Why MMA Doesn’t Work on the Street
by on Feb.05, 2009, under General Principles
The sport of mixed martial arts, or MMA for short, has really exploded in popularity over recent years. This explosion has begun to transform the way people see martial arts, and as more and more people train in dedicated MMA gyms it has also started to transform the way in which people learn martial arts; modern MMA training and techniques are even finding their way into the syllabus of traditional kung fu and karate schools. But alongside this phenomenal growth a kind of urban myth has also grown up. It goes something like this: martial arts styles and traditions which succeed in MMA competitions have proved themselves, and must therefore be the most effective. Because MMA is (supposedly though not actually) ‘no holds barred’ fighting it is realistic, and martial arts traditions and styles which don’t have success in the cage or ring mus be inferior. But I’m here to tell you that this is emphatically not the case.
MMA is still a combat sport and is not like real street fighting, and what works best in the cage does not necessarily work best in the street. There are quite a number of things which are irrelevant in MMA, and can therefore be left out of training, which are absolutely essential if you want to be able to defend yourself effectively in a real life encounter.
The most obvious point to make is that you are not allowed to use weapons in a sports fight. If you spend 100% of your training time focused on hand to hand combat then you are obviously going to perform better in that kind of situation than someone who spends 70% of their time on this, and the other 30% on training involving weapons; but if someone pulls a knife on you in the street you will be in basically the same situation as someone who has had no martial arts training at all.
And beyond simple omissions like these the style of fighting used in mixed martial arts can actually endanger your life if you use it in a real life situation. As anyone who has watched the UFC will know, MMA is heavy on grappling. Most fights end up going to the ground, and you will often see fighters engaged in tight wrestling like ground games, trying to gain a dominant position for getting a submission hold, for several minutes at a time. This kind of fighting would be virtual suicide in most street fights. For a start what are you going to do after you get a submission hold? There’s no referee to say you’ve won, and your going to have to let go at some point, and then unless you’ve actually broken a limb or joint you will be pretty much back to square one. Even worse is the fact that one-on-one fights, with no weapons, are not the only, or perhaps even the most likely scenario that you need to be preared for. If you get caught up on the ground with someone on one of these ‘chess game’ grappling contests then it is easy for one of their friends to come along and kick you in the head, or stomp on you, and you would have no chance to get away or defend yourself. If they have a concealed weapon it would also be easy for them to deliver a fatal blow before you even noticed they were doing anything at this close range.
The general rule for self-defense is to ’stick and move’, always keeping as many options open as possible and always keeping as much seperation and freedom of movement as possible. Grappling should only be used with a specific goal in mind - such as disarming someone, or intimidating a lone attacker into giving up.
Striking is different if you are not wearing gloves as well. Firstly you need to be aware of the chanced of breaking your own hand with a punch, and secondly there are some very effective strikes which just don’t work through the padding of a glove (watch this space for more on these!).
So if you are looking for a club to join you should really think about what this that you want to get out of you training - sport or self defense - and don’t be overly influenced by your favourite MMA star.
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Welcome to the Street Self Defense Blog!
Catering for both trained martial artists and novices we aim to provide short, easy to learn lessons in how to defend yourself in a street fighting situation. Drawing on a wide variety of martial arts styles and traditions all of the fighting techniques described in this blog are specifically geared towards street self defense situations, and cover as many different real life scenarios as possible.
March 3rd, 2009 on 7:55 pm
Interesting article, i have bookmarked your blog for future referrence
March 21st, 2009 on 7:18 pm
mma is so grappling based that people forget about the fact that a well rounded mma fighter is good at striking too. just because someone’s friend can kick you while you’re on the ground dosn’t make mma useless on the street. and about the submission comment, if you break someones arm on the street they will probably give up and if it’s a choke they will be unconscious. if someone is unconscious then you are not back to square one that opponent is defeated.
March 24th, 2009 on 4:23 pm
Hi, thanks for the comment, maybe I was a bit harsh. I didn’t mean to say MMA is useless in these situations, just not as well suited to them as martial arts developed purely for self-defense. The problem is that not all submission holds end in breaking a bone (even the ones that technically can often need a huge amount of strength to do so) or causing unconsciousness, some of them basically just hurt. And the bit about grappling and the fact that you get caught up with one person leaving you unable to defend if someone else attacks you is a general argument against using grappling in these situations and not just a dig at MMA. I only really wrote it to counter the common misperception that what is best in an MMA fight must neccessarily be whats best in any fight.
July 23rd, 2009 on 11:01 am
If MMA doesn’t work on the street, then which form of Martial Arts will?
One form for sure will work - Krav Maga! It’s a proven military fight system which is very effective.
Anyway, thanks for the post. Keep up the good work!
Lamy
Martial Art Training
August 1st, 2009 on 7:32 pm
Not it pile on–and in fair disclosure I’m a BJJ guy so my view is slanted but, lol…
I take your point about ground work and it is well made. However I honestly believe you’ve jumped over the best part of submission-on-the-streets to make your point.
Breaking bones isn’t the point, crippling joints and tearing/stretching ligements and tendons is. Tearing/injuring tendons/ligaments is not anywhere near as hard as breaking bones.
I close the distance, execute the take down, gain dominant position then cripple your shoulder, wrist, elbow, knee. Now I can hold and twist that injury for as long as I want to and I’m not fighting you I’m torturing you. If I choose to disengage and go back to ’square one’ I’m now facing an opponent who’s hurting and whose crippled. In that case the guy with the hold is the one wanting the referee so he can tap out–not me. Advantage, me. Chokes? Forget about. You go to sleep I pound you with heel stomps.
But yeah you are 100% right–multiple attackers is a problem, weapons are a problem, and things like headbutts and throat strikes from dominant position should be learned for self-defense even though you can’t practice ‘em in reallife cause you’d injury your partner–so don’t think I’m just bagging on an otherwise good article; you just seem striker orientated ’cause “stick and move” is better for long-limbed agile athletes than the tank bodytypes that often gravitate toward grappling arts.
(meyernate@aol.com)
August 7th, 2009 on 11:09 am
I agree with some of your points for sure. But to clarify, you do not need tremendous strength to break a bone in grappling, just leverage. It’s actually fairly easy to break bones in say an arm bar, an ankle lock the shoulder in a kimura or americana. Also you do this very very very fast if your not worried about them tapping and just put the lock on full speed.
Even easier, as is mentioned above is simply hyperextending or dislocating the joint instead. You don’t have to snap the bone to make the joint useless for a little while.
Moreover, a good grappler in a street fight isn’t going to sprawl all out on the ground like you would in an actual MMA match. If it’s one on one and you wanted to take someone attacking you down you will use your grappling skills to control him with something like a knee ride so that you can pop back up and run easily if someone else comes at you. In fact this kind of posture and upright ground control is the kind of positioning you see in old school Japanese jujitsu, they didn’t really flop all the way to ground to armbar as if leaves you too vulnerable.
I agree though that submissions in the street are overrated, the better use of grappling is to nullify your opponants strength and subdue him with strikes, if you use submissions at all they will be grabbing his balls and squeezing, jabbing the throat, eyes ect - all of which are far more effective when done whislt grappling then just randomly throwing them out there as strikes or in striking range.
Also clinching and striking from a standing clinch is highly effective with good grappling skills and could enable you to beat a far more skilled striker on the street and potentially take less damage.
I will say this about grappling for the street, if your a smaller guy or woman and you get stuck in a situation where you can’t run and the opponent is a lot bigger than you you have a better chance of beating them with grappling than just trying to outhit them. In an ideal world stick and move, but that is not always possible in a street fight where the fight might begin with you being tackled to the ground from the side or behind.
MMA is certainly not the be all end all of martial arts and its not designed to be for pure self defence. However, lets be honest MMA does have nearly all of the tools needed to be effective in a street fight, you have the following skill sets: you can punch and kick, tie up and clinch wrestle / strike standing, takedown and strike / submit. You don’t need training from some kung fu master to simply add in head buts, gouging, throat and groin attacks. If you use your common sense, walk away from most fights, run from others and use your MMA to stick and move, throw and run, tie up strike ect then i would say its a pretty damn effective form of self defense.
Lastly, multiple attacker scenarios you can’t run away from your pretty much stuffed no matter what art you study unless you do Kendo or something and happen to be walking around with a Bokken
Is MMA self defence, no it’s a sport but is very easy to adapt to street and has more ‘alive’ training than most so called ’self defence’ training.
October 7th, 2009 on 11:45 pm
I would like to see who goes out first, if I where put in a rear naked, traingle choke, guilltine ect the first thing im doing is grabbing squeezing ripping tearing and smashing the dudes g-unit that put it on me. he better hope he has that choke on fast and tight!
December 5th, 2009 on 10:07 pm
if you really think about it, people who bust a knife or a gun CANT FIGHT AT ALL AND ARE PUSSY SCRUBS.
these guys think it takes minutes to submit 1 person in reality it takes only seconds. and for multiple attacker with knifes and guns and shit, you think the mma guy will fucking fight them still, we have brains people. we will get the fuck out of there.
January 15th, 2010 on 5:03 am
I see the points of all of the articles pertaining to the effectiveness of MMA for street self-defense. However, I also believe that if there is so much debate, then maybe all of the MMA fighters that want to fight should just go out and look for real fights, and for those that are concerned about self-defense should just save their time, money, and training by going out and getting a license to carry a concealed weapon. The law says that you are allowed to use the necessary force needed to defend yourself and others. If people only use any type fighting skill when it is absolutley needed not only are they acting within the boundaries of the law but are also adhering to the main teaching of all martial arts, to use for self defense only.
I will say one thing about MMA however. I could never really understand why people enter those contests. I think a lot of them want to get into a real fight but are afraid to do it outside of a controlled setting, such as the octagon. I think everyone needs to start living their life and focus on themselves and their own training rather than philosophising about it.
January 15th, 2010 on 2:44 pm
you make some valid points mp1, but you should be very careful about pulling out a gun if you are attaked in the street or some similar situation. When you’re really close up to an attacker then can often see you pulling it out and move to disarm you before you can get it out and pointed at them. Many people end up getting shot with their own weapon because of this.
January 27th, 2010 on 8:50 am
first of all i train mma but we also learn self defence things like knife attacks and preemtive strikes and other moves that would b illegle in a mma fight, just becouse the sport has rules doesnt mean we dont know moves outside th rules. we also learn not to go to the ground for reasons u mention but if the fight does hit the ground we are prepared for it, altho sometimes it is a good idea, couple weeks ago 1 of the students had to defend himself from a guy who done kickboxing so he took him to th ground and controled him there, we also learn many strikes from other martial arts, and learn stick fighting and stuff. and if u have ever done grappling and been cought in a good choke or armbar the last thing your gonna b thinking about is punching the guy in the balls or something, it happens so quick u cant defend it, and even if u do hit him in th balls u will go to sleep about 3 seconds later. and id trust our muay thai a lot more than something like karate or kung fu in a stand up fight. th way there blocks work is just asking to get punched in the head. the great thing about mma is it works in every aspect of a fight, long range, close range, stand up grappling and on the ground, and u add a few basic self defence things on top of that and u have something very hard to beat
January 27th, 2010 on 8:59 am
oh and u do realise most pro mma fighters have trained in many different traditional styles, and not all mma fighters r th same, and u really think someone like anderson silva couldnt defend himself against anyone on the street in a 1 on 1, and if the numbers are to great against u then it dousnt matter what u train your gonna b in trouble, only hope is to take out the leader in brutal fashion and hope the others back away, well thats my 2 cents worth
January 27th, 2010 on 11:25 am
Well, if you’ve trained in different martial arts then obviously none of the stuff in this article is relevant, it’s refering to the style of fighting taught in dedicated MMA gyms. Anderson Silva is clearly a tough guy and could probably take on almost anyone in the street, but that doesn’t change that fact that an ordinary person who has trained at an MMA gym would be less well prepared to defend themselves in the street than someone who has trained in a martial art more oriented specifically to street self defense. And when it comes to multiple opponents mmaguy, there are things you can do to improve your chances, even though you may be starting from a low chance, and there are also things that you should avoid doing.