i have to disagree with you in this, strongly.
I have this argument over and over with people from my gym... I, while might not be doing mma, was in at the beginning to learn how to fight, and so was 99% of the people that is in the class right now, of course that changed with time, but it was probably not a decision from them, but, since it was clearly not going to happen, they just kind of meh, I'll stick with this, and then people kind of pussy out....
you can AND SHOULD be learning how to fight at any bjj gym... if you dont ever EVER spar with strikes, im sorry but the first time you encounter someone donkey punching you in the face while you are on your back (lets supposed you tripped or somehow ended up on the ground on your back) theres a good fucking chance you will freeze to death....
I agree, I had it happen to me, thought once I got a blue belt I was practically Robocop, until I was on the bottom of a self defense situation, and were it not for 1 little tip a training partner had told me in passing, that he learned from a MT coach, I would have not been able to escape the situation.
Many of my classmates told me, well, we dont teach mma in here, because we dont have a MT class to crossover... well, WE DONT NEED to teach mma, hell since when MMA is the only safely way to teach how to fight? If you are doing bjj, you should be able to train bjj for fighting too, that means takedowns, distance managment, and using strikes on the ground...that is what I was after when I fisrt started out, I knew I couldve just jumped ships and go to a MT class and learn some grappling for SD along with it, that wasnt what I was looking for, I chose bjj for a reason, to learn how to fight on the ground...
MMA is the best SD method bar none, that I wont eve argue with.... Problem is, I have zero interest in doing MT or striking classes, what I learn in bjj (if taught and trained correctly) should be enough to handle most regular joes of the street...
I choose BJJ for a different reason, I never wanted to fight, but I wanted to learn how to not get my butt kicked if I ended up in a self defense situation.
I don't agree with MMA being the best self defense. IMO anything that creates the habit of any kind of rules, can lead to a false sense of security.
Have you ever considered dwelving into Combat Sambo?
Headbutts and combo breakers galore, without a sidewalk, and of course, without the double guard pulls and monkey-guard defense.
From what i gather in your posts, it seems like something you could enjoy.
This seems to be a common sentiment on this forum, that xyz + bjj is what you need, imo this is a by product of the ever growing ruleset of sport BJJ.
I wish Vale Tudo was still a part of BJJ cirriculum. A lot of people are going to say train MMA, but Vale Tudo was integrated with BJJ so well that for my meagre fighting goals it would cover everything I needed.
It used to be, where did it go....?
IMO the bjj sport world is a self fulfilling prophecy who's target audience is the most sought after demographic. I got my start to not get beat up in a self defense situation, but as time has passed I've lost sight of that intention, because sport bjj is fun, and I enjoy training with the guys. I'm a non competitive, non athletic 30 something, and I never miss a payment..
I think anyone who doesn't recognize the loss or lack of vale tudo/self defense is not being honest with themselves. I realize not all schools are like that, but certainly we can assume most are..., given the replies by the majority of F12 who don't train for self defense and often mock that aspect of BJJ.
I can remember as a white belt with a couple stripes, a 6'2" 220lb crossfit guy fresh out of the military coming into the school. We had separate class' for white belts and blue+, on day one the guy killed every white belt with ease! The next time I saw him, the instructor paired him with a gritty black belt, although the black belt was much smaller, he was able to deal with him, and tap him often. At the time I thought "yeah! that black belt showed him!" now,think"holy crap it took one of the grittiest black belts, to deal with a big/strong guy,how am I ever going to deal with a guy like that should the need arise, i'm not Robocop"
Several reasons I don't train MMA:
1) I like the gi, I find it much more technical and less attribute-dependent than nogi.
2) No-one walks around in nothing but shorts in Northern Europe, not even in the summer. So gi is far closer to a self-defence situation here than nogi. I don't like warm weather (it makes me feel itchy and I sweat a lot when I get hot) and have no interest in living outside of Northern or Western Europe.
3) The "nogi techniques work for both" argument holds very little weight with me. It's a lot harder to do arm triangles and guillotines when you have a gi involved, swap the gi for a thick winter coat and I just can't see f.ex. a Peruvian Necktie working well.
4) Gloves and wraps. No bare-knuckle style teaches punching to the head - the human cranium is harder than the small bones in your hands. European and American bare-knuckle boxers of old used to fight for a looong time because they were aiming to knock their opponent out with body shots, not "throw bombs" at the head and potentially cripple themselves. Kyokushin, known as a brutal and highly effective striking style, does not teach head-punching at all though allowing kicks and knees to the head - it's simply not worth the risk without gloves and wraps on. IMO, head-punching is pure sport.
5) A warrior's greatest asset is his mind. Getting punched in the brain-box repeatedly seems like a terrible idea.
6) Modern MMA rules overwhelming favors the striker. Rounds, referee stand-ups, judging, not allowing clothing grabs, et cetera. The brain-dead casual MMA fan wants to see knockouts and bloody beatdowns not technical grappling and boo when it goes to the ground. The rules and refereeing/judging reflect this and will only continue to favor the striker more and more. As a dyed-in-the-wool grappler I have no interest in competing under a ruleset so biased against my own skills.
I agree overall, an instructor once told me "jiu jitsu is all about creating good habits" at the time I had no idea what that meant, but now I am starting to think he's right and if you develop habits that rely on specific rules/terms of combat, you may be in for a rude awakening when facing an adversary who doesn't oblige those rules/terms.
All that being said, Javi appears to be a great instructor and resource to learn form. If I didn't have a previous commitment, would make the trip to experience his knowledge 1st hand.
