is brazilian jiu jitsu overrated?

Question

yeah i know 90% of all fights end up on the ground, yeah i know that bjj practitioners do well on the ground, but how much would you fear fighting them?

Answer 1

I have to agree with the general consensus here. I have been a bouncer for 17 years and trust me the LAST place you want to end up is on the ground. Now that said, yes, a lot of fights end up there. But a lot of that is attributed to one or both combatants NOT knowing how to fight/evade.

Any ground type fighting is good to know and important, but I would NEVER try to take it to the ground. As an example: In a nightclub if a fight breaks out and you go to the ground a few things are almost always bound to happen:

1) In the scuffle bottles and glasses fall to the ground and break, which can cut you or even impale you, as I have seen. (Not to mention spit, puke, blood etc...)

2) With all the scared little boys out there these days, acting like tough guys, you will very rarely if ever get in a really "honorable" one-on-one fight with a "Man." So, while in the ring BJJ may work well, when you get in a fight in the real world, and you're fighting "Bozo," his 20 friends who he went out with that night are going to jump you, hit you and kick you. (The very reason the guy you got into a fight with probably felt confident enough to fight you is he knows he has all his boys with him. If you met him in an alley alone, he would have been a much nicer person to you).

In ground fighting one of the only things you can do against multiple opponents is to use the guy you tie up as a shield -- This only works so long. Eventually they will get a hold of your limbs and beat you silly.

The best way to win a fight is AWARENESS! Know not only who you're around, but the environment. Pay attention to exit/escape routes, things that can be used as weapons, the flooring etc...

You should try to avoid a fight, but when it's brought to you and you can't avoid it, use what you can and fight against your opponent's weaknesses... If he tries to take you down use long-range tactics to keep him at bay. If he's a Tae Kwon Do fighter wrap him up and disable his best weapons, which are long-range kicks and punches. Don't fight hard -- Fight smart!

Hope that helps? May the force...blah blah blah...

Darth

Answer 2

colombianheaven,

overrated , no oversaturate may be;0)

I agree that BJJ will always have a place in fighting no matter how far we advance in self defense . It is a great art for submissions, sub defense . As far as a grappling base, I n My humble opinion would say that wrestling is better and then BJJ for added submission element(modified for street).

I know it is getting easier to get belts For example I have a friend , who's brother that got his brown belt (one belt away from back belt) in less than a 31/2 years. That is sad since in any real Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school you could take many years to achieve such a rank. I roll with guys who trained 7-9 years years before becoming brown belt( and the are great!!!! when learning BJJ some days taping was my favorite move)


In other words, beware of the black belt factory. Aslo It should be remembered over 90% fights start standing and most people are aware of the tackle. Most BJJ do work on take downs nowadays, but I have met many who are not and are stuck in the early 90's of the heyday of beating up the stand up fighter and now they have become the one dimensional fighters . Todays fighter understands many ranges of combat.

Do I fear fighting them? no... Do I respect their skill yes;0) and I have rolled enough to lean and be humbeled respect but I respect everyones skill until they show they do not deserve the respect

The street is different then the ring. That is why I stated it needs to be modified(but the FBI, CIA Rangers now train in modified BJJ)


Great question!
Devin willis

Answer 3

I would have to say right now that BJJ is the most over rated. Yes, it's effective in the ring (depending on rules as well) and has some application outside of the ring. However, good luck living through a grappling match when two people attack you at once. While you are working to grapple one, the other is punching you in the head or kicking you in the back. It's really only so big because of the MMA circuit which was actually designed as a marketing tool for the grappling. Not to mention that if you don't apply that specific hold properly, it's not that hard to slip out of. TKD is the other over-rated one in my opinion. It, too, is great for sport but in a real fight, you rarely want to kick as it leaves you open to get knocked off balance let alone do one of those high kicks that TKD is so famous for. My two cents on those two arts.

Answer 4

It is hard to say if BJJ is overrated. I guess if someone says BJJ is the be all end all of fighting then from that stand point it is overrated. If BJJ is viewed as a great way of fighting on the ground I would say that is accurate. The really good BJJ guys have good takedowns as well so for that group it is not simply a ground only art. For the highly skill BJJ fighter it is a take you to the ground and ground art.

I don't fear BJJ guys at all. Unless of course it is someone like Saul Riberio, Monzon, Nogueira then I would run like hell - hahah. If it is just the average BJJ fighter no fear. I train in ground fighting and stand up and also alot of Judo. The ground fighting changes alot when you can throw in ground and pound especially if you have heavy hands like I do. If you have heavy hands and awareness of submissions you can drill someone while in the guard. This is not like traditional BJJ where a guard is a strong position.

So BJJ is not a complete system just a large part of fighting.

Answer 5

Perhaps, yes.

I've seen too many people who think that BJJ is the end-all-be-all of martial arts, and that you're guaranteed to "win a fight" if you know BJJ.

Side note: that "90% of all fights end up on the ground" is a marketing scheme. While many fights do indeed go on the ground, it's not nearly as high as 90% or even 70%.

It is also noteworthy that the Gracies withdrew from the UFC after BJJ became so popular; most professional fighters had already learned how to counter BJJ, and that is why we see people like the Shamrocks as the new UFC champs.

In a situation where you're fighting for your life, the last place you wanna go is the ground. Your chances of getting hurt increases proporitinately the closer you are to the ground-- especially if your attacker has a weapon, and/or your attacker's friends are helping.
If the fight had to go to the ground... that means you screwed up at the "hitting them" part.

However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn grappling/BJJ/groundfighting/ whatever you wanna call it. They do have very valid uses, which are discussed further in the link I posted below.

Answer 6

I don't know if I would say it's "overrated". It is a very useful art, but one that has severe drawbacks. I had to learn this the hard way. The most obvious being something that most people don't even think about:

In a real fight, there is no way to make sure that someone will tap when you have them in a submission hold (i.e. an arm bar, keylock, rear-naked choke, ect.). At that point, you must either A) be willing to knowingly and purposfully break someone's bones, or
B) somehow be able to get the hell out of there.

I was in a fight with a cocky guy a while ago, and had him in a bona-fide armbar. I started to put pressure on his joint, and he wouldn't stop. I put a little more pressure. He wouldn't stop. I put so much pressure I thought that I was about to break his arm. He wouldn't stop.

At that point, I was very fortunate that other people stepped in to stop the fight, because I realized then and there the major drawback to using grappling in a street fight. I could have punched the guy in a the face with very little problem, but knowingly break his arm at the elbow joint, effectively injuring him for life? There was no way I was going through with that (fortunately at that point some people stepped in and ended the fight)

So yeah, BJJ is great, but its practicallity in street fights (unless you really are willing to injure someone for, what could be, the rest of their life) is less then so. And to address the "multiple opponents" scenario...no matter what art/combination of arts you know, if you are being attacked by a group of people, you better run. No teacher would ever tell you differently.

As a sport however, I love it.

Answer 7

In the ring or mat it's pretty effective. But out in the streets, I'd say it's a bit overr@ted. Most people don't take environment and external factors into mind when applying ground fighting in a real fight. I have seen guys get their head banged up pretty badly on the concrete pavement while grappling with another guy in the guard position, not to mention having their heads bashed in with a rock or kicked by the opponent's companion while they both were rolling on the ground. I have also seen adrenaline pumped guys who continued fighting even with a broken arm and still manage to win, though this is a rare exception, so an armbar may not neccessarily stop an attacker. But still, in a one on one fight, as long as the BJJ practitioner adapts and can anticipate the setbacks of going to the ground and prepare for it, his chances of coming out on top are still greater compared to a pure striker.

Answer 8

The thing is that most BJJ schools also do mixed sparing and fighting and learn alot of street defence, and they train in real time, so the training is quite good, BJJ guys are also very fit

if you have no grapling experience you would probably loose in a one on one fight with no weapons against a guy who knows what he is doing, the only way its over rated is perhaps the way it is seen in comparison too other grapling arts, there are great martial arts like military sambo, catch wrestling.... which take a back seat to BJJ sometimes, still BJJ is great and very strong

Answer 9

Its pretty much a must for MMA competition.

i wouldn't say its completely impractical for a street situation. Maybe the submission part is a little impractical but a knowledge in BJJ could get you out of a hairy situation if someone is on top of you just trying to pound away. I think alot of the sweeps, takedowns, and throws could be useful if needed on the streets. Working a submission on the ground could provide more trouble than its worth if there are multiple attackers. You'd probably want to focus more on a sweep to get up and get out of there if that were the case.

Answer 10

This really falls into two questions

1)Is BJJ Overrated
2)is Grappling Overrated


The answer to the first one is YES BJJ is overrated

BJJ wants you to think that they are the only real grappling art. In reality 90% or more of what they do comes from Judo. Good Judo is as good as BJJ as is Sambo.

But it is a Mortal Sin for a BJJ guy to say such a thing.


The Answer to the second question is NO.

The problem people have when they talk about grappling and does it work is everyone pictures Grappling as Putting someone on the ground and then working for a submission.

In reality Grappling means alot of things. If your taking someone down and then Pounding on them your using grapping to get then down and hold them there so you can pound on them. If you close the distance and Clinch up so you can throw Punches Knees and Elbows your using Grappling to get to the clinch and keep your person there. If your stopping any of this your Grappling.

Also you can do alot of Submissions without going to the ground. There are standing armbars and Wrist locks that will work on the vast majority of people in the world.

Also Most Grapplers know how to throw a punch. Most Grapplers will do a little training in striking. Thats a big reason why if you watch MMA in the old days the Grapplers almost always beat the striker. The Grappler knew how to throw and defend a punch and low kick. The Striker had no idea what to do on the ground.

My dad made me do boxing for 5 years to learn how to punch I'm a second degree blackbelt in Kosen Judo and I'm a good grappler but I can throw a punch and I know how to defend strikes. Most Judoka's do some kind of Boxing training if even for a few months just to learn how to throw and defends punches. In Sambo your required to learn eaither boxing or Kempo Karate while doing sambo in russia and most european countrys.

And I can hear the guys who do alot of striking say well your striking is not as good as mine and they are right. But mine doesn't have to be. I only need enough to defend myself for a few seconds and throw a few punches while I close the distance. Once we are clinched or on the ground I know how to strike and how to defend myself the striker can do nothing really but hold on if he has done no grappling.


Everyone forgets the second part of the stat you mentioned.


90% of fights do go to the ground

BUT

100% of fights start standing