I remember when I first got into martial arts. I did some taekwondo when I was a kid, then as I got older into my late teens quickly realised it was BS for real fighting. I started doing some karate and it was ok but still piss weak. I then got into Kyokushin karate which is pretty much supposed to be full contact karate and I have to say it's pretty full on at the higher levels and guys hit each other hard, but mostly to the body. However when I truly learnt how crap the formal art is, was when I had been doing it for a couple of years and had learnt all these blocks and started sparring with a mate who had just taken up boxing and had been doing it for literally no longer than 3 months. So he's throwing jabs at me and I've got NO CHANCE of coming close to blocking them with the traditional forearm blocks. He gets his jab through easily before my forearm is able to parry his arm. Sometimes he even gets his jab back and into his guard, that's how slow and ineffective it is. So first I thought maybe I'm just truly shit. So I asked him to come along to our kyokushin school and try it with one of the 3rd dan black belts who's even trained in Japan hardcore. Same. He can't block a simple jab or even a straight/cross. Basically he only has some success at blocking wild hooks.
I pretty much left Kyokushin that week and started training in boxing and never looked back. However I recognise it's important to have some ground game in case the fight does go to the ground which they do reasonably often as two guys tussle, trip over each other and both end up on the ground. But leg kicks and shit are useless. Sure they're useful in MMA, but they're fucking useless in REAL FIGHTING. I've seen a lot of street fights in my time, some years back used to work at a restaurant just opposite a club and I'd see at least half a dozen real fights almost every night, especially weekends, and I barely saw any where kicks were thrown and for most of them the dudes never even had any room to throw kicks. It was either a wild swinging fist fight affair, end up in a tussle and go to the ground where 5 times out of 10 one of the guy's mates would run in and kick the other guy in the head or ribs, or it'd get broken up quickly. A few times I saw guys who knew what they were doing the guy who knew what he was doing would get in close quickly and land a couple of punches and other guy goes down or gives up. Fight's over.
I've been in a couple of real fights when I've been less mature and decided not to take shit from some idiot at a club. So far have been lucky that none of these idiots have known what they were doing but a few them sure could throw a punch. I never needed to do anything fancy, just cover up a bit and get hit with a couple of big haymakers where most of the blow landed on my forearms and a bit of fist on my head which I was ok with, and then my turn. All the fights I've ended I've hit them with a hook close in into the ribs/liver/kidneys. Hit hard like I was hitting a heavy bag. Fight over instantly.
There were/are a couple of guys in my boxing club who are even more stupid than I am, and get into a lot of street fights. Some of them are a rough sort and enjoy it. They do pretty well in their fights too though it's a fool's game because one of these days they'll get knifed.
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