how is bjj a realistic street fighting /self defense ?

Question

how is it realistic street fighting / self defense if i'm in a fight or deffending myself the last place i want to be is rolling on the ground waiting for some one to kick me in the head. mybe i've got this al lwrong could some one please explain . thanks

Answer 1

In a "street" situation, you wouldn't want to go to your back on purpose. That being said, if you find yourself there you better know what to do.

Answer 2

Well because really most 'streetfights' are actually just brawls. And 80% of brawls are between you and some other guy. Over a girl, over a skateboard, he spilled your drink, you spilled his drink etc.
And in that case BJJ works pretty well.
It enables fairly good stand up grappling, you will be able to tie up better punchers and kickers than yourself and take them down.

And it is handy in that it enables non harming chokes, which really beat the hell out of getting sued for knocking another guys teeth out.

As to you being mobbed by a few guys, maybe that guys friends- being a great kickboxer or boxer instead is not going to help much anyway. If you are taken unawares you are going to end up rolling round on the ground anyway underneath them anyway, in all likelihood.

An advantage here is with a striking sport to be able to take out a couple of guys to create an 'escape space' to get the hell out of the group, but at the very least a BJJ guy has a good enough chance of grappling or barging one guy aside and running like heck too.

Lastly as to the most serious 'other streetfighting scenarios', You and the crips versus the hells angels with pipes, chains, guns and double dragon music from the 1980's playing in the background most of BJJ will probably not be useful,no.

My opinion is the greatest skill in any of these scenarios is how quickly you can get out of them and away and let the stupid people sort it out.

Answer 3

Obviously in a street fight versus multiple opponents you never want to go to the floor, if this happens you are most likely losing. Plus in this situation you are on concrete surfaces, so you never want to get to the floor. I am not a BJJ expert but it depends on your level and talent. Say you are fighting a couple guys at once (which I have) if you got skills with BJJ supposedly you could break someones hand or arm really quick, that would be sweet. I have watched Rickson Gracie take fools out at the beach with BJJ but this is one on one situations, he usually Gnp's them and it works. Most of these guys cross train, learn how to fight standing, but have that experience if you do ever need to fight of your back. Street fighting is different, anything goes and you know it, karate chop someone in the Adan's apple if you have to.

Answer 4

you are correct if you want to not loose a fight Krav Mega is your answer but that's only if you want to win a fight by any means necessary their main attacks are groin strikes strikes, hitting the back of the neck and using weapons. If you want to learn a fair Martial art Muay Thai is the answer. Muay Thai teaches the disciplines of using 8 striking point to dismantle your opponents. 2 fists 2 elbows two knees and your shins. So basically punches kicks knees and elbows. there's no better striking discipline out there. But if someone rushes you locks you up quick and takes you down Muay Thai won't do anything for you. So i think the best self defense is first Muay Thai and then get to a purple belt or so in BJJ. Learn some locks in case your foe wants to take it to the ground. Again thats only if you want to fight fair unfair krav mega will do the trick no matter the size of the guy a good balls strike will always hurt.

Answer 5

it can be very effective in a situation where you can get very close to your opponent. It's a pretty crude art but that's part of it's efficiency. Rickson gracy did not get his winning record with an inefficient art. However against a guy that can keep you at a distance (e.g. some one who's good with his feet) you are in for a difficult run. I only learnt a little BJJ from my Brazilian friend but I found it to be an Ideal submission tool. I practice aikido and we work people to the ground plenty of times. when you've got a squirmy opponent Aikido submissions sometimes turn out a little weak. I found BJJ to be an excellent addition as it usually uses more parts of the body at the same time.

Answer 6

just to throw this out there, alot of brazilian jiu jitsu's emphasis is placed on position, and the best position, in bjj is not always in "guard", or on your back. Typically the best is full mount or side control or cross. That is when you are on top and in control. i just wanted to throw this out there because it seems everyone, including martial artists who have been practicing for decades seem to have little to no understanding of bjj. secondly alot of techniques in bjj can be done standing up or in other positions and some schools practice situational self defense as well.

Answer 7

You are correct in that the last place to be is on the ground and vulnerable. Contrary to what the grapplers like to expound, most fights do not end up as wrestling matches. Real fights are not sporting events. They end up with people getting injured and needing to heal. Someone who knows how to hit or kick very hard and lands the first serious blow usually is the one to walk away. Being able to take a punch is important too.

Answer 8

How realistic? Incredibly, but not an end all. You need to be able to handle yourself (or at least have defense) for every realm of unnarmed fighting, or even armed fighting.

Contrary to what many people expound here, every fight but very few end up in a clinch/grappling situation period. BJJ isn't just done on the ground, there are plent of standing chokes that work just as good standing. The ability to control a grappling situation and get a person to the ground and control them is VERY important.

Ever notice that is exactly what Law Enforcement does, they want to get a guy to the ground.

ieee: You were a bouncer? So what you saw were two drunk guys going at it, not grappling just boxing? First off a couple of things...

"You are correct in that the last place to be is on the ground and vulnerable. "

Actually, by controlling how it gets to the ground and being in dominant position, you are actually not the vulnerable one. In the case of mutliple opponents then that is where you are going to end up at any way.

"Contrary to what the grapplers like to expound, most fights do not end up as wrestling matches."

How many times do boxers tie up in a match? How many street fights have you actually seen, grappling is usually a HUGE part of it. It isn't just grapplers who expound it, it is pretty much everyone. Go to youtube and type in streetfight. Watch the thousands of street fights there, how many of them end up in a clinch/grappling situation. As someone who was a bouncer, I am surprised you would disagree with this, pretty much EVERY drunk redneck fight ends up in some portion of a wrestling match. (Untrained folks can't swing for that log)

"Someone who knows how to hit or kick very hard and lands the first serious blow usually is the one to walk away"

Man, you must live in that world where everyone who fights is Martial Artists (like the movies) Usually the average person does not know how to hit or kick very hard, and usually that first blow comes as a sucker punch and not something you see coming. I think in all my times of watching street fights during security work, I saw one guy attempt a kick. Most striking is random haymakers, with it usually ending up in some sort of clinching/slamming type of situation, and then some general punishment on the ground.

BJJ/Judo/Sambo are effective, their techniques alone are strong. You practice against fully resisting opponents so you are able to learn your art while going at it a 100 percent. Chokes, Armlocks, etc all work standing up to. But the key is controlling the takedown, having dominant position from the outgo.

I mean you can think that and all, but the first 3 UFCs showed BJJ's effectiveness, and there were VERY little rules. Imagine if Royce was able to eye gouge or fish hookd those guys how badly he would beat them.

I agree with everyone, you need some striking, at the very least striking defense. But don't lie to yourself or kid yourself, you land one or two shots on a guy and you don't KO, expect him to come in for a clinch and try to wrap you up, it is just human nature.

I would love to see the street fight where two dudes stay at a distance and just throw blows until one of them knocks each other out.

The real truth is that kind of thing rarely happens, most of the time is wild swinging, then while wrestling, folllowed by more mad swinging.

YOu got to know a bit of it all in my opinion.

Answer 9

Fact: Police statistics indicate that 95% of ALL street fights end up in some sort of clench and then going to the ground and grapping.....don't get me wrong, nothing is better than cross training, but if you were to pick just one form, there is no better way to train, than for 95% of the fight

Answer 10

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