Ranking Martial Arts/Combat Sports by effectiveness for self-defense

[SirKratos]

Well if those three are Muay Thai, wrestling, and bjj I'll take that over Dutch kickboxing lol

For sure.

And,Perfect MMA would defeat any of the fighting techniques TS listed. But PERFECT MMA,not some one dimensional or even two-three dimensional shit we are used to seeing.

 

[vcmmafan]

MMA should be a 10. It's THE Martial Art.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

How is kickboxing more effective than MMA for self-defense out of curiosity?

It just is.

 

[ralek4grammy]

Sometimes I feel around here like back to kindergarten.

 

[Scouseknight]

I'd go with boxing given the street fights I've seen have always been people wind milling haymakers in a complete uncontrolled melee with several of their friends joining in to help so minimising the risk of it going to the ground whilst being able to slip and counter is number one.

 

[Toxxus]

in street fight only scenario Id go with Krav Maga they teach you some dirty shiit

They also deal with the reality of weapons being used in street fights. Most of the arts listed do not deal with realistic knife/gun defense.

 

[BSDsummary]

BJJ isn't too great for many self-defense scenarios.
I would love to see someone guillotine three guys at the same time.

 

[BSDsummary]

This is what I'm struggling with.

You're a Dutch Kickboxer, you go against someone who's a better Dutch Kickboxer and you lose. However, if you can take him down, he's screwed.

Didn't the early UFCs answer this question?

UFC is one-on-one fighting... try jiujitsu against two or three guys on the streets and you'll get stomped on.

 

[HockeyBjj]

Look like you could be an NFL linebacker

Making people back down (even if with the exchange of words they try to keep their pride) > any engagement

 

[BSDsummary]

Taekwondo and Savate should be lower. I don't see any reason why you would rate Japanese Jujitsu and Judo any differently. Keysi Fighting Method and Kenpo should have the same score.

I don't think you understand what Jeet Kune Do is. I would just take it off the list. Why would you give Silat a 1? That score is just goofy considering the other arts you ranked much higher?

Also, Kung Fu? You do know that "Kung Fu" incorporates many different styles right? Many of which make up the principal techniques of sanshou (which you ranked really highly).

If you ranked BJJ a 2 for multiple attackers, why didn't you also include that score for other grappling arts like wrestling? Or, like with Savate, give it a qualifier like "2 for grappling exchanges".

This whole list is a mess.

Savate is boxing + karate kicks. Pretty decent for the streets.

Taekwondo is definitely not ideal, but it's not as bad as the ones below it.

There are many unrealistic Japanese Jujitsu styles.

Keysi is a bit more realistic than Kenpo.

I've heard it a million times. "Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy!!!!!"
The places that say that they teach Jeet Kune Do primarily teach Wing Chun.

Silat looks like little kids fighting.

Kung Fu as a whole is goofy.

Sanshou is very real unlike Kung Fu.

Wrestling, Judo, Sambo, etc. are mostly standing grappling.

Brazilian Jiujitsu is mostly ground grappling.

Ground grappling is less effective against multiple attackers than standing grappling.

Striking is way more useful than standing grappling or ground grappling for the streets. Ground grappling is easily the worst.

 

[xMaxPower]

i dont understand why "MMA" is on the list...

MMA consists of every martial art, hence the name "mixed martial arts".

 

[Hulk Brogan]

the best martial art for self defense is the one where you either (1) outnumber your opponent, or (2) have a significant size advantage

 

[Hulk Brogan]

actually I take that back, the most effective one is probably the "shoot your opponent with a handgun" martial art

 

[Navinabob]

Savate is boxing + karate kicks. Pretty decent for the streets.

Taekwondo is definitely not ideal, but it's not as bad as the ones below it.

There are many unrealistic Japanese Jujitsu styles.

Keysi is a bit more realistic than Kenpo.

I've heard it a million times. "Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy!!!!!"
The places that say that they teach Jeet Kune Do primarily teach Wing Chun.

Silat looks like little kids fighting.

Kung Fu as a whole is goofy.

Sanshou is very real unlike Kung Fu.

Wrestling, Judo, Sambo, etc. are mostly standing grappling.

Brazilian Jiujitsu is mostly ground grappling.

Ground grappling is less effective against multiple attackers than standing grappling.

Striking is way more useful than standing grappling or ground grappling. Ground grappling is easily the worst.

Of the styles mentioned, few have better training against weapons then Silat. If you want to see moves adapted to look less like kids fighting, check out the Raid movies.

Everything in Judo comes from Japanese Jujitsu. Traditional Jujitsu is mostly standing locks, throws and space control that focuses on multiple attackers. In the right situation, it can be more effective then BJJ or boxing for different reasons.

The scariest guy I ever met was an Akijitsu expert who was a bouncer and professional bodyguard in Detroit for a decade. As useful goes, I liked that art. For me, Budotaijitsu was the best for avoiding a fight.

I didn't get much from traditional aikido, Fu-Jow Pai kung -fu, or shotokan karate... But if I applied myself to those arts, I might have been able to get something more from them maybe. But honestly, it all depends on the situation to use what would work best.

It's like that Bruce Lee saying: What's a better weapon, table fork or a hand grenade?

Now take that fight to a phone-booth...

 

[accolyte1022]

i would call this a joke, but jokes are amusing.

This is an odd thread even by Sherdog standards.:icon_chee

 

[120wrestling]

Striking is more effective if you have multiple guys against you, better chance to take one person out one at a time to even things out

Wrestling is more effective when you're against a single attacker or aggressor.

Im a solid wrestler so I'm more than confident to hold my own against one person, but for self defence reasons, I'd suggest someone do a striking art. But if someone runs up and grabs you from behind, you better know how to wrestle/grapple your way out

 

[Naos]

UFC is one-on-one fighting... try jiujitsu against two or three guys on the streets and you'll get stomped on.

Did you read my post? I didn't say JJ is the most effective. I said MMA was.

 

[BSDsummary]

Did you read my post? I didn't say JJ is the most effective. I said MMA was.

MMA at its core is Muay Thai + BJJ

Boxing and wrestling tend to be secondary.

Judo, Taekwondo and maybe a couple other arts are tertiary.

MMA fighters spend too much time training for one-on-one fighting with too much jiujitsu.

Dutch kickboxers spend all their time striking, sanshou practitioners do kickboxing/wrestling/judo with no ground fighting, and samboists do more standing grappling than ground. Certain kinds of Sambo allow striking.

 

[Naos]

MMA at its core is Muay Thai + BJJ

Boxing and wrestling tend to be secondary.

Judo, Taekwondo and maybe a couple other arts are tertiary.

MMA fighters spend too much time training for one-on-one fighting with too much jiujitsu.

Dutch kickboxers spend all their time striking, sanshou practitioners do kickboxing/wrestling/judo with no ground fighting, and samboists do more standing grappling than ground. Certain kinds of Sambo allow striking.

MMA has come a long, long way, take a look at the top fighters in each division.

Also who cares if it's one-on-one? Op never proposed multiple attackers. If you're going to start bringing that into it, why not say someone has a chain (Double Dragon style) or a knife? Hell even a gun in the good ol U S of A.

 

[BSDsummary]

MMA has come a long, long way, take a look at the top fighters in each division.

Also who cares if it's one-on-one? Op never proposed multiple attackers. If you're going to start bringing that into it, why not say someone has a chain (Double Dragon style) or a knife? Hell even a gun in the good ol U S of A.

Muay Thai and BJJ are the core of MMA. Many self-defense scenarios involve a handful of attackers and I did mention self-defense. Weapons are obviously too much. We're talking about rather common scenarios where a group of people attack one person.
Something like Dutch Kickboxing + Sambo would be significantly more effective than Muay Thai + Brazilian Jiu-jitsu against multiple attackers.