How much of an advantage does MMA training really give you in a street fight?

[Edison Carasio]

Originally Posted by kflo

well, experience is debatable, depending on the individuals. if you spar all the time but never get into real fights, and you fight someone who never spars but has been in frequent "real" fights, you may be the less secure, more scared fighter. you'll still have a huge advantage in actually knowing how to fight, but the circumstances will still be very unfamiliar to you.

Yes. The biggest difference from a self defense scenario in the street and sparring in the gym is the emotional content of the situation. In the gym, the training and practice is sport. You KNOW you are going to be sparring but it is in a safe, "danger" free and up beat situation. No anger, rage, pride etc involved most the time. You have time to get yourself mentally prepared to start "fighting".

However, in a "street fight" you don't have these things. Most street encounters start very fast and escalate quickly. You may be arguing with someone and BAM you're blind sided. Your your so angry and full of rage it paralyzes you and you can't move. Experienced sport fighters are better equipped to handle this as they are used to the pressure to perform, in front of people, etc but the guy with "a month of training" might not be mentally ready for the emotional content of a street encounter.

I know the feeling I have before a street encounter my heart is racing, my knees are knocking, and I'm afraid of what might happen. Street fighting has REAL consequences, legally and socially. " Will I have to kill this guy, could he be armed and I don't know it, will his buddies jump in etc etc". Thankfully I've only had two encounters and one was de-escalated by the drunk guys friends and the other a guy tried to get rowdy in a line at a concert and tried to grab me, which I bumped his arm, slipped under, took his back and restrained him until he decided to not be an ass hole.

Where as in the gym, I don't feel any of this. I feel "ok I am going to try and counter his round house by catching it because I've seen him spar and he draws his leg back too slow".

So technique wise, the guy with a month or whatever of training will have better technique than the random bum, and that is his advantage and it does help. But he hasn't had the time to train that street intensity as opposed to the random street thug who ONLY has experience with this aspect. That is the thugs advantage. So it's up to you to weigh which one is more important in the street situation. Even "Self defense" classes can't really teach you this. It's something that comes from the real thing. Military guys have a much better time with this as they've been trained for life and death and have experienced it.



EDIT

Sorry for such long walls of text on the subject of self defense. It's a topic I've devoted much of my martial efforts into. I've grown up in shitty neighborhoods, lived next to drug dealers my whole life until just this week when I finally moved, and witnessed more street fights then I'd ever wish to (thankfully I had developed a knack for avoiding them myself from this). So I just have alot of opinions on it from this.

[SlowMoe]

Originally Posted by Fight To Win

In my street fight experience, it's just wild exchanges of haymakers Wanderlei style...

Thats why in my head even a trained guy could easily grt dragged into this type of fight and its almost anybody's fight

[kflo]

Originally Posted by SlowMoe

Thats why in my head even a trained guy could easily grt dragged into this type of fight and its almost anybody's fight

someone with years of training will hopefully not just forget everything they've been practicing and doing for years.

[half light]

people are always afraid of what they have not experienced,so i think of month of training is not really that much,sparring for something like 6 month to 1 year can help a lot in a street fight,but for sure not 1 month,after training for the first weeks the majority of us if not all get that fake confidence that they can beat anybody in a street fight,but it still a fake confidence,if you have not at least sparred for many times then you may get a beaten!!!! street if not for fun,anything can happened,let me tell you my own story that happened only few months ago,i got into a fight with someone bigger than me,i throw a job and a hook and both of them lead on his lips,he was bleeding from his month,i was about to win that fight if i did not make a huge Mistake why punching his stomach by a very strong punch but unfortunelly i did not cover my head with my left hand so guess what,i get a punch directly on my left eye,it makes me not able to almost see during that fight,so i was like fighting with only one eye,after that punch i told myself ''i m not allowing this guy to beat me so much,i should do something'' ,so i pust pick up a rock and throw it on him and then i pick up another one then he stopped!! the moral of the story is anything can happen in a street fight,here is a few tips for you when it comes to a street fighting :

*be the first to hit and punch,( many of my friends who involved in so many fights during the last decade always tell me that),surprise play a very huge rule in any street fight,so once you think you can avoid having street fight then just go for it and punch first as hard as you can !
*once the fight is over nomatter what the result is ,just leave the scene,people can beat you very bad and still can call police and pretend to be defending themself from you,while athor will go to the next store or next garage ,apartment,car or whatever and get a baseball bat, a tool , a rock, a knife,a weapon,or friends so you will end up in a huge problem.......
* most people will try to chock you with one hand while trying to punch with another one,knee to the ball works,Judo will help you a lot more than you can Imagine,while athors will just throw stupid punches without a good footwork but it still a punche it can hurt as fuck maybe more than your best fighter in the gym (some people use their hands a lot to do strong and hard thing wich makes their hand hard and very strong example: Mechanics,Tires techincian,construction workers,welders.....),just keep in mind that just one correct punch from them on your face will put you to sleep......

[hapkibjj]

Originally Posted by JohnnyBuddha

What stands out to me is footwork. I have not been in a street fight, ever, but what I picture is a guy charging ahead, telegraphing haymakers. A moderate degree of quickness on the feet, adequate evasion, and good footwork should enable you to avoid getting hit badly. The good footwork also puts you in a good position to pounce once the dude has hit nothing but air. So assuming the trained MMA fighter has some level of those skills and has some poise, I think he has a very big advantage.

good point that I don't think is brought up much... A month ago there was a clip on this forum from Washington State showing a street fight between a trained MMA fighter and a random dude on the street. The MMA fighter had excellent foot work and could not be touched by this technique-lacking guy. The MMA guy would dart in throw leg kicks, all the while guy he was fighting kept getting more and more discouraged bc he couldn't hit the guy- meanwhile he was getting leg-kicked the shit out of him. After a little while of this you could see the untrained thug dude pretty much give up. Then the MMA guy blasted him in the face knocked him out.

I thought a lot about how that played out. Once the dude realizes that he can't hit you and gets discouraged the fight is pretty much in your hands to finish. But good point JBUD

also, someone post that clip if they can find, I know pretty much all of us saw it and commented on it...

[SummerStriker]

Originally Posted by Edison Carasio

Yes. The biggest difference from a self defense scenario in the street and sparring in the gym is the emotional content of the situation. In the gym, the training and practice is sport. You KNOW you are going to be sparring but it is in a safe, "danger" free and up beat situation. No anger, rage, pride etc involved most the time. You have time to get yourself mentally prepared to start "fighting".

However, in a "street fight" you don't have these things. Most street encounters start very fast and escalate quickly. You may be arguing with someone and BAM you're blind sided. Your your so angry and full of rage it paralyzes you and you can't move. Experienced sport fighters are better equipped to handle this as they are used to the pressure to perform, in front of people, etc but the guy with "a month of training" might not be mentally ready for the emotional content of a street encounter.

I know the feeling I have before a street encounter my heart is racing, my knees are knocking, and I'm afraid of what might happen. Street fighting has REAL consequences, legally and socially. " Will I have to kill this guy, could he be armed and I don't know it, will his buddies jump in etc etc". Thankfully I've only had two encounters and one was de-escalated by the drunk guys friends and the other a guy tried to get rowdy in a line at a concert and tried to grab me, which I bumped his arm, slipped under, took his back and restrained him until he decided to not be an ass hole.

Where as in the gym, I don't feel any of this. I feel "ok I am going to try and counter his round house by catching it because I've seen him spar and he draws his leg back too slow".

So technique wise, the guy with a month or whatever of training will have better technique than the random bum, and that is his advantage and it does help. But he hasn't had the time to train that street intensity as opposed to the random street thug who ONLY has experience with this aspect. That is the thugs advantage. So it's up to you to weigh which one is more important in the street situation. Even "Self defense" classes can't really teach you this. It's something that comes from the real thing. Military guys have a much better time with this as they've been trained for life and death and have experienced it.



EDIT

Sorry for such long walls of text on the subject of self defense. It's a topic I've devoted much of my martial efforts into. I've grown up in shitty neighborhoods, lived next to drug dealers my whole life until just this week when I finally moved, and witnessed more street fights then I'd ever wish to (thankfully I had developed a knack for avoiding them myself from this). So I just have alot of opinions on it from this.

I hear you. Good post.

I'm sure that individual ability has a big factor outside of training.

Two guys I trained with in a self defense class. This self defense class, we traded bare knuckle blows to the face as conditioning to where our cheeks might fall asleep, trade kicks to the legs and abs, punches to the abs, spar with small gloves, travel and spar at MMA schools, had classes in concrete buildings and in dance clubs on the floor before they open, slipping on cigarette butts and all this other excessive shit. The instructor used to bring in strange street fighters we didn't know, just to spar, and let it escalate without drawing it back.

One guy who went for years still can't spar MMA fighters with no fights and like 6 months of experience. Another guy from the class became the bare knuckle fighting champion at the maximum security prison he works at and was promoted to a position of intervention because of his skill. For the first guy, nothing seems like it helps and I disagree that the training he's gotten is what he needs.

For the prison guard, I recently asked him what he thought about his years in that class. His reply was, "I'm not sure that it was necessary. Nothing ever comes close to the level of violence. No one can hit that hard." Another time talking with him, he related a story of beating up a karate guy in a fight at school years ago and said, "I don't understand what it is that lets some people fight and fills other people full of suck."

I love self defense, but I also enjoy a lot of other aspects of the training. Before I got better at this stuff, I always imagined that the training would let me stack the deck in my favor. Now that I'm at the top tier of civilian self defense martial arts, for whatever that is worth, I don't see it that way, as stacking the deck. Now I think of it more as putting an ace in my hand. Yeah, it is helpful, but it isn't the be all - end all. Other things, like how your father raised you, what sort of violence you've been through, have you been in the military, have you hunted or farmed, your personality, courage, physical fitness, height, natural pain tolerance - which is different than what you get from impact conditioning, motivation to fight, time spent playing sports - all that are factors, and all contribute to the hands we are dealt. I think good, solid self defense training with fitness is a huge element. An ace in the hand. But it doesn't control the game.

While I love self defense, there has to be more to your love of it than that to stay with it. Now, for me, I think of self defense as the context and the excuse, but really I just enjoy pushing my personality and sparring with people, and I love that it increases my understanding and enjoyment of watching fighters on T.V.

Sorry for the wall text thought flow back.

[Charlitos1988]

Originally Posted by half light

throw a job and a hook and both of them lead on his lips,he was bleeding from his month,i was about to win that fight if i did not make a huge Mistake why punching his stomach by a very strong punch but unfortunelly i did not cover my head with my left hand so guess what,i get a punch directly on my left eye,it makes me not able to almost see during that fight,so i was like fighting with only one eye,after that punch i told myself ''i m not allowing this guy to beat me so much,i should do something'' ,so i pust pick up a rock and throw it on him and then i pick up another one then he stopped!! ....

if he was unarmed and alone why the hell did you use a rock?

you are a trained one, you could beat him! if not by strking by grappling!

i will never take a victory using a weapon or friends in order to win I prefer to lose or run!

[devante]

you can be taught what to do, but its on you to actually apply it; in batman begins when he is being trained by ras al ghul, batman is told his dad is weak because he didn't act.

Batman says he didn't have training and that is why he didn't act, his mentor told him it's not the skill, its the will to act. You have to have it inside you to fight, some people just won't they will fold the minute confronted or the min things get physical; all the training in the world doesn't help if your not willing and mentally able to do what has to be done.

i have seen guys much better martial artist than myself get smacked up on the street, they just didn't have it in them, regardless of what skills shown in class or sparring. Then you got guys who are front runners which is why they train in the first place and the minute what they do doesn't work, or they get put in a bad position or get hit; they fold up like a lawn chair.

[devante]

skills are like anything else, no good if you don't use it.

[SummerStriker]

Originally Posted by devante

you can be taught what to do, but its on you to actually apply it; in batman begins when he is being trained by ras al ghul, batman is told his dad is weak because he didn't act.

Batman says he didn't have training and that is why he didn't act, his mentor told him it's not the skill, its the will to act. You have to have it inside you to fight, some people just won't they will fold the minute confronted or the min things get physical; all the training in the world doesn't help if your not willing and mentally able to do what has to be done.

i have seen guys much better martial artist than myself get smacked up on the street, they just didn't have it in them, regardless of what skills shown in class or sparring. Then you got guys who are front runners which is why they train in the first place and the minute what they do doesn't work, or they get put in a bad position or get hit; they fold up like a lawn chair.

Mental Discipline is key.