TJS

Brazilian jiu jitsu spars alot more..I think Rickson said the only diffrence between BJJ and Traditional Jiu Jitsu os that they actually do it in brazil. TJJ has more standing throws/sweeps/strikes also while BJJ focuses mor eon the ground aspects. here is a really good article on the two types. http://bjj.org/editorials/19980308-tradjj/

points sparring is like playing a glorified game of tag except it teaches bad habits. I dont know what your goals are but if you want to learn how to fight point sparring wont cut it. So I would check around and see what the sparring is like at the other schools.

Boxing, Krav Maga, Muay Thai.

Any tips on perfecting the Triangle choke? any comments in general.

what i mean is there are great targets for a fist, but the back/top of the head is a much better target for a palm heel strike..sometimes thats all you can hit.

Anyone who doubts the effectiveness of open hand strikes should download some Highights of Bas Rutten fighting, he has numerous KO's to both the head and body with open hand strikes. you can download it off sherdog.com or his website..they have a link to it there also.

Because there are alot Martial artist that really dont know how to fight. they want to see if your one of them, either that or some people may just want to see you use it because its cool...just like why people watch, kickboxing, grappling etc.

If you want to learn to fight go with #2

Muay thai fighter-you forget you wear gloves in your fights, take them off and you will realize many punches will result in a broken hand.. If you are punching to the head an open hand strike can be very practical. especially for hooks

yes i would prefer not to get punched in a fight but that dosent mean it wont happen, what if you trip, what if you get tackled by suprise then all the training you have ever know just went out the window and now things are equal. Do you learn takedown defense then? Since you arent supposed to go down, I have never seen it. well once someone realizes they dont want ot trade with you their first instict is proabably going to be to close the distance and clinch-anotehr area karate dosent cover..from there it's alot harder to stay up. The rules were no biting and no eye gouging...Royce got bitten by Gerard and he still got choked out...so basically you argument stands on eye gouging...yes it can be important..but i wouldent base my entire ability to fight one it. once again im not bashin all karate I just think there are certain elemnts of the fight it ignores.

I would definetly choose the Kickboxing/judo/muay thai/sambo school..lots of great styles right there.

Everyone will have an opinon most based on what they do/have done. I can say pretty objectivly that Muay thai/Kyokoshin karate are very effective and usually dominate. Boxing usually works very well with grappling aswell, hands are important and boxing has that covered Kenpo is also pretty good. I would avoid TKD if you want something for effecive self defense/ fighting im not bashing TKD or saying its useless or anything but there are more effective standup styles, you cant argue that.

I would consider a modern stlye a style that changes and adpts to a chngine world, it gets rid of what dosent work and sticks to what does. traditional styles generally stick to what has always been done, whether it works or not. they dont bring in new techniques or get rid of anything.

My thoughts on Karate, first off you cant lump all of it together. -My first problem is the lack of ground fighting/clinch fighting -lack of punching to the face. -Lack of real sparring/realistic fighting/self defense -BUT there are hardcore Karate schools, If i had to take Karate it Would be Kyokoshin. Kyokoshin has proven itself to be an effective and tough standup fighting style. For those comparing Karate to BJJ, I hate to break it to you but unless you trained to avoid takedowns and trained some groundfighitng you are going to lose to someone who is profficent at BJJ. Anyone see UFC 1-4? That is not a bash on Karate, the same is true for any standup fighting stlye from Muay thai to Karate..unless you cross train in some sort of grappling you will be a fish out of water.

Cung le..I would think he would do well.

looks like the real deal to me.

funny I just matt lindland win -he does neither just saw Frank mir win-he does neither just saw vladamir win-he does neither thats just the last one..i could go on. why would you make a statment like that?

baroni -lindland-great fight, I bet lindland will have a hard time walking tommorow after those body shots. penn-uno-great fight, i think penn should have go tthe win though. tank mir-wish it would have lasted longer but mir showed alot of skill. ricco-sylvia-great fight..solid shot to the jaw. pedro-vladamir-pedro was dissapointing, i belive he could have knocked out vladamir..he just wasant agrressive enough at all.

Thats sad.

Grappling should be in the training of anyone who want to be able to truely defend themselves in a real fight. I personally belive you should foucus more on standup..and also on takedown defenses, but grappling should be in there..and not just a tiny bit.

It's usually a better idea to study an art that completes the waekenesses of another, or focuses on other aspect...some example would be Boxing-Judo muay thai-BJJ karate-jiu jitsu just to make a few examples.

because it's alot of hype and little real fighting skill.

MMA fighter-yes, they are the greatest fighters in the world. brawlers/tuff man competitions etc-no thats just who is stronger/can take a hit better.

That rules out Aikido from you post it seem syou would enjoy a modern martial art, generally you learn them much quicker and they are more reality based. somethign like Brazilian jiu jitsu, krav maga, muay thai, judo, etc

Obviously alot depends on the school, i would lean twords jiu jitsu or judo depending on how its taught (there are alot of weak judo schools here in the U.S.) A good boxing gym would go very nicely with either aswell.