My coach’s coach worked a lot of bar security and had shirts printed to sum up his interactions with bullshit tough guys.
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I popped a few guys in my day - kind of an asshole and regret it now. But at sixty, I don’t want to fight.
I will - I just don’t want to.
Hmm, at 54 I feel just like that, almost. Let me please give my phrasing of a very similar sentiment?
“If I must fight, I am doing it to survive, and it is probably only going to be one of us to walk away on our own power. I am going to be doing my wife that night, while they are begging for pain medicine, and had they not been so stupid, they would not have had that problem.” (language modified for forum consumption : ) )
Where does Krav Maga rate among martial arts? It receives praise for being
an effective self defence that doesn’t take years to learn. It is taught to the IDF as their hand to hand combat program. Plus I’m a fan of Daniel Silva and Gabriel Allon seems to kick as with it !
Where does it rate?
For practical self-defense i would rate it really near the very top with BJJ because of how practical and effective it is, plus the shorter learning curve.
I have a niece who trained in it for 3 years. She’s not especially strong or anything but I’d not recommend fighting her, At approx 5’8”, maybe 160, she’d easily whip an untrained 200 lb man, because of the Krav Maga training.
On that note, how does the MCMAP rate outside of combat operations or in the ring? I have never seen it used or sparred against someone trained in the system.
Just casually interested 
It depends on your goal. If a person wants to be more prepared for violence, training Krav Maga will almost certainly further that goal.
If you want to learn how to control, maim and kill people with your bare hands, pulling that off reliably requires hard sparring and a training methodology that addresses various situations at a level of depth that Krav Maga doesn’t attempt to dive into.
If you want to invest a few weeks into training for bare-handed violence, Krav Maga is probably a good bet. If you are committed to any sort of long term improvement in your capabilities, I believe it is better to commit to a martial art that emphasizes effective techniques that involve full or nearly full force sparring. My short list of these arts includes boxing, wrestling, Muay Thai, Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
The “too deadly to train” techniques present a conundrum. How do you know how to really execute the techniques if they’re too dangerous to practice against resistance? The short answer is that you don’t, because you’ve never executed them under any kind of real stress.
That’s the secret sauce of Kano’s conception of Judo in the late 19th century, which BJJ grew directly out of. The priority of mat time became training techniques that could actually be trained in realistic sparring scenarios involving full force effort. All of the “too deadly to train” stuff was scrapped. Not because it could never work, but because it couldn’t be trained.
When things get chippy you can either do the thing, or not.
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thanks twojarslave for that well thought out reply.
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@FlatsFarmer , What is that please?
I’d like to comment a bit more.
Judo, with which I’ve zero experience, I believe would be invaluable. BJJ as well.
Muy Thai brutal striking combined with it would be awesome. Add the joint lock stuff etc from Krav Maga. It’s my opinion that if a person were proficient in all three of these, and yes that is possible, they would be a force to be reckoned with in a self-defense or any other scenario as I think all based of unarmed combat would be covered.
It’s also my opinion that not one art or style will ever totally suffice and practitioners must branch out a bit, be well rounded, in order to be most prepared. I also think Bruce Lee would have agreed with this sentiment. He didn’t limit himself to one style that I’m aware of and we ended up with jest kune do. Not sure that is still taught anywhere??