What is the best Martial Art for Street Fights?

Iliketofight

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?
 

JowGaWolf

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?
The best martial arts for a street fight is one that you can actually do. I would start there. It may be beneficial for you to think of things as Self-defense and not as winning a street fight. I think I know what you are getting at, but in my mind set Winning a Street fight isn't always a physical thing. Some times fights are verbal and if you can keep it at that level and deescalate then it means that you won the fight. One of the things I often tell people is that I've been in more conflicts than I have fight.

Where I live street fights aren't just punching, kicking, and grappling. Sometimes knives, bats, guns, and other crazy stuff gets into the mix. So winning takes on an entirely different concept.
 
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Iliketofight

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The best martial arts for a street fight is one that you can actually do. I would start there. It may be beneficial for you to think of things as Self-defense and not as winning a street fight. I think I know what you are getting at, but in my mind set Winning a Street fight isn't always a physical thing. Some times fights are verbal and if you can keep it at that level and deescalate then it means that you won the fight. One of the things I often tell people is that I've been in more conflicts than I have fight.

Where I live street fights aren't just punching, kicking, and grappling. Sometimes knives, bats, guns, and other crazy stuff gets into the mix. So winning takes on an entirely different concept.

Well said! I definitely get what you're saying, but I guess even in those instances, once it gets past the talking to the physical stage, I was wondering If I should enhance my striking with kicks, or add some form of grappling to it.
 

JowGaWolf

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Well said! I definitely get what you're saying, but I guess even in those instances, once it gets past the talking to the physical stage, I was wondering If I should enhance my striking with kicks, or add some form of grappling to it.
Depends on the situation. In general you want to stay off the ground. Nothing fun ever happens while on the ground. We aren't always guaranteed to win a fight so trying to take the fight to the ground against someone who is better at fighting on the ground can be costly. I can get into a fight with someone who is a better striker than I am, and I'll always have the option to run away or stop fighting. Or do both, provided I'm not knocked out before I determine to do so.

You can choose to improve things you are weak in or choose to get better with what you already know.


Next is long.

Here's my secret that works for me. I use a lot of bluffing and that's the skill set that I depend on even when I know it's going to get physical. The bluff that I have isn't about my fighting capabilities it's about my opponents fighting capabilities. Here's what I mean.

You and I are yelling at each other, when things get to fighting levels, I get quiet. Me becoming quiet does 3 things. It makes me look like I don't want to fight and it allows me to focus on the fight that may come. So while you are still yelling at me, you see that I'm quiet. You don't know if I don't want to fight or if I'm sizing you up. (1st stage of the bluff, is to cause doubt in your mind) by disengaging.

Being that I'm no longer yelling back at you, I'm taking away your fuel. Some people yell and gt more intense to hype themselves into a frenzy with anger which helps dull the fear. I take that away from my conflicts. So at this point you may feel bold enough to tell me how you'll beat me up. I calmly respond and say. Maybe you will, Maybe you won't. (2nd stage of the bluff. This is the bluff that I don't care if I win or lose. I'm all in). By saying it calmly it makes it difficult for you to read me or my intentions. It also indirectly plants doubts in your ability to win against me, because if you don't beat me down, I will surely beat you down.

The goal here is not to look dangerous, the goal is to build a lot of uncertainty in the aggressors mind. Here's an example with my training. I can hit a pad soft in the gym for six months while everyone hits the pad hard for 6th months. When I go home I hit the heavy bag. People only see my soft hits and my slow movements so they feel good about being able to spar on an even level with me. Then one day I hit the bag hard in the gym. "boom" and I do it so others see it. Now they no longer they can beat me, Not because of anything I said, but because of the doubt and uncertainty that comes with underestimating someone.

By the way this is a True story. When I train my punches I try to drill my knuckle into the bag. It doesn't move the bag much because I'm not hitting with the flat part of my fist or with multiple knuckles. The other students would hit the bag hard the bag would move and you hear the fist make the impact (they were wearing gloves.). One day I hit the bag hard the bag didn't swing, it jumped. After that they looked at me differently and no longer thought lightly of my punches.

This same mind game can be played on someone who you are in a conflict with. You don't have to pound something. You just have to position yourself in a way that makes them think that they are underestimating you. Just understand that all of this is to prevent the fight, not to get into it.

The other scenario is where you don't have time to plant doubt. In those cases you just have to learn how to fight and to fight within your strengths and avoid fighting within your weaknesses.
 

skribs

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You have combat-focused arts and sport-focused arts. Both of these present various advantages over each other.

Most traditional arts fit into the combat-focus. The goal isn't to win a tournament, it's to protect yourself. There's also newer arts that fit into this as well, such as Krav Maga. These arts teach you how to deal with likely attacks you're going to come up against, in such a way that you're going to be prepared for different environments.

Most modern arts (and a few older ones) fit into the sport focus. The MMA arts (boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, wrestling, BJJ, judo, etc) all fit into the sport focus. The goal is to go into the ring and win a belt. You also learn some good skills to use in the real world.

Now, both of these have their pros and cons. Anyone who tells you one style works and the other doesn't is wrong. Both styles have proven effective in self-defense. But you do have to be honest with yourself and recognize the pros and cons of each style.

Combat-focused arts tend not to spar as much or pressure-test as much. At the extreme end, they say things "our stuff is too deadly for the streets", and while sometimes that's cringe, you also don't want to poke your friends in the eye or have someone repeatedly kick you in the balls.

However, sport-focused arts tend to forget about situations that might be different from they ring. They discount those eye gouges and groin shots. They excuse themselves out of training for weapon defense or 2-on-1 situations by saying it's impossible to pressure test, and you're just gonna lose anyway. Of course, when you ask if they'd just give up or fight back, they say they'd fight back... Most sport arts won't ever talk about de-escalation or what you should do if you encounter a threat. They won't talk about things like how to use improvised weapons.

This is where cross-training (or at the very least, introspection) comes into play. Recognize where your training is deficient, and then do one of two things:
  • Accept that limitation, that you don't think it's worth training to overcome
  • Fix that limitation with cross-training or specialized drills
Let's go back to what I said about weapon defense. Let's say someone points out that you don't do knife defense in your school. You can look at it and say "that's true, but my primary goal is to win my next match, I'm not going to worry about that right now." Or you can say, "that's true, maybe I'll take a seminar in knife defense, or next time I'm rolling with my friends, we'll use a rubber knife and see if we can use our techniques."

These are both valid responses. You recognize the risk and either accept it or mitigate it. Bad responses are "I'll just use what I know against the knife" (you don't know if your training will put you in danger, i.e. clinching and then getting shanked repeatedly), or "if you train knife defense, you're an idiot."
 

Ivan

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?
None. The problem with attempting to apply martial arts in a street fight, is that you attack each fight in the same way. It's like being a handyman who only has a hammer. He has a large variety of issues to solve, and applies the hammer for each and every one of them. To put this into context, no fight on the street is ever the same as the next. Sometimes the opponent is big, tough and slow, other times they are drunk, or tiny with years of experience. The best thing to do is to focus on learning the individual techniques that are useful to you from each martial art, so that you can use the right tool for the right job whenever a situation arises. My advice for you is to take all of three of martial arts - Muay Thai and BJJ and Sambo. Considering the three of them have little in common, you shouldn't have a problem with confusing the techniques.

Muay Thai will teach you solid striking and clinching.
BJJ will show you everything you could ever want to know about groundwork and grapples, and some very simple takedowns.
Sambo, a personal favourite that I really wish to be involved in, is great for wrestling and grappling and has some brutal takedowns that will complement easily with Muay Thai's clinches and BJJ's groundwork.

However, I understand money doesn't rain from the sky and you might be limited to just one. I would recommend Sambo, because it has taken many of the basic principles of a large variety of very successful martial arts, including classic Greek/Roman wrestling and Judo. The brutality of Sambo is, in my opinion, much more intense than that of the other two arts.
 
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To be overly pedantic, weapons are. Specfically the art of muzzle to 400 metre rifle, or muzzle to 10 metre pistol.

A gun. Some argue that guns are for the weak but I would rather be weak and alive than the tough guy that's dead.

Damn it you beat me to it, how dare you steal my gimmick! :p

It probbly is the best step to be honest though, well weapons in general.
 

jobo

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?
well there are ma that are more suited to one body type/attributes

there then really only one decision to make, do you go with something that plays to your strengths or do you pick one that reduces your weakness

so if your a boxer then kick boxing would seem to suit your existing skill set

OR decided that your boxing is more than adequate for striking and go with a grappling art

personally id go with the second option but you may be '' street ready'' sooner with the other option
 

macher

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?

It you’re a boxer then I would add grappling.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Headhunter

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Running shoes and a brain with a bit of common sense. In my opinion if you are over the age of 16 and still regularly getting into fights...there’s an issue somewhere. Any martial art CAN work it depends on the person. You can have all the skill in the world when hitting the bag or the pads but if you take one on the chin and panic and freeze all that skill goes out the window.
 

Headhunter

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Also have to say....you say you never started the fights yet your username is iliketofight....hmm as I said any grown adult who’s regularly fighting...they should probably have a look at their own choices in life
 

jobo

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Also have to say....you say you never started the fights yet your username is iliketofight....hmm as I said any grown adult who’s regularly fighting...they should probably have a look at their own choices in life
your user name is HEADhunter ??? what does that say about you ?
 

geezer

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That it was my nickname in my fight career

Go ahead mon... you can tell them the truth....
image9-12.jpg
 
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Iliketofight

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Also have to say....you say you never started the fights yet your username is iliketofight....hmm as I said any grown adult who’s regularly fighting...they should probably have a look at their own choices in life

I got into my last fight at the age of 18, its been 12 years since I've been on one. I just live by the saying "better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." I LOVE to fight, competitively, I don't like hurting untrained people or fighting over dumb things like namecalling and weird stares.
 

skribs

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I got into my last fight at the age of 18, its been 12 years since I've been on one. I just live by the saying "better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war." I LOVE to fight, competitively, I don't like hurting untrained people or fighting over dumb things like namecalling and weird stares.
I like Chewjitsu's quote: I get paid to fight, why would I do it for free?
 

PhotonGuy

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Hey guys,

Long time boxer here and have done well in fights in the past (never started by me).

However, I'm looking to expand my game a bit.

Was deciding between Muay Thai, Sambo, or BJJ.

My goal is to be street-ready even if I never get into another fight again.

What would be the next best step?
The best martial arts for street fights are whichever ones you can make work for you.
 

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