Street-Fighting-Techniques.info

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.