Tweet
Street Combat & the numerous comparisons with UFC effectiveness etc..
A lot of the following will no doubt be familiar with many of you guys and Spanky please give your toenails a good wash before entering my 'forum dojo' 
The current buzzwords in martial art circles are 'street effective' systems.
Once more people are asking which art is best for the street? Or, Can Karate beat Thai boxing? Etc. One of the reasons why these topics are being discussed is the video release of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. People are now claiming that UFC is a good indicator of which systems are most street effective but while some answers may come from it, they don t give the full picture.
What UFC shows us is that if a telling blow isn’t landed in the opening seconds, then it's straight into a gamble and down to the floor just like what generally happens on the street! In such cases, arts like wrestling and Ju-Jutsu are obviously superior to kicking and striking systems. So if you want all-round combat effectiveness, then you must include grappling in your arsenal of techniques. But is Gracie Ju-Jutsu the most effective street system in the world, because it wins in the UFC? I don’t think so.
All one can say is Gracie Ju-Jutsu comes out on top of the UFC - so far! Though UFC is the nearest you are going to get to no holds barred fighting, it still has nothing to do with street combat.
It is a contest, with fighters agreeing to the rules (no biting and no groin shots), and there is a referee to stop it when the need arises. And it is fought in a type of ring with the crowd paying money to view it. So it is a sport - a brutal one, granted, - but still a sport! You could also say that the success of Gracie Ju-Jutsu is down more to Royce Gracie than to his art. There’s no doubt that Royce is a master of Brazilian Ju-Jutsu and besides that, he’s a hard man with bags of fighting spirit.
These are the reasons why I don’t necessarily think Ju-Jutsu is the best street system, though I happen to be a 4th Dan in it, and believe in my art. Too many martial artists misunderstand the difference between sport/dojo sparring and street fighting. They are completely different worlds! The Thai boxer may say "My leg kicks, knees and elbows will devastate an opponent in the street." The karateka says " I can smash a dozen roof tiles with my reverse punch, so I could easily drop an attacker in the street." In both cases they are working on the misapprehension that an attacker will dance around and begin to exchange blows with them. Forget it!
The plain fact is that there is very rarely - if ever - any sparring up in the street. No street fighter wants to fight three, three minute rounds because he doesn’t train for this. The street fighter is bound by no rules whatsoever. He will come at you in a frenzy, using no ritualised punches. He’ll spit, bite, butt and stomp and there won’t be a referee to break it up, or rounds to save you.
You’ll face a fast, brutal few seconds of violence that will not only physically blow you away, but mentally shock you.
You won’t be attacked in a well lit dojo or ring with matted floors to land on. Instead it may be an icy pavement, a beer soaked floor in a disco, or a slippery lavatory floor. Not the ideal conditions for combat! There may be no room to use your repertoire of "killer" techniques and you may even have difficulty seeing the attacker in darkness or darkness or driving rain.
How will your art cope with these situations? Does it teach you what to do if somebody jumps out the shadows and pulls you to the ground with a vicious choke hold? Does it have suitable techniques for when someone pushes a knife into your throat as you get out of your car?
So as you can see, street combat is a totally different world. And in that world, how will your art stand up? Now apply all this to UFC and ask Royce Gracie whether he’d choose to go to the floor in a street fight. I imagine he would say no, because he is too smart a fighter for that. After all, if he did, what about the guy’s buddies who decide to pitch in with their boots? No, it’s horses for courses and what may work in UFC may not on the street. Grappling techniques are really good, but when facing multiple attackers or an armed attacker, they can be decidedly dodgey.
The systems I teach is called Kempo Goshin Jutsu and it is a modern form of Ju-Jutsu. I’ve trained for about 23 years in martial arts but it was only about 11 yearsagothat I saw someone teach what I do now. It was totally different to anything I’d seen. So far as I’m concerned, that teacher is of the best combat martial artists I’ve ever seen.
In conclusion, I believe that training in martial arts guarantees nothing unless you can adapt what you are doing to the environment of the street.
There is no best art for street - fighting - only good practitioners who can adapt their art so it works under pressure and in all conditions. This may mean that you have to look beyond what you are practising now. Seek the truth, lose your ego and be honest with yourself because that is the way to achieving a high level of understanding in effective martial practice.
The current buzzwords in martial art circles are 'street effective' systems.
Once more people are asking which art is best for the street? Or, Can Karate beat Thai boxing? Etc. One of the reasons why these topics are being discussed is the video release of the Ultimate Fighting Championships. People are now claiming that UFC is a good indicator of which systems are most street effective but while some answers may come from it, they don t give the full picture.
What UFC shows us is that if a telling blow isn’t landed in the opening seconds, then it's straight into a gamble and down to the floor just like what generally happens on the street! In such cases, arts like wrestling and Ju-Jutsu are obviously superior to kicking and striking systems. So if you want all-round combat effectiveness, then you must include grappling in your arsenal of techniques. But is Gracie Ju-Jutsu the most effective street system in the world, because it wins in the UFC? I don’t think so.
All one can say is Gracie Ju-Jutsu comes out on top of the UFC - so far! Though UFC is the nearest you are going to get to no holds barred fighting, it still has nothing to do with street combat.
It is a contest, with fighters agreeing to the rules (no biting and no groin shots), and there is a referee to stop it when the need arises. And it is fought in a type of ring with the crowd paying money to view it. So it is a sport - a brutal one, granted, - but still a sport! You could also say that the success of Gracie Ju-Jutsu is down more to Royce Gracie than to his art. There’s no doubt that Royce is a master of Brazilian Ju-Jutsu and besides that, he’s a hard man with bags of fighting spirit.
These are the reasons why I don’t necessarily think Ju-Jutsu is the best street system, though I happen to be a 4th Dan in it, and believe in my art. Too many martial artists misunderstand the difference between sport/dojo sparring and street fighting. They are completely different worlds! The Thai boxer may say "My leg kicks, knees and elbows will devastate an opponent in the street." The karateka says " I can smash a dozen roof tiles with my reverse punch, so I could easily drop an attacker in the street." In both cases they are working on the misapprehension that an attacker will dance around and begin to exchange blows with them. Forget it!
The plain fact is that there is very rarely - if ever - any sparring up in the street. No street fighter wants to fight three, three minute rounds because he doesn’t train for this. The street fighter is bound by no rules whatsoever. He will come at you in a frenzy, using no ritualised punches. He’ll spit, bite, butt and stomp and there won’t be a referee to break it up, or rounds to save you.
You’ll face a fast, brutal few seconds of violence that will not only physically blow you away, but mentally shock you.
You won’t be attacked in a well lit dojo or ring with matted floors to land on. Instead it may be an icy pavement, a beer soaked floor in a disco, or a slippery lavatory floor. Not the ideal conditions for combat! There may be no room to use your repertoire of "killer" techniques and you may even have difficulty seeing the attacker in darkness or darkness or driving rain.
How will your art cope with these situations? Does it teach you what to do if somebody jumps out the shadows and pulls you to the ground with a vicious choke hold? Does it have suitable techniques for when someone pushes a knife into your throat as you get out of your car?
So as you can see, street combat is a totally different world. And in that world, how will your art stand up? Now apply all this to UFC and ask Royce Gracie whether he’d choose to go to the floor in a street fight. I imagine he would say no, because he is too smart a fighter for that. After all, if he did, what about the guy’s buddies who decide to pitch in with their boots? No, it’s horses for courses and what may work in UFC may not on the street. Grappling techniques are really good, but when facing multiple attackers or an armed attacker, they can be decidedly dodgey.
The systems I teach is called Kempo Goshin Jutsu and it is a modern form of Ju-Jutsu. I’ve trained for about 23 years in martial arts but it was only about 11 yearsagothat I saw someone teach what I do now. It was totally different to anything I’d seen. So far as I’m concerned, that teacher is of the best combat martial artists I’ve ever seen.
In conclusion, I believe that training in martial arts guarantees nothing unless you can adapt what you are doing to the environment of the street.
There is no best art for street - fighting - only good practitioners who can adapt their art so it works under pressure and in all conditions. This may mean that you have to look beyond what you are practising now. Seek the truth, lose your ego and be honest with yourself because that is the way to achieving a high level of understanding in effective martial practice.
. Definitely not on the level of the first 3 reality guys that I mentioned. 
Comment