I watched about 30 seconds of this striking video and the original video without sound.
Three points: think about how BAD many purple and brown belts are at takedowns, either Judo or Wrestling. Does that make BJJ illegitimate? No. We forgive it because BJJ has more permissible rules so we are more forgiving - expecting the individual to have something he can do and a way of flowing through the path of least resistance.
Professional MMA fighters on T.V. are the cream of the crop, and even they don't practice perfectly, despite their hard work. They have many individual flaws, and they have the most talent of anyone.
Self defense martial artists often have MORE techniques due to a love of many arts, less reliance on perfect ability because of the lower level of non-athlete artists and the implied crap shoot of street fighting and self defense, as well as time spent learning weapons and so on.
That's MORE techniques, LESS need for them to be spot on, because of the lower level of the competition.
Don't forget that a purple belt in BJJ can go into the highest level no gi match at a NAGA and finish a double with ass up, head down. Everyone knows it isn't great, but it is good enough to win against the guy he is fighting, and if it wasn't, he'd pull guard.
Many people who teach martial arts have big egos. BJJ masters who haven't put on gloves a day in their fucking lives seem to think they know how to catch kicks and disarm knives. I've been in some awesome BJJ gyms with tough, incredibly strong guys who could rag doll my fat ass that are delusional when it comes to knife fighting, and they teach their shit without any shame.
Some people think having an ego and presenting yourself as an expert is necessary to get people to do what they want.
Look at the guys movement in the video I posted. I don't 100% agree with it. I think his weight shifting is off. I have a feeling though that his confidence comes from sparring, just by the way he moves, I wouldn't be surprised if he can touch up some gym warriors.
The modern internet idea is that the best self defense is to get strong doing sports with top athletes and hope it rubs enough toughness off on you that ordinary people can't fuck with you.
The self defense / martial arts way is to spar and roll because you have fun and to learn whatever martial arts you feel inspired by. The second type of guy teaching probably isn't a world class athlete and is only going to be as artistic as his talent and interest allow, but he's going to HAVE TO talk like a bad ass to sell it.
Either that is good enough for you, or it isn't.
Look at these dildos hitting pads. If you don't know enough about martial arts to tell what you are looking at, you would be lucky to get the guy the TS is talking about instead of these clowns.
Is he legit compared to Greg Jackson? Probably not. Is he legit compared to people driving luxury cars based on their ninja mind control? Hell yeah. It is a spectrum.
