This is a series of RANTs for all the street warriors on the board. Please do not read any futher if you do not want to be offended.
All the keyboard warriors talking about street fights and self defense need to STFU.
A fight is a fight. If you think in a fight you aren't going to have some kind of injury and pain inflicted upon you, you have never been in a fight.
You are not coming out unscathed. If you think it's painful to fight on the ground in the street, you are correct. That doesn't change the fact that a lot of fights end up on the ground, because when you are fighting you DO NOT GIVE A FUCK about the pain.
Any grappling art will help you when fighting someone (or the "street"), especially an untrained someone. Have you ever used grappling against someone who doesn't know wtf you are doing? Try it sometime; you will be AMAZED by the results. You'll look a lot like Royce did in the early UFCs. Early MMA is the proof.
Why does everyone assume grapplers have to go for a sub in a street fight? Can't we hold a mount, side mount, back mount, pin, and proceed to punch, knee, and elbow your head, neck, and body until we feel satisfied? And if we did want to go for a sub, how many people would know what the hell we were doing, let alone know how to defend it?
Also (contrary to popular belief), just because you take Jiu Jitsu does not mean you will be pulling guard in a street fight. If a BJJ player does get put on their back, guess who most likely has the advantage. Will your back get scraped, probably, do you give a fuck when someone is trying to hurt you, NO.
I'm sure if a Judo guy got a hold of you, the throw to the concrete would hurt quite a bit.
Same goes for a Wrestling slam or takedown.
As for weapons, and multiple attackers, you are FUCKED in this situation no matter what ART you train. You're a Boxer, Thai Fighter, Kenpo "street" fighter, congratulations you've just been stabbed in the back, or jumped by 5 people. It's a risk you run when fighting someone, if you are scared of that, then don't fight. It's much easier that way.
Oh yeah, and a punch usually doesn't end a fight (unless it's a sucker punch). You don't get hit and that's it, fights over; most of the time no one gets KTFO in a fight. They just get hit and fall to the ground, where the guy who hit him, jumps on him and continues hitting him.
Why does everyone think people on the street are badass MMA fighters? You must not have been around too many fights then, because most people come out swinging with wide looping bombs. Either that or they charge you and clinch with you, using dirty boxing and shitty grappling to throw you around or take you to the ground.
/end rant
P.S.
Is there any way we could get a Street Fighting or Self Defense forum on Sherdog? As much as I don't want this, maybe it would rid the good boards of the ridiculous, "yeah but in the street" posts and the "[insert art] does not work in the street" threads. This way all the people who haven't trained, keyboard warriors who've never been in a fight, and other idiots can go and speculate there; not wasting and more valuable space the forums, like my recent thread.