I actually hear rumor that Royler Gracie broke his leg in a street fight when attacked by a drunk assailant. I don't know the source, I was referred this info by another board. Anyone heard anything of this? Is this a testament to unrealistic/unconstructive habits learned whilst fighting in the UFC?
I haven't heard of this yet, doesn't mean it's not true of course. I don't think it lessens the usefulness of the MMA idea as a well rounded way to fight in real fights against real attackers though (guns and other weapons aside of course).
As you can tell from all these posts,there are many possible answers.I say the best possible defense is awareness and common sense.Avoiding the kind of situations that often lead to violent confrontations.I can tell you one thing that will eliminate at least 50% of ugly confrontations-Eliminate offensive gestures!Especially the "F" finger!Now as far as learning how to defend yourself combat wise,several very usefull styles have all ready been mentioned.Myself,I have been training in JKD for the last five years for the freedom of it.By that,I mean that I can go out and train in any style I wish and keep only what I consider usefull.Some of the best self-defense things I have learned came from the win chun part of JKD.The block and counters as really effective,trapping works great once you get it into your head.The great thing about trapping is that it's the only thing that size doesn't make any difference.The little bit of Combat Hopkito I learned from John Pellegrini is effective.American Kenpo has tons of great ideas.BJJ training is an absolute must,most real fights go to the ground so you ought to know what to do when you get there.Modern Arnis is a great way to establish some really nice basics that apply to almost all weapons.The empty hands aspects of Modern Arnis work also.I think it's interesting how so many styles have many techniques in common.My best advice for street fighting? FIGHT DIRTY! Head butts to the nose,foot stomps to the top of the foot,fingers in the eyes.Q:What do you call a guy who fights fair? A: LOOSER!
the only 2 styles i practiced were tkd and jujutsu so thats what ill have to use.(and whatever i learn at school )
For self defense (as well as many other things), the style isn't anywhere as important as the teacher. To me, the best "acid test" for a martial artist is his (or her) background with fighting. For example, is he a bouncer/police officer/security guard, and thus is attacked as part of his regular job? Is he just really mean and gets into a lot of fights? Does he come from a completely lawless and war-torn nation? These are the types of things that would have field-tested his martial arts. This is not to say that people who haven't been in such situations aren't going to be good instructors for self defense; however, if you want someone who you can rest assured knows valid self-defense techniques, find someone who has had to use them. At least, that's my two cents. And as a side-note, karate kata bunkai really does have a lot of brutal applications when you look deep into it. What can I say? The Okinawans were thugs.
For me this is a tough one as there are key elements of my self defence training from traditional arts that I don't think are common place in either of these arts (from my own limited experience) for the physical side of the confrontation then Boxing or MT with Sombo, Judo, Wrestling, BJJ or any of these types But I feel there are elements of the awareness that is not brough to bear in the main from these competative sports. Multiple oppononet work, the law and other parts that if I am honest my early days Ninjitsu skills are great for. I would choose a RBSD system over the above but if I knew the softer human nature skills and awareness/verbal control skills then I would rate any combo of the above.
As long as you can hit, take a hit, avoid being hit, take someone down, avoid being taken down and deal with what happens when you're on the ground I can't see as how the name matters too much. Questions like "Can the teacher fight?" and "Can he teach other people how to fight?" are more important.
Cover all three ranges: Free standing striking, clinching, ground grappling. Add weapons. Train athletically, spar hard. End discussion.
Self-defense? A grappling art IS PARAMOUNT. It is better to dodge and grab a punch, then give one. The thing with grappling arts is, if you have proper technique, it will hurt, or at the very least, you can immobilize the opponent. Striking is good, but if your opponent is drunk or under the influence of drugs, he can probably take hard hits, and then ur in trouble. As well, grappling arts are more suited to more versatile environments. Best bet? Take a grappling art (I recommend highly BJJ or judo), and combine it with a tried and tested striking art (kyo karate, MT, boxing, or San Shou)