You have made some really great points. Panic is a real thing. While you can not train for every situation, you can learn different options. To paraphrase Mike Tyson, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Also "everyone has a plan until their legs are taken out from underneth them."
The video advocates having a plan. Mike Tyson trained for his fights and his opponents. And your "plan" doesn't vanish at all when you're dazed - indeed that's when it becomes most important to have planned in advance.
Prussian Field Marshall von Moltke ( victor of French/ German war of 1870/71 ) was asked: Is it possible, to have a plan to win a war? Von Moltke answered: You can have a plan, but first battle changes a lot.
Love this! Insert rant about, "ah but mate I train the clinch" and "no worries bruv I have great takedown defence".... ummmm your training wrestling in some form buddy.
Many years ago I had a lot of violent altercations. I started working the door and moved for many years in working in homeless hostels and street outreach. On three occasions I spent years annoyed with myself that as a judo player I had taken grips on the assailant but not had the presence of mind to throw much of a technique (I was a drop seonage specialist which maybe isn't ideal). I sent years wondering why I didn't trip, or tai o toshi my attacker. But then on reflection a rather obvious thing occured to me. It took nearly 20 years. in all three occasions, in fairly swift order they all fell to the ground. I powered them to the ground and knee on bellied them all (one got choked, two got held till I had back up). What I hadn't figured is that the great power of judo (and whichever grappling art you fancy) wasn't the throws (those are tools), the power was that for thousands of hours since age of six I had held hon judo grips (or collar grip etc) and the simple base mechanic of dominating that position was (is still) coded into my lizard brain. In high tension situations (or ones where you've allready been hit) I might not pull out a clever sweep but the gripping is locked in and assuming the opponent isn't particularly stronger than me, that's actually proven enough to dominate. It's worth thinking about what the base mechanic of any art is. by which I mean the single pattern you are most likely to repeat thousands of times. For example, I also boxed for years and I think that it's important to think of the base mechanic of boxing not as the punches (these are tools) but the act of bobbing and weaving and parrying and covering up. These are the things that will keep you alive in a high risk situation. Just thoughts. I think roughly speaking that grappling has a base mechanic that better suits the reality of being attacked.
I agree 100%. There is another aspect for strikers that never gets mentioned, and that is the fact that being competent on the ground gives you the confidence to let loose with your strikes. I was a Taekwon Do guy who then trained in MMA and cage fought, and in my experience you are not free to throw kicks against someone who may take you down unless you are comfortable being taken down. Training in grappling allowed me to land a lot of head kicks.
hows it help in street fights? Now I have trained striking and some grappling and both are useful. Thing is in every street fight I seen hitting the deck is deadly man. Staying there is deadly. If u get a solid 1 on 1 yeah it really helps but its not very useful in the streets. I have lots of experiences is all i will say. I been down in street fights if i did not rise quickly I was a dead man. Too many opponents and weapons can be around too. Land a few and get up cause you need to have head on a swivel outside.
@@lordoffaiyum9727 being a competent grappler helps you to be able to "rise quickly". Being able ro "rise quickly" makes kicking a more viable option than if you didn't have skills to deal with being taken down.
@@lordoffaiyum9727 I don't know if I answered what you were trying to ask since I'm not sure what your point was. Grappling and striking are complimentary. You asked how they help in a street fight but then said yourself that they are useful. I would agree with you that they are useful, and would add that, like I said, if taken down, grappling skills help you to be able to "rise quickly".
I would say grappling is the ultimate form of self-defense when you don't mind touching someone. It is the form of fighting that we are meant however it fails in one aspect, you have to touch the person you are fighting. The moment that I started working security and dealing with the homeless was the moment I learned grappling is useless when you are utterly disgusted by the person attacking you. Instantly started taking muay Thai again.
Grappling is kinda useless if they have a knife or gun concealed Leandro lo was recently shot to the death by a crooked cop who was also a purple belt Leandro disarmed the attacker first after he charges him with a bottle then told him to leave once Leandro let him go the man took 3 to 5 steps backwards fatally shooting and killing Leandro immediately one of the best to ever do it instantly removef from this earth by a weapon. The best way to be prepared is carry weapons and train cause of two guys have the same training guy with the weapon likely wins.
@@EnglishMartialArts even if your attacker isn't trained with a knife your likely gonna get stabbed Darren till almost died by stabbing many MMA fighters have died by stabbing if someone really is trying to kill you with a weapon grappling likely won't save you but expose you to more danger in my honest opinion. Like if your a women or a man under 200 better have a gun ideally, or knife with your training. A lot of stabbing happens in a grappling situation look up sowing machine stabbing technique. It's the most common way stabbings ocurs forensic sciences calls it the sowing machine because most people try n stab you in n out of your chest cavity like a sowing machine and they don't walk up to you and say lets fight they get within a foot and viciously try n kill you.
@@EnglishMartialArts grappling is useful but in a real life or death encounter where the other party wants to kill you not fight but kill you for your possessions or other grapplings is good to know but I'd preferably have my training be the tool that ensures access to my weapon which in turn ensures me winning the conflict ideally.
I definitely agree with your take. I trained Muay Thai and kickboxing back in the day for a few years and having adopted BJJ in my early forties this year, grappling opens up so many more options for controlling someone and subduing them that doesn't involve battering a person into a heap on the floor. I can think of countless circumstances where pinning someone in a submission hold is a kinder option than teeping them in the face, and I suspect more conducive towards de-escalation without the risk of being charged for GBH!
In think you're pretty spot on with this one. One thing I'd like to add is that grappling gives you a certain amount of choice in how much violence to apply to a situation. Not all self defense situations are ones were you want to hurt the other person or ones you can necessarily walk away from. The example I usually use is a drunk uncle at a party. They may be making an ass of themselves or picking fights with people. You need them to stop but you don't want to hurt them. Through grappling you can control a person and neutralize them as a threat without injuring them which is sometimes what a situation calls for.
Grappling certainly has great value. Unfortunately, outside the dojo there is a shortage of good grace. In my experience people who have just submitted to an armlock, choke or strangle usually just attack me again when I let them go, unless I've applied enough pressure to make that unfeasible.... which is of course dangerous. Maybe bopping them on the nose is the safer option for everyone?
@@charliegaunt yes a Bjj world champion was recently killed by someone he overcame then released in an altercation. but the issue is not confined to grappling. In such situations it is critical to alter the attitude of the opponent. you may put your opponent in hospital for 6 months, but if he finds out where you live and burns you house down after getting out that's not a successful outcome. I paraphrase "act in such a way that you do not fear you opponents retaliation". That could be de-escalation of the situation or could involve a shovel, a roll of carpet, 2 bags of lye, and short car ride. Guess it depends or you evaluation of the person and situation. respect to all.
@@johnnemo6509 Well put :) "Critical to alter the attitude of your opponent", as a comparatively little guy, I struggle with that. Wish it was different but hey ho, got to live with it.
@@charliegaunt Thanks most of the best martial artists I know a below average size because they need to do it with technique rather than size and weight. The psychology of interrupting people's thought patterns is very interesting. often it is in the form of a shock causing the persons focus to turn away from you to something else for example From " I'm going to f@ck this guy up" to "what the f@ck just happened?" often a pain compliance applied at the right time will work.. sometimes you can mentally disarm someone by telling them a joke. problem is everyone has different triggers and reactions. I have found that projecting clam strength and treating people with compassion and respect is never a bad thing. At least if I have to hurt someone there's a better chance that the other person is the jerk and not me. Respect to all.
Valid points. As an active doorman, I’ve gotten away from sport bjj and incorporated MMA - wrestling with strikes and clinch and Boxing. I often feel like the most unexplored range for counter offence is the clinch
very true, clinch and vertical grappling is vital anyone going into ground work is almost certain to transition through clinch/ vertical grappling and it's a natural reaction for strikers to clinch up when they get tagged even if they have no intention to go to the ground. Well that's my 15mins of YT commenting used up...back to training. Respect to all.
Great video. I don’t argue with people anymore about the effectiveness of knowing how to grapple. The phases you describe for new grapplers can only be understood for someone who actually grapples, what you said was so accurate. But how about video on Billy Robinsons way of getting back up?
@@EnglishMartialArts A special way to get up is absolutely a video I would watch. This comment is now six months old. Hope the video is out. Either way, solid video!
100% I prefer to be on my feet that's where my training is but....recently I was taking BJJ classes to round out my self defense, it really is a whole different animal and is a lot more fun than people realize. If you have never done ground fighting you are in for an overwhelming, ego busting, sore experience, but it is better to have it in the DoJo than on the street where it can be a matter of life or death.
Good topic. It's important for people on both sides of the argument to keep an open mind. The first point you make is critical if your main focus is self protection. I think of the self defense situation as a pit with levels defined by depth of involvement and tactically by mobility. 1: Situational Awareness escape and evasion methods if a thread is detected 2: confrontation. Pre fight "verbal; judo" and psychological 3: kicking punching 4: Clinching vertical Grappling 5: take downs 6: ground work at each level mobility and options are reduced. Everybody need to know some grappling or anti-grappling tactics. When you are at lvl 6 the only way to dig yourself out is to grapple your way out. That being said to have a strategy to skip lvls 1~5 and go straight to lvl 6 only makes sense in a controlled training environment. I separate take downs from ground work because the original intent of throws was to down your opponent while remaining standing and preserving you mobility. sutemi and makikomi throws while existing before sport grappling greatly increased in popularity with the introduction of sport grappling. for self protection all lvls are equally important. The ability to dominate at one lvl prevents the situation devolving ( from a self defense view) to the next lvl down. Love grappling in all forms but you have to look at your goals and modify the way you train...pressure test techniques, practice multiple opponent encounters add weapons, set up problems and work through solutions to gain familarity with situations. Everyone should grapple! Respect to all.
I like grappling and wrestling arts because it shuts down flurries of punches and works at the closest range, which is what "all violence" operates in, especially when dealing with crazy or angry people who just rush you. If you're too far away to engage in grappling, then you're in no danger anyway, because even most striking is performed in grappling range. It was Mick Coup who had great advice, he said "you're either out of range or in range, arms length in real street violence is a luxury, if you wanna 'bridge the gap', close your eyes and open them again". I feel grappling is all encompassing, you can better control an armed or unarmed person, there is only one range to consider, the range where everything happens anyway, and you can focus on a specific skill set, simplifying your mind and training, as opposed to having a cluster of skills and styles that you're "in debate" in using in the moment. And any striking you do know, can be integrated into grappling holds (elbows, knees).
you're right. I've trained a bit in Judo enough to know that when you find yourself on the ground, and you will, if you don't know what to do next, you're probably screwed. thanks for the video.
Yes, though most people aren't exposed to Rugby, American, Canadian, Australian, or Florentine (Calcio Fiorentino) rules football. Most people don't wrestle or grapple either. These are relatively niche sports.
I agree in general, except with one formulation: grappling is not just beat by better grappling - you can be a worse grappler, but better striker and win, since you don’t need to beat them in grappling, you need to be able to defend takedowns/submissions long enough to get enough clean hits in. Fighting for a draw is easier than fighting for a win, so you can go for a draw in the grappling and then win at striking. That said, you still need to learn some grappling to defend against a grappler and strikers with decent grappling skills can still lose to grapplers with bad striking skills.
My philosophy is if you are going to eye gouge, bite, or any "street move". You have to utilize basic grappling fundamentals to get in dominant positions to do so. Eye gouging itself might not do much, but get full mount isolate an arm and you leave your opponent completely open to any dirty tricks in your rulebook. It's all about establishing tight dominant positions top or bottom to the point that your opponent can't escape or defend.
Thats some kind of circle jerk echo chamber crap being espoused right there.. almost every time Ive seen eye gouging in MMA its stopped the fight or completely changed the outcome.. telling yourself you are somehow immune to and eye gouge when you have no clue how extremely painful such an experience is. There is a video compilation here on youtube of eye gouges by strikers dropping opponents in an instant.. but you are somehow greater than all these MMA fighters and able to resist the pain of a finger striking your skull through your eye socket, yea right!
@@mysty0 Looks you've been skipping too much brain day. You do realize there's a difference between eye strikes and and eye gouges? I'm strictly referring to attempting to defend against a bjj black belt only utilizing eye gouging and no grappling experience. Go ahead and find me a video of how "devastating" it is to trying poking your way out of a kimura.
That's it, isn't it. I think people who are proponents of eye-gouging etc. forget that the superior grappler is also eminently capable of doing the same thing to an opponent, and is likely to be in a much better position to do so effectively. It also escalates the situation from being one where the grappler is feeling fairly charitable to one where they may be more inclined to start breaking/tearing things.
Beautifully put, the first time I went to a judo gym and got beat up by people half my size, my masculine pride went out the dojo that day. Especially, when they weren't even trying and I was puffing and panting. The aching I felt through rolling and standing was bigger than my hurt ego..
100% even if you're not interested in it you have a good standard of basic grappling to defend yourself perhaps attending one class a week. It's about evolution too, I remember when the UFC started and BJJ was slated by strikers, look at MMA now and how other arts pay attention to it. If you are a striker it will give you so much more confidence and BTW its knackering!
As a practitioner of hapkido, our instructor gets us to grapple standing to show us how difficult it is to apply technique to a person opposing that motion and force. Knowing how to apply and especially avoid technique such as takedowns and throws is vital in my opinion as they can be devastating to the victim and put them in a horrible position, on the ground. This is why I think wrestling/standing grappling is much more important than ground grappling as it can be used to prevent ending up on the ground, which even if you practise bjj or another sort of ground grappling is not favorable in my opinion. Even if the goal is to run away at every possible chance, which in my opinion is ground grapplings greatest application, I feel not going to the floor in the first place is more advantageous to train for as disadvantages on your end are less severe e.g. several attackers, weight difference, dirty fighting and the pure time and effort it takes to attempt to get away/stand up from a grappling attacker. I still wish to start training in bjj though, as you are right it is effective and potentially life saving, but in my opinion only in specific scenarios. Bjj cant counter a good kick to the face or knees, wrestling cant effectively counter a boxer keeping his distance, I feel all martial arts are scenario driven but when combined are extremely strong. For this reason I think as a solo art, bjj is ineffective, as the majority of practitioners would struggle to apply it in a range of scenarios.
Amazing point you touched on, "what I do works, what you do doesn't" was shown to me a few years back. A TKD blue belt youngster, she was about 12. Someone tried to grab her. She wacks a side kick into the guys ribs and sprints. Reality based instructor unknown, "that was wrong and she was lucky". It wasnt wrong. It worked. She wasnt lucky. She was assaulted
Misrepresenting the argument: Most ppl don't say grappling is pointless or useless for self-defense and, therefore, you shouldn't do it at all. Most ppl tend to agree it's important to develop competent grappling skills. But they will also say it's foolish to use grappling as a primary strategy for handling unexpected violent encounters. And this sentiment is usually said in response to BJJ practitioners saying otherwise. And it is foolish. In an unexpected scenario, there are just too many unknown variables and you would be putting yourself in a compromised position, skill or not, by employing a strategy that primarily encourages intentionally taking your opponent to the ground.
Grappling is very useful, people tend to forget that even primates and other mammals tend to wrestle with each other when they fight. I think what people mean is that grappling sometimes doesn't work as expected, there is a big difference between school wrestling and fighting someone in a backstreet. What it really comes down to is the fact that violence isn't predictable and there is no 100 percent bulletproof way of dealing with violence. Being an experienced grappler can give you some advantages, but they won't make you invincible and it doesn't need a whole lot for a person to be killed by another human.
Recently Sidney Australia experienced a mass murder attack where a terrorist armed with a simple knife killed six random strangers and wounded nine during a mass stabbing attack. So would wrestling, jiujitsu , boxing or any unarmed combat sport have allowed the victims to defend themselves? Or would allowing citizens to legally conceal carry a pistol upon graduating a training class have saved lives? These are rhetorical questions.
Always interesting and inspiring as usual.... I'm a 65 year old fogy that practices krav maga. I enjoy it as a hobby but also believe some of its philosophy is as realistic as you can get , that is, you need to avoid violence, avoid being on the ground etc, but the rounded techniques do make sense. Having some practical experience in grappling can help the muscle memory.. But how and what one does in an emergency, you can never tell...
Grappling is extremely essential to know. and I agree with what you said 100%. When I was younger, I considered grappling useless and assumed that dirty fighting techniques would be enough. However, as I matured and my knowledge grew, apart from me training in MMA and BJJ; I have learned the importance of and also really love grappling.
I agree, grappling is just important to learn for self defense as striking is. Not only for the fact that 1 on 1 fights a grappler would win 75-80% of the time , but also for the fact that you have to learn how to grapple in order to defend against grappling and how to hurt/escape a grappler once they grabbed onto you .
I love all your points Oz. Those dojo hypno dudes are gonna get some hurt bad, like that DUST guy. Plus defending yourself with grappling is easier to avoid lawsuits and jail time cause you didnt smash someone head in or teeth. I've always envisioned the reciprocation after the fight is over. Choke them out and avoid permanently damaging someone.
I have been enjoying your chanel a lot. Great work. I am a Gracie Jiu Jitsu brown belt and reasonable amount of boxing and muay thai training. To defend yourself, learn how to strike, learn how to grapple. Focus your training around scenarios where you are against a larger, stronger, untrained antagonist. My current thinking is as follows (The absence of other martial arts is not me judging them as ineffective, just that i have not trained them, so cannot use them): At range: boxing footwork plus front kicks to keep opponent away and get away from the confrontation. In clinch, blend Muay thai and gracie jiu jitsu to prevent getting taken down and disengage and get away. On the ground: use gracie jiu jitsu to prevent damage and regain a vertical base. If that is not possible look for submissions to end the fight. I would generally not try to take someone down unless I was very sure of the context and surroundings.
There’s an old video of a high school wrestler being chased by some guys, and he beats all three of his attackers whilst never going to the ground, or rather coming back up from the ground immediately if he went to the ground. You can grapple effectively without going to the ground in a self defence scenario.
I agree wholeheartedly with your main point, you need grappling to defend grappling. When you are Van Damme-ing your multiple opponents in the alleyway one of them is just going to grab you or tackle you. You can on the other hand, use grappling against striking even if yoy cant strike, so it covers more ground for self defense if you could only choose one. Another majorly overlooked point in favor of grappling over striking: being able to RELIABLY say you can finish MOST people with strikes takes an extremely high level of competency for people who arent natural knock out freaks. You dont just train a normal person for a year and suddenly theyre knocking opponents twice their size out cold and shattering ribs with body kicks. It simply doesnt happen. On the other hand, anyone can land a lucky shot, especially criminal street fighters who have been sucker punching people their whole life. So while you are using your highly energy costly, unreliable method to finish the fight you are also exposed to the risk of being finished yourself every moment of the exchange. This is not the case with submissions. A mediocre submission grappler WILL disable an untrained attacker, with near certainty outside of extreme circumstances like ridiculous size differences, the person being on meth etc. Untrained people are simply completely useless at defending subs and successful subs reliably produce the outcome of an unconcious opponent or a disabled limb, which "successful" strikes do not. There is a misconception in people who havent trained that it is the other way around because subs take a really long time to implement in competition where both competitors have actual defence. People seem to forget most boxing fights dont end in knock out and the ones that do happen several rounds in. I have seen many, many street fighters slip and dodge punches with no training but simply being in street fighters. Only the insanely strong can sandbag submissions without training and even then they cant do much to you while they are using all their strength to defend so the risk is mitigated
A lot of factors need to be considered when you use what you learned. Whether it is grappling or striking, you have to be prepared mentally, know what techniques work, and more importantly how to end it quickly.
Agreed. From what I have seen, it is a massive disadvantage to go to ground in a real fight. BUT you must know grappling techniques in order to counter anything your attacker does in that realm.
Great video! Re grappling, I think that you are 100% correct!!! I have done quite a lot of stand-up grappling within my Silat and Kung Fu training but I have avoided serious training in ground fighting. I think, to be honest, the idea of going to a BJJ school and getting mangled by a 13 year old girl is less than appealing, however I probably should give it a try. I've been training for 57 years although this is one area in which I am sadly lacking.
It's quite a complex issue, the term self defence is difficult to define. If there is going to be a fight/attack and that fight is unavoidable, the first one to strike wins in the overwhelming majority of cases. That's about reading body language and pre fight rituals, disguising your own body language etc. That said all of your points are also valid. I would say proactively, striking is much more effective for self defense. Reactively, grappling is better but not, though being reactive is a terrible strategy. Ideally, know both and be streetwise.
i once again almost fully agree the only exception being multiple oponents but you adressed that well: Grappling is simply one of the two basic scenarios that can happen in a fight and as you said it is absolutely disadvantageous to go to the ground in any altercation specially when theres more then one attacker or agressor, but then again it doesnt mean that you shouldnt train it and you shouldnt know basic grappling as you stated correctly that people dont choose to go to the ground...which is why striking exists...for when you can beat the other guy without him taking you to the ground or you taking him to the ground but when thats not an option the best you can do is be trained in grappling to a point where you know the most likely situations and how to properly deal with them and then hope the other guy isnt a better grappler then you...which is likely the case given how untrained the average person manages to be in all forms of fighting(it never ceases to surprise me how there are people who do not know how to properly punch) which leads me to your next point: progress is a bitch in martial arts in general but specially in grappling because literally everyone else but you can see your progress, for example i have a practical story here two actually and i appologise for how long this comment can become in advance: i went back to BJJ about 3-4 months ago now and i have been showing a steady progression even tho i still tap out more then i tap others out...however on one ocasion last week on wendnesday i believe some people from another gym came in to train with us in good faith and as a white belt i was placed to roll against another white belt a larger and slightly stronger man then me even which is fairly impressive given my 125 kgs and constant training with weights and striking arts which already made me the physically larger and stronger man in my bjj mat in the first place by raw strength alone...and i managed to take him down, get side control and then finish him with a technique that i only know the name off in portuguese but the literal translation would be a ¨bicep pinch¨ where you basically throw your weight on one knee above the oponents biceps in order to make him tap out due to the pain, i didnt even finished placing the full technique in place with my full weight and he was already tapping out! this came as a suprise to me as i often am considered one of the less skilled and weaker fighters(fighting skill wise) in my bjj mat...but aparently im actually fairly competent since i managed to on that same week tap out a blue belt in a roll on friday, the fact he had me in his guard and i performed the most simple choke in bjj to finish him by merely doing the basic forearm on neck choke was also pretty amazing to me, although granted we had been rolling non stop without being able to finish one another for about 5 minutes at this point where he was an older more technical oponent that was constantly getting me on locks and chokes that i managed to escape off and maintain my stamina going due to my sheer physical strength and constant conditioning to turn that into a battle of atrition and by the end when we were both gassing out and he had me on his guard i placed that choke on a last ditch effort to make him tap out and it ended up working, if he had the gas to simply break out of my choke id have probably lost there as i was without any more stamina and had he broken that choke id be powerless to stop a triangle or armlock which could have easily been performed from the situation that would happen... Well that was a long example but the bottom lines were: grappling is in fact extremely important to be a complete fighter and while you do get better you just dont realize it until you face someone else who isnt used to fighting you often...during holidays my Gym closes for the day so im forced to train in more chain comercial gym type places and what happens when i go train there is that i often realize that its not that im a weak fighter or unskilled...i just train my martial arts with fucking monsters of imense talent and hard work and often i find myself as one of the strongest individuals in these more casual gymnasiums not that theyre bad its just that casual lifters and fighters just dont have the same level of daily extreme training that more ¨hardcore¨ gyms and dojos like mine do so it isnt a shame for them and shouldnt be a surprise for me that these people would be less skilled...but it is nice to see progress. also sorry for the blogpost or any grammar mistakes i really have to learn to condense my thoughts better.
There's a reason that grappling martial arts and wrestling are a universal feature across all Human societies (and probably predate us tbh) - and that is the simple fact that what's brought up in this video is very true and always has been. Real fights are dirty, brutal, and chaotic and it's always important to remember this within the frame of any martial art. I've been unfortunate enough to find myself in a few real fights in the past and I can say with certainty that anything somebody may think they themselves may do in a fight goes right out the window and gives way to pure monkey brain and self preservation. It's always important to remember that your goal in these situations should be to train yourself not only to be able to get yourself out of a violent encounter as soon as possible, but also train yourself to not panic in such a stressful situation, which is arguably the most difficult part of it all. It definitely does humble you though, more than once in school I ended up on the ground before I could even process what was going on, and that most assuredly isn't a good feeling LMAO
Throughout my childhood, I didn't know how to throw punches so what I did was lift people up and throw them on the ground. Whenever I did that, they froze it's like they had no idea what to do.
Some good concepts are discussed here. I can fully agree. Having said that, I think that there are situations that striking could be used additionally to grappling. In case a group of people is attacking a person, this person maybe would be better to use striking in order to create an opening to escape. Or, in terms of Jujutsu (the Japanese version of it), striking techniques (atemi waza) are a must in order create kuzushi (unbalancing) of the opponent and after atemi, it is more easy to apply a grappling technique (throw, lock etc). Thank you.
Of course grappling is the answer. I started mu journey in martial arts as a striker but I ended up practicing grappling,seeing that in a h2h situation, grappling is more effective, in general terms.
I totally agree with you, as someone who has been boxing for almost 2 years. I started practising mma grappling and judo. My main sport is still boxing, but everybody who wants to know how to defend themself should atleast know basic what to do on ground. Same is with takedowns
I love it. I started out in karate a long time a go and have been doing bjj going on three years now. Honestly you need both to be a complete martial artist. Its like saying the sky is blue.
Great clip, the best and only way to know how to deal with a grappling situation is learn how to grapple. The first ufc came out in 1993 and yet people STILL think they can just punch their way out of trouble 🤦♂️
The best thing I learned in my kungfu was that even if I a primary striker I can also use throws and holds/locks. But the majority of our grappling and locks aren't like the basics in BJJ/judo, our focus is to use it in self defense. Is absolute necessary to known wrestling and grappling no matter your style
Excellent stuff! I would also add that grappling is physically tiring in a unique way. Even top level strikers can gas out relatively quickly when grappling. For that reason alone it's useful for SD.
How many assaults on the street go on for more than 20 seconds? Most assaults are actually domestic violence or related to drug crime. Otherwise, they are criminals looking to surprise someone with a weapon.
They go on as long as the person controlling the situation allows them to go on. And there is no better way to control the situation - or at least have a greater influence in its ultimate outcome - than to control the body of the other person and mitigate their control over your body through positional and proprioceptive advantage. It really is that simple.
@North London that is misinformation. You don't need a referee or 1 vs 1 rules or a lack of extra attackers to know that if you are getting your shit kicked in by a crowd it is better to have certain habits from grappling combat sports than to not have them. It is better - objectively better - to have certain automatic reactions built in by months or years of rolling. Things like the way you automatically learn to protect your neck and limbs in more efficient ways and in awkward positions, the way you learn to preferentially land on the ground in ways that facilitate the protection of your organs with the use of your longer limbs (it is called "a guard" for a reason). And most importantly, the way you "learn" these things in an experiential way by pressure tested live sparring. Nobody "rises to the occasion." You fall to your level of training. No one who has ever grappled for any amount of time and had to use it in unscripted contexts would ever express such an opinion like you have. I have never met a correctional officer or police officer in a training gym (and I know several) who would say, "This all goes out the window at the prison or during an arrest because there is no 1 vs 1 rules." That is silliness. Yes, you have to modify your approach. Yes, no one is jumping guard in a street fight on concrete. But I guarantee, 100%, that if you can't grapple - even if it is is just a little basics, you can't fight.
@North London that's what I am talking about, man. When that fight at the bar or the stripclub breaks out, what do you think the bouncer's gonna use to end it? Ninja stars? An uzi? Kung Fu? Brother, I assure you that the wheel does not need to be reinvented.
Great take Another point is that not every self defense scenario requires as high use of force as punching someone. Grappling will cover you in a wide spectrum of self defense from removing a drunk friend ruining the party to neutralizing an actual attacker who is trying to do you harm. Obviously this is all in the context of unarmed fighting when weapons are introduced things do change.
I use to work at a drug and alcohol respite and recovery facility back in the day in which i got assaulted one time at work from a guy who use to box. I remember kicking him hard in the rib (muay thai) but for some reason after he went done I grabbed him (I have not experience in grappling) and we ended up wrestling on the ground where both of us didn't know how to grapple. We must of spent 5 min or so before a colleague intervened. I wish I had of started grappling before it happened.
I never really thought about this. In both wrestling and Kung Fu there were so many moves to do against people who were already on the ground or that we had to defend against because we were the target on the ground, being able to handle at least some grappling and ground fighting is obviously necessary for any kind of self defense. Especially with winning defined as getting away, it is almost impossible for an opponent to prevent you from getting away without grappling or taking you to the ground.
I've worked in the security/law enforcement field for the last 17 years. I've had to use grappling techniques more times than I can count. One of the strengths of grappling is that it gives me more options. I can choose to gently restrain someone, go harder and use it more for pain compliance, incapacitation or worst case scenario termination. If you're primarily just a striker, your options are limited. If you strike someone effectively, the only option you have is to cause damage or incapacitate them. In my line of work that's not always an option, or the best option at least. I also don't always have the luxury of just walking away. Personally I've always found grappling to be more natural and intuitive. Even with years of training, I've hesitated to strike preemptively. But I've always been more comfortable closing with someone and going Hands-On in that fashion. Some people will make the argument that grappling doesn't work well against multiple attackers, but being in some of those situations myself, nothing works well against multiple attackers. Save for maybe a firearm. And if weapons are involved, your options are severely limited in either case. If I didn't have the option to run or evade when facing someone with a firearm, I would want to be as close to them as possible. I would never advise or recommend trying to pull off some type of disarm, but that being said if I could close the gap I would at least have a fighting chance. Knives or other melee weapons are another story however. I have at one time in my life successfully Wrestled a knife off of someone while working at a hospital where a patient somehow snuck in a knife. I was unarmed at the time, and didn't have the option of using a weapon. It might have come down to recklessness on my part, but I made a judgment call on the Fly and engaged with him. I have no delusions of grandeur, and it was blind luck that I wasn't severely injured. Just because I used grappling effectively in this instance, doesn't mean I would ever recommended it in that type of scenario.
These are all points that I’ve tried making in the RUclips comment section in many other videos, another thing that people don’t think about is not every self-defense situation requires striking or a weapon. for example, if your teenage child gets upset and starts attacking you you’re not going to punch your child in the face you need to be able to restrain them
Some words from Rory Miller come to mind: "Assaults happen closer, faster, more suddenly, and with more power than most people believe." (Miller, R. 2008. "Meditations On Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence") If your assaulter is already doing what they want before you have properly oriented to their initial action, you are losing. By default you have to react and, if they are grabbing you, that may well mean that you have to either grapple or accept whatever terms of defeat your attacker deems desirable.
"They get comfortable in deeply uncomfortable positions." When I first started to train San Da (chinese kickboxing with some standing grappling) I really noticed that people with a predominately grappling bakcground were always dangerous in any position. Had a guy with a judo background reverse a throw when he was basically horizontal already... I was in shock..."but I had already won!" One of the great advantages grapplers have over stand up guys is that they dont give a shit about being stood up and balanced. They are still working and still dangerous until you tap them out or beat them down.
I think the usual pitfall for self defense is basically "learn one thing and nothing else". You don't have to obsessively train EVERYTHING (no one is invincible) but everyone should have some familiarity with grappling, striking, weapons, situational awareness, using terrain or what hazards to watch out for, etc. Grappling is a great foundation because you can still be very effective even if you are blinded or are fighting in the dark, and if the person has already grabbed you, well, you're already grappling anyway.
awesome ,I agree with most of things you said ,everyone should know at least basic grappling ,sprawl ,getups ect ,but have to disagree with the ldea of dirty fighting ,such as knee to groin ,or monkey grabs the banana ,lol or thumb in eye. Or biting in general . Not saying that should be go to moves but should be explored when actually grappling ,just like fish hooking ,a sprawl to a fish hook in the eye is a great way to defend a take down ,yes the guard position is not a great spot for your crotch ,but again the idea of dirty fighting is not a style but a supplement to understanding to what you already know .great stuff as always :)
One aspect you didn't mention is the legal aspects of self defense. With successful grappling you can subdue an attacker without injuring them. Successful striking means dealing out damage that could result in injuries, which might not look like self defense to bystanders, police, and the judicial system. Thus you could be held criminally liable and be open to civil lawsuits. A few times at the hospital ER I work at I needed to subdue a violent combative people under the influence of drugs or alcohol (the hospital is too cheap to hire proper security). If I punch the patient I would be in big trouble and I could be fired, lose my medical license, end up on the front page of the newspaper, possibly be charged with assault and sued. But with my grappling skills I can control and subdue the patient until he or she can be restrained and sedated. Armchair Violence recently did a video on this same topic which was quite interesting.
Agree w all you said. My two cents is that we shouldn’t ignore striking if the fight goes to the ground. “Ground fighting” includes grappling, striking , transitions, etc. Hard aggressive striking negates a lot of sport jujitsu holds and positions.
I've been grappling, wrestling, and practicing kickboxing since a teen and eventhough takedown defense and ground fighting has long since been instinct at this point, I would NEVER have thought Tobe good at FIGHTING until I started learning how to BOX. The stances, the proper punching form, the footwork and movement patterns especially, hitting the different kinds of bags, like the double end, only now do I feel comfortable if attacked on the street. Grappling is more natural to how humans fight instinctively, you only need to practice by sparring and playing around on the ground and repeatedly getting taken down before your body starts to become aware of your center of gravity and what our limbs can and cannot do. But striking is an ART that MUST BE TAUGHT by an experienced and knowledgeable instructor. It's not something that comes second nature at all. So if you were training martial arts for self defense on the street and not to compete in mma or a grappling sport, I would say to learn a good striking art from a good teacher and for grappling you just need to roll around with some decent wrestlers or bjj practitioners in order to get a good feel for what grappling is and how important your balance and center of gravity is along with limb and head control. You don't need to study complicated submissions or how to set them up and defend because in most self defense situations you won't be rolling around on the concrete trying to set up a Triangle on someone who knows what you are trying to do and how to defend it. You just want to stay on your feet and if you get lifted up, how to land safely or reverse into a dominant position and get back up as soon as possible. Anyone can learn this. Just don't go talking shit to anyone with cauliflower ears and large upper back muscles you will survive long enough to escape from danger.
@@EnglishMartialArts Well you can't just roll around with "people" lol I mean you have to actually practice grappling with people who are really good at grappling and if you do this on a regular basis you will learn how to stay on your feet long enough to escape or use your striking. But I'm saying this as a life long grappling student. All these things were muscle memory long before I even lost my virginity lol But I still believe that anyone can learn from sparring safely but in striking you COULD learn by sparring only without instruction but you will take such punishment and never actually learn how to throw a proper punch or kick. You don't need to know the best way to do a good single or double or how to pass guard to side control in a step by step list, you learn more by doing than you do hearing instructions. Just my opinion 🤷
@@MrCmon113 and you've never pissed blood for a week from just one liver shot or had to drink smoothies from a straw for 6 weeks from a broken jaw 🙂 I mean we could put on the whole kudo suits with the helmets and mma gloves ON CONCRETE out in the street and you are welcome try to "fold" me if you want Sports are not the same as fighting And just because you may be trained in one fighting sport does not automatically mean that you can FOLD every person you disagree with
At the end of the day its like any kind of study, the deeper you go the more specialized you become. you have to decide how deep you go GSCE level , degree level, masters, or Phd. any one studying for the purpose of self protect should have a good general understanding of all aspect of combat including weapons. in these evil times. However, god willing you can train for 40 years and never have a fight, so it makes sense to do the majority of training in the aspect you enjoy most whether it is boxing, grappling or what ever style you chose. All arts exist on a sliding scale between self protection and self development, its up to the individual choose where the balance is. Respect to all.
I always thought it was ground fighting and willingly pulling guard, that just seems a tad bit silly to me. Cant see why anyone would think throwing somone to the ground would bea bad idea
I know you don't hold Aikido in high regard, if any. But you should check out some of Karl Geis's stuff. He was a highly respected Judoka who train with Kenji Tomiki and Tsunako Miyake and developed some pretty sound stuff in Aikido.
Thanks for the suggestions. I like Tomiki Aikido the sporting aspect helps prevent excessive complexity of technique. To use a cooking metaphor some styles approach self defense like preparing a gourmet five course meal when really egg and chips done well is perfectly acceptable. Respect to all.
Aikido is useless without Judo.. its like having the expansion pack for a game but not the initial install.. the expansion is worthless. That said I love Aiki and utilize it alot .. big difference between Aiki and Aikido .. those hippies can keep there flower power
@@mysty0 I think you may not had exposure to the best teachers of Aikido. Historically , Kano Jigoro was quoted as saying Aikido was what he was trying to create when he created Judo. Also a number of high level Judoka were sent to train under Ueshiba sensei and ultimately stuck with him to become his students. Tomiki Kenji created Tomiki 'Aikido' which contains elements of both. Tomiki sensei also created the Goshin no Kata for the Judo syllabus based on Aikido / Aiki- jujitsu techniques. So it looks like Aikido is more the expansion pack for Judo. Having practiced both arts I would rather say the arts are complimentary and neither is inferior to the other. It's just which one fits the person better. It is not necessary to study Judo to make Aikido effective but a good teacher is. And of course getting out and investigating other styles is good for any art, not just Aikido and Judo. Sadly there are a lot of bad Judo and Aikido dojo's out there. BTW from your email tone you seem a bit angry. I sincerely hope your day gets better. Respect to all.
@@johnnemo6509 what I understand is the wax on wax off, paint the fence, sand the floor elements in Miyagi Do (Goju Ryo - Southern White Crane) are examples of Aiki.. controlling and redirecting the flow.. from there you are free to unleash your own mind within the perimeters of what is good form .. I do not subscribe to any single discipline, I study until I find what is at the core of its teachings and then I move on
@@mysty0 Thanks that's very cool. For a while, I lived in the same town as Okamoto Seigo of Daitoryu Roppokai and was able to train with some of his students. Their feel was similar to good Tai chi practitioners terms of Ting (listening or sensitivity) Yi (Mind/intention) and Peng ( Issuance / bumping). I am a big fan of Okinawa kakete drills and use them as part of my training. I agree with you at the end of the day we have to find our own path and it is not beneficial to stay with things which you have transcended or do not provide the results you are looking for. Respect to all.
one of the best MMA Punchers in the early days was "The Iceman" Chuck Lidell, well..... he was wrestler who learned to punch and he his prior wrestling training to avoid take downs in the ring and evade lock and submission grips. and again... yes.... wrestling/grappling works.... well.... a lot 😀
You can approach self-defense from a couple of angles, but let's say that you are worried about your health or life as a private individual (not a bouncer, coop or soldier), this is what you need to do. First and foremost, we must recognize that self-defense is a legal term - some countries may not use that specific term (mine doesn't), but there will always be provisions in the law that concern situations like this. The very first thing that therefore has to be done is to either pay a lawyer for a consult (an actual lawyer, not your aunt on facebook or your sensei in the local dojo) or to hit the books yourself. Once you've done that, find out what is the best weapon you can have - a pistol is the preferred choice, followed by things like knives, screwdrivers or reinforced flashlights. Then, once you have your weapon, learn to use it in the situations and places you are concerned about. And that's where the grappling comes in. I've been fighting with swords and spears for a decent amount of time, and let me tell you this: there is maybe a one in ten chance that any give fight with a weapon will go to the grappling range (exact odds depend on exact weapons, can be higher or lower). And once that happens, if you have no idea how to fight in a grapple, you're dead. And this is in a situation where the person grappling you is holding something in their hands and has respect for your ability to hurt them (as opposed to charging you in a desperate/drunken rage). Even then, assuming 1/10 chance holds, you have twice the chance of getting killed that a DnD character has of rolling a critical hit, which is... not good. Now, what you need to do isn't grappling strictly speaking, it's weapon retention and being able to bring that weapon to bear while someone is trying to grapple with you, which is slightly different from grappling; but the thing is, there's a tremendous amount of overlap. A skilled grappler can probably take a few seminars on pistol retention and ask his friend in the local Catch club to do a round with his rubber gun every now and again and be fine - a boxer can't exactly do that, since there is little overlap. And if the law says you can't have any weapon? Well, then grappling with your weapon of choice - fists - is just... grappling. As for dirty tricks, here's a secret. Any good martial art is nothing but a collection of dirty tricks that work really, really well. There's a reason why Fiore included a kick in the nuts in his book written for a well-respected duke.
great video. in my opinion, offensive grappling (takedowns, pins, submissions) are practical for self defense if you have only one unarmed attacker who is grabbing you. if that's not the case, then defensive grappling (sprawling against takedowns, pin escapes) are still practical to use while trying to escape the altercation.
I would disagree with a couple of details there; firstly, I'm not sure if you intended it this way, but it seems like you're saying offensive grappling isn't practical against someone who's trying to do something other than grab you. I don't think that's true, and to explain why I'll point to the parts of this video where (... I've just realised I don't actually know the name of the man who runs this channel! Oops!) he talks about grappling being very effective against non-grapplers. If that wasn't what you meant, my apologies. The second thing I disagree with is 'unarmed'. It's my opinion, and as far as I can tell the opinion of most people who professionally train with weapons, that grappling is the most effective way of preventing someone from using a weapon on you. It's scarier because the weapon is close to you and you can't directly see it, but being able to control the limb that's holding the weapon is a huge advantage. There's always the chance of a lucky shot, but if the fight takes place at striking distance then *every attack* has the chance to be a lucky shot. With long weapons, being in grappling range makes most attacks impossible, or at least impractical; with guns, having control of the arm allows you to (mostly) prevent it being aimed at you; and with knives, controlling the arm negates what is to me the most worrying attack, i.e. repeated and violent stabs that are more or less impossible to defend against for long.
Agree w/ all you say. Especially, starting at minute 9. The problem w/ bjj. That's not trained. At least w/ all the vids I see. The habit of going to the ground is trained. That's building bad muscle memory that under the stress of a real attack could be your reaction. These an old saying we had in the military: "train like you fight, fight like you train."
It's not useless, it's incomplete. If you only know grappling you can only defend yourself in a 1 vs 1 situation. Apart from the fact that you could only defend yourself against people who were in your same weight and strength category or are weaker than you (let's be honest, if you have from the beginning that advantage is less likely to get into a fight unless you initiate it). people point out that you can always "run" that is not true and sometimes it is your worst option, first whenever you run you should have a plan(to know where there is help or where you can take refuge) and be sure that you can get there quickly, If someone really wants to hurt you, they will chase you and if they reach you, you already turned your back on them, you are lost. Another thing is that most of the scenarios where someone really wants to hurt you are with people you know in an isolated place (for example a relative of yours tries to hurt you inside your house) and many times people stronger than you. In addition to the fact that the other person may also know grappling and be better than you ... or simply much stronger, it is not a good strategy to prolong a fight if you are in danger, what you want is to finish as soon as possible and walk away, and that can be achieve (even against stronger and heavier opponents) knowing how to strike. (As a data, all the records for the fastest wins in the UFC in each of the categories are punches to the face, only 2 are not, Ronda Rousey with a judo sumision and Jorge Mansival with a knee) Just learn the 3! ( Punch, take downs/ grappling in the ground) The order of learning should be (in my opinion): first learn to hit (punches work against any opponent no matter how big no one can train their chin and liver not to get knocked out, this give You a tool against virtually anyone), then learn not to be take down and to take down your opponent (so you have control of the fight) and then learn grappling because as you said sometimes it's not an option to be on the ground
I agree, grappling provides most of the tools to avoid a violent assailant causing you injuries, hell it provides the ability to mitigate injuries from mundane things like falling down the stairs and the like. People who say they would avoid the ground don't know how to stop a takedown and if they miraculously know how it is supposed to look without understanding why they put themselves in a position to get thrown. Worst of all is the infamous "I will just stand up." Anyone who has been pinned knows you can't stand, you have to come up to your base and then control their hands or you are going wherever your opponent wants.
No it doesn't. How does it help you against weapons or a beer bottle to the back of your head? You live in a Hollywood world where you think it's legal for two man to stand together and bang it out in a fair match. Basically, your brain has been broken by movies and tv. Start by looking at statistics.
@@-whackd You can't win against a gun with boxing either. And for knives and beer bottles to the back of the head, you are assuming that a grappler is going to chose to stay on the ground to get bashed or stabbed. You can see many videos of wrestlers and judoka tripping an attacker and running away. Benefit, a trip doesn't put you on the ground.
Sir, quite honestly the most problems I've ever had in sparing have been with people that knew some form of grappling. Thankfully this was not "popular" as a form of fighting when I was a younger man, or anybody that chose a grappling form of actual combat against me in an actual fight was not proficient enough to take me down before I was able to end the fight with my martial art. We've already discussed my only remembered fight against more than one opponent once before. As I stated I was able to break the nose of the one assailant that was between myself and the door, and I then ran away. A few of them did attempt to follow me for some distance, but they became "strung out", and when one got far enough ahead of the other two I slowed down. I could hear his approach quite easily, just from his wheezing, I mean breathing. I slowed down more, and suddenly turned and caught him running straight into my right hand, turned and continued to run. Shortly thereafter I turned and noticed no one was chasing me anymore, and I went home. I guess I've been very lucky, as from a few guys I met in the Army I highly suspect your statement on grappling to be true. Good video, thanks.
For me the best point of grappling is you can be the one starting the fight without many consecuences. If you are someone in a tense situation thats gonna get violent you dont want either to ko a person with the first punch or risk getting punched, but if you take down the other person and control them, theres no big consecuences unlike if you knock them out
Free form( full range of movement), clinch and grppling.. why ignore an integral element of any potential physical confrontation. I like the cut of your jib sailor. Keep sharing and caring please....
I always tell people to learn grappling + a weapon art. It is what worked for over a thousand years for people who others were actively trying to murder and a lot of HEMA weapon arts are wrestling based.
Just started training bjj, everything is exactly as youre saying, there is no time to bite when youre fighting for breath, or you feel yore arm is breaking :]
It is definitely one of the things I fear most. I can carry a gun, it is legal in my country, I have licence for that, I own one and I carry one on daily basis. But you have to conceal it and you cannot wave it around whenever something does look little bit suspicious. So I can never say it won't happen to me and in this scenario, gun is quite useless. If I got down and I can reach my small but very sharp knife, it may be that kind of "dirty fighting" which will save me in that moment, because it is way more effective than trying to bite someone, but even if it works, there will be another problem, I could end basically unharmed, while the attacker will be stabbed and cutted seriously and it could be bit difficult to explain in court.
id say that going to the ground is never a favourable option, and i think as far as grappling your main goal should always to be to get up as fast as you can. Personally, i think the best things you can do for self defence is muay thai (or boxing/ kickboxing) and wrestling. From what i know, bjj is less effective than wrestling as bjj fighters get too comfortable staying on the ground, where without a doubt you will have your head stomped on. Overall i think striking is still better, specifically punching as alot of places where fights start such as clubs you wont be using much grappling. Love the video tho mate, made me think in a different way. Also worth mentioning that alot of people you might fight in the street wont be an experienced grappler, so you wont need to worry as much about them having really good technique, so basic grappling skills would be very effective
grappling beats striking for beating people 1v1. learning to strike is better to keep options open, defend yourself from distance and deal with mutliple person situations because to grapple is to commit. both are important.
I was attacked when I was a two stripe BJJ white belt, and it made me FAR more effective at self defense and de-escalation than before that small bit of training.
An argument I've heard many times is "grappling is a great idea until your opponent is on top of you doing ground and pound". Who do you think ends up on top between a grappler and a striker?? It's a lot easier for a grappler to do ground and pound that they've never done before than it is for a striker to work their way into a mount they've never done before.
You have made some really great points. Panic is a real thing. While you can not train for every situation, you can learn different options. To paraphrase Mike Tyson, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." Also "everyone has a plan until their legs are taken out from underneth them."
Yes, absolutely. Keeping calm is vital and so much easier when things are familiar.
@@EnglishMartialArts English muffins can calm you down pretty quickly.
The video advocates having a plan. Mike Tyson trained for his fights and his opponents. And your "plan" doesn't vanish at all when you're dazed - indeed that's when it becomes most important to have planned in advance.
@@MrCmon113 a plan is useless. Having multiple plans for multiple occasions you can automatically choose from is what you want, I guess
Prussian Field Marshall von Moltke ( victor of French/ German war of 1870/71 ) was asked: Is it possible, to have a plan to win a war? Von Moltke answered: You can have a plan, but first battle changes a lot.
“If you want to box a wrestler and he wants to wrestle, you’re going to wrestle” brilliant video!
Love that!
So not true at all in the slightest. 😂
Love this! Insert rant about, "ah but mate I train the clinch" and "no worries bruv I have great takedown defence".... ummmm your training wrestling in some form buddy.
@@DeeLee-v4c go try it out
Many years ago I had a lot of violent altercations. I started working the door and moved for many years in working in homeless hostels and street outreach. On three occasions I spent years annoyed with myself that as a judo player I had taken grips on the assailant but not had the presence of mind to throw much of a technique (I was a drop seonage specialist which maybe isn't ideal). I sent years wondering why I didn't trip, or tai o toshi my attacker. But then on reflection a rather obvious thing occured to me. It took nearly 20 years. in all three occasions, in fairly swift order they all fell to the ground. I powered them to the ground and knee on bellied them all (one got choked, two got held till I had back up). What I hadn't figured is that the great power of judo (and whichever grappling art you fancy) wasn't the throws (those are tools), the power was that for thousands of hours since age of six I had held hon judo grips (or collar grip etc) and the simple base mechanic of dominating that position was (is still) coded into my lizard brain. In high tension situations (or ones where you've allready been hit) I might not pull out a clever sweep but the gripping is locked in and assuming the opponent isn't particularly stronger than me, that's actually proven enough to dominate. It's worth thinking about what the base mechanic of any art is. by which I mean the single pattern you are most likely to repeat thousands of times. For example, I also boxed for years and I think that it's important to think of the base mechanic of boxing not as the punches (these are tools) but the act of bobbing and weaving and parrying and covering up. These are the things that will keep you alive in a high risk situation. Just thoughts. I think roughly speaking that grappling has a base mechanic that better suits the reality of being attacked.
I agree 100%. There is another aspect for strikers that never gets mentioned, and that is the fact that being competent on the ground gives you the confidence to let loose with your strikes. I was a Taekwon Do guy who then trained in MMA and cage fought, and in my experience you are not free to throw kicks against someone who may take you down unless you are comfortable being taken down. Training in grappling allowed me to land a lot of head kicks.
maybe if you can make the leg go back in the midle of a kick (by the ground leg), you wont need to asume they will graple you
hows it help in street fights? Now I have trained striking and some grappling and both are useful. Thing is in every street fight I seen hitting the deck is deadly man. Staying there is deadly. If u get a solid 1 on 1 yeah it really helps but its not very useful in the streets. I have lots of experiences is all i will say. I been down in street fights if i did not rise quickly I was a dead man. Too many opponents and weapons can be around too. Land a few and get up cause you need to have head on a swivel outside.
@@lordoffaiyum9727 being a competent grappler helps you to be able to "rise quickly". Being able ro "rise quickly" makes kicking a more viable option than if you didn't have skills to deal with being taken down.
@@lordoffaiyum9727 I don't know if I answered what you were trying to ask since I'm not sure what your point was. Grappling and striking are complimentary. You asked how they help in a street fight but then said yourself that they are useful. I would agree with you that they are useful, and would add that, like I said, if taken down, grappling skills help you to be able to "rise quickly".
I would say grappling is the ultimate form of self-defense when you don't mind touching someone. It is the form of fighting that we are meant however it fails in one aspect, you have to touch the person you are fighting.
The moment that I started working security and dealing with the homeless was the moment I learned grappling is useless when you are utterly disgusted by the person attacking you. Instantly started taking muay Thai again.
Lol, yeah I can get that. But if you want to get them off you as quick as possible?
Grappling is kinda useless if they have a knife or gun concealed Leandro lo was recently shot to the death by a crooked cop who was also a purple belt Leandro disarmed the attacker first after he charges him with a bottle then told him to leave once Leandro let him go the man took 3 to 5 steps backwards fatally shooting and killing Leandro immediately one of the best to ever do it instantly removef from this earth by a weapon. The best way to be prepared is carry weapons and train cause of two guys have the same training guy with the weapon likely wins.
@@EnglishMartialArts even if your attacker isn't trained with a knife your likely gonna get stabbed Darren till almost died by stabbing many MMA fighters have died by stabbing if someone really is trying to kill you with a weapon grappling likely won't save you but expose you to more danger in my honest opinion. Like if your a women or a man under 200 better have a gun ideally, or knife with your training. A lot of stabbing happens in a grappling situation look up sowing machine stabbing technique. It's the most common way stabbings ocurs forensic sciences calls it the sowing machine because most people try n stab you in n out of your chest cavity like a sowing machine and they don't walk up to you and say lets fight they get within a foot and viciously try n kill you.
@@EnglishMartialArts to be honest if you can outrun them that's the best option though.
@@EnglishMartialArts grappling is useful but in a real life or death encounter where the other party wants to kill you not fight but kill you for your possessions or other grapplings is good to know but I'd preferably have my training be the tool that ensures access to my weapon which in turn ensures me winning the conflict ideally.
This is a pretty beautiful summary of what people who haven’t grappled don’t understand. Can’t wait for the next video!
Thank you!
I definitely agree with your take. I trained Muay Thai and kickboxing back in the day for a few years and having adopted BJJ in my early forties this year, grappling opens up so many more options for controlling someone and subduing them that doesn't involve battering a person into a heap on the floor. I can think of countless circumstances where pinning someone in a submission hold is a kinder option than teeping them in the face, and I suspect more conducive towards de-escalation without the risk of being charged for GBH!
In think you're pretty spot on with this one. One thing I'd like to add is that grappling gives you a certain amount of choice in how much violence to apply to a situation. Not all self defense situations are ones were you want to hurt the other person or ones you can necessarily walk away from. The example I usually use is a drunk uncle at a party. They may be making an ass of themselves or picking fights with people. You need them to stop but you don't want to hurt them. Through grappling you can control a person and neutralize them as a threat without injuring them which is sometimes what a situation calls for.
A great point, thank you!
Grappling certainly has great value. Unfortunately, outside the dojo there is a shortage of good grace. In my experience people who have just submitted to an armlock, choke or strangle usually just attack me again when I let them go, unless I've applied enough pressure to make that unfeasible.... which is of course dangerous. Maybe bopping them on the nose is the safer option for everyone?
@@charliegaunt yes a Bjj world champion was recently killed by someone he overcame then released in an altercation. but the issue is not confined to grappling. In such situations it is critical to alter the attitude of the opponent. you may put your opponent in hospital for 6 months, but if he finds out where you live and burns you house down after getting out that's not a successful outcome. I paraphrase "act in such a way that you do not fear you opponents retaliation". That could be de-escalation of the situation or could involve a shovel, a roll of carpet, 2 bags of lye, and short car ride. Guess it depends or you evaluation of the person and situation. respect to all.
@@johnnemo6509 Well put :) "Critical to alter the attitude of your opponent", as a comparatively little guy, I struggle with that. Wish it was different but hey ho, got to live with it.
@@charliegaunt Thanks most of the best martial artists I know a below average size because they need to do it with technique rather than size and weight. The psychology of interrupting people's thought patterns is very interesting. often it is in the form of a shock causing the persons focus to turn away from you to something else for example From " I'm going to f@ck this guy up" to "what the f@ck just happened?" often a pain compliance applied at the right time will work.. sometimes you can mentally disarm someone by telling them a joke. problem is everyone has different triggers and reactions. I have found that projecting clam strength and treating people with compassion and respect is never a bad thing. At least if I have to hurt someone there's a better chance that the other person is the jerk and not me. Respect to all.
Valid points. As an active doorman, I’ve gotten away from sport bjj and incorporated MMA - wrestling with strikes and clinch and Boxing.
I often feel like the most unexplored range for counter offence is the clinch
MMA grappling is a very good foundation!
very true, clinch and vertical grappling is vital anyone going into ground work is almost certain to transition through clinch/ vertical grappling and it's a natural reaction for strikers to clinch up when they get tagged even if they have no intention to go to the ground. Well that's my 15mins of YT commenting used up...back to training. Respect to all.
Great video. I don’t argue with people anymore about the effectiveness of knowing how to grapple. The phases you describe for new grapplers can only be understood for someone who actually grapples, what you said was so accurate. But how about video on Billy Robinsons way of getting back up?
I'm looking to start making some practical demonstration videos again soon. I'll add that one to the list!
More practical videos please.
@@EnglishMartialArts yes more please!
@@EnglishMartialArts A special way to get up is absolutely a video I would watch. This comment is now six months old. Hope the video is out. Either way, solid video!
100% I prefer to be on my feet that's where my training is but....recently I was taking BJJ classes to round out my self defense, it really is a whole different animal and is a lot more fun than people realize. If you have never done ground fighting you are in for an overwhelming, ego busting, sore experience, but it is better to have it in the DoJo than on the street where it can be a matter of life or death.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
points well taken. I would prefer to keep it standing, but think you have to be prepared for being taken down and for taking someone down.
Exactly!
Good topic. It's important for people on both sides of the argument to keep an open mind. The first point you make is critical if your main focus is self protection. I think of the self defense situation as a pit with levels defined by depth of involvement and tactically by mobility.
1: Situational Awareness escape and evasion methods if a thread is detected
2: confrontation. Pre fight "verbal; judo" and psychological
3: kicking punching
4: Clinching vertical Grappling
5: take downs
6: ground work
at each level mobility and options are reduced.
Everybody need to know some grappling or anti-grappling tactics. When you are at lvl 6 the only way to dig yourself out is to grapple your way out. That being said to have a strategy to skip lvls 1~5 and go straight to lvl 6 only makes sense in a controlled training environment.
I separate take downs from ground work because the original intent of throws was to down your opponent while remaining standing and preserving you mobility. sutemi and makikomi throws while existing before sport grappling greatly increased in popularity with the introduction of sport grappling. for self protection all lvls are equally important. The ability to dominate at one lvl prevents the situation devolving ( from a self defense view) to the next lvl down. Love grappling in all forms but you have to look at your goals and modify the way you train...pressure test techniques, practice multiple opponent encounters add weapons, set up problems and work through solutions to gain familarity with situations. Everyone should grapple! Respect to all.
I like grappling and wrestling arts because it shuts down flurries of punches and works at the closest range, which is what "all violence" operates in, especially when dealing with crazy or angry people who just rush you. If you're too far away to engage in grappling, then you're in no danger anyway, because even most striking is performed in grappling range.
It was Mick Coup who had great advice, he said "you're either out of range or in range, arms length in real street violence is a luxury, if you wanna 'bridge the gap', close your eyes and open them again".
I feel grappling is all encompassing, you can better control an armed or unarmed person, there is only one range to consider, the range where everything happens anyway, and you can focus on a specific skill set, simplifying your mind and training, as opposed to having a cluster of skills and styles that you're "in debate" in using in the moment. And any striking you do know, can be integrated into grappling holds (elbows, knees).
you're right. I've trained a bit in Judo enough to know that when you find yourself on the ground, and you will, if you don't know what to do next, you're probably screwed. thanks for the video.
I think people who really think it's easy to always stay on your feet haven't been tackled in their life.
Yes, though most people aren't exposed to Rugby, American, Canadian, Australian, or Florentine (Calcio Fiorentino) rules football. Most people don't wrestle or grapple either. These are relatively niche sports.
Playing a lot of rugby when I was growing up certainly gave me some useful experience and reduced the fear of close contact.
Hi! I just want to say great job on the video. Keep up the great content. I think you are spot on with your take on grappling.
I agree in general, except with one formulation: grappling is not just beat by better grappling - you can be a worse grappler, but better striker and win, since you don’t need to beat them in grappling, you need to be able to defend takedowns/submissions long enough to get enough clean hits in. Fighting for a draw is easier than fighting for a win, so you can go for a draw in the grappling and then win at striking. That said, you still need to learn some grappling to defend against a grappler and strikers with decent grappling skills can still lose to grapplers with bad striking skills.
My philosophy is if you are going to eye gouge, bite, or any "street move". You have to utilize basic grappling fundamentals to get in dominant positions to do so. Eye gouging itself might not do much, but get full mount isolate an arm and you leave your opponent completely open to any dirty tricks in your rulebook. It's all about establishing tight dominant positions top or bottom to the point that your opponent can't escape or defend.
Thats some kind of circle jerk echo chamber crap being espoused right there.. almost every time Ive seen eye gouging in MMA its stopped the fight or completely changed the outcome.. telling yourself you are somehow immune to and eye gouge when you have no clue how extremely painful such an experience is. There is a video compilation here on youtube of eye gouges by strikers dropping opponents in an instant.. but you are somehow greater than all these MMA fighters and able to resist the pain of a finger striking your skull through your eye socket, yea right!
@@mysty0 Looks you've been skipping too much brain day. You do realize there's a difference between eye strikes and and eye gouges? I'm strictly referring to attempting to defend against a bjj black belt only utilizing eye gouging and no grappling experience. Go ahead and find me a video of how "devastating" it is to trying poking your way out of a kimura.
That's it, isn't it. I think people who are proponents of eye-gouging etc. forget that the superior grappler is also eminently capable of doing the same thing to an opponent, and is likely to be in a much better position to do so effectively. It also escalates the situation from being one where the grappler is feeling fairly charitable to one where they may be more inclined to start breaking/tearing things.
@@TheSpartanboy10 nevermind, you are literally a 10yo.. my bad, I will leave you to your delusions
Beautifully put, the first time I went to a judo gym and got beat up by people half my size, my masculine pride went out the dojo that day. Especially, when they weren't even trying and I was puffing and panting.
The aching I felt through rolling and standing was bigger than my hurt ego..
100% even if you're not interested in it you have a good standard of basic grappling to defend yourself perhaps attending one class a week. It's about evolution too, I remember when the UFC started and BJJ was slated by strikers, look at MMA now and how other arts pay attention to it. If you are a striker it will give you so much more confidence and BTW its knackering!
It's the best aerobic workout I've ever done in Martial arts.
As a practitioner of hapkido, our instructor gets us to grapple standing to show us how difficult it is to apply technique to a person opposing that motion and force. Knowing how to apply and especially avoid technique such as takedowns and throws is vital in my opinion as they can be devastating to the victim and put them in a horrible position, on the ground. This is why I think wrestling/standing grappling is much more important than ground grappling as it can be used to prevent ending up on the ground, which even if you practise bjj or another sort of ground grappling is not favorable in my opinion. Even if the goal is to run away at every possible chance, which in my opinion is ground grapplings greatest application, I feel not going to the floor in the first place is more advantageous to train for as disadvantages on your end are less severe e.g. several attackers, weight difference, dirty fighting and the pure time and effort it takes to attempt to get away/stand up from a grappling attacker. I still wish to start training in bjj though, as you are right it is effective and potentially life saving, but in my opinion only in specific scenarios. Bjj cant counter a good kick to the face or knees, wrestling cant effectively counter a boxer keeping his distance, I feel all martial arts are scenario driven but when combined are extremely strong. For this reason I think as a solo art, bjj is ineffective, as the majority of practitioners would struggle to apply it in a range of scenarios.
"wrestling cant effectively counter a boxer keeping his distance" just for the purposes of discussion: Muhammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki. Respect to all.
I’ve been with you from the beginning man! Keep the awesome sauce coming. Every video you make is so compelling and informative. Thanks again.
Thank you!
Amazing point you touched on, "what I do works, what you do doesn't" was shown to me a few years back. A TKD blue belt youngster, she was about 12. Someone tried to grab her. She wacks a side kick into the guys ribs and sprints. Reality based instructor unknown, "that was wrong and she was lucky". It wasnt wrong. It worked. She wasnt lucky. She was assaulted
Under subscribed channel with respectful and logical thoughts on combat for self defence and sports
Thank you!
Misrepresenting the argument: Most ppl don't say grappling is pointless or useless for self-defense and, therefore, you shouldn't do it at all.
Most ppl tend to agree it's important to develop competent grappling skills. But they will also say it's foolish to use grappling as a primary strategy for handling unexpected violent encounters. And this sentiment is usually said in response to BJJ practitioners saying otherwise.
And it is foolish.
In an unexpected scenario, there are just too many unknown variables and you would be putting yourself in a compromised position, skill or not, by employing a strategy that primarily encourages intentionally taking your opponent to the ground.
No wiser words have ever been so eloquently stated. Bravo lad. Let all who viewed your video take heed . 👊👍🙏
Thanks Fred 😃
Grappling is very useful, people tend to forget that even primates and other mammals tend to wrestle with each other when they fight. I think what people mean is that grappling sometimes doesn't work as expected, there is a big difference between school wrestling and fighting someone in a backstreet. What it really comes down to is the fact that violence isn't predictable and there is no 100 percent bulletproof way of dealing with violence. Being an experienced grappler can give you some advantages, but they won't make you invincible and it doesn't need a whole lot for a person to be killed by another human.
Recently Sidney Australia experienced a mass murder attack where a terrorist armed with a simple knife killed six random strangers and wounded nine during a mass stabbing attack.
So would wrestling, jiujitsu , boxing or any unarmed combat sport have allowed the victims to defend themselves?
Or would allowing citizens to legally conceal carry a pistol upon graduating a training class have saved lives?
These are rhetorical questions.
I love those brutally honest videos Oz makes :D
Always interesting and inspiring as usual....
I'm a 65 year old fogy that practices krav maga. I enjoy it as a hobby but also believe some of its philosophy is as realistic as you can get , that is, you need to avoid violence, avoid being on the ground etc, but the rounded techniques do make sense. Having some practical experience in grappling can help the muscle memory.. But how and what one does in an emergency, you can never tell...
Yep, always avoid whenever you can, but train to deal with failure.
I love this!!! You're a brilliant grappler please never stop sharing your opinion
Grappling is extremely essential to know. and I agree with what you said 100%. When I was younger, I considered grappling useless and assumed that dirty fighting techniques would be enough. However, as I matured and my knowledge grew, apart from me training in MMA and BJJ; I have learned the importance of and also really love grappling.
I agree, grappling is just important to learn for self defense as striking is. Not only for the fact that 1 on 1 fights a grappler would win 75-80% of the time , but also for the fact that you have to learn how to grapple in order to defend against grappling and how to hurt/escape a grappler once they grabbed onto you .
I love all your points Oz. Those dojo hypno dudes are gonna get some hurt bad, like that DUST guy. Plus defending yourself with grappling is easier to avoid lawsuits and jail time cause you didnt smash someone head in or teeth. I've always envisioned the reciprocation after the fight is over. Choke them out and avoid permanently damaging someone.
I have been enjoying your chanel a lot. Great work. I am a Gracie Jiu Jitsu brown belt and reasonable amount of boxing and muay thai training.
To defend yourself, learn how to strike, learn how to grapple. Focus your training around scenarios where you are against a larger, stronger, untrained antagonist. My current thinking is as follows (The absence of other martial arts is not me judging them as ineffective, just that i have not trained them, so cannot use them):
At range: boxing footwork plus front kicks to keep opponent away and get away from the confrontation.
In clinch, blend Muay thai and gracie jiu jitsu to prevent getting taken down and disengage and get away.
On the ground: use gracie jiu jitsu to prevent damage and regain a vertical base. If that is not possible look for submissions to end the fight. I would generally not try to take someone down unless I was very sure of the context and surroundings.
There’s an old video of a high school wrestler being chased by some guys, and he beats all three of his attackers whilst never going to the ground, or rather coming back up from the ground immediately if he went to the ground. You can grapple effectively without going to the ground in a self defence scenario.
I agree wholeheartedly with your main point, you need grappling to defend grappling. When you are Van Damme-ing your multiple opponents in the alleyway one of them is just going to grab you or tackle you. You can on the other hand, use grappling against striking even if yoy cant strike, so it covers more ground for self defense if you could only choose one.
Another majorly overlooked point in favor of grappling over striking: being able to RELIABLY say you can finish MOST people with strikes takes an extremely high level of competency for people who arent natural knock out freaks. You dont just train a normal person for a year and suddenly theyre knocking opponents twice their size out cold and shattering ribs with body kicks. It simply doesnt happen. On the other hand, anyone can land a lucky shot, especially criminal street fighters who have been sucker punching people their whole life. So while you are using your highly energy costly, unreliable method to finish the fight you are also exposed to the risk of being finished yourself every moment of the exchange.
This is not the case with submissions. A mediocre submission grappler WILL disable an untrained attacker, with near certainty outside of extreme circumstances like ridiculous size differences, the person being on meth etc. Untrained people are simply completely useless at defending subs and successful subs reliably produce the outcome of an unconcious opponent or a disabled limb, which "successful" strikes do not.
There is a misconception in people who havent trained that it is the other way around because subs take a really long time to implement in competition where both competitors have actual defence. People seem to forget most boxing fights dont end in knock out and the ones that do happen several rounds in.
I have seen many, many street fighters slip and dodge punches with no training but simply being in street fighters. Only the insanely strong can sandbag submissions without training and even then they cant do much to you while they are using all their strength to defend so the risk is mitigated
Good morning back to yah hope you will find more interesting points to make at any other video you do next
Lots of love from PR🇵🇷
A lot of factors need to be considered when you use what you learned. Whether it is grappling or striking, you have to be prepared mentally, know what techniques work, and more importantly how to end it quickly.
Agreed. From what I have seen, it is a massive disadvantage to go to ground in a real fight. BUT you must know grappling techniques in order to counter anything your attacker does in that realm.
Great video! Re grappling, I think that you are 100% correct!!! I have done quite a lot of stand-up grappling within my Silat and Kung Fu training but I have avoided serious training in ground fighting. I think, to be honest, the idea of going to a BJJ school and getting mangled by a 13 year old girl is less than appealing, however I probably should give it a try. I've been training for 57 years although this is one area in which I am sadly lacking.
It's quite a complex issue, the term self defence is difficult to define.
If there is going to be a fight/attack and that fight is unavoidable, the first one to strike wins in the overwhelming majority of cases.
That's about reading body language and pre fight rituals, disguising your own body language etc.
That said all of your points are also valid.
I would say proactively, striking is much more effective for self defense.
Reactively, grappling is better but not, though being reactive is a terrible strategy.
Ideally, know both and be streetwise.
i once again almost fully agree the only exception being multiple oponents but you adressed that well: Grappling is simply one of the two basic scenarios that can happen in a fight and as you said it is absolutely disadvantageous to go to the ground in any altercation specially when theres more then one attacker or agressor, but then again it doesnt mean that you shouldnt train it and you shouldnt know basic grappling as you stated correctly that people dont choose to go to the ground...which is why striking exists...for when you can beat the other guy without him taking you to the ground or you taking him to the ground but when thats not an option the best you can do is be trained in grappling to a point where you know the most likely situations and how to properly deal with them and then hope the other guy isnt a better grappler then you...which is likely the case given how untrained the average person manages to be in all forms of fighting(it never ceases to surprise me how there are people who do not know how to properly punch) which leads me to your next point: progress is a bitch in martial arts in general but specially in grappling because literally everyone else but you can see your progress, for example i have a practical story here two actually and i appologise for how long this comment can become in advance: i went back to BJJ about 3-4 months ago now and i have been showing a steady progression even tho i still tap out more then i tap others out...however on one ocasion last week on wendnesday i believe some people from another gym came in to train with us in good faith and as a white belt i was placed to roll against another white belt a larger and slightly stronger man then me even which is fairly impressive given my 125 kgs and constant training with weights and striking arts which already made me the physically larger and stronger man in my bjj mat in the first place by raw strength alone...and i managed to take him down, get side control and then finish him with a technique that i only know the name off in portuguese but the literal translation would be a ¨bicep pinch¨ where you basically throw your weight on one knee above the oponents biceps in order to make him tap out due to the pain, i didnt even finished placing the full technique in place with my full weight and he was already tapping out! this came as a suprise to me as i often am considered one of the less skilled and weaker fighters(fighting skill wise) in my bjj mat...but aparently im actually fairly competent since i managed to on that same week tap out a blue belt in a roll on friday, the fact he had me in his guard and i performed the most simple choke in bjj to finish him by merely doing the basic forearm on neck choke was also pretty amazing to me, although granted we had been rolling non stop without being able to finish one another for about 5 minutes at this point where he was an older more technical oponent that was constantly getting me on locks and chokes that i managed to escape off and maintain my stamina going due to my sheer physical strength and constant conditioning to turn that into a battle of atrition and by the end when we were both gassing out and he had me on his guard i placed that choke on a last ditch effort to make him tap out and it ended up working, if he had the gas to simply break out of my choke id have probably lost there as i was without any more stamina and had he broken that choke id be powerless to stop a triangle or armlock which could have easily been performed from the situation that would happen...
Well that was a long example but the bottom lines were: grappling is in fact extremely important to be a complete fighter and while you do get better you just dont realize it until you face someone else who isnt used to fighting you often...during holidays my Gym closes for the day so im forced to train in more chain comercial gym type places and what happens when i go train there is that i often realize that its not that im a weak fighter or unskilled...i just train my martial arts with fucking monsters of imense talent and hard work and often i find myself as one of the strongest individuals in these more casual gymnasiums not that theyre bad its just that casual lifters and fighters just dont have the same level of daily extreme training that more ¨hardcore¨ gyms and dojos like mine do so it isnt a shame for them and shouldnt be a surprise for me that these people would be less skilled...but it is nice to see progress.
also sorry for the blogpost or any grammar mistakes i really have to learn to condense my thoughts better.
Lol, I should get you to script videos! No need to apologise at all.
There's a reason that grappling martial arts and wrestling are a universal feature across all Human societies (and probably predate us tbh) - and that is the simple fact that what's brought up in this video is very true and always has been. Real fights are dirty, brutal, and chaotic and it's always important to remember this within the frame of any martial art. I've been unfortunate enough to find myself in a few real fights in the past and I can say with certainty that anything somebody may think they themselves may do in a fight goes right out the window and gives way to pure monkey brain and self preservation. It's always important to remember that your goal in these situations should be to train yourself not only to be able to get yourself out of a violent encounter as soon as possible, but also train yourself to not panic in such a stressful situation, which is arguably the most difficult part of it all.
It definitely does humble you though, more than once in school I ended up on the ground before I could even process what was going on, and that most assuredly isn't a good feeling LMAO
Very true!
Throughout my childhood, I didn't know how to throw punches so what I did was lift people up and throw them on the ground. Whenever I did that, they froze it's like they had no idea what to do.
Usually they don't!
Some good concepts are discussed here. I can fully agree. Having said that, I think that there are situations that striking could be used additionally to grappling. In case a group of people is attacking a person, this person maybe would be better to use striking in order to create an opening to escape. Or, in terms of Jujutsu (the Japanese version of it), striking techniques (atemi waza) are a must in order create kuzushi (unbalancing) of the opponent and after atemi, it is more easy to apply a grappling technique (throw, lock etc). Thank you.
Striking definitely has a place in self defence, I'd be an idiot to think otherwise. But the point is when your striking fails where so you go?
Of course grappling is the answer. I started mu journey in martial arts as a striker but I ended up practicing grappling,seeing that in a h2h situation, grappling is more effective, in general terms.
I totally agree with you, as someone who has been boxing for almost 2 years. I started practising mma grappling and judo. My main sport is still boxing, but everybody who wants to know how to defend themself should atleast know basic what to do on ground. Same is with takedowns
Fantastic perspective mate. Love from Melbourne Australia
Thank you!
I love it. I started out in karate a long time a go and have been doing bjj going on three years now. Honestly you need both to be a complete martial artist. Its like saying the sky is blue.
Great clip, the best and only way to know how to deal with a grappling situation is learn how to grapple. The first ufc came out in 1993 and yet people STILL think they can just punch their way out of trouble 🤦♂️
The best thing I learned in my kungfu was that even if I a primary striker I can also use throws and holds/locks. But the majority of our grappling and locks aren't like the basics in BJJ/judo, our focus is to use it in self defense.
Is absolute necessary to known wrestling and grappling no matter your style
Excellent stuff! I would also add that grappling is physically tiring in a unique way. Even top level strikers can gas out relatively quickly when grappling. For that reason alone it's useful for SD.
How many assaults on the street go on for more than 20 seconds?
Most assaults are actually domestic violence or related to drug crime. Otherwise, they are criminals looking to surprise someone with a weapon.
@@-whackd Good point. I'm not sure. I've seen a few videos of people being attacked for more then 20secs. Not sure how common that is.
They go on as long as the person controlling the situation allows them to go on. And there is no better way to control the situation - or at least have a greater influence in its ultimate outcome - than to control the body of the other person and mitigate their control over your body through positional and proprioceptive advantage. It really is that simple.
@North London that is misinformation. You don't need a referee or 1 vs 1 rules or a lack of extra attackers to know that if you are getting your shit kicked in by a crowd it is better to have certain habits from grappling combat sports than to not have them.
It is better - objectively better - to have certain automatic reactions built in by months or years of rolling. Things like the way you automatically learn to protect your neck and limbs in more efficient ways and in awkward positions, the way you learn to preferentially land on the ground in ways that facilitate the protection of your organs with the use of your longer limbs (it is called "a guard" for a reason). And most importantly, the way you "learn" these things in an experiential way by pressure tested live sparring.
Nobody "rises to the occasion." You fall to your level of training.
No one who has ever grappled for any amount of time and had to use it in unscripted contexts would ever express such an opinion like you have. I have never met a correctional officer or police officer in a training gym (and I know several) who would say, "This all goes out the window at the prison or during an arrest because there is no 1 vs 1 rules." That is silliness. Yes, you have to modify your approach. Yes, no one is jumping guard in a street fight on concrete.
But I guarantee, 100%, that if you can't grapple - even if it is is just a little basics, you can't fight.
@North London that's what I am talking about, man. When that fight at the bar or the stripclub breaks out, what do you think the bouncer's gonna use to end it? Ninja stars? An uzi? Kung Fu? Brother, I assure you that the wheel does not need to be reinvented.
Two things always make grappling fun. Adding weapons to the mix, and using strikes to set up throws, locks, and submissions. Fight team!
True.
Because hugs spread love.
Great take Another point is that not every self defense scenario requires as high use of force as punching someone. Grappling will cover you in a wide spectrum of self defense from removing a drunk friend ruining the party to neutralizing an actual attacker who is trying to do you harm. Obviously this is all in the context of unarmed fighting when weapons are introduced things do change.
Good stuff! Although I don't train as a grappler, I agree with you 100%. I am actually going to start some grappling training!!
Good for you!
A decent grappler can prevent a good striker from striking, but you'd have to be a very good striker to prevent a grappler from grappling.
Exactly.
I use to work at a drug and alcohol respite and recovery facility back in the day in which i got assaulted one time at work from a guy who use to box. I remember kicking him hard in the rib (muay thai) but for some reason after he went done I grabbed him (I have not experience in grappling) and we ended up wrestling on the ground where both of us didn't know how to grapple.
We must of spent 5 min or so before a colleague intervened. I wish I had of started grappling before it happened.
Gotta have something you can do from every range.
Exactly.
I never really thought about this. In both wrestling and Kung Fu there were so many moves to do against people who were already on the ground or that we had to defend against because we were the target on the ground, being able to handle at least some grappling and ground fighting is obviously necessary for any kind of self defense. Especially with winning defined as getting away, it is almost impossible for an opponent to prevent you from getting away without grappling or taking you to the ground.
I've worked in the security/law enforcement field for the last 17 years. I've had to use grappling techniques more times than I can count. One of the strengths of grappling is that it gives me more options. I can choose to gently restrain someone, go harder and use it more for pain compliance, incapacitation or worst case scenario termination. If you're primarily just a striker, your options are limited. If you strike someone effectively, the only option you have is to cause damage or incapacitate them. In my line of work that's not always an option, or the best option at least. I also don't always have the luxury of just walking away. Personally I've always found grappling to be more natural and intuitive. Even with years of training, I've hesitated to strike preemptively. But I've always been more comfortable closing with someone and going Hands-On in that fashion. Some people will make the argument that grappling doesn't work well against multiple attackers, but being in some of those situations myself, nothing works well against multiple attackers. Save for maybe a firearm. And if weapons are involved, your options are severely limited in either case. If I didn't have the option to run or evade when facing someone with a firearm, I would want to be as close to them as possible. I would never advise or recommend trying to pull off some type of disarm, but that being said if I could close the gap I would at least have a fighting chance. Knives or other melee weapons are another story however. I have at one time in my life successfully Wrestled a knife off of someone while working at a hospital where a patient somehow snuck in a knife. I was unarmed at the time, and didn't have the option of using a weapon. It might have come down to recklessness on my part, but I made a judgment call on the Fly and engaged with him. I have no delusions of grandeur, and it was blind luck that I wasn't severely injured. Just because I used grappling effectively in this instance, doesn't mean I would ever recommended it in that type of scenario.
The I'd just stand up is the grappling version of the boxing heckler that always shouts just hit him in the face already.
Grappling wrestling technique in octagon police get violent in stores
I know all of those words, just not in that order...
These are all points that I’ve tried making in the RUclips comment section in many other videos, another thing that people don’t think about is not every self-defense situation requires striking or a weapon. for example, if your teenage child gets upset and starts attacking you you’re not going to punch your child in the face you need to be able to restrain them
A great point.
Some words from Rory Miller come to mind:
"Assaults happen closer, faster, more suddenly, and with more power than most people believe."
(Miller, R. 2008. "Meditations On Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence")
If your assaulter is already doing what they want before you have properly oriented to their initial action, you are losing. By default you have to react and, if they are grabbing you, that may well mean that you have to either grapple or accept whatever terms of defeat your attacker deems desirable.
Yes, Rory Miller knows of what he speaks.
"They get comfortable in deeply uncomfortable positions." When I first started to train San Da (chinese kickboxing with some standing grappling) I really noticed that people with a predominately grappling bakcground were always dangerous in any position. Had a guy with a judo background reverse a throw when he was basically horizontal already... I was in shock..."but I had already won!"
One of the great advantages grapplers have over stand up guys is that they dont give a shit about being stood up and balanced. They are still working and still dangerous until you tap them out or beat them down.
I think the usual pitfall for self defense is basically "learn one thing and nothing else". You don't have to obsessively train EVERYTHING (no one is invincible) but everyone should have some familiarity with grappling, striking, weapons, situational awareness, using terrain or what hazards to watch out for, etc.
Grappling is a great foundation because you can still be very effective even if you are blinded or are fighting in the dark, and if the person has already grabbed you, well, you're already grappling anyway.
I don’t think you can argue with any points you made in this video. I really need to look at grappling more seriously 😅
Yes my friend, you do indeed!
awesome ,I agree with most of things you said ,everyone should know at least basic grappling ,sprawl ,getups ect ,but have to disagree with the ldea of dirty fighting ,such as knee to groin ,or monkey grabs the banana ,lol or thumb in eye. Or biting in general . Not saying that should be go to moves but should be explored when actually grappling ,just like fish hooking ,a sprawl to a fish hook in the eye is a great way to defend a take down ,yes the guard position is not a great spot for your crotch ,but again the idea of dirty fighting is not a style but a supplement to understanding to what you already know .great stuff as always :)
One aspect you didn't mention is the legal aspects of self defense. With successful grappling you can subdue an attacker without injuring them. Successful striking means dealing out damage that could result in injuries, which might not look like self defense to bystanders, police, and the judicial system. Thus you could be held criminally liable and be open to civil lawsuits. A few times at the hospital ER I work at I needed to subdue a violent combative people under the influence of drugs or alcohol (the hospital is too cheap to hire proper security). If I punch the patient I would be in big trouble and I could be fired, lose my medical license, end up on the front page of the newspaper, possibly be charged with assault and sued. But with my grappling skills I can control and subdue the patient until he or she can be restrained and sedated. Armchair Violence recently did a video on this same topic which was quite interesting.
Great point!
Agree w all you said. My two cents is that we shouldn’t ignore striking if the fight goes to the ground. “Ground fighting” includes grappling, striking , transitions, etc. Hard aggressive striking negates a lot of sport jujitsu holds and positions.
Agreed, being able to control someone loses a lot of its benefits if you don't then pound them into the ground!
@North London and if they had hold of you? Or had tripped/thrown/slammed you and were in full mount?
@North London what is rhe difference between training striking for when your de-escalation fails, and training grappling for when your striking fails?
@North London Nice to see a respectful discussion and exchange of views in comments. Appreciated!
Right on. I couldn't agree with u more.
I've been grappling, wrestling, and practicing kickboxing since a teen and eventhough takedown defense and ground fighting has long since been instinct at this point, I would NEVER have thought Tobe good at FIGHTING until I started learning how to BOX. The stances, the proper punching form, the footwork and movement patterns especially, hitting the different kinds of bags, like the double end, only now do I feel comfortable if attacked on the street.
Grappling is more natural to how humans fight instinctively, you only need to practice by sparring and playing around on the ground and repeatedly getting taken down before your body starts to become aware of your center of gravity and what our limbs can and cannot do.
But striking is an ART that MUST BE TAUGHT by an experienced and knowledgeable instructor. It's not something that comes second nature at all.
So if you were training martial arts for self defense on the street and not to compete in mma or a grappling sport, I would say to learn a good striking art from a good teacher and for grappling you just need to roll around with some decent wrestlers or bjj practitioners in order to get a good feel for what grappling is and how important your balance and center of gravity is along with limb and head control.
You don't need to study complicated submissions or how to set them up and defend because in most self defense situations you won't be rolling around on the concrete trying to set up a Triangle on someone who knows what you are trying to do and how to defend it.
You just want to stay on your feet and if you get lifted up, how to land safely or reverse into a dominant position and get back up as soon as possible.
Anyone can learn this.
Just don't go talking shit to anyone with cauliflower ears and large upper back muscles you will survive long enough to escape from danger.
I disagree that you can learn grappling from just rolling around on the ground with people. But ymmv
@@EnglishMartialArts Well you can't just roll around with "people" lol
I mean you have to actually practice grappling with people who are really good at grappling and if you do this on a regular basis you will learn how to stay on your feet long enough to escape or use your striking.
But I'm saying this as a life long grappling student. All these things were muscle memory long before I even lost my virginity lol
But I still believe that anyone can learn from sparring safely but in striking you COULD learn by sparring only without instruction but you will take such punishment and never actually learn how to throw a proper punch or kick.
You don't need to know the best way to do a good single or double or how to pass guard to side control in a step by step list, you learn more by doing than you do hearing instructions.
Just my opinion 🤷
I see you've never been folded into a pretzel by an experienced bjj guy.
@@MrCmon113 and you've never pissed blood for a week from just one liver shot or had to drink smoothies from a straw for 6 weeks from a broken jaw 🙂
I mean we could put on the whole kudo suits with the helmets and mma gloves ON CONCRETE out in the street and you are welcome try to "fold" me if you want
Sports are not the same as fighting
And just because you may be trained in one fighting sport does not automatically mean that you can FOLD every person you disagree with
At the end of the day its like any kind of study, the deeper you go the more specialized you become. you have to decide how deep you go GSCE level , degree level, masters, or Phd. any one studying for the purpose of self protect should have a good general understanding of all aspect of combat including weapons. in these evil times. However, god willing you can train for 40 years and never have a fight, so it makes sense to do the majority of training in the aspect you enjoy most whether it is boxing, grappling or what ever style you chose. All arts exist on a sliding scale between self protection and self development, its up to the individual choose where the balance is. Respect to all.
I always thought it was ground fighting and willingly pulling guard, that just seems a tad bit silly to me.
Cant see why anyone would think throwing somone to the ground would bea bad idea
The words of the truth. Thanks.
I know you don't hold Aikido in high regard, if any. But you should check out some of Karl Geis's stuff. He was a highly respected Judoka who train with Kenji Tomiki and Tsunako Miyake and developed some pretty sound stuff in Aikido.
Thanks for the suggestions. I like Tomiki Aikido the sporting aspect helps prevent excessive complexity of technique. To use a cooking metaphor some styles approach self defense like preparing a gourmet five course meal when really egg and chips done well is perfectly acceptable. Respect to all.
Aikido is useless without Judo.. its like having the expansion pack for a game but not the initial install.. the expansion is worthless. That said I love Aiki and utilize it alot .. big difference between Aiki and Aikido .. those hippies can keep there flower power
@@mysty0 I think you may not had exposure to the best teachers of Aikido. Historically , Kano Jigoro was quoted as saying Aikido was what he was trying to create when he created Judo. Also a number of high level Judoka were sent to train under Ueshiba sensei and ultimately stuck with him to become his students. Tomiki Kenji created Tomiki 'Aikido' which contains elements of both. Tomiki sensei also created the Goshin no Kata for the Judo syllabus based on Aikido / Aiki- jujitsu techniques. So it looks like Aikido is more the expansion pack for Judo. Having practiced both arts I would rather say the arts are complimentary and neither is inferior to the other. It's just which one fits the person better. It is not necessary to study Judo to make Aikido effective but a good teacher is. And of course getting out and investigating other styles is good for any art, not just Aikido and Judo. Sadly there are a lot of bad Judo and Aikido dojo's out there. BTW from your email tone you seem a bit angry. I sincerely hope your day gets better. Respect to all.
@@johnnemo6509 what I understand is the wax on wax off, paint the fence, sand the floor elements in Miyagi Do (Goju Ryo - Southern White Crane) are examples of Aiki.. controlling and redirecting the flow.. from there you are free to unleash your own mind within the perimeters of what is good form .. I do not subscribe to any single discipline, I study until I find what is at the core of its teachings and then I move on
@@mysty0 Thanks that's very cool. For a while, I lived in the same town as Okamoto Seigo of Daitoryu Roppokai and was able to train with some of his students. Their feel was similar to good Tai chi practitioners terms of Ting (listening or sensitivity) Yi (Mind/intention) and Peng ( Issuance / bumping). I am a big fan of Okinawa kakete drills and use them as part of my training. I agree with you at the end of the day we have to find our own path and it is not beneficial to stay with things which you have transcended or do not provide the results you are looking for. Respect to all.
one of the best MMA Punchers in the early days was "The Iceman" Chuck Lidell, well..... he was wrestler who learned to punch and he his prior wrestling training to avoid take downs in the ring and evade lock and submission grips.
and again... yes.... wrestling/grappling works.... well.... a lot 😀
Exactly.
You can approach self-defense from a couple of angles, but let's say that you are worried about your health or life as a private individual (not a bouncer, coop or soldier), this is what you need to do. First and foremost, we must recognize that self-defense is a legal term - some countries may not use that specific term (mine doesn't), but there will always be provisions in the law that concern situations like this. The very first thing that therefore has to be done is to either pay a lawyer for a consult (an actual lawyer, not your aunt on facebook or your sensei in the local dojo) or to hit the books yourself.
Once you've done that, find out what is the best weapon you can have - a pistol is the preferred choice, followed by things like knives, screwdrivers or reinforced flashlights. Then, once you have your weapon, learn to use it in the situations and places you are concerned about.
And that's where the grappling comes in. I've been fighting with swords and spears for a decent amount of time, and let me tell you this: there is maybe a one in ten chance that any give fight with a weapon will go to the grappling range (exact odds depend on exact weapons, can be higher or lower). And once that happens, if you have no idea how to fight in a grapple, you're dead. And this is in a situation where the person grappling you is holding something in their hands and has respect for your ability to hurt them (as opposed to charging you in a desperate/drunken rage). Even then, assuming 1/10 chance holds, you have twice the chance of getting killed that a DnD character has of rolling a critical hit, which is... not good.
Now, what you need to do isn't grappling strictly speaking, it's weapon retention and being able to bring that weapon to bear while someone is trying to grapple with you, which is slightly different from grappling; but the thing is, there's a tremendous amount of overlap. A skilled grappler can probably take a few seminars on pistol retention and ask his friend in the local Catch club to do a round with his rubber gun every now and again and be fine - a boxer can't exactly do that, since there is little overlap.
And if the law says you can't have any weapon? Well, then grappling with your weapon of choice - fists - is just... grappling.
As for dirty tricks, here's a secret. Any good martial art is nothing but a collection of dirty tricks that work really, really well. There's a reason why Fiore included a kick in the nuts in his book written for a well-respected duke.
great video. in my opinion, offensive grappling (takedowns, pins, submissions) are practical for self defense if you have only one unarmed attacker who is grabbing you. if that's not the case, then defensive grappling (sprawling against takedowns, pin escapes) are still practical to use while trying to escape the altercation.
I would disagree with a couple of details there; firstly, I'm not sure if you intended it this way, but it seems like you're saying offensive grappling isn't practical against someone who's trying to do something other than grab you. I don't think that's true, and to explain why I'll point to the parts of this video where (... I've just realised I don't actually know the name of the man who runs this channel! Oops!) he talks about grappling being very effective against non-grapplers. If that wasn't what you meant, my apologies.
The second thing I disagree with is 'unarmed'. It's my opinion, and as far as I can tell the opinion of most people who professionally train with weapons, that grappling is the most effective way of preventing someone from using a weapon on you. It's scarier because the weapon is close to you and you can't directly see it, but being able to control the limb that's holding the weapon is a huge advantage. There's always the chance of a lucky shot, but if the fight takes place at striking distance then *every attack* has the chance to be a lucky shot. With long weapons, being in grappling range makes most attacks impossible, or at least impractical; with guns, having control of the arm allows you to (mostly) prevent it being aimed at you; and with knives, controlling the arm negates what is to me the most worrying attack, i.e. repeated and violent stabs that are more or less impossible to defend against for long.
Sorry for the wall of text 😅
I wish I could learn (Catch) Wrestling but no one teaches it around here. I would love to learn their takedowns
Are the takedowns of catch wrestling good or should i train judo for powerful throws?
Can not stress often enough wrist control is against armed aggressors
Agree w/ all you say. Especially, starting at minute 9. The problem w/ bjj. That's not trained. At least w/ all the vids I see. The habit of going to the ground is trained. That's building bad muscle memory that under the stress of a real attack could be your reaction. These an old saying we had in the military: "train like you fight, fight like you train."
It's not useless, it's incomplete. If you only know grappling you can only defend yourself in a 1 vs 1 situation. Apart from the fact that you could only defend yourself against people who were in your same weight and strength category or are weaker than you (let's be honest, if you have from the beginning that advantage is less likely to get into a fight unless you initiate it). people point out that you can always "run" that is not true and sometimes it is your worst option, first whenever you run you should have a plan(to know where there is help or where you can take refuge) and be sure that you can get there quickly, If someone really wants to hurt you, they will chase you and if they reach you, you already turned your back on them, you are lost. Another thing is that most of the scenarios where someone really wants to hurt you are with people you know in an isolated place (for example a relative of yours tries to hurt you inside your house) and many times people stronger than you. In addition to the fact that the other person may also know grappling and be better than you ... or simply much stronger, it is not a good strategy to prolong a fight if you are in danger, what you want is to finish as soon as possible and walk away, and that can be achieve (even against stronger and heavier opponents) knowing how to strike. (As a data, all the records for the fastest wins in the UFC in each of the categories are punches to the face, only 2 are not, Ronda Rousey with a judo sumision and Jorge Mansival with a knee)
Just learn the 3! ( Punch, take downs/ grappling in the ground) The order of learning should be (in my opinion): first learn to hit (punches work against any opponent no matter how big no one can train their chin and liver not to get knocked out, this give You a tool against virtually anyone), then learn not to be take down and to take down your opponent (so you have control of the fight) and then learn grappling because as you said sometimes it's not an option to be on the ground
I agree, grappling provides most of the tools to avoid a violent assailant causing you injuries, hell it provides the ability to mitigate injuries from mundane things like falling down the stairs and the like. People who say they would avoid the ground don't know how to stop a takedown and if they miraculously know how it is supposed to look without understanding why they put themselves in a position to get thrown. Worst of all is the infamous "I will just stand up." Anyone who has been pinned knows you can't stand, you have to come up to your base and then control their hands or you are going wherever your opponent wants.
Absolutely!
No it doesn't. How does it help you against weapons or a beer bottle to the back of your head? You live in a Hollywood world where you think it's legal for two man to stand together and bang it out in a fair match. Basically, your brain has been broken by movies and tv. Start by looking at statistics.
@@-whackd What are you gonna do with a beer bottle while I'm sitting on your chest?
@@-whackd You can't win against a gun with boxing either. And for knives and beer bottles to the back of the head, you are assuming that a grappler is going to chose to stay on the ground to get bashed or stabbed. You can see many videos of wrestlers and judoka tripping an attacker and running away. Benefit, a trip doesn't put you on the ground.
Sir, quite honestly the most problems I've ever had in sparing have been with people that knew some form of grappling. Thankfully this was not "popular" as a form of fighting when I was a younger man, or anybody that chose a grappling form of actual combat against me in an actual fight was not proficient enough to take me down before I was able to end the fight with my martial art. We've already discussed my only remembered fight against more than one opponent once before. As I stated I was able to break the nose of the one assailant that was between myself and the door, and I then ran away. A few of them did attempt to follow me for some distance, but they became "strung out", and when one got far enough ahead of the other two I slowed down. I could hear his approach quite easily, just from his wheezing, I mean breathing. I slowed down more, and suddenly turned and caught him running straight into my right hand, turned and continued to run. Shortly thereafter I turned and noticed no one was chasing me anymore, and I went home. I guess I've been very lucky, as from a few guys I met in the Army I highly suspect your statement on grappling to be true. Good video, thanks.
I suspect your right was quite a weapon!
@@EnglishMartialArts It made me a champion .. several times. I kept losing the title.
Great stuff as usual. keep up the good work.
Thank you my friend!
For me the best point of grappling is you can be the one starting the fight without many consecuences. If you are someone in a tense situation thats gonna get violent you dont want either to ko a person with the first punch or risk getting punched, but if you take down the other person and control them, theres no big consecuences unlike if you knock them out
Only in the beginning of the video yet, but would Takedowns count as grappling and would that count as self-defence?
Free form( full range of movement), clinch and grppling.. why ignore an integral element of any potential physical confrontation. I like the cut of your jib sailor. Keep sharing and caring please....
Good points
Thank you!
I always tell people to learn grappling + a weapon art. It is what worked for over a thousand years for people who others were actively trying to murder and a lot of HEMA weapon arts are wrestling based.
So what's Billy Robinson's method for standing up?
Now I have a venue that may be a video.
Just started training bjj, everything is exactly as youre saying, there is no time to bite when youre fighting for breath, or you feel yore arm is breaking :]
Ok, now I’m going to take Grappling lessons now then!
Good!
@@EnglishMartialArts 👍🏼
It is definitely one of the things I fear most. I can carry a gun, it is legal in my country, I have licence for that, I own one and I carry one on daily basis. But you have to conceal it and you cannot wave it around whenever something does look little bit suspicious. So I can never say it won't happen to me and in this scenario, gun is quite useless. If I got down and I can reach my small but very sharp knife, it may be that kind of "dirty fighting" which will save me in that moment, because it is way more effective than trying to bite someone, but even if it works, there will be another problem, I could end basically unharmed, while the attacker will be stabbed and cutted seriously and it could be bit difficult to explain in court.
id say that going to the ground is never a favourable option, and i think as far as grappling your main goal should always to be to get up as fast as you can. Personally, i think the best things you can do for self defence is muay thai (or boxing/ kickboxing) and wrestling. From what i know, bjj is less effective than wrestling as bjj fighters get too comfortable staying on the ground, where without a doubt you will have your head stomped on. Overall i think striking is still better, specifically punching as alot of places where fights start such as clubs you wont be using much grappling.
Love the video tho mate, made me think in a different way. Also worth mentioning that alot of people you might fight in the street wont be an experienced grappler, so you wont need to worry as much about them having really good technique, so basic grappling skills would be very effective
grappling beats striking for beating people 1v1. learning to strike is better to keep options open, defend yourself from distance and deal with mutliple person situations because to grapple is to commit. both are important.
I was attacked when I was a two stripe BJJ white belt, and it made me FAR more effective at self defense and de-escalation than before that small bit of training.
I have no doubt it did.
An argument I've heard many times is "grappling is a great idea until your opponent is on top of you doing ground and pound". Who do you think ends up on top between a grappler and a striker?? It's a lot easier for a grappler to do ground and pound that they've never done before than it is for a striker to work their way into a mount they've never done before.
Exactly!