Krav Maga vs. other arts

[Zapatista]

Okay. I'm basically new to martial arts (I did Kum Do for 4 months before ditching it because it's not practical) but I'd like to eventually compete in either MMA fighting or a specific art's competition. My question is, would Krav Maga be a good art to learn and use in a match? I'm trying to stay out of BJJ and I might do Muay Thai but I'm not sure yet. Would Krav Maga hold up in a fight with an experienced fighter? If I don't do Krav Maga what art should I do (keep in mind no BBJ and probably no Muay Thai) Thanks in advance for your replies.

[SamuraiGuy]

I currently do Krav Maga, but theres also grappling and stand up fighting involved as part of the program.

We use Krav Maga techniques/tactics for self defense. (all the self defenses such as getting out of chokes/headlocks/wristgrabs plus dirty strikes and whatnot, headstomps when the opponent is down etc.)

Our stand up fighting classes are largely based in Muay Thai, but we use whatever works including hammer fists, basically alot of sparring, but we focus on learning stand up techniques and distance/timing properly.

Our grappling is largely based in BJJ, we also imply strikes on the ground, and roll with strikes so we know what its like. We focus on alot of the self defense part of grappling such as "If I got a guys back in a fight, I would not try to apply a choke, but grab him by the hair and smash his face into the ground".

Stuff like that,

as for your question, no I dont think Krav Maga would be the best thing for you to take for winning MMA matches.

It focuses alot on self defense, like getting away from rapists and things like that. Not on how to effectively fight another highly skilled athlete.

I dont know what your resistance to BJJ and Muay Thai stem from, maybe you think it is too mainstream, but I would have to say good instruction in both of those will make you a good MMA fighter, and Im gonna go out on a limb and say BJJ is almost necessary if your fighting someone good/knowledgeable.

Maybe not BJJ, but good ground fighting, I cant imagine a complete ground fighter who hasnt taken some form of Ju Jitsu.

To sum up

Krav Maga = Self Defense and Street Fights
Thai Boxing / BJJ = MMA

Krav Maga could work in a MMA match, but so could Tae Kwon Doe, or Haymaker Fu.

[gregimotis]

Why no BJJ and probably Thai boxing?

If you are going to do MMA, you must have ground skills of some sort; BJJ, modified western wrestling, sambo... something. You cannot succeed without solid ground work. As for striking skills, boxing is a great stlye, but you need to learn to deal with kicks and knees also - which is largely Muay Thai.

Krav Maga is not MMA. A lot of it would be illegal in the ring, and what's left might not work well... since it's designed to deliver the dirty stuff (which is illegal).

[Zapatista]

Since I Krav Maga doesn't seem to fit in the MMA world, I think I would take Sambo instead of BJJ. But I'll probably end up finding a Muay Thai gym and do that, but that would have to be after college and graduate work. I would want to start sambo right now and learn to do that and add Muay Thai in 5-7 years.

[SamuraiGuy]

Sambo and Muay Thai would be fine for MMA, I still think BJJ is something you should explore though.

[Armadon]

I dont understand why people think BJJ people arnt gonna fight dirty on the streets. I punched a dude in the balls to pass his guard before, (I dont think he knew anything he just saw that on tv and did it) mount him and then pound his head in. I never have fought a guy on the street that knew BJJ so i've never had to use more then the basics of getting mount. If you get taken down its so easy to sweep an untrained fighter you'll start laughing.

[SamuraiGuy]

Were talking about mma matches though, and we never said anything about BJJ effectiveness in the street.

We only recommended BJJ for mma matches, we never doubted it in the street we simply said Krav Maga isnt good for mma.

[Armadon]

Doh my bad, thought it was about self defense in the street.


speak of krav maga and mma. Has anyone claimed krav maga as their art in like UFC or k1 before?

[Zapatista]

Originally Posted by Armadon

speak of krav maga and mma. Has anyone claimed krav maga as their art in like UFC or k1 before?

That's one of the things I was wondering about. From what I've looked at on UFC's website through their fighters there are none that have listed Krav Maga as their art.

[SamuraiGuy]

Most dont have any particular style mentioned, you wont see a thai boxing, or brazilian jiu jitsu (maybe bjj)...

youll see things more along the lines of wrestler, submission fighter, kickboxer is the standard striking one.... theres a few special ones, tank abbot is "streetfighting"...

doesnt really mean much, if I stick with Krav Maga and dont do anything else, and I ever compete, Ill go in under Krav Maga, or (Insert my name here) Freestyle Fighting.

Cause I think that sounds cool lol.

[Zapatista]

Thanks for all of your replies. Now I have another question, but instead of making a new thread I'll just put it here. Is shootfighting good for MMA? I've decided to ditch krav maga but I'm still looking for something else and I was just wondering if any of you thought that shootfighting would be able to hold up in the ring

[SamuraiGuy]

I dont know how shootfighting would hold up... but really why are you so against BJJ, and Muay Thai, do you not have access to them or what?

You seem to just not want to do them, they are probably the best things you could learn, so why not put w/e you got against them aside and just take them, they are both great...

once again I dont know about the shootfighting.

[Zapatista]

I do have access to both BJJ and Muay Thai (in fact there is a Muay Thai place closer to me than I thought) But I don't want to do Muay Thai until I've gotten all my schooling done (I have 5 -7 years left if I go to graduate school) because the amount of cardiovascular training that is involved. I'll look into BJJ but I don't know if I'll be able to afford it since I'm a full-time student and work in a movie theater part-time. Basically, if I want to start MMA now, BJJ is really my only option since I don't know of any Sambo places around me and I definitly don't know of any Shootfighting places around me either. I guess I'll go check out the BJJ and Muay Thai places. Thanks for your advice.

[novicio]

Now that we're on the subject,

Do you find that Krav Maga has lots of partner drills and hard training like say Kickboxing or Muay Thai or is it the type of art where the instructor is like:"if he does this to me, I'll do that" without practicing it realistically?

I dont have KM classes nearby so I thought I'd ask before I go out of my way to try one.

Thanks.

[Blue Wave Gym]

Originally Posted by Armadon

Doh my bad, thought it was about self defense in the street.


speak of krav maga and mma. Has anyone claimed krav maga as their art in like UFC or k1 before?

there was an ex israeli special forces solider who was a thai boxer and did some type of full contact karate fighting, he was in the ufc a long time ago he surely knew krav maga but I don't think he used it in the ring. Moti Horenstein, I think his name was, he also fought with a broken foot in a mauy thai tournament what a tough bastard.