the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Martial Arts Journey
Published on Dec 29, 2018

The question of whether BJJ work in the street is a commonly asked question with a lot of misunderstanding, especially from traditional martial artists. To debunk this question I am joined by coach Matt Thornton, founder of Straight Blast Gym International with years of experience in both traditional and functional martial arts to help answer this question:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-lAHvTlv_U

soft tatami’s laying around on the asphalt will probably add a + for the wrestler

When I did BJJ I did it because I liked it.

Knives, guns, tazers and other weapons can easily stop and end any fight.

grzegorz wrote:When I did BJJ I did it because I liked it.

Knives, guns, tazers and other weapons can easily stop and end any fight.

I agree. Grappling (e.g. BJJ, judo, wrestling, etc.) or going to the ground is not the safest move, given the opponent can be carrying a concealed knife. Going to the ground limits your mobility. It's more prudent to understand and use stand up skills, as well (which SBG might do).

Bjj, boxing and some type of wrestling should be learned by everyone.

Wouldn't BJJ be "some type of wrestling"?

Pretty much on the some type of wrestling thought.

Catch wrestling, BJJ, old school Japanese jujitsu, and even intercollegiate/high school Western rules wrestling are all pretty effective against people who lack any training in grappling.

Outside of the skills involved, the other reason to train grappling is that it is one of the few forms of martial arts wherein competitors can go 90-100% with an acceptable risk of permanently injuring one another. Due to this, it very effectively trains the will. Finally, the number of people who are highly successful that have wrestling in their background makes for a compelling case to train this art for that reason alone.

oragami_itto wrote:Wouldn't BJJ be "some type of wrestling"?

Most BJJ schools do very little on their feet. Some do takedowns before tournaments and a lot of schools have people with wrestling backgrounds but most BJJ players could not takedown a wrestler or judoka unless they had previous training.

grzegorz wrote:

oragami_itto wrote:Wouldn't BJJ be "some type of wrestling"?

Most BJJ schools do very little on their feet. Some do takedowns before tournaments and a lot of schools have people with wrestling backgrounds but most BJJ players could not takedown a wrestler or judoka unless they had previous training.

You're saying an art based purely on ground fighting has shitty takedowns?

The two BJJ gyms I briefly studied at both covered one takedown and one submission each class.

GrahamB, what's your take on it?

They just are not emphasized at most gyms. Obviously if someone trains BJJ 5 days week and becomes a black belt chances are a coach will teach them takedowns.

Again not shitty, I never said that. There's a Fight Quest or some such show where BJJ blackbelt can't take down judoka. That has been my experience having trained in both.

When training for MMA they are likely to get even more.

This is also why Roussey had such a good run tossing people around like rag dolls.

Anyway, my point is on the streets I always assume everyone is armed and if I were to fight it would be purely in self defense and I would try to get out of there ASAP.

Well, there's only one way to know for sure. Just let us know how it turned out.

Gregorz,

I would argue that Roussey did well initially as the overall level of skill in the women's league is pretty low in comparison to the men's league. And when that began to change, she got pummeled.

The comparisons between a decent amateur, which makes up most of the better players here, and a real pro fighter are apt. If you have basic striking, throwing and grappling you will dominate 99% of the general public every time. But go up against a pro level fighter and you get beaten down in record time.

The simple matter is that most people just flail their way through a fight. Very few have mastered basic movement and attacking skills along with being able to ride the adrenal wave. Wrestling allows most people to go hard enough to trigger the adrenals without an unacceptable level of risk in training. Learning to ride this out pays big dividends elsewhere.

Origarmi - I agree with Grzegorz.