Mixing styles needed? in competing for fun

[XINDU]

Back in the early 1990’s all fighting styles were brought together for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The UFC is a no holds barred competition and fighters representing: Kickboxing – Karate – Boxing – Taekwondo – Jujutsu – Kung Fu – Sumo were all there to prove their style was the best. On that night Jujutsu rained supreme and suddenly the world was woken up to the necessity of grappling & ground fighting. Jujutsu then went on to dominate all Mixed Martial Arts events during the nineties.

After the Jujutsu domination of the nineties, all no holds barred fighters started to learn both the striking & grappling arts. Now the Ultimate Martial Artist was born. A Mixed Martial Artist is not just capable of fighting standing up, they are also capable of fighting in the grappling position and on the floor making them almost impossible to be beaten by a single styled martial artist. Mixed Martial Arts is the ultimate in un-armed combat, it’s not limited by one way and it’s not held back with useless techniques that just don’t work. It’s reality for a real world.

Mixed Martial Arts is the new phenomenon sweeping the world, as it is now a well known fact that fighters who employ a range of striking, grappling and submission tactics are the most successful competitors in Mixed Martial Arts events and on the street.

[kj]

it is now a well known fact that fighters who employ a range of striking, grappling and submission tactics are the most successful competitors in Mixed Martial Arts events and on the street.

"Well known facts" are interesting things. Somewhat akin to "common sense," which itself seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. I grant that your assertion on successfulness could be true. Data is probably not that hard to come by which might support such an argument or conclusion within scope of Mixed Martial Arts events.

I would be more interested to see the source data supporting an incontrovertible "fact" that Mixed Martial Artists are the most successful competitors on the street. What do you base your conclusion on? Is it anecdotal evidence, your own experience and reasoning, the opinions or experiences of others, or are there perhaps some studies you can cite? If such studies have been conducted, I'd be very interested to know about them, especially if they were executed or analyzed with any degree of rigor.

I personally have serious doubts that martial arts training regardless of style is the greatest factor of relevance in most situations of random or street violence. However, we might have different things in mind when we think, speak of, or refer to street encounters. It might be interesting to explore people's respective meanings for the term "street" in more detail.

Regards,
- kj

[XINDU]

When it comes to using street fighting techniques in an actual fight, remember that there are no rules. Your opponent will probably not follow any regulations and may fight dirty if they have to. You have to rise to any challenge and do the same whenever your life and safety are concerned.

Most street fighting techniques are built around the concept of giving you enough time to incapacitate your opponent quickly and make the first exit possible. There should be no shame involved in escaping an attack, especially if there is no one around to help you. More injuries, rapes and deaths occur when people decide to fight longer than 15 seconds instead of calling for help.

Thus, learning what are called "stop hits" is very important, as these moves will stall the attacker just enough to give you a head start. However, if the aggressor gets you in a lock hold, then you must be able to jab, punch, kick and roll yourself out of it. If the situation gets so bad as to require full force, make sure you are aware of your surroundings and how your own adrenaline rush is affecting your body.

If you come across more than one attacker, you should know how to immediately go into action and perform a "stop hit" on one of them as soon as you can. You will be able to defend yourself easier against the second opponent and possibly even scare him off with your ferocity. If you feel that you are outnumbered, rely on your instinctive strength and smarts to use every kicking, holding, punching, slapping and biting street fighting techniques you can to get them off y

[lawrenceofidaho]

Does "the street" mean application of fighting skills in an uncontrolled environment? Or does it mean intelligent use of self defense tactics ala Sanford Strong, Gavin de Becker, etc.? -Maybe a combination of the two?.......

The edge in a "fighting skills" category would (at least logically) go to the stylist who trains hard in a discipline (MMA) which has the best W-L record in limited rules fighting competitions (where wing chun has yet to be successful in the higher competitive brackets.) -The rest will vary greatly, (especially the level of competition that one will encounter on the street.)

I think that a person that is not somehow emotionally involved, or corrupted by popular martial arts fantasies would likely weigh the available evidence (which admittedly is not entirely conclusive), and reasonably assume that the mixed martial artsist would have a decided edge over any martial arts "purist" in a street confronatation.

-Lawrence

[Scott R. Brown]

I agree with that there is a certain amount of fantasy involved with many who practice martial arts. One of the fantasies is the efficacy of mixed martial arts. It is predicated upon an assumption of how we “think” a “real life” encounter will occur. The marketing of mixed martial arts is predicated upon a narrow set of circumstances and ignores many possible scenarios just like any other art preceding the 90’s. It may account for a wider variety of circumstances, but it is still limited. It is one thing to have to fight one person, and another to have to fight many, and another to have to fight many with baseball bats and yet another to have to fight someone who has just come up behind you and brained you with a claw hammer! Or a home invasion with a shot gun.

The only true test of any MA is when our life is on the line. Anything else is a limited circumstance. Even NHB competitions have rules. No biting, eye gouging, finger breaking, groin kicking!! One of the first things I would do in a real life or death encounter is drive my # 2 pencil or Papermate pen into my assailants eye or throat. Now I have just neutralized his 10 or 15 years of mixed marital arts training!!! If he wants to take me down? I will be happy to drive my # 2 pencil or my pocket knife blade into his cervical spine or his kidney, or maybe I will just slit his throat. There goes his 15-20 years of mixed marital arts training!! His advanced training has just provided me with the opportunity I needed. He fell into my trap! Which was, “Please take me down!!! I don’t know what I am doing!!!” I merely prepared for the weakness in his attack and it didn’t take me 10-20 years of learning fancy moves to defeat him. I learned it just this second when I thought it up!!

It isn’t always who has the most training in real life. It is who is willing to be the most brutal first!!!

Years ago I went to high school with a guy who did just that. He crashed a high school party in a neighboring town. He was called out into the front yard by some big football player. While the footballer was busy posturing, pushing and mouthing off, the guy took out a straight razor and slit the footballer’s throat. Now he is dead!!! He is dead because he was messing with a guy who was willing to be more brutal than he was and didn’t care what the consequences were!!!