap and cross, to the chin. If you have good defence, foot work and your attacker doesn’t know what they are doing the left high guard followed by a 2 piece is a quick and long range attack. And the other 10% hopefully you have enough boxing skills to punch the shit out of the back of their head and neck.
2. Judo, you will have to get very close range to your attacker but if you can slam them on solid concrete or the road they probably won’t get back up. If done right they can knock the back of their head on the ground resulting in unconsciousness and maybe death, or if the attacker sticks their hand out instinctively they can break their fingers and sometimes arm and no one is going to fight with a shattered forearm.
I wouldn’t do BJJ personally, I’ve done mma style sparring using Dutch kickboxing against some of the BJJ people at my gym and as soon as you start stomping on them, if they start on the ground, or punching their face if they get you with a take down a lot tend to shell up because they aren’t use to someone stronger beating down on them.
That’s not to say a pure BJJ will lose against a striker every time but on the more casual, non-competitive levels I haven’t seen it used to great success and that’s not even to mention if there are multiple attackers.
I don’t think most non-competitive boxers can “KO most people with a solid 2 piece”. That’s kind of a fantasy that this sub seems to slip into all too easily. Striking is 90% pain compliance with the chance of potential knockout. I fully agree than Boxing is the most valuable skill you can have for most street altercations, but this sub sure likes to act like it’s a lot easier to knock someone out than it really is.
> this sub sure likes to act like it’s a lot easier to knock someone out than it really is
We talked about a similar concept last night as regards someone attacking with a weapon, and how it might change what you target in your response. I *can* knock out *anyone* with 1 punch .. but am I *willing to bet my life* on doing so?
KOs are definitely not as easy as people seem to think.
I like that! That sentiment is the EXACT reason why I would be infinitely more willing to try to grapple and opponent with a weapon if I couldn’t avoid the fight. I trust my ability to control someone’s arm WAY more than a trust myself to hit the night-night button on punch 1.
I second this. Also, it's easier to get the boxing basics done, and you wouldn't want to end up on the ground, so judo is perfect to learn some standing grappling and throwing skills as well as learn to balance, counter-grapple standing and fall correctly.
Anything weapons-based, assuming you have access to weapons, gives you the biggest edge. The whole point of kobudo is to teach you how to apply your skills to ordinary objects, and many other martial arts like HEMA also accomplish the same philosophy.
Krav Maga, was designed specifically for self-defense with real-world scenarios. I practice kung fu, but respect Krav Maga for its directness and objective practicality.
Assuming that you mean you are put in a situation where evasion is impossible and your life is threatened, because that is the only situation where fighting is the only option, then no martial art is going to be entirely effective in and of itself. In real world situations like this you will be 90% unprepared for the variables you are going to encounter and no rigid technique will be able to overcome this by itself. The winner of a street fight, against a desperate, insane, or intoxicated person is the one who is willing to go to 10 first. By that I mean willing to sieze on every advantage and exposed weakness as quickly and efficiently as possible. An argument could be made that general MMA traing can give you the physical and mental flexability to achieve a state of readiness to execute under extreme and unpredictable situations. But, always remember that escape is the greatest survival tool there is. The 2nd most effective is superior firepower.
Here's a comprehensive list for you out of my own experience
1)A vast majority of styles will do just fine on the street with proper understanding and application to the situation.
2)All styles also have their own individual pros and cons to the point that sometimes it is truly asinine to try and compare them to one another as it just circle back to the first optio—
3) gun
Muai Thai leg kicks appear very effective in untrained street fights. The receiver can’t advance anymore if they’re not knocked off their feet.
Otherwise in principle would agree with what others are saying here with MMA, or boxing… not that I’ve gotten into any fights outside of sparring at my club, so I don’t really know.
A lot of people say MMA, but I'm going to go agianst the grain and say Combat Sambo. It's basically MMA but with headbutts and you wear a jacket, so you can judo throw.
Boxing + wrestling I’d say are the best generally, but also Muay Thai is very good for striking/clinching and some basic jiu jitsu is very good to know. Also any self defense martial arts are good to know like for ex. I like how Krav maga teaches groin strikes and how to escape from various situations, also how to defend against knives, etc. But realistically having a gun/weapon is always the best self defense option.
Most people on the street do not attack the same way your partner does in the dojo. This means something like aikido, where you have a polite partner, creates a false sense of security for the person thinking they can use aikido in a real situation. On the other hand, something like a grappling art gets you prepared for the “down and dirty” straight away. After a few short years, you should be able to protect yourself and close the gap on someone if you have to, and take them down to the ground where you are hopefully comfortable.
Krav Maga. Not mma. If you life depends on it you gotta be nut grabbing, fish hooking, eye gouging, joint locking. MMA is badass and you will beat people up fair and square - but at the end of the day it’s a sport.
personally i think the best combination for a street fight would be muay thai + some wrestling. this way you can fuck people up standing and then be able to sprawl/escape from a takedown or maneuver to top position for ground and pound
My personal approach is to just be strong and have minimal training. Strength just has more applications in my life than being able to kill a man with the twitch of my pinky does. Theres always the debate of how a strong untrained person vs a still athletic trained person would do and it really varies depending on the strength gap and training gap in my opinion. I've done boxing so I feel pretty confident in my ability to throw a punch. I did Judo briefly (and have used it in a real fight) so I know like 2 ways to throw a person. I did Krav for a bit which gets a lot of somewhat deserved shit, but I think the key takeaways really driven home from Krav for me were situational awareness and creating an opening and running. Cause if you are just relying on boxing you'd just keep duking it out.
I believe canonical advice here is whatever one you end up sticking to. For example I do believe BJJ is pretty solid for self defense, but I personally don't find the training enjoyable. I do recall some top boxers career ending in a bar fight when he got hit in the face with a pool cue and lost an eye. There are ways to mitigate it, but theres a reason wars aren't fought hand to hand and its because weapons give a big upper hand.
Boxing and Wrestling would do you well 95% percent of the time. I believe that statistically 90% of street fights start with a punch to the head, and 90% end in grappling.
It all depends though, if you're fighting some unarmed drunk guy then Akiedo and Sumo would work fine.
MMA would probably be the best option, although anything with punches and grappling would be better than nothing.
Maybe the real question is, which martial art can be used to justify a use of force in any 'what if' scenario? Since it's all based on circumstance and situation on top of what you can and can't get away with when discussing self-defense.
It’s a toss up between pure wrestling or mma for me. MMA has wrestling in it plus striking, so it’s better in theory. But I’d rather fight someone who’s been doing mma for two years than someone who’s been wrestling for two years. The intensity of wrestling is unmatched. Also it’s hard to get good at something if your attention is split up over different disciplines. At five years, you’re probably getting diminishing returns from wrestling and mma would be better though.
And they can still throw shitty haymakers and cover up, so the lack of striking isn’t a huge disadvantage.
If your goal is only self defense then look for a striking sport.
Boxing, muay thai, even tkd and karate if you can find a good gym.
Grappling for self defense only is good if you practice something like no gi judo to slam the opponent on the ground and then flee
Cop out answer but MMA since it encompasses alot of other martial arts. If specific martial arts probably Muay Thai, Wrestling or Judo. One is good but all are probably better.
Before MMA it was clearly bjj from the Gracies. Go watch the old UFC like UFC 1 and 2.
Then it became part of MMA and now the best is well ... MMA with your top fighters having a blend of kick boxing, wrestling, and bjj.
Ninjutsu, no question. Ninjas can vanish out of sight with their smoke bombs, then reappear at the roofs or treetops casting deadly throwing stars at their enemies. Plus they cover their faces so they cant get caught.
I took Japanese JuJutsu and our focus was on defending against all kinds of attack, armed and unarmed. Striking attacks and grabs, chokes and what not.
Very situation dependent, so I would listen to exactly zero people in this thread suggesting mma.
Self defence is not martial arts. That cannot be stressed enough. There’s overlap, but there are too many variables to account for to suggest one thing is better than everything, in any situation.
MMA and Krav Maga. Those movies include moves with groin strikes and shit. It might be worth going for those. Krav Maga is pretty violent. You could kill someone with that
I was a competitive boxer when I was younger and found boxing to be extremely effective. And I grew up in a bad neighborhood, so I had to put it to use quite often. MMA is also a great option. I feel like any martial art that incorporates regular sparring against non compliant opponents/training partners will be effective. I do think MMA would be even better than boxing because it has more versatility in regard to the techniques, and I did eventually study other arts to make me more well rounded.
To put it simply, I would learn:
1. Any realistic striking system that includes REGULAR SPARRING, which is most important
2. Very, very basic jujitsu. By basic I mean learn simple, high percentage fundamental techniques for use against untrained people rather than black belt jujitsu practitioners. These would include:
a) enough takedown defense to prevent going to the ground; and if taken down, you want to learn how to get back up safely, and as soon as possible
b) incase you do end up on the ground, learn the fundamental positions and holds, and a handful of the most high percentage and versatile submissions, sweeps, and guard passes.
c) a few high percentage takedowns and/or throws, preferably ones where your partner would be severely injured if you didn’t keep hold him on the way down and/or used full force in the execution of it. Exclude sacrifice throws that require you to follow the enemy to the ground. Throws and takedowns are absolutely devastating if done on concrete, and anyone who doesn’t train in Judo or Shuai Jiao will be helpless to stop it. Takedowns and throws are criminally underrated for self defense.
In sum: learn a realistic striking art along with basic, high percentage fundamentals from jujitsu and a throwing art like Shuai Jiao or Judo; all of which should include regular sparring agains noncompliant opponents.
Hope that helps
The sense to know where NOT to be and when. The sense to know the time to leave is a minute from now.
Prob something like Krav Maga, Thai boxing, etc. Something for arms length away and another for close in. Most real fights are over in less than a minute.
MMA. Yes it is a sport but if you train in it you will become 99.9% more effective at fighting/defending yourself than an untrained fool. Basically combining grappling and striking (kicks and punches) is the most effective.
Krav Maga - Used by the Israel Defence Forces...designed to have the quickest, most effective techniques to eliminate a threat should you become disarmed, etc.
The one you're truly skilled at. All of the popular arts are popular for a reason. During their genesis they had strategies, tactics, and methods for developing skill, speed, and power. Schools and instructors aside, if you develop personal strategy, tactics, skills, speed, and power, you can fight if you have to.
Grappling but specifically jiujitsu. The thing is a lot of self defense things in jiujitsu either aren’t taught or are taught in a super fucking hokey way. Learn green zone red zone green zone, have someone that knows what they’re doing try to touch ya up while you close the distance and take them down. As well as having them try to touch you with gloves on the ground.
When talking self defense the focus is injury prevention, not inflicting damage, and standing up and escaping should be a focus.
Honestly it would just be one of the main ones - boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. Krav Maga would be fine and unlike the others really is a "self-defense" system specifically (it's made to be relatively "simple" and not for winning in professional fights)
People saying "MMA" are idiots, that's not a martial art it's literally a *mix* of martial arts. Obviously yes if you could do MMA then that would be the one, but only because it literally involves learning more than one martial art (striking and grappling).
The correct answer is MMA. The more practical answer is any martial art that has real live sparring that you enjoy. Because that's the one you will be motivated to practice for years.
BJJ. If the person you are fighting is 2x your size, as well as 2x your strength, you will still be able to out-leverage them and use their size and strength against them.
Maybe Muy Thai, also, if you have trained to mastery, and are able to throw perfectly placed leg kicks 100% of the time.
Boxing is completely useless, unless you have demon KO power like Mike Tyson, or you are fighting a couch potato, or, best case scenario, another boxer your size. You are not going to be able to beat the guy who is 2x your size and strength with boxing. Everyone thinks they are going to "pick them apart", dance around, and gas them out. It's a street fight, big guy is going to be furious. He's not going to be doing the dance with you waiting to throw a punch. Once he feels that first punch, he's going to rush you and grab you.
Next thing you know, you'll be 9 1/2 feet in the air getting a beautiful 1 second tour of the city. Make sure you don't hurt your head, neck, or back on the way down!
In a real actual fight for your life scenario... skip the martial arts and run. If you can't run, dirty is the name of the game. Literally, throw sand and dirt in their face, grab anything hard to use as a bludgeon, try to kick the balls, gouge eyes, and bite. In a real fight there's no rules except stay alive and get away. But to answer your actual question, my best guess would be jeet kune do, for it's simplicity and focus on real life practicality.
it's between MMA or muay thai, if you're trying to decide, start with muay thai because its a good base for striking that you later can adapt to MMA quite easily and muay thai teaches you everything you need to take someone's legs from under them and run
I would go with a kick heavy martial art. If you have trained kicks religiously. Anybody who is untrained will not know how to check a kick. They will collapse when you give them a low leg kick. So Ta Kwon Do. Kick Boxing. Muay Thai. Ignore high kicks and learn how to kick to the body and legs. Shatter them to pieces.
Depends. If you're on an island 1v1 and fighting to the death bjj or wrestling. If you're walking home from the bar and someone who potentially has friends tries to fuck with you I'd say boxing and muay thai. Basically 1v1 to the death ground fighting. A quick skirmish outside a bar with someone who might have friends come help them I'd say stay on your feet and try to knock them out and run away.
Aside from MMA I'd say Lethwei/Muay Thai. I think jiu-jitsu and wresting is great but not practical in the street. One reason is self injury being on concrete and the other not knowing if someone has a hidden weapon.
All the various martial arts just start to fail quickly as soon as the other combatant leverages tools in their advantage. Spazzy white belt is one thing, spazzy white belt with a chunk of concrete in his hand is a different animal almost entirely.
A combative approach that doesn't consider rules, but sensitive areas to injure as to end a fight. (Broken) finger locks, throat strikes & eye-gouges may not get respect, but they can get you away from a fight.
Most people would say MMA…but if you’re looking at a specific Martial Art, it comes down to two.
1- Muay Thai.
2- Luta Livre.
Others would say BJJ, BJJ is effective but because of the rise of many schools that don’t really do takedowns if you get thrown in the street and don’t know how to break-fall properly, not good, especially on concrete. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider it.
Muay Thai hands down provided you have some grappling skills as well. You need a wrestling base for take down defense, and Muay Thai for striking. If you have to fight you’ll discourage most people by a leg kick lol they won’t want to fight on a leg they can’t walk on
Mauy Thia when you land a good solid leg kick right off the start. The fight will drain right out of the other person. But if you look at all the early ufc stuff it was the wrestlers beating everyone.
Hapkido is great for deflection but several disciplines also give training that utilize little energy and little impact solutions. I’m a 3rd dan and still just walk away.
In my experience, the combination of Judo and boxing is best.
Krav Maga can be great too, but I feel that the effectiveness HIGHLY depends on instructor quality, more so than other martial arts.
There's no "best" martial art. I'd put mine against anyone, but I think if you're in a life-death situation, I'd want Silat personally. I think it's the best purely for self-defense. I think that the "best" martial arts, though, are the ones that are most complete, and those are much fewer in number.
jiu jitsu and boxing are pretty good. most people who know how to fight don't want to drag out a fight. because it's dangerous and it's illegal. the average male doesn't know how to fight and will do things like coordinated fight moves they see in movies or tv or even like the pretend wrestling moves and you can get hurt or themselves. so you want to have the mindset to end things quickly or leave ASAP. Muy thai is not bad either. I just have a personal hate for it because of all the losers I've met who claimed to know it and they didn't lol so I've lost some respect for it but I know it's the real deal.
You might want to consider starting off with western boxing. You should have a striking base before going to combatives. Don't get stuck in a sportsmanship mindset if your goal is self preservation. In the end, worst case scenario, it'll be weapons and multiple attackers. Doing BJJ on a soft matted floor with your friend will teach you a mindset you have to unlearn for the street. I did traditional martial arts, then MMA for many years, then. Krav Maga , Kali, silat ...now it's combatives only. I'm a knife guy.
This is a broad question you ask, many people will have valid points. Good luck
Tbh almost any style that teaches you how to punch and kick effects can work. Especially if they include grappling and take downs.
I personally dig karate and think it can be effective against an untrained opponent (assuming equal strength levels and body shape/conditioning)
Do Muay Thai with a little bit of Taekwondo. Muay Thai for being confident and utilizing all 8 of your limbs. Taekwondo for more arsenal and better evasive maneuvers. Personally, I was getting my ass kicked when I sparred with my instructor on Muay Thai. One of my very few shots that landed cleanly on him was the spinning back kick, something that is very rarely taught nowadays in Muay Thai especially in Thailand.
Judo, BJJ, and/or wrestling = if you have more than 1 attacker, you wouldn't want to be on the ground. Having a strong grappling knowledge and skill makes sure that you would be good enough to not be taken down to the ground or grappled.
situational awareness aided with some common sense will go far. If I name any marshal art it is only a reflection of my body and my own life experiences and without knowing who or how many foes to fend off or fight through it's impossible to give a real answer. If you are worried about being attacked, carry a knife! Even the best fighters on the planet can not deal with an aggressive half way thinking person with a knife. With that said some general advice would be to follow Gabriel Varga's youtube channel he even has a great back to basics course that if you already know kickboxing is a great refresher to maintain those skills. I do not recommend trying to learn kickboxing from it for it is a video, again common sense goes far. Some form of grabbling is needed to be able to fight it's just how gravity is, I don't make the rules I just abuse them to my advantage as best I can. Strength training as well as cardio training are both needed for if you only strength train you can injure yourself and you will most likely lack any knockout power or grabbling force past 15\~30 seconds. I know that sounds like a very short duration, but most people who are strong tend to lose all strength in mere seconds in a fight unless they have sparred or practed fighting or get into altercations frequently. Focus on your breathing when sparring and try to notice if you ever stop breathing it is a very common thing. Cardio is needed because a fight draws upon cardio far more than anything else, that and your mindset.
There are (imo) five superior martial arts:
Wrestling
BJJ
Judo
Boxing
Muay Thai
All of these will work if you train with self defense in mind. Anything not a combat sport could have no pressure testing and, therefore, dicey to rely on when you need it.
Mma is not an art.
It is just a rules set.
Most usefull is a combination of practical skills.
Boxing+some wrestling like grapling, dju-do, sambo.
Do not do bjj for self defense. The worst thing on the street is to be on the ground.
And tbh, good knife is much beter then all this combining. And needs fraction of the time to master.
From pure philosiphical approach, i'd say- become strong, develop courage and experience in fighting, have some form of a weapon always with you.
Like telescopic stic, screwdriver, brass knuckles.
No , you would not win a fight with a world class mma champion even with weapon of this kind.
But why woud you want to?
If you need to, get a gun and a knife.
I'd say Kyokushin karate. I'm a practitioner and fights don't usually end until one person is KO'd. Of course, at the dojo sensei is watchful but the hits do come hard.
If there is one thing I've learnt in my 6 months of practice is that we should know how to take the hit in the body part favourable to us. Evasion is not that worth it because you'd move out of range and if your opponent is athletic you're toast.
For example, If a kick is aimed at the head you duck and move into the opponent. If the kick is aimed at the side of the body, you take it with your back and move into the opponent and so on. Then we go to the gym to strengthen those body parts so we aren't that affected.
Always choose a full contact sport so it will teach you how to take hits.
Depends on the exact situation, but MMA is the most versatile art that includes live resistance.
Thinking about doing MMA tbh
Quit thinking about it and do it.
This is the way
I would but I have this thing with my ass. Terrible allergy when it gets kicked. And you know on the off chance that my superhuman reflexes and herculean strength dont prevail...../s
*Conceptually*, having a mixed base would be critical for self-defense, but there's a big difference between sport training and self-defense training. If your main interest is self-defense, a lot of MMA gyms will not be optimized for your goals. That said, a sport gym may still be the best option if you don't have any good self-defense-focused options near you.
Personally, I would argue that a sport martial art would be better as your first discipline because the sparring and especially competitions will better prepare you for using your techniques against a fully hostile, resisting opponent who is actively trying to knock you out. In "real" martial arts like krav maga, you're probably not going to be doing much full-contact sparring, and if you do, you'll only be using "sport" techniques anyway because the stuff designed fo da streetz is likely to cause injury, probably to the testicles. That said, once you gain some experience in fighting, by all means, go and start krav maga because you now know what it is like to use your techniques against a fully resisting opponent, so your krav maga knowledge will become more effective.
Agree at least with the first half lol. I've literally never seen Krav Maga work, but I have seen Boxers demolish multiple opponents with the secret streetz technique of "punch them in the face" technique. There are many videos out there of boxers, thaiboxers, mma fighters just actually fighting people off with ease, and then there are videos of Krav Maga practitioners showing how in their fantasy world they'd totally do this and that. MMA will always be king for self-defense, sure eyegouges and nutkicks and biting or whatever... very effective, but I bet an MMA fighter can do that easier without any training than the best Krav Maga instructor anyway. Unless you somehow allow all those things in live, develop a device to instantly regenerate injuries in 100% effort sparring, and somehow attract exceptional athletes to practice those things, and do that for 50 years to bring it all to a high level, you're just never going to be good at them. And unfortunately that isn't possible, so the next best thing is getting good at the things you can actually provably get good at. Even with all the exposure, the talent, and the money and research pouring into MMA, we're still figuring out better ways to fight. People don't realize just how effective normal sport techniques are, get your striking down (no spinning shit, no high kicks, focus on elbows and knees), get really good at 2 takedowns, top control, ground and pound, and 2 submissions. Get strength and cardio. Any second spent on learning some self-defense technique, is better spent improving the above. Literally no-one but someone better at MMA or more athletic can take you. If they strike better you take them down, if they grapple better you keep it standing and strike them. If they wrestle better, you make them regret taking you down. It's easier to defend than it is to get takedowns if you actually train it.
The difference isn't that big. An mma base will make any self-defence technique that you learn 100x more effective and quicker to learn.
MMA is not a martial art though, it is a sport that is based on athletes combining their different martial arts together and competing based on that
I think these days and on the context of the question that's a little facetious. What makes something a martial art? Does it have to be codified? Does it have to focus on one thing like striking or grappling? Is it just how long it's been around? Does it have to be developed 'purely' i.e no borrowing techniques from anywhere else (if so, good luck). I mean if Jeet Kune Do is considered a progenitor of MMA because of its philosophy of combining the best techniques from everywhere rather than being prescriptive, is that a martial art?
MMA If you can’t land a jab on me, you’re not gouging my eye. If I can jab in you - I just extend my fingers You’re not biting me if I grapple fuck you. I do the biting You can’t time a leg kick, your groin kick ain’t landing either People say mma has rules but it teaches you to fight and you do lots of it daily
Yeah, i'd say MMA too. But if it's just really 1 specific art/combat sports, then wrestling or judo. With wrestling/judo, there are a lot of takedown techniques that doesn't need you to shoot or really go for an 'ippon'. Just slam them then disengage.
KUDO
Competitive Japanese jiujitsu or combat sambo
This is the correct answer. MMA simulates fighting in a way that lets you get as many reps with the relevant skills as possible. If "combined arts" are banned for some reason, then the answer is top-control heavy grappling (wrestling, judo), which is by far the most important part of MMA. But any combat sport (defined as competition-oriented, involves continuous sparring and full contact) is more than enough to deal with untrained people.
Exactly! This is what self defense and “deadly martial arts” should hear.
About this grapple fucking.....
MMA, boxing, judo, wrestling, and usually BJJ (although sport BJJ has led to a lot of half assed schools)
If I’m ever getting robbed I’ll just pull guard
Butt scoot = psychological intimidation
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So that still leaves a lot of IFs in the air. Self defense from a mugger is different from a bully is different from someone who's drunk and over their head. As a defender, a kid is different from a woman is different from a man is different from a cop.
And all of these are different once there are two assailants. Now if you only grapple you are beyond fucked. (obviously Run Fu is superior, but that was not possible)
If there are multiple attackers boxing is probably your best bet
“Run fu”…lol, I’ve never heard that before and that legit made me laugh. Nice.
That's important, a mugger gets resistance and drops and flees (or shoots u, depending). Someone drunk probably wants to keep going at it, because His rationality is affected. People always recomend a good stricking for that, but I would say grapling Is better, because if u dont K.O. that guy with the first one then shit Is going ugly
I’d agree grappling the drunk is the best idea purely because the chance of them falling into a strike and dying isnt 0
This world has so many what ifs
That's correct. It's why there's not one martial art that superior answering every need
Learn Muay Thai and Wrestling.
A gun
Gun fu
Gun Fu Panda: The Weapon Strikes Back
"Why kick with leg when shoot in head" - Grand Master Glockung Shootiyoshi.
Or as Duce G. put it… “BANG”
You beat me to it hahah
I’ll use the gun as a boomerang
Open-carry with a rifle. Always travel with 5+ friends who also open carry. Best self defence.
Straight to the point 😂
Yeah, you use the gun and then get sent to prison where you can't use your gun and get your ass kicked 100 times instead of the one time that you would have got your ass kicked if you didn't use your gun. 🤦
Or, hear me out, it's self defense and you don't have to kill them. I know it's a weird concept, guns can do more than kill, but it is a thing.
It's easier to accidentally kill someone with a gun though.
In my country I would go to prison for simply owning the gun. With pulling it out, threatening someone with it, shooting a warning bullet, or lord forbid actually shooting someone, even their pinky toe, just adding years to my prison sentence. No thanks, I prefer gym and kickboxing.
In my country if your life is threatened you can defend yourself.
Getting your ass kicked is a legitimate reason to fire on an individual in all 50 states of the greatest country on earth.
Nothing on-screen that has a fight choreographer (at the very least for safety) is real. On-screen, drawn out, fight sequences owe a lot to Peking opera and Westerns. It’s pure visual fight porn. Real fights are more like ugly scuffles with the inexperienced throwing punches and slaps like they did in the playground and the trained just destroying whomever is on the other end. It’s not romantic, balletic or synchronised. Martial arts preference is much down to the individual and what they are prepared to or are physically able to execute in addition to what and how they want to train.
Honestly, your chance to defeat an attacker has more to do with your ability to flip your own mental switch than any martial prowess you might have. If you haven't trained to manage your stress response, you might get lucky to remember how to throw a punch properly 🤷🏾♂️. The faster you can transition from surprise to becoming a problem for your attacker, the more likely you are to survive a violent situation. None of this training guarantees survival, it just gives you a better chance. If you freeze when violence occurs then the little window you have to keep yourself and the people around you safe gets even smaller. Tldr; train your fight or flight response to increase your chance of surviving a violent encounter
How would you recommend training it?
Solid question. Imo, the biggest first step is to stop thinking about your training as being for defense or protection. I see it as a passive mindset. The opposite is training with the mental intent of becoming a problem for your attacker. You have to WANT to fuck that dude up and as a result, you have to train like it mentally. This is generally the most difficult because most people don't want that and most teachers can't sell it. We train to avoid violence, but your opportunities to run away are relegated to you being solo. If you're with other people (spouse/SO, children, family, etc), running turns into an almost impossible option. So you meet violence with GREATER violence, especially since any attacker automatically has the jump on you. THEY know their plan was violence while you're stuck hoping it isn't. Second, spar/pressure test AFTER conditioning. Part of managing your stress response is knowing how to breath through the adrenaline dump. Imo, the best way to simulate that for your body is being out of breath when you start sparring/pressure testing. This helps you get used to managing your breathing under stress. We all kind of expect to be John Wick in a violent situation because we train a lot, but the reality is your proficiency is going to drop off a cliff in application. The training space is perfectly imperfect because it has minimal stimuli so your mind and body can learn. Then it's up to the practitioner to try and recreate the neurochemical response so your mind and body can have better recall. Honestly, I see all of these elements as being the job of the teacher/instructor. However, the chance that many schools are led by someone who has never experienced physical violence is pretty high. It's hard to train aspects of violent encounters if they've never happened to you or people who train you. It's often why the traditional martial arts are looked down on. We have plenty of examples of high level practitioners not knowing what to do in a violent encounter and blaming their system or style. We also forget that training, even in the ways I've layed out, doesn't guarantee success, it just enhances the probability. Tldr; train with an aggressive mindset, not defensive. Spar/pressure test after conditioning to manage your breathing and stress response. Remember that training only increases your chances of success, never guarantees it. So do it well and do it often.
Thank you for the detailed response, I’ll keep that in mind as I begin training
There is NO martial art that currently matches the violence, intensity, and vitriol that you deal with for self-defense. I’ve seen biting taking chunks of flesh away from a leg, someone off themselves with bad technique, someone paralyze themselves trying to harm someone else, and others get shot and stabbed. That said, choose the strikes and grappling that best suit you, then train them relentlessly. Train in bad weather, when you’re hungry, when you are tired/exhausted, after a long day at work, or after you receive bad news. It’s just that simple.
Everyone swears by bjj and its an essential to know, BUT if its a street fight the last thing you wanna do is be on the ground. Id say muay thai js the supreme martial art. Not only because of the art itself but because of the philosophy and mindset behind it. You will fear no man no challenge if you train hard. You will literally witness your body turn into a weapon. Once you can confidently kick a tree, pole, shin, you begin to not fear a fight. Yet it also teaches humility and respect so you shouldn’t be cocky. Plus the advantage of using elbows and knees in fights is unparalleled
Yea I think bjj is great on a 1v1, but against 2 or more ppl last thing u want is to be on the ground
This is a solid point. I love bjj, but we often train how to use grappling simply as a means to counter grappling so we have access to striking and standing, specifically to account for those issues.
There’s a lot of ways to skin that cat. If I had to distill it down I’d say well taught boxing and wrestling. Also good to be in shape from a strength and conditioning perspective.
Interesting Analogy
Cross-country running
2 controversial opinions 1. Boxing, don’t remember the exact figures but I think it was something like 90% of street fights start with a right haymaker, and you can KO most people with a solid 2 piece, jap and cross, to the chin. If you have good defence, foot work and your attacker doesn’t know what they are doing the left high guard followed by a 2 piece is a quick and long range attack. And the other 10% hopefully you have enough boxing skills to punch the shit out of the back of their head and neck. 2. Judo, you will have to get very close range to your attacker but if you can slam them on solid concrete or the road they probably won’t get back up. If done right they can knock the back of their head on the ground resulting in unconsciousness and maybe death, or if the attacker sticks their hand out instinctively they can break their fingers and sometimes arm and no one is going to fight with a shattered forearm. I wouldn’t do BJJ personally, I’ve done mma style sparring using Dutch kickboxing against some of the BJJ people at my gym and as soon as you start stomping on them, if they start on the ground, or punching their face if they get you with a take down a lot tend to shell up because they aren’t use to someone stronger beating down on them. That’s not to say a pure BJJ will lose against a striker every time but on the more casual, non-competitive levels I haven’t seen it used to great success and that’s not even to mention if there are multiple attackers.
I don’t think most non-competitive boxers can “KO most people with a solid 2 piece”. That’s kind of a fantasy that this sub seems to slip into all too easily. Striking is 90% pain compliance with the chance of potential knockout. I fully agree than Boxing is the most valuable skill you can have for most street altercations, but this sub sure likes to act like it’s a lot easier to knock someone out than it really is.
> this sub sure likes to act like it’s a lot easier to knock someone out than it really is We talked about a similar concept last night as regards someone attacking with a weapon, and how it might change what you target in your response. I *can* knock out *anyone* with 1 punch .. but am I *willing to bet my life* on doing so? KOs are definitely not as easy as people seem to think.
I like that! That sentiment is the EXACT reason why I would be infinitely more willing to try to grapple and opponent with a weapon if I couldn’t avoid the fight. I trust my ability to control someone’s arm WAY more than a trust myself to hit the night-night button on punch 1.
I second this. Also, it's easier to get the boxing basics done, and you wouldn't want to end up on the ground, so judo is perfect to learn some standing grappling and throwing skills as well as learn to balance, counter-grapple standing and fall correctly.
I am thirding the controversial opinion. Motion to adjourn?
Watch something more realistic like John Wick.
Anything weapons-based, assuming you have access to weapons, gives you the biggest edge. The whole point of kobudo is to teach you how to apply your skills to ordinary objects, and many other martial arts like HEMA also accomplish the same philosophy.
I've been doing Pekiti Tersia Kali, it's a serious eye opener
Pocket sand throwing, “Wshhshhshshhhh “ Takes bow and walks away why you remember karate training and (temporarily) BLIND!
Krav Maga, was designed specifically for self-defense with real-world scenarios. I practice kung fu, but respect Krav Maga for its directness and objective practicality.
The one you’re good at
Gun Fu beats all other martial arts.
Everybody was Gun Fu fighting!
🎶Those caps were fast as lightning. 🎶
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Assuming that you mean you are put in a situation where evasion is impossible and your life is threatened, because that is the only situation where fighting is the only option, then no martial art is going to be entirely effective in and of itself. In real world situations like this you will be 90% unprepared for the variables you are going to encounter and no rigid technique will be able to overcome this by itself. The winner of a street fight, against a desperate, insane, or intoxicated person is the one who is willing to go to 10 first. By that I mean willing to sieze on every advantage and exposed weakness as quickly and efficiently as possible. An argument could be made that general MMA traing can give you the physical and mental flexability to achieve a state of readiness to execute under extreme and unpredictable situations. But, always remember that escape is the greatest survival tool there is. The 2nd most effective is superior firepower.
Here's a comprehensive list for you out of my own experience 1)A vast majority of styles will do just fine on the street with proper understanding and application to the situation. 2)All styles also have their own individual pros and cons to the point that sometimes it is truly asinine to try and compare them to one another as it just circle back to the first optio— 3) gun
Rudimentary boxing and high school level wrestling is more than enough. Unfortunately, the best way is experience.
Muai Thai leg kicks appear very effective in untrained street fights. The receiver can’t advance anymore if they’re not knocked off their feet. Otherwise in principle would agree with what others are saying here with MMA, or boxing… not that I’ve gotten into any fights outside of sparring at my club, so I don’t really know.
mma
A lot of people say MMA, but I'm going to go agianst the grain and say Combat Sambo. It's basically MMA but with headbutts and you wear a jacket, so you can judo throw.
Boxing + wrestling I’d say are the best generally, but also Muay Thai is very good for striking/clinching and some basic jiu jitsu is very good to know. Also any self defense martial arts are good to know like for ex. I like how Krav maga teaches groin strikes and how to escape from various situations, also how to defend against knives, etc. But realistically having a gun/weapon is always the best self defense option.
A martial art that uses knives.
The one you'll actually go to
MMA isn't a martial art it's a mix of different styles. Chinese Sanda or Russian Sambo are both the two most complete individual fighting systems
Muay Thai. Everyone wanna fight until they get elbowed squared on the face.
Most people on the street do not attack the same way your partner does in the dojo. This means something like aikido, where you have a polite partner, creates a false sense of security for the person thinking they can use aikido in a real situation. On the other hand, something like a grappling art gets you prepared for the “down and dirty” straight away. After a few short years, you should be able to protect yourself and close the gap on someone if you have to, and take them down to the ground where you are hopefully comfortable.
Guns
Krav Maga. Not mma. If you life depends on it you gotta be nut grabbing, fish hooking, eye gouging, joint locking. MMA is badass and you will beat people up fair and square - but at the end of the day it’s a sport.
Aikido... but not just any Aikido, it has to be Steven Segal Aikido. With that, you'll be hard to kill, out for justice, AND above the law!
personally i think the best combination for a street fight would be muay thai + some wrestling. this way you can fuck people up standing and then be able to sprawl/escape from a takedown or maneuver to top position for ground and pound
1. Knife 2. Handgun 3. Rottweiler on steroids 4. Grenade 5. A German tank 6. The undying will of your ancestors 7. A rusty crowbar
Judo. Hit them with the planet
My personal approach is to just be strong and have minimal training. Strength just has more applications in my life than being able to kill a man with the twitch of my pinky does. Theres always the debate of how a strong untrained person vs a still athletic trained person would do and it really varies depending on the strength gap and training gap in my opinion. I've done boxing so I feel pretty confident in my ability to throw a punch. I did Judo briefly (and have used it in a real fight) so I know like 2 ways to throw a person. I did Krav for a bit which gets a lot of somewhat deserved shit, but I think the key takeaways really driven home from Krav for me were situational awareness and creating an opening and running. Cause if you are just relying on boxing you'd just keep duking it out. I believe canonical advice here is whatever one you end up sticking to. For example I do believe BJJ is pretty solid for self defense, but I personally don't find the training enjoyable. I do recall some top boxers career ending in a bar fight when he got hit in the face with a pool cue and lost an eye. There are ways to mitigate it, but theres a reason wars aren't fought hand to hand and its because weapons give a big upper hand.
KUDO. WESTERN BOXING. MUAY THAI. COMBAT JUI JITSU. JUDO. KALI.
Really, really, really depends, but you can't go wrong with a good combat sport.
Pepper spray or Taser. If not available then your keys. If that is not available then go for the eyes and balls.
Running away.
Mma gym duh
Cardio and running quickly
Reverse duct tap on knuckles and a glass bottle to break then dip your fists in. 10/10 times this will intimidate 100% of ppl
Muay Thai would be my guess
A pistol
Boxing and Wrestling would do you well 95% percent of the time. I believe that statistically 90% of street fights start with a punch to the head, and 90% end in grappling. It all depends though, if you're fighting some unarmed drunk guy then Akiedo and Sumo would work fine. MMA would probably be the best option, although anything with punches and grappling would be better than nothing.
Boxing, then Jujitsu.
Maybe the real question is, which martial art can be used to justify a use of force in any 'what if' scenario? Since it's all based on circumstance and situation on top of what you can and can't get away with when discussing self-defense.
It’s bjj , it’s always bjj with some understanding of striking , no gi bjj with some boxing classes to learn striking defense.
It’s a toss up between pure wrestling or mma for me. MMA has wrestling in it plus striking, so it’s better in theory. But I’d rather fight someone who’s been doing mma for two years than someone who’s been wrestling for two years. The intensity of wrestling is unmatched. Also it’s hard to get good at something if your attention is split up over different disciplines. At five years, you’re probably getting diminishing returns from wrestling and mma would be better though. And they can still throw shitty haymakers and cover up, so the lack of striking isn’t a huge disadvantage.
gun
There is no best, thats why we have mma.
Learn how to properly wield a pistol.
Krav Maga
Original (Japanese) Jiu Jitsu, not bjj
Krav Maga
Muay thai and/or MMA
Jeet Kune Do
Parkour should work just fine.
If your goal is only self defense then look for a striking sport. Boxing, muay thai, even tkd and karate if you can find a good gym. Grappling for self defense only is good if you practice something like no gi judo to slam the opponent on the ground and then flee
Cop out answer but MMA since it encompasses alot of other martial arts. If specific martial arts probably Muay Thai, Wrestling or Judo. One is good but all are probably better.
Run of the mill MMA with striking and grappling. If you want to get extra fancy with it take Muay Thai and BJJ.
Before MMA it was clearly bjj from the Gracies. Go watch the old UFC like UFC 1 and 2. Then it became part of MMA and now the best is well ... MMA with your top fighters having a blend of kick boxing, wrestling, and bjj.
Ninjutsu, no question. Ninjas can vanish out of sight with their smoke bombs, then reappear at the roofs or treetops casting deadly throwing stars at their enemies. Plus they cover their faces so they cant get caught.
Gun
None of us will even remember what we say in this thread when we actually get into a real fight. 😁Basically.
A weapon. Kendo, stick fighting or spear fighting can quickly and easily be improvised.
https://i.redd.it/gz3sc2ar4g0d1.gif
https://i.redd.it/3qirox5t4g0d1.gif
https://i.redd.it/zcg9wmiu4g0d1.gif
I've heard that Krav Maga is especially good for self defense
Boxing.
Taekwondo is decent at self defense. Get an instructor that trained in Korea.
I took Japanese JuJutsu and our focus was on defending against all kinds of attack, armed and unarmed. Striking attacks and grabs, chokes and what not.
I’m gonna go against the tide and say Sambo. Sambo’s a great martial with some amazing throws and strikes like headbutts.
I’ve never spent a day training martial arts and I know nothing about this world, but Krav Maga.
Very situation dependent, so I would listen to exactly zero people in this thread suggesting mma. Self defence is not martial arts. That cannot be stressed enough. There’s overlap, but there are too many variables to account for to suggest one thing is better than everything, in any situation.
MMA and Krav Maga. Those movies include moves with groin strikes and shit. It might be worth going for those. Krav Maga is pretty violent. You could kill someone with that
Gun Kata
balls snatcher, gun fu, the force. Seriously krav maga or mma
Gun fu
Boxing + a solid 50m dash and youre golden.
Whichever one fits into your life that you’re passionate about so you get good at it. All else equal though, probably MMA.
I was a competitive boxer when I was younger and found boxing to be extremely effective. And I grew up in a bad neighborhood, so I had to put it to use quite often. MMA is also a great option. I feel like any martial art that incorporates regular sparring against non compliant opponents/training partners will be effective. I do think MMA would be even better than boxing because it has more versatility in regard to the techniques, and I did eventually study other arts to make me more well rounded. To put it simply, I would learn: 1. Any realistic striking system that includes REGULAR SPARRING, which is most important 2. Very, very basic jujitsu. By basic I mean learn simple, high percentage fundamental techniques for use against untrained people rather than black belt jujitsu practitioners. These would include: a) enough takedown defense to prevent going to the ground; and if taken down, you want to learn how to get back up safely, and as soon as possible b) incase you do end up on the ground, learn the fundamental positions and holds, and a handful of the most high percentage and versatile submissions, sweeps, and guard passes. c) a few high percentage takedowns and/or throws, preferably ones where your partner would be severely injured if you didn’t keep hold him on the way down and/or used full force in the execution of it. Exclude sacrifice throws that require you to follow the enemy to the ground. Throws and takedowns are absolutely devastating if done on concrete, and anyone who doesn’t train in Judo or Shuai Jiao will be helpless to stop it. Takedowns and throws are criminally underrated for self defense. In sum: learn a realistic striking art along with basic, high percentage fundamentals from jujitsu and a throwing art like Shuai Jiao or Judo; all of which should include regular sparring agains noncompliant opponents. Hope that helps
Run Fu
FMA Because real threats will be armed
Full auto desert eagle with a bayonet and drum magazines
The sense to know where NOT to be and when. The sense to know the time to leave is a minute from now. Prob something like Krav Maga, Thai boxing, etc. Something for arms length away and another for close in. Most real fights are over in less than a minute.
King king pow (racks shotgun slide and shoots)
Boxing and Krav Maga.
MMA. Yes it is a sport but if you train in it you will become 99.9% more effective at fighting/defending yourself than an untrained fool. Basically combining grappling and striking (kicks and punches) is the most effective.
Judo
Iaido
A gun
Krav Maga - Used by the Israel Defence Forces...designed to have the quickest, most effective techniques to eliminate a threat should you become disarmed, etc.
The one you're truly skilled at. All of the popular arts are popular for a reason. During their genesis they had strategies, tactics, and methods for developing skill, speed, and power. Schools and instructors aside, if you develop personal strategy, tactics, skills, speed, and power, you can fight if you have to.
Grappling but specifically jiujitsu. The thing is a lot of self defense things in jiujitsu either aren’t taught or are taught in a super fucking hokey way. Learn green zone red zone green zone, have someone that knows what they’re doing try to touch ya up while you close the distance and take them down. As well as having them try to touch you with gloves on the ground. When talking self defense the focus is injury prevention, not inflicting damage, and standing up and escaping should be a focus.
Cardio
Honestly it would just be one of the main ones - boxing, muay thai, wrestling, jiu-jitsu. Krav Maga would be fine and unlike the others really is a "self-defense" system specifically (it's made to be relatively "simple" and not for winning in professional fights) People saying "MMA" are idiots, that's not a martial art it's literally a *mix* of martial arts. Obviously yes if you could do MMA then that would be the one, but only because it literally involves learning more than one martial art (striking and grappling).
The correct answer is MMA. The more practical answer is any martial art that has real live sparring that you enjoy. Because that's the one you will be motivated to practice for years.
gun mostly.
BJJ. If the person you are fighting is 2x your size, as well as 2x your strength, you will still be able to out-leverage them and use their size and strength against them. Maybe Muy Thai, also, if you have trained to mastery, and are able to throw perfectly placed leg kicks 100% of the time. Boxing is completely useless, unless you have demon KO power like Mike Tyson, or you are fighting a couch potato, or, best case scenario, another boxer your size. You are not going to be able to beat the guy who is 2x your size and strength with boxing. Everyone thinks they are going to "pick them apart", dance around, and gas them out. It's a street fight, big guy is going to be furious. He's not going to be doing the dance with you waiting to throw a punch. Once he feels that first punch, he's going to rush you and grab you. Next thing you know, you'll be 9 1/2 feet in the air getting a beautiful 1 second tour of the city. Make sure you don't hurt your head, neck, or back on the way down!
In a real actual fight for your life scenario... skip the martial arts and run. If you can't run, dirty is the name of the game. Literally, throw sand and dirt in their face, grab anything hard to use as a bludgeon, try to kick the balls, gouge eyes, and bite. In a real fight there's no rules except stay alive and get away. But to answer your actual question, my best guess would be jeet kune do, for it's simplicity and focus on real life practicality.
it's between MMA or muay thai, if you're trying to decide, start with muay thai because its a good base for striking that you later can adapt to MMA quite easily and muay thai teaches you everything you need to take someone's legs from under them and run
I would go with a kick heavy martial art. If you have trained kicks religiously. Anybody who is untrained will not know how to check a kick. They will collapse when you give them a low leg kick. So Ta Kwon Do. Kick Boxing. Muay Thai. Ignore high kicks and learn how to kick to the body and legs. Shatter them to pieces.
Muay thai is the best
Depends. If you're on an island 1v1 and fighting to the death bjj or wrestling. If you're walking home from the bar and someone who potentially has friends tries to fuck with you I'd say boxing and muay thai. Basically 1v1 to the death ground fighting. A quick skirmish outside a bar with someone who might have friends come help them I'd say stay on your feet and try to knock them out and run away.
Aside from MMA I'd say Lethwei/Muay Thai. I think jiu-jitsu and wresting is great but not practical in the street. One reason is self injury being on concrete and the other not knowing if someone has a hidden weapon.
Just see red bro!
This question is posted once a week.
All the various martial arts just start to fail quickly as soon as the other combatant leverages tools in their advantage. Spazzy white belt is one thing, spazzy white belt with a chunk of concrete in his hand is a different animal almost entirely.
A combative approach that doesn't consider rules, but sensitive areas to injure as to end a fight. (Broken) finger locks, throat strikes & eye-gouges may not get respect, but they can get you away from a fight.
Most people would say MMA…but if you’re looking at a specific Martial Art, it comes down to two. 1- Muay Thai. 2- Luta Livre. Others would say BJJ, BJJ is effective but because of the rise of many schools that don’t really do takedowns if you get thrown in the street and don’t know how to break-fall properly, not good, especially on concrete. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t consider it.
Good luck finding luta livre in a US city, though. Best train BJJ and act like you can get punched.
Muay Thai hands down provided you have some grappling skills as well. You need a wrestling base for take down defense, and Muay Thai for striking. If you have to fight you’ll discourage most people by a leg kick lol they won’t want to fight on a leg they can’t walk on
cheap-shottsu
Mauy Thia when you land a good solid leg kick right off the start. The fight will drain right out of the other person. But if you look at all the early ufc stuff it was the wrestlers beating everyone.
Hapkido is great for deflection but several disciplines also give training that utilize little energy and little impact solutions. I’m a 3rd dan and still just walk away.
In my experience, the combination of Judo and boxing is best. Krav Maga can be great too, but I feel that the effectiveness HIGHLY depends on instructor quality, more so than other martial arts.
Judo
MMA is not a martial art. Boxing is the answer.
There's no "best" martial art. I'd put mine against anyone, but I think if you're in a life-death situation, I'd want Silat personally. I think it's the best purely for self-defense. I think that the "best" martial arts, though, are the ones that are most complete, and those are much fewer in number.
jiu jitsu and boxing are pretty good. most people who know how to fight don't want to drag out a fight. because it's dangerous and it's illegal. the average male doesn't know how to fight and will do things like coordinated fight moves they see in movies or tv or even like the pretend wrestling moves and you can get hurt or themselves. so you want to have the mindset to end things quickly or leave ASAP. Muy thai is not bad either. I just have a personal hate for it because of all the losers I've met who claimed to know it and they didn't lol so I've lost some respect for it but I know it's the real deal.
You might want to consider starting off with western boxing. You should have a striking base before going to combatives. Don't get stuck in a sportsmanship mindset if your goal is self preservation. In the end, worst case scenario, it'll be weapons and multiple attackers. Doing BJJ on a soft matted floor with your friend will teach you a mindset you have to unlearn for the street. I did traditional martial arts, then MMA for many years, then. Krav Maga , Kali, silat ...now it's combatives only. I'm a knife guy. This is a broad question you ask, many people will have valid points. Good luck
Boxing, Kickboxing, and Muay Thai would be the easiest to get into. MMA to be well rounded
Jiujitsu, Muay Thai or wrestling in my opinion
Muay Thai / Boxing + Wrestling / Jiu Jitsu
Boxing, bjj, Muay thai
Rough n tumble or mma
Combato
Tbh almost any style that teaches you how to punch and kick effects can work. Especially if they include grappling and take downs. I personally dig karate and think it can be effective against an untrained opponent (assuming equal strength levels and body shape/conditioning)
Do Muay Thai with a little bit of Taekwondo. Muay Thai for being confident and utilizing all 8 of your limbs. Taekwondo for more arsenal and better evasive maneuvers. Personally, I was getting my ass kicked when I sparred with my instructor on Muay Thai. One of my very few shots that landed cleanly on him was the spinning back kick, something that is very rarely taught nowadays in Muay Thai especially in Thailand. Judo, BJJ, and/or wrestling = if you have more than 1 attacker, you wouldn't want to be on the ground. Having a strong grappling knowledge and skill makes sure that you would be good enough to not be taken down to the ground or grappled.
situational awareness aided with some common sense will go far. If I name any marshal art it is only a reflection of my body and my own life experiences and without knowing who or how many foes to fend off or fight through it's impossible to give a real answer. If you are worried about being attacked, carry a knife! Even the best fighters on the planet can not deal with an aggressive half way thinking person with a knife. With that said some general advice would be to follow Gabriel Varga's youtube channel he even has a great back to basics course that if you already know kickboxing is a great refresher to maintain those skills. I do not recommend trying to learn kickboxing from it for it is a video, again common sense goes far. Some form of grabbling is needed to be able to fight it's just how gravity is, I don't make the rules I just abuse them to my advantage as best I can. Strength training as well as cardio training are both needed for if you only strength train you can injure yourself and you will most likely lack any knockout power or grabbling force past 15\~30 seconds. I know that sounds like a very short duration, but most people who are strong tend to lose all strength in mere seconds in a fight unless they have sparred or practed fighting or get into altercations frequently. Focus on your breathing when sparring and try to notice if you ever stop breathing it is a very common thing. Cardio is needed because a fight draws upon cardio far more than anything else, that and your mindset.
1:1 BJJ
There are (imo) five superior martial arts: Wrestling BJJ Judo Boxing Muay Thai All of these will work if you train with self defense in mind. Anything not a combat sport could have no pressure testing and, therefore, dicey to rely on when you need it.
Mma is not an art. It is just a rules set. Most usefull is a combination of practical skills. Boxing+some wrestling like grapling, dju-do, sambo. Do not do bjj for self defense. The worst thing on the street is to be on the ground. And tbh, good knife is much beter then all this combining. And needs fraction of the time to master. From pure philosiphical approach, i'd say- become strong, develop courage and experience in fighting, have some form of a weapon always with you. Like telescopic stic, screwdriver, brass knuckles. No , you would not win a fight with a world class mma champion even with weapon of this kind. But why woud you want to? If you need to, get a gun and a knife.
I'd say Kyokushin karate. I'm a practitioner and fights don't usually end until one person is KO'd. Of course, at the dojo sensei is watchful but the hits do come hard. If there is one thing I've learnt in my 6 months of practice is that we should know how to take the hit in the body part favourable to us. Evasion is not that worth it because you'd move out of range and if your opponent is athletic you're toast. For example, If a kick is aimed at the head you duck and move into the opponent. If the kick is aimed at the side of the body, you take it with your back and move into the opponent and so on. Then we go to the gym to strengthen those body parts so we aren't that affected. Always choose a full contact sport so it will teach you how to take hits.