Has anyone actually used BJJ in a real/street fight ?
- Thread starter Evenflow80
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A six year old student was flipping out exorcist style. Screaming, biting, scratching everybody in the school office. I walked in and he rushed me. I arm dragged him. Only using grips on his jacket and jeans, I kept switching grips over and over while he was trying to bite me. I keep saying, "it's ok. You're safe."
After about 30 seconds (felt like a few minutes) he gave up. He cried in my arms like a baby.
This was my only encounter using Jiu jitsu as self defense.
I wound up being able to help him for years. He was never in my class.
After about 30 seconds (felt like a few minutes) he gave up. He cried in my arms like a baby.
This was my only encounter using Jiu jitsu as self defense.
I wound up being able to help him for years. He was never in my class.
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Gah! Knockaround guys rules!
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Been in a couple, used BJJ/ wrestling to great effect. Was (and still am) a blue belt. I was tackled at a club trying to help my buddy from getting jumped. His friend saw me coming towards him and went full line backer on my ass. He landed right in my guard and I immediately did a hip bump sweep straight to mount. Threw a right hand afterwards and that was that.
Used to work security at 4th st. LIVE in Kentucky....used a ton of foot sweeps and firemans carries on a bunch of drunk patrons.....the shit they do in a clinch will make you laugh, pushing with everything they have, just grabbing your shirt with square feet, going down for a single leg TD and seriously just hugging your leg....its goofy.
Used to work security at 4th st. LIVE in Kentucky....used a ton of foot sweeps and firemans carries on a bunch of drunk patrons.....the shit they do in a clinch will make you laugh, pushing with everything they have, just grabbing your shirt with square feet, going down for a single leg TD and seriously just hugging your leg....its goofy.
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Was he a lot bigger than you ?
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I haven't trained consistently since about 2010 (when I joined the Navy. I couldn't really train much while I was in. I've tried to get back into it since then, but I just get myself injured every time). However, what little bit of knowledge/instinct I've been able to keep has saved my ass on a few occasions. I'd probably get my ass handed to me by a decent blue belt at this point, but vs. drunk joe-schmoe tough guy? Lead hook, double-unders, outside trip, finish with a choke (usually a lapel choke). No injuries for me, no injuries for the other guy, I just GTFO. Granted, I think situational awareness is the most important thing for self defense, and that's entirely on you. If I had to defend myself outside of a bar fight scenario, my 357 would be where I'd turn if I had my wits about me. Fortunately, that's never been tested.
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I used it to stop a friend from driving drunk. He insisted on driving home after drinking double whiskeys all night. It was summer time and we were partying outdoors at a block party. He was waiting for his girl to get in the car, and we were all telling her NOT to get in the car. He was sitting in the car with the door open, engine running, waiting for her. I walked over and feinted to shake his hand, saying goodbye, and instead grabbed his keys out of the ignition.
He tackled me and started to try to crush my head with a headlock. (So pointless, lol). I just played bottom halfguard patiently until I could slip out and take his back. But he scrambled and I ended up grabbing a Kimura, but he was totally hammered and I knew he wasn't going to concede to a shoulderlock. I gave him a few verbal warnings and told him that he was going to have a destroyed shoulder if he didn't calm down, but he was raging.
In the end I had to just get him in the chopping block and put an arm & neck choke on him and he actually tapped. It was weird, because he is a friend and he KNEW I trained. He had even come to a few classes previously and been smeared across the mats by our newest whitebelts, but that whiskey made him think he could out wrestle me or something. He was so mad and so drunk, and I could tell he was really struggling with not escalating things by throwing a punch. That would have changed everything for sure. But as it went it was basically harmless, other than some road rash from grappling on asphalt.
I called them a taxi and he told me he didn't have any money so I paid for it. I think that was the reason he wanted to drive. I think he was broke and couldn't afford a cab but he was too embarrassed to admit it, so his drunken ego went into defensive mode and he didn't want to look like a no-money loser in front of is woman.
He tackled me and started to try to crush my head with a headlock. (So pointless, lol). I just played bottom halfguard patiently until I could slip out and take his back. But he scrambled and I ended up grabbing a Kimura, but he was totally hammered and I knew he wasn't going to concede to a shoulderlock. I gave him a few verbal warnings and told him that he was going to have a destroyed shoulder if he didn't calm down, but he was raging.
In the end I had to just get him in the chopping block and put an arm & neck choke on him and he actually tapped. It was weird, because he is a friend and he KNEW I trained. He had even come to a few classes previously and been smeared across the mats by our newest whitebelts, but that whiskey made him think he could out wrestle me or something. He was so mad and so drunk, and I could tell he was really struggling with not escalating things by throwing a punch. That would have changed everything for sure. But as it went it was basically harmless, other than some road rash from grappling on asphalt.
I called them a taxi and he told me he didn't have any money so I paid for it. I think that was the reason he wanted to drive. I think he was broke and couldn't afford a cab but he was too embarrassed to admit it, so his drunken ego went into defensive mode and he didn't want to look like a no-money loser in front of is woman.
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Did his shoulder break?
I'm kind of surprised you caught the thief, the pick pockets at the air port got my dads laptop without him noticing.
I used a simple grip break/ shove on a rather aggressive drunk in Managua. I would have avoided contact altogether but he was part of a group that crowded me.
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Just find the last thread I started. It's all in there.
I'm a salty old blue. Been blue for over ten years. Had to take time off here and there for various reasons and changed instructors a couple times. So my skills are closer to purple, tap purples and browns on the regular, gonna be promoted pretty soon barring having to take more time off.
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I just remembered another time I used JJ in a street altercation, but it was BEFORE I started training.
My friend who is my instructor was always keeping in touch with me throughout the years, inviting me to come and train, and he is always really excited about JJ, so one day when we were chatting when I bumped into him, he was trying to entice me into coming and checking out a class and he showed me a cross collar choke.
A few years later some drunk tried to pick a fight we me and swung at my head with his fist. I ducked it, hip-tossed him down and took mount and used his T-shirt for the cross choke and put him out on the sidewalk. No-one got hurt, and he sobered up a little when he woke up, and apologized to me and made every effort to become my "friend" for the rest of the night.
Funny though, I had never once repped that choke. Never once been to a class, but I remembered it and applied it and it worked beautifully.
My friend who is my instructor was always keeping in touch with me throughout the years, inviting me to come and train, and he is always really excited about JJ, so one day when we were chatting when I bumped into him, he was trying to entice me into coming and checking out a class and he showed me a cross collar choke.
A few years later some drunk tried to pick a fight we me and swung at my head with his fist. I ducked it, hip-tossed him down and took mount and used his T-shirt for the cross choke and put him out on the sidewalk. No-one got hurt, and he sobered up a little when he woke up, and apologized to me and made every effort to become my "friend" for the rest of the night.
Funny though, I had never once repped that choke. Never once been to a class, but I remembered it and applied it and it worked beautifully.
No, I was gentle with it. The kid was a terrible pickpocket. Not only did I see him watching me beforehand but he was really clumsy with the grab. He was clearly desperate, so I let him go with a lecture rather than let the Nicaraguan police lock him in a pit somewhere.
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How the hell did you even know how to hip toss ? Hell I've drilled in a dozen different times by now but I still doubt I can pull it off in a real life.
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One thing that hasn't yet been mentioned (and rarely is in these types of discussions), but I think is very useful in confrontation is simply the experience of having physical contact with another human. Many people go into a fight never actually having had aggressive physical contact with someone else.
The ability to think clearly and react while under pressure from an aggressor is a huge advantage in a fight. Rolling, even in the beginning of training jiu jitsu, yes even starting sitting down, allows you to feel what a choke feels like. To feel the pressure of being under that higher belt who decides to go knee on belly or heavy in top control because you spazzed a little too much, and know the world isn't ending.
You can also add body control and conceptual learning to this. Having an understanding of how to move your body, create space, and a general understanding of leverage alone will likely help you overcome the average joe. This is what many above alluded to when talking about grappling with a new guy.
These won't win you any fight on their own, but it certainly helps to have been in that situation before.
As for everything else, I echo what many others have said. A lot of people say "that berimbolo won't work in the street" etc. Maybe not, but you think that purple belt pulling off berimbolos doesn't know how to sweep or outright gain top position as well and hold it? Sport jiu jitsu still encompasses a ton of self defense, it's just knowing when to use which.
The ability to think clearly and react while under pressure from an aggressor is a huge advantage in a fight. Rolling, even in the beginning of training jiu jitsu, yes even starting sitting down, allows you to feel what a choke feels like. To feel the pressure of being under that higher belt who decides to go knee on belly or heavy in top control because you spazzed a little too much, and know the world isn't ending.
You can also add body control and conceptual learning to this. Having an understanding of how to move your body, create space, and a general understanding of leverage alone will likely help you overcome the average joe. This is what many above alluded to when talking about grappling with a new guy.
These won't win you any fight on their own, but it certainly helps to have been in that situation before.
As for everything else, I echo what many others have said. A lot of people say "that berimbolo won't work in the street" etc. Maybe not, but you think that purple belt pulling off berimbolos doesn't know how to sweep or outright gain top position as well and hold it? Sport jiu jitsu still encompasses a ton of self defense, it's just knowing when to use which.
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I took Judo for about a year when I was about 9 years old and it stuck with me. That throw comes really naturally to me.
Also when I said it was before I started training, I meant training in JJ. I have always been in one for of martial art or another for my entire life, barring the 15 year stretch of beer and cigarettes that I spoke about earlier, and by that time I was already a proficient BB in TKD from Combat-based TKD school.
So I have always kind of kept the hip toss in my pocket as my go-to move to put someone on the ground.
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The guy's at the bar when my friend was getting jumped were bigger than us, yea. They were gym meatheads.....it all got started over a game of pool. (lol! The shit you fight about when you're young.) I probably couldn't have hit him with the hip bump sweep if he had dropped his weight what so ever, but he was already on one knee......and I hit the sweep too quick for him to react (i'm not fast, he just wasn't expecting anything like that from a smaller guy.)
As for all the security stuff.....some dudes were huge, some were thin, some were same size.....i'm not gonna lie, the amount of shit you can do to someone who doesn't train is comical. (damn near regardless of size....now some ARE too big, but they're few and far between)
I spent a few years bouncing back when I first started BJJ. I was a white belt and fortunately I got through a few physical confrontations without getting hurt.
My instructor at the time was a bouncer when he first moved to the US as it was the only job he could get. When I told him I got the job he gave me 2 free private lessons basically giving me tips on how to use bjj as a bouncer. It saved my ass and I'm forever thankful to him.
My instructor at the time was a bouncer when he first moved to the US as it was the only job he could get. When I told him I got the job he gave me 2 free private lessons basically giving me tips on how to use bjj as a bouncer. It saved my ass and I'm forever thankful to him.
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This is so motivating and encouraging. Thanks a lot. It's good to know all this time and effort isn't devoted into something useless in the outside world.
Since I'm not 6'3" and 230 pounds I'm always susceptible to getting in fights due to simply not being physically intimidating. In the past I'd always shy away from them but at least now I have some confidence
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I definately struggle with the 220 pounders we have in class but that's because they train with me. Very encouraging, thanks man.
