Jersey Devil

Depends on the skill level of the person hes fighting- an experienced grappler (say 2+ years of training) will just choke you over your face if you tuck your chin, which will result in him either breaking your jaw, or breaking your teeth.

Your opponent will only be able to knee you if he knows proper takedown defense (i.e. sprawls). When you shoot for a double, you penetrate your opponents base and break his balance, which he needs in order to throw any kind of effective blow. If he tries to throw a knee once you've already got his legs, hes simply going to fall on his rear end and save you the trouble of finishing the takedown.

Much of what everyone else is saying is pretty true- when a choke is sunk in, you're just about dead. Defending a choke is all about not letting your opponent get his hands by your neck in the first place. Food for thought- you're a striker- to turn the question around on you, think of it like this: Whats the best way to keep from getting knocked out? Keeping your opponents attack from hitting you in the first place. If you wait until your opponents fist hits your face, you're really not going to have enough time to do anything. The same is true for chokes and joint locks. Stopping the punch before it hits you and stopping the hands before they choke you are how you defend yourself

There are many different types of jiu jitsu/ju jitsu. Kempo jitsu if I remember correctly is referring to joint locks- there are many various forms of jitsu, for example, sword drawing techniques, striking techniques, etc etc. So to be simple about it, you do traditional/ japanese ju jitsu.

Theres nothing wrong with training with the same intensity when training with women on the mat, but there are some things that you dont do- do dont cross face them from the back mount, and you dont smash their face when you're trying to choke them.

Agreed- wrestling is one of the best martial arts in the game, its just that its such a sport that most people dont consider it a martial art

So true- even if you tried to reach up to gouge his eyes, he might just tear your arm off and beat you to death with it. Bob Sapp is a perfect example of why martial arts were created, and heres the answer no one likes to hear- you simply have to wait until he gets tired, which means you'll have to wither the initial storm of his attacks. When hes fresh, hes going to walk through anyone's punches and kicks, afterwhich hes going to grab you and throw you to the ground. If you can survive long enough, then you'll be able regain your feet or get a superior position on him as he gases and starts to lose some of his strength. Although, making strategies is the is the easy part- making them work is another thing altogether.

You guys should listen to beka- she has t3h correct. The exception being that even legit quality MA schools will have you sign contracts in order to sign up for class- its a simple matter of financial security- And I dont pay for insurance.

In terms of Judo vs Wrestling, I often advocate wrestling over Judo, for the simple fact that the simply objective is to get your opponent down in wrestling- no matter how pretty or ugly it looks. Judo, on the other hand, focuses on the ippon and as a result neglects many other important techniques that work so effectively in taking people down (i.e. single and double leg takedowns). As a result, many Judoka defend poorly against double and single leg takedowns. This is just with respect to the takedowns aspect of the fight- I believe Judo to be a more complete style due to the use of submissions, but submissions were outlawed in wrestling when it became an Olympic sport- Catch Wrestling I would hold in higher esteem than Judo. Now, all that being said, I wouldnt say that wrestling is always better than Judo in terms of takedowns- a very good example is the recent fight in Pride between Pride Champion Fedor Emilianenko and kickboxer Mirko Cro Cop. Cro Cop has unbelievable takedown defense, which stems primarily from the sprawl and classic BJJ bearhug defense. This works quite well when someone is shooting in for doubles and singles, but the Judo game brought a different set of techniques to the table which Mirko was unable to defend against with the same effectiveness he did against wrestling oriented takedowns. This is a growing trend in MMA as clinchwork proves to be more and more vital in fights. Judo and Greco Roman wrestling are becoming rather important as a result.

This unfortunately is not the case anymore in the UFC. I doubt Royce will have time to rest and wait on the ground. As if they didnt already stand fighters up fast enough, the very defensive style of Royce will only encourage the ref to stand them up as the uneducated spectators boo the ground game.

Just because Royce has had the time to train in the past 15 years or so doesnt neccessarily mean hes gotten better. I would hope and imagine that his jiu jitsu has improved, but his age would be a good factor to even the progress out. Royce may not be old, but hes certainly not young anymore. Beyond that, Hughes has fought in close to 40 MMA fights. Anyone who's fought Hughes, in the distant past or near present, has watched videos on his fights- they're certainly not difficult to get a hold of. Watching someone and pointing out their shortcomings and then getting in the ring and exploiting them are two completely different things. Also dont forget that at the same time Royce is trying to analyze Matt's matches, Matt and his team are analyzing Royce's matches. I personally feel that Matt cant pound Royce unconcious on the ground- his jiu jitsu may not be that good, but his defense is great, and thats exactly how Royce plays- as a defensive fighter. This I think is going to be the deciding factor- Royce isnt very aggressive, so I plan on seeing him just defend and waiting for Matt to take the initiative. If Hughes makes a mistake that Royce can capitalize on, thats his window of opportunity. If Hughes plays a tight game, Royce will only have 15 minutes to secure his victory which may not be enough for him.

One should also never assume they can fight multiple people at once.

Be carefull, that philosophy may backfire on you if you end up in an altercation with someone who genuinely wants to fight (since most people arent looking for a fight but rather a victim). Acting crazy and going nuts may end up getting you into a fight because you provoked the guy into one when you could have been rational and reasonable and avoided it altogether. At the same time, there are times when being rationable and reasonable will get you into a fight, as some people will view that as a weakness. You'll end up fighting when you could have simply acted crazy and scared the guy off.

Well, people often hate arguing over who's style is better than who's, because the unfortunate reality is that some styles are superior to others in certain aspects. This being the case, often times the style who's strongpoint happens to be a very common situation in a real fight is deemed to be the better style.

Some of the gi techniques can be used on opponents wearing a T-shirt. There are a some techniques that rely on the gi, and some that dont. There are so many techniques that it eventually comes down to how your prefer your game to be. For example, your instructor may show you 5 or 6 different ways to pass the guard, but chances are you'll end up only using 2 as your primary pass. As far as your belt rank, you dont receed in belt rank in BJJ, but to be quite honost with you, if you started in the summer and only trained until the winter, you'll probably still be a white belt, so there wont really be a rank for you to retain (unless your school gives degrees for white belts- some do, some dont)

Thats something along the lines of what I was hoping for- his books involved chokes and strangles, striking combinations, and judo. My first impression is a good one. What I was afraid of was seeing a bunch of books on deadly eye gouges and biting techniques.

BJJ with a gi does a great job of helping you to learn basic defenses that would otherwise take a long time to learn if training without the gi. For example, with all the chokes available with the gi on, a beginner student will quickly learn the value of being able to defend his neck properly. Quite honostly though it comes down to a matter of opinion. If you could only do one I would suggest training with the gi, simply because should you change your mind in the future, its much easier to adapt your game if you go from gi to no gi than if you were a no gi fighter who suddenly put a gi on. There are a few wrist locks taught in BJJ, but nothing you would expect if you're watching a Steven Seagal movie and expecting that. BJJ focuses alot on practicality. Wrist locks are very difficult to apply on resisting opponents because of so many different angles of articulation one has (he can move so many ways by stepping, moving his shoulder, and rotating his elbow). There are times when wristlocks can be an effective option, but the wrist is a small joint, offers less control over someone that locking a larger joint, and is less effective at ending a fight than locking a larger joint. In this respect, the vast majority of locks that are taught in BJJ fall within choke holds, elbow locks, shoulder locks, knee locks, and ankle locks. As far as punching and kicking, thats not the mentality of BJJ. The fighting philosophy is to put yourself in a position where you can attack your opponent, but he cant attack you. As a result, punching and kicking are not emphasized, and the very few strikes that are taught are often only used to bridge the gap between a standing fight and a clinch fight.

Meh, the problem I have with most RBSD instructors is that they cant prove what they're teaching- many of them are in a group of people who fall back on the notion that their techniques are too deadly to be used in training or in a competitive fight. I've heard of Thompson, but I dont know much about him- if hes not like Tony Blauer, then thats a step in the right direction

Challenge matches happen more frequently with BJJ, possibly because of the ground fighting element, and of course, most people, especially those who have trained in other martial arts for numerous years, dont think that someone can take them to the ground. The Gracies were big on proving that their technique worked (and you proving that yours works). All you need to do is suggest that you can stop a takedown or that your style is better, and a challenge match is in order. Its perfectly legal as well- my instructors just be sure to keep a healthy supply of waivers behind the desk so that after someone gets done testing themselves, they cant come back and sue.

No, the whole idea behind no gi training is not being allowed to use your opponents clothing against him. Some grappling tournaments on the other hand will alllow you to use your opponents shirt to choke them and therefore make wearing shirts/rashguards optional. Of course- there is a counter to every move you could suggest. Yes- headlocks in the sense you see in Judo and wrestling are bad when used in BJJ. Side headlocks or wrestlers headlock (head and arm lock) are great when you simply need to temporarily pin someone, but such headlocks will allow an experienced grappler to escape and when he does, he'll be on your back.

Sure he can- the irony is that even though Royce carries the name "Gracie" hes far from being one of the top grapplers in his weight class. Hughes is a much better fighter than is Royce, theres no way to deny that. His standup is better than Royce's, his takedowns are absolutely phenomenal compared to Royce's, and hes also a stronger, faster, more seasoned athlete. However, the old adage in Mixed martial arts is that styles make fights, and in this instance about the only thing that Royce can hold over Hughes' head is his submission abilities. Matt primarily fights a ground and pound game which falls directly into Royce's game. If this is how Hughes fights, than this will be a very good matchup. On the other hand Hughes can take advantage of Royce's one dimensional game and keep it on the feet where his striking will prove to be much better. This wouldnt be a difficult gameplan to employ- the day that Royce Gracie can takedown Matt Hughes is the day hell freezes over. I think this fight is really going to come down to how Hughes decides to fight it, and I think hes going to try to ground and pound Royce, which will give all of us the show that we're all anticipating.

Agreed, but the problem is that standing locks are much more difficult to get than locks while on the ground. This is especially true of wristlocks, since your opponent has so many articulations at the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. Im not saying they're impossible, just very difficult, even for experienced people.

Often times when people talk and advocate about cross training, they're talking about mixing up martial arts from two different aspects of the fighting game. For example, you do kempo, a striking art, which could be grouped with a variety of other styles such as kung fu, karate, TKD, boxing, and muay thai- all these styles would be regarded as striking arts. Crosstraining in too many striking arts I think is kinda futile, unless you are addressing specifics (i.e. the punching combinations of boxing or the elbows and knees of muay thai). To go full circle in your martial arts training, I would suggest a grappling style such as Judo or BJJ. This way you learn all aspects of a fight- striking, clinching, and groundwork. Natrually if you were a grappler, it would be suggested that you cross train with a striking art. Just my 2 cents

Technically, no submission is designed to actually "break" a bone- people just say that and make that assumption because of the loud popping sound you hear. Joint locks attack joints, and its often the muscles and ligaments that are damaged and torn and eventually lead to a dislocation. Pain compliance moves are more like pressure points in the sense that you referred to them and those are what are exceptionally tricky to pull off on people, because some have them and some dont.

Thats an obvious statement made in the video, but he needs to realize that what he failed to show the actual fighting techniques NOT working. I could make a same video addressing his techniques, and a 2 on 1 encounter in which you're jumped doesnt leave much room for hope for the person getting attacked. Thats less in the realm of physical techniques and more in the realm of awareness. While I kinda agree with their statements, they're blatently obvious and there are far too many "Reality Self Defense" instructors out there who are in fact doing a worse job that your average martial arts mcdojo.