Best Martial Arts for Self Defense/Street Fights

Jim Kidwell wrote:

Why mess with that stuff? If you really want to protect yourself, get a pistol and a concealed carry permit.

Beat me to it.

If a guy challenges you or punks yell something at you.. avoid them. You can be charged with a crime for getting into a fist fight just because of bravado.

However, if your life is in danger, you are allowed to respond with deadly force. (Assuming you live in a free state, not NY, CA, or IL.)

Basically, if your life isn't in danger, there isn't a good enough reason to fight. Run away if you can.

If someone is coming at you, and you can't get away, and he has the means and the intent to harm you severely, drop the son of a bitch with a 9mm hollowpoint.

Dan Onymous wrote:

Roccer wrote:

I would say a basic karate based self defense rape prevention class would work just as well for wimpy runner types as it does for women...

You mean not at all? The only thing that actually prevents harm from a rapist better than lying down and taking it is a gun and the ability to use it. Dumbed-down bitch karate certainly doesn't help.

Agreed. My ex-girlfriends mom got her some 'self defense cards' that showed various techniques like stomping on a guys foot, or gouging at the eyes. Which would be much more effective than not fighting back, but the false sense of security is laughable. Woman are typically much smaller and weaker than men, it's just physiology.

A good knife, and the will and TRAINING to use it are lightyears ahead of a pathetic karate chop from a 110 pound girl. A pistol is even better, as long as the girl learns to use it effectively.

Simplest wrote:

A nice, chiny .25 caliber automatic usually works. Just make sure the clip is fully loaded.

25 auto is an anemic caliber at best. 380 ACP is generally considered minumum for any kind of self defense weapon. I would recommend at least 9mm luger. Or 9x18 Makarov, old bulgarian pistols that work well for concealed carry are inexpensive and readily available in 9x18.

RunninReds wrote:

Glock 17 with two 20 round clips of hollow points. also the Springfield Armory XD 45 worked pretty good in My last "fight"...Never under estimate the stopping power of a 45.

Please.... you've never been in a gunfight. If you had, you wouldn't be so cavalier, bragging about it online.

You would also know that Glock 17 magazines don't hold 20 rounds. And they are 'magazines', not 'clips'.

God help us......

The responders who said Krav Maga were right on.

If any of you live in Florida or Virginia, I can point you to some good instructors.

Stay away from any Geracie sport. Too many dopers roided out. The FBI may shut them down soon so if you work out there leave your wallet locked in the car else it may be seized in the drug raids.

I gotta add one thing here: for so long I was hearing how in MMA, BJJ was the way to go, and these guys would always kill the strikers/boxers. Back then, I hardly watched the sport, so I believed this was true (and it seemed lke the "in vogue" thing to say) .

NOW>.....whenever I watch MMA (because it is on like 1000 channels now), 90% of the matches are mostly boxing matches. Seriously, these guys stand and throw punches most of the fights I see. Look at Liddel and Rampage, these guys basically just wail the shit out of people from their feet. Sure, they occasionally do some other shit, but they are BOXING over 1/2 the time. And I think a really good boxer (think Tyson in his prime, or many others) would get in their and kick the crap out of them. It only takes a punch or two to do it, and these guys are basically boxing 1/2 the time, and not always even doing it that well.

And recently I watched some "up and comer" step in the ring (some "cage fight") with some guy from Brazil that was an experienced MMA guy who they said was a BJJ champ. The up and comer (from Louisiana I believe), avoided a couple take downs, caught the ju jitsu guy with a roundhouse knocking him on his ass, jumped on him and nailed him with some more blows to the head, and the ju jitsu guy was out COLD. I've seen scenarios like that waaay more than I've seen guys submitted out from bjj holds. Maybe it is just the fights I've seen, but from all I've seen from the world of MMA, a good boxer/striker with just a few takedown skills/defense against takedown skills generally kicks ass.

Bottom line- being a bad BOXER seems at least as useful in either the world of MMA or street fighting as being an expert at some other martial art. Learn to punch someone's lights out and AVOID being hit, and that will go a along way in any fight.

RunninReds wrote:

Glock 17 with two 20 round clips of hollow points. also the Springfield Armory XD 45 worked pretty good in My last "fight"...Never under estimate the stopping power of a 45.

Anyone who refers to magazines as "clips" is not qualified to comment on combat handgun tactics.

Contrary to popular belief, gangsta rap is NOT the best place to learn about firearms.

Smith and Wesson model 629 in 44 magnum. Why conceal it?

Harry is Dirty wrote:

Smith and Wesson model 629 in 44 magnum. Why conceal it?

Not a bad gun, I prefer my Ruger Redhawk though.

.44mag is total overkill though for self defense and pretty heavy, unless one is defending himself against a bear, which is why I own one.

MadTroll Billy wrote:

..whenever I watch MMA (because it is on like 1000 channels now), 90% of the matches are mostly boxing matches.

its common knowledege that over 90% of fights end up on the ground. rampage vs. liddell was a stand up match because liddell is a stand-up fighter with excellent take down defense. on that pay-per-view, nearly every fight went to the ground. do you really watch match mma? fedor, who is head and shoulders above every other fighter in the world, is considered primarily a ground fighter (ground-and-pound)the boxing debate is stupid. botha (former top boxer) got destroyed when he went to a bush leage mma organization. and do i even need to mention marcer? maybe if you took tyson and gave him several years of takedown defense training, along with grappling, then he could be competitive. he would also have to greatly change his footwork because he is now has to worry about kicks to the head and body, elbows, knees and takedowns. floyd mayweather got offered millions to fight for the ufc light heavyweight title, after talking some trash, but he was too scared to take the offer. even most boxing promoters admit that boxers would get destroyed under mixed martial arts rules. what can a boxer do when a top grappler, shoots in and takes him down? nothing but get pummeled on the ground or submitted. as far as street fighting goes, here's a pretty funny video from a former top mma guy.

Did you notice how much in that video clip is BJJ? I don't see a whole lot of boxing in there. It's all close the distance and control your opponent. Exactly what BJJ teaches you to do.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Escrima, a very effective Filipino street art that includes knife and stick fighting, as well as boxing. Couple that with Kenpo, which also trains you in grappling, and you have some pretty good street/defense skills.

Other that that, Krav Maga or something like the Russian Systema are good bets. Main thing is to find a great teacher.

Tai Chi. Seriously.

http://internaldamagetaichi.com

I was taught in yang style by one of the guys here...and that alone helps with self defense. this stuff is awesome. It's really good for very effective self defense.

you question is the same as asking 'which is the best bottled water'.

In the ring a mma guy will destroy a top boxer because they can afford to take some blows, the gloves decrease the effectiveness of the boxer's punches, his greatest (read: only) advantage. In a street fight I think that a top boxer would have the advantage though just because a top boxer landing even one bare-handed punch to a man's head is pretty much game over.

busman wrote:

You already practice the most ancient form of self-defense. RUNNING!

When I was younger did Judo and Jiu-Jitsu with a pretty decent school (an early UFC champion trained there.) Our coach would often say that track and field, or "sprintjitsu", was the best form of self-defense.

As far as the best form of self-defense, certainly your best bet is to do everything possible not to get attacked (and, depending on the situation, get the hell out.) It's not being a coward, it's being smart. But there are some things you can't control and bad shit goes down. You don't want to only learn strikes, although they are crucial. Grappling is essential. Of course in the real world it's dumb to try and fight from the guard. It's probably a good idea to carry pepper spray (even if you're a dude) and be able to use a small, legal knife if you have to (more useful than a gun in many situations.) I'd say Jiu-Jitsu is a good bet (or Sambo or whatever.) But really, it's so important to find a good coach. Style is important, but since there are no rules when you're fighting for your life, having an instructor that knows what the hell they are doing from a self-defense perspective is crucial. There are a lot of hacks out there.

the world std for military and police forces are japanese judo and japanese karate.

Some interesting responses.

I'm curious: how many of you have actually been attacked, found yourself in street fights you couldn't avoid? What was the situation?

Or if you haven't been yet but anticipate a decent chance of this happening, how do you see it going down?

Can't say I've ever been terribly close. Once upon a time I spent two or three years delivering pizza including some of Pittsburgh's higher crime neighborhoods (and living in a fairly iffy area too); these days I run, walk, shop, and eat in some of the higher crime neighborhoods in NYC. So far my assumption that violence is rarely random, and that if you don't mess with people (or look like a ridiculously obvious and inviting target) they're quite unlikely to mess with you, has pretty much held up. That, or just luck.