I mean some people here claimed that Judo, Karate and even dutch kickboxing are more popular than Savate in France (where Savate borned). but what happened with that histories about "sailormen use to fight on the seaport", "street fights using chasse basse were common"??? So I got the idea that on underground spheres around midnight tough people use Savate to fight on the streets or a place like Remy stage of "Street Fighter 3: third strike", under bridges, on the drain or in dirty bars. I want an opinion of actual frenchmen about this. Because every time I think about France I imagine that kind of situations at night.
I used to live in France (6 years), and I think savate is pretty obscure even in France, not that many people know anything about it.
I'm pretty sure you can find way more Muai Thai clubs than savate's. Also judo is indeed by far the most popular martial art here.
How common is it in French? I doubt more than a handful of words with equivalent meanings. Now, as to how common it is in France, I've no idea.
That's kinda sad, really. This is like kung fu supplanting wrestling as the most common martial art in Iowa.
