Which is the best type of martial arts for fighting more then one person?

Question

Say that your just walking and some guys want to jump you, what type of martial arts is good for that situation like to fight more then one person?

Answer 1

Well most martial arts will teach you how to deal with multiple opponents. One that I don't really recommend for multiple attackers is BJJ as this art tends to assume that you are able to spend a lot of time on one attacker.

Some noteable ones would be Krav Maga which is a military style and is quite focused on being outnumbered. Also Ba Gua Zhang was originally designed as an art for bodyguards to defend someone against multiple attackers. Really any art is a good basis for dealing with multiple attackers, it's more a question of strategy than specific technique.

Things such as getting into a position where you can see all of your attackers, using the enviroment around you to your advantage (ie pushing off walls to power an attack or get you past your attackers and in a position to run), taking out the ring leader, positioning your attackers into a way that as few of them as possible can attack at the same time. Avoiding going to the ground for obvious reasons. The list goes on.

One good way to assess an arts effectiveness would be to ask the instructor of the style what they would do when confronted with multiple opponents, and also if they ever have classes that focus on this.

Good luck with your training and remember that no matter how good you are taking on multiple attackers is stupid, only ever engage in a fight if you have to. Sun Tzu says "ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting", so your uultimate goal is to save your own hide so to run is to win the battle, but in a self defence situation remember he also says "to be kind to your enemy is to be unkind to yourself" so if you have to fight, and only if you have to, show no mercy it is your life on the line and against multiple attackers it truly is a life and death situation as they will feed off each other and potentially go a lot further than any one of them might have alone.

Best advice, address why you need to know how to fight like this, if it's for knowledge and just in case then go for it, if it's because it keeps happening to you, perhaps it's time to address what you might be doing in your life to bring this upon yourself.

Answer 2

A martial arts that employs punching, kicking, and striking at long, medium and short range would be best suited for this. Kempo, Shito-ryu, and Gojo-ryu are styles that come to mind. They emphasize open handed striking and use of elbows and knees as well as the more traditional karate techniques and are not so linear.

Multiple attackers requires you to maintain your balance and mobility so that you can move rather than be tied up or end up on the ground where you will be more quickly overwhelmed by your attackers and their combined body weight and sheer numbers. Also the use of angles as you move and attack becomes more critical in a multiple attack situation-not all the targets of opportunity and attackers may be directly in front of you nor do they stay where they are. Sometimes they literally become like a swarm of bees so you have to quickly engage and disengage and then engage the next target if you are going to succeed. Good schools and programs train for multiple attack situations at the advance levels usually.

Answer 3

Best advice for multiple attackers:

Find a weapon.

Any martial art is better than no martial art, but there is no one style that is the end-all be-all answer to multiple attackers. It is hard enough defending yourself against one person, let alone two. Not to mention it is extremely intimidating to face off against more than one person. Even the most seasoned martial artist could find himself in a panic rather easily. If anything, your survival instinct will be the thing that saves you.

Pick up a stick, a rock, anything you can get your hands on and hope you can inflict more damage to them than they can to you.

Answer 4

Well there are many effective martial arts out there and it would be impossible to determine the best one. Brasilian jiujitsu was created by the gracie family as a way for smaller opponents to compete with larger opponents. Taekwondo, Capoeira, Aikido, Jeet Kune Do, and Wing Chun are all my personal favorites. However, most of these take many years to perfect, and most never do perfect them. May be a better idea just to start with Boxing and learn wrestling.

Answer 5

Ba-Gua was designated specifically to fight multiple opponents. It was taught to the Imperial Palace Guards. Every step comes with a strike and every strike comes with a step, every strike can also serve as a block, every step can also be a leg trap . Every strike is designed to cause enough damage to stop that person so you only have to use 1 or 2 strikes per opponent. In fact the more opponents the better (sometimes) as you can use one body to block another and make your opponents get in each others way. The foot work of Ba-Gua is the core of its training and application, it allows you to gain, change position in an instant, never lose your balance and use your whole body in each strike while keeping a very low center of gravity. The goal is to attack and defend at any and every angle or position that you or your opponent is in. It can take twice as long to learn as Long Fist or TKD but the benefit is that you WILL use half as much energy in fighting applications and get twice as much damage done, and you can use it even when you are in your 60s 70s or 80s. I am 50 and I am more effective than I was 30 years ago. I have 4 years in Judo (in the 60s) and 6 years in TKD and Tang soo do (in the 70s) and 7 years in Ba-Gua and have found it to be MUCH more effective than anything I have done before. I train in Yin style Ba-Gua (the Lion Style) under Richard Miller from Ann Arbor Mich. It works!! Trust me it works!! Check it out! Good Luck!

Answer 6

I'm not sure which is the best, but I can tell you which ones I learned have training intended for mass fighting. Remember, the key is also finding a teacher who really knows, not just a guy who earned a belt in the art and teaches you more one on one or one on two techniques.

Hapkido, Aikido, Aiki-JuJitsu and similar arts where there is a section dedicated to effectively taking down groups of attackers. Look up literature on Sokaku Takeda and Choi Yon Sul.

I read something about a user saying Bagua. I never heard of it, and so I read about it. It appears to be similar in concept to other arts where the key is destructive force, footwork, staying out of reach of the group, speed, etc.

Personally, for mass fighting, I like Hapkido, Hwa Rang Do, JKD Concepts. Remember that all fighting essentially has 5 stages. Even a mass fight follows these guidelines. One, the mental stage where you can psych your opponents out maybe by picking off the leader first. Two, Kicking. Three, Punching. Four, trapping/joint locks. Five, grappling.

In mass fighting, you stick and move in the kicking and punching stage, sometimes combing kicks, punches, throws, etc. You have to hit hard and hit fast to take a guy down for good, and you have good footwork to stay out of the way of your enemies after you hit someone so they can't grab you. Thus, TKD side kick, western boxing, and other good punching and kicking arts can help you here. Hapkido has infinite weird unorthodox low and body kicks. For trapping/joint locking, definitely Hwa Rang Do, Aikido, Aiki-JuJitsu, etc. But it's not typical throws/locks. These arts have techniques for mass fights where the locks/throws are designed to use attackers as objects to throw at or shield you from others. Grappling. I've seen people in Aiki-JuJitsu, Hapkido, Aikido, etc., who have had 5 guys pinning them down on the ground, and the guy gets out of it. How, I still don't know, but that's the art you want to use when you're in mass fight grappling mode. The game is to keep it in the longest range (mental or kicking), but be able to defend in all stages.

Don't forget to use your environment and try to not let them surround you. If you can, funnel them in or line them up kind of like a movie where everyone has to take a turn.

Finally, be mentally tough. This is your life. Be prepared to kill if you are in a mass fight. Use weapons, bite, kick, spit, grab groins, do what you must.

Answer 7

Try MMA (movie martial arts). That's the only style that works against multiple attackers. Of course they have to be gentlemen attackers and wait their turn. They cannot both come at you together at the same time. At least that's the way it works in the movies, which by the way, is the only place it works.

Answer 8

I would definitely have to say Capoeira.... it's a Brazilian martial art that goes way back to slavery. It's a form of fighting dance that they invented and used against their captors to escape captivity. Capoeira can be quite dangerous to someone who doesn't know how to defend themselves from it, as it's a style of fighting that keeps you moving in all different directions constantly, therefore making it a very strong form of self defense. Anyone who's good enough, can and will have the ability to take down more than one opponent at a time. However, I must say you do have to be in excellent shape and have lots of energy to perform capoeira, otherwise you'll get tired and out of breath really quickly. I hope this information helps, good luck!

Answer 9

First it depends on your body type. capoeira would be good to keep attackers at bay with its fluidity of movement and the same could be said for tae kwon do with extending, and quick kicks(assuming that you have long and/or agile legs) . for speed in addition to power you would need sharp and power blows as used in for example, either shotokan karate or hapkido. again this is all depends on your body type. each style has a different focus and in my experience the best thing to do is to mix different martial arts. like shaolin kung fu hand attacks w/ tae kwon do kicks + Brazilian jujitsu (or japanease jujitsu if you wish).experiment and appeal to your strengths.

Answer 10

I don't know if there is a best, but here are some styles that teach you to deal with multiple attackers.

Kajukenbo
CHA 3 Kenpo
Jeet Kune Do