I just happened to be browsing the articles and happened upon this one, as a professional mixed martial arts competitor (I have competed in ufc, pride, superbrawl as well a many other mixed martial arts events including pancrease, and abu daybi) I also posses a black belt in vadha kenpo, and competed at the college level in wrestling for a top level division one school. I always felt that no matter how good a striker you are nothing can beat a good ground fighter (unless you are a boxer they are the only true fighters that I feel can stand a chance) I have been studying bjj for roughly four years now and I feel it has turned me into the complete fighter, although my ground fighting abilities were superb before I started, I noticed that I was constantly having a hard time with my ground and pound fighting against bjj fighters. I would constantly be taken into late rounds or overtime by these fighters in which i would be exhausted while the bjj fighter although greatly battered still had energy, I turned to bjj to assist me in being able to take these fighters out quicker. I was amazed at what I learned and how greatly I advanced as a fighter. I would recommend bjj as a style to consider taking, but I would advise a person serious about competing on a professional level to also incorporate a striking art as well, as we can see evident form most of our champions in this sport grappiling is the way to go.
Are you Tony D? Crazy hair and crazy beard?? If so congrats. Nova U. is awsome (I am Behring JJ) and I think you and BJ will go far.
My opinion on what art is best is that to be able to handle most situation you need skills in bjj, wrestling, striking (boxing or MT) along with some good sprinting skills:). I think that most people watching UFC/Pride etc get too caught up in styles and don’t realize that most fighters cross-train in everything.
bbj rocks. I have done kick boxing and bbj and while kickboxing is better than karate and kung-fu bbj is the best by far. But being a one dimensional fighter is extremely stupid. Not only should one be skilled on the ground but also standing up. Another thing to consider is you should practice with a variety of opponents. If your only going to practice bbj then at least practice with a boxer and see what it’s like to get hit, and how hard it is to take down someone who’s punching you. Now I would recommend learning ground work and stand up fighting. But if I had to learn just one it would be bbj. Also I think kicks are great in a real fight. Leg kicks that is. And no I think it’s almost impossible to break someones knee with a kick in a fight. But leg kicks are great for keeping someone off balance and slowwing them down. Molsenman and Dre your theoretical fight is just that. However you both have valid points. All this talk makes me want to get into bbj and kickboxing again as there are a few people at work that need to feel a triangle choke hold.
Keago
Sup Tony - Id love to know which UFC you were in and details of some of your fights and experiences. I must say I agree on the strength of boxers - I see boxing as the cornerstone of any striking repertoire (at least as opposed to martial arts hand strikes).
Now a question for anyone with alot of full contact experience - who do you think would be most likely to win in a street fight between an advanced boxer with some BJJ skills and and advanced BJJ guy with some striking skills? What about in a bar room brawl? What about in a UFC type fight? For my part, I know the answers and they are consistent with my posts above.
While we have a fight thread, I might as well post that Tito Ortiz will fight Vitor Belfort at UFC in late september. Ima go out on a limb here and say that while both of these guys have good strikes, Tito will win with more sophisticated punches. Having said that, Im pretty sure Vitor will be favorite to win.
tony, is that your real name? im trying to think who u r. it cant be desouza because he hasnt been at abu dhabi or pride, by the way i like desouzas game and hes peruvian like me. also my old instr. rodrigo minotauro is fighting mark coleman so watch for minotauro to take it, and im gonna go with vitor.
I would agree with everyone that BJJ is a great art. I also am not a practioner for this reason. NO great schools in the Austin Texas area. However due to its popularity BJJ is getting a raw deal. There are a lot of bogus and fake teachers out there who made to the level of a blue belt in some of these popular dojos and do you honestly think that the Gracies are going to teach you everything. No they will hold something back. Lets look at how many schools the (familiar name) has, and then actuallly how many of them compete. So be careful. I have a friend who as tapped out a number of supposed blue belt fighters and he would never dream of competing.
I also recently met a NHB fighter at the gym I train at who told me that there were a number of 19 and 20 year old kids getting seriously hurt because the only had a bjj backround and had no idea how to protect themselves.
On another note a kid who had studied bjj for a few years walked into one of my friends dojos who has studied bjj as well. The kid began to proclaim bjj to be superior. Well the graplled and during the encouter my friend slip a rubber knife between the elastic around the kids waist and shorts on the side of his body. After the sparring which my friend won the kid asked his opinion of BJJ . To which he replied its too ground oriented I stabbed you 15 minutes ago.
So look for a trained teacher who is willing to work with you and realize that it is not the end all be all to fighting or you will leave yourself wide open.
Dude, only go for Martial arts classes if you think they are fun. If you are at a shitty school standing in lines all day it is a waste of time. Also, if you really want to see what being a real killer is all about, go to a local boxing gym (where at least one pro fought as an amature) and say you want to spar with there worst fighter. After you come too, realize that the guy who beat you is about 1/1000th as good as the shittiest pro.
If Vitor’s hands can handle striking
(3 hand breaks) than I’d bet on him.Tito’s
standup is hard to judge since he does pretty
much nothing but G&P, at any rate it doesn’t
match Vitor’s hand speed ie:vs Tank, vs Silva,
vs Tra.Tito can’t over power Vitor like he
could the others(Elvis,Kondo,Tanner…)and
Vitor’s BJJ skills are tight.If it goes to
decision I pick Tito, if it’s a savage beat
down I’ll go with Vitor.I realize my picks
don’t jive with how their respective fights
have gone recently, but I have a feeling.
In practice, training, competition, you DO need grappling skills, and it wouldn’t hurt to know some anyway. But in a fast, concrete ground or bar stools environment with no rules, I don’t think I’ll be worrying about putting on an arm lock for example, unless it provides itself, with no danger to me; otherwise, I’ll be striking, short/long kicking, stompng, pushing, kneeing, elbowing~a whirlwind to let this guy say, “hey, my mistake buddy, I thought you were someone else”, and goes back to nursing his wounds with his beer!
sory but kicks are ALMOST worthless in real life (w/the exception of creating distance and MAYBE direct to the knee, but if you don’t get it PERFECT you WILL go down against a good grappler) I boxed (props to costello’s gym) and trained in TKD and YES boxing will help alot in the street but what if the other guy can take a great punch (I have been in more fights than I can count and I was only dazed ONCE and that was in a boxing gym) then what do you do? I will always say this; take a set of twins have one train in a strikeing art like say shotokan for say 5 yrs, have his brother be a H.S. wrestler for 2 yrs and have him train in a boxing gym at the same time, gee anyone wanna bet who wins the fight? NO CONTEST!! MOST martial arts are worthless on the street, MOST grappling arts are USEFULL on the streets (in grappling I inc. BJJ, judo,ect…) not all just most. peace HETYEY225
I am schooled in Jeet Kune Do which means “Your own Way” Rooted from Bruce Lees school and art it teachs every aspect of fighting - from every angle. For striking I learned Muy Thai Kickboxing(Simple, effective, painfull)for weapons i learned Kali Arnis (Philipino stick fighting - the stick is justa representation of any weapon you could fight with could be a broken bottle, crow bar, or a knife, but kali arnis will teach you how to use it effectively) And for my groud fighting I learned Brazillian JuJitsu - nothing better when your fight ends up on the ground. I can fight from any angle - because i have leaned these arts - If you were to get into a full spar fight with me only knowing brazilian JuJitsu then most likly I would try to keep you away with strikes, and punish you with punches if i could, but even when we would end up on the mat - you have only evened the odds - because i know JuJitsu as well. And if a real fight goes for more than 2 minutes then it will end up on the ground - so if you don’t have some ground skills or good luck - you dead meet. Learn striking and JuJitsu that would be my advice.
MM, Leg kicks are easy to block?!?! You better ask Royce Gracie about that one! Since he refused to continue after some great leg kicks from Sak!
Leg kicks worthless? What about Pete from the Lion’s den kicking Mark Coleman in the legs for the whole fight and then kicking him in the face and knocking him out. This is like the chicke or the egg debate. It all depends on the fighter. I try to be well rounded. I love BJJ and that’s what I’m into now but I started striking. It would be foolish to say one art is the end-all-be-all of the MA.
As for Jeet Kune Do, it translated in the the Way of the Intercepting Fist or Foot. Read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do, great book written by the man himself.
bbd: Royce Gracie didn’t give up because of leg kicks. He broke his ankle while they were fighting (not from leg kicks) and kept fighting for a long time. The only reason Pete Williams won against Coleman was because of Colemans conditioning at the time. It wouldn’t happen again.
I don’t think leg kicks are easy to block, but I am talking about real life in the ally stuff, if a striker goes for my knee he had better get it cause if it is bent a little, or he misses I am takeing him down. the only formal training I have had is in strikeing, but when I get in a real fight I take the other guy down (99 out of 100 atleast) and I am stronger than most and have been in more fights than most so I feel I am at the advantage, also if you get a striker down they still try and strike, gee w/ no legs under you hit me all yuo want and I’ll still choke the guy out. peace oh, I don’t understand how an instructer in JKD could even teach another “style” , that goes against what JKD is. peace again
To answer the original question, yes, BJJ is a great art. If you’re interested, then I would say get into it. Now a rant.
I’m not sure why people are so one-sided? Obviously, there are people that just believe any statistic that is thrown at them in order for someone else to brainwash them, but there is more to anything than one Idea. To Danish, Judo is a great art. It’s the sport side of jujuitsu, but if you train for the street, then it’s effective. Just get into some fights. That’s the only way you can prove that YOU are an effective exponent of your art. That goes to anyone. Why would people say that strikes are mostly useless? Are you that punch drunk? Sure, if someone football rushes you, then you need grappling skills. But what if that person does not rush you? What if he doesn’t give you the option of rush him (and believe me, a good fighter can prevent you from doing that)? Then you have to be proficient in striking (that includes kicks and punches for those who seem to feel like they have to separate the two). I noticed the BJJ Jedis are always making comments about strikers being out of their element, but never out of their own. And why are people only training for these two eventualities? What about if there is another guy in the tower? What are you going to do, throw a choke hold on the bullet? I’m not being sarcastic, just wondering why people would only subscribe to one thought or idea when it comes to training. If you want to be a warrior, then you should be training for a multitude of possibilities. Being one-sided will only leave you dead.