Really good thread, I love reading these.
Most of the answers you have received already are awesome and cover it all. I’ll just add my 2c for interest, as someone who trains mostly Judo now, some BJJ, and some mixed striking experience over the years. I train at a club that also offers BJJ classes and we have a number of players that are black belts in Judo and also in BJJ.
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I have held my own with BJJ guys brown belt and below under BJJ rules, depending on the guy. Still get tapped though. I would credit this to my Judo newaza.
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I have yet to see a primarily BJJ guy do anything except get dominated by a Judo guy who is orange/green belt or above under Judo rules.
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BJJ guys often don’t have that ‘feel’ for balance, or good positions on the feet. They stand in bad places, put their feet in bad places. If you have to fight someone for real, on the feet is where you’ll likely be. Judo guys usually do enough newaza to know where not to be on the ground, but a good BJJ player will put you there anyway.
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For self defence implications - big throws hurt on mats, and would break bones/concuss/kill you on concrete. Anyone who has planted somebody with an O Soto Gari knows what I mean. However like BJJ there is control - you have the ability to control both the force of the throw, and the fall of your opponent.
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At my Judo Club, we have a roughly 50/50 focus on newaza and tachiwaza. Lots of our competitors win with waza-ari (half point) throws with smooth transitions to submissions or pins.This is both awesome and unusual for a Judo club, but has helped me learning BJJ.
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There is a crazy amount of BJJ black magic that catches me unawares, often. The guys that only train BJJ naturally pick that up far quicker than I.
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I’d say Judo is riskier. Guys get ACL injuries, bad ankle injuries, concussions are rare but they happen. BJJ for me is much more low impact.
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Both Judo and BJJ have taught me some bad habits that make it much easier for someone to strike me. I still spar occasionally with old Muay Thai friends and I notice it a lot.
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As above, the friends I have who train MMA are much better at mixing grappling and striking than I am, as you’d expect. I imagine this would have implications in a real event.
Here’s a thread I made about a year ago when I was trying to decide what martial art to pursue:
Most of the guys in this thread also replied to that. I should say a belated thanks to @loppar, I did return to Judo primarily after his advice in the end. Have been loving it. Good advice mate.
Just some ramblings.
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