Wouldn't wrestling be the most important skill in a street fight?

Question

Almost every street fight I see ends up going to the ground. The fight is usually even until one person takes the other person down, pins their arms so they are helpless, and then ruthlessly punches them in the face over and over and over...

Answer 1

Knowing what to do if you end up on the ground IS important, but, in my opinion, there are more important considerations.

Since we're talking about a "street fight", we must remember that there are no: time limits, referees, honorable opponents, one-at-a-time, etc. Many, if not most street fights are not even, meaning you may be faceing more than one opponent.

Primary considerations should be: Disengagement maneuvers (get him off you), long range strikes to keep him away, Disabling strikes so you can get away. You do not, as the defender, want to end up on the ground. Your mission is to get away. Stay up, get your attacker off you, disable his ability to follow/hurt you, and RUN. If you go to the ground, get him off you, get up, and get away.

You want to limit the time of the engagement, and wrestling ensures you'll be there a while.

I favor a solid kick to the ankle/knee, some balance displacement to take him down, and a fast get-away.

Answer 2

NO. Any wrestler attempting to grab a good martial artist is likely to find themself on the receiving end of a two handed hammer fist to the back of the neck. Done right, this could end the fight. Or a MA could use a joint lock to prevent the wrestler from doing much except calling for his mother. Ground fighting is good, but there is a big differance between wrestling and ground fighting. Wrestling is a sport while ground fighting is often taught as both a sport and a defense (taking out eyes, biting, breaking joints). And, interestingly enough, I spoke with a co-worker that does BJJ and Muay Thai. He said he was involved in a fight in which two guys started to fight and then when one was winning, another person joined in by kicking the winner in the head. NEVER let a street fight get to the ground.

Answer 3

No, wrestling is not important in a street fight if you know kung fu or karate. if you know kung fu or karate then your opponent should be dead or KO on the ground within the first strike while you never took a hit.
But that is just my own opinion. Some other people might think different depending on the type of martial art that they do. I take American Karate and they teach take-downs, arm locks, holds, pressure points, and vital area strikes, so that it doesn't take too long to fight.

Answer 4

Why do you ask? It just depends. I am and experienced wrestler (kindergarten - college) and an experienced kung-fu man (15years). Further, most of my professional work has occasionally required use of force for years from physical presence up through and including lethal (yes, the step beyond deadly) force.

If the martial art is complete it has elements of several different things within it. Including but, not limited to training, instinct, thinking, logistics, breathing , healing ( who better to know how to hurt someone than a physician?), destructions (taking the opponents ability to fight back away),striking, grappling, tactics (learning your environmental surroundings as well as how to fight multiples and singles), and weapons just to name a few.

True fighting is dangerous, ugly, painful and regrettably sometimes necessary. All of the qualities mentioned in the above paragraph are important in any type of fight to a greater or lesser degree depending on the type of fight in which one finds themselves. Further, those qualities are fluid and transmutable depending upon the situation.

So, the answer to your question is sometimes yes, and sometimes no.

Answer 5

Most street fight end up on the ground becasue the people in them don't know what they're doing. While knowing some werstling techniques can be beneficial, if you can keep the fight off the ground, you stand a better change of beating people like that. Plus, if there are multiple opponents, once you hit the ground, the others car more easily join in without gettinhg in each others way.

Answer 6

Yes. Wrestling has been around since the beginning of time, and nearly all the martial art forms incorporate the same skills needed. Balance, coordination, knowledge of weak points in the body.
If you are in a fight, and you are a great wrestler, why would you trade blows with the guy when you can quickly close in, take the guy down and force him to submit, quit, or beat the tar out of him?

Answer 7

No.

1) Every fight starts standing up. A good striker can win without going to the ground.
2) Remember, most street fights involve thugs, not trained martial artists. If neither knows what he is doing, then it will become a ground match.
3) striking skills can be used on the ground. It's not ideal, but it's possible.
4) if the fight isn't just 1 on 1, you'd better know how to strike.

Answer 8

Wrestling is the basis of many martial art forms. In a one-on-one confrontation, wrestling may be even more important than striking. However, when there are multible opponents you have to maintain the ability to switch targets. Wrestling in this situation would be limited to quick grapples and throws, but fully commiting to one person would prove fatal, I think.

Answer 9

wrestling by far is the most important skill to learn. all they do is train, train, train, and compete over and over and over again. any wrestler who has been competing for at least 2 years will have those wrestling skills by total instinct for life and will show in a real fight. if you see some Bruce Lee idiot on the street who's been practicing for 10-12 years, all that "Wa-Ta" Bull Sh&% will go right the window, once he gets picked up in the air and slammed by a wrestler.

a kung fu/karate/kick boxing expert pretty much can't do S#$% when their up in the air either thrown by a flip or dipped by a single, hi-c, or double leg takedown.

and these "Wooooaaa--Wa-Ta" idiots still can't do S#$% if they're on their back getting pounded on. you got to pretty dam good at jiu-jitsu to defend that type of punishment.

Answer 10

yes ground fighting is a very important aspect in a street fight whether it's Greco Roman wrestling, Judo, Jujitsu, Hapkido, or Aikido, but not if there's more than one opponent; that's when standing game is more important so as to be able to deal with multiple attackers.

One on one, it's a good strategy, two or more on one then it can work against you.