ninjer

No single style by itself is going to be perfect. Technically speaking, thats the whole idea of mixed martial arts (mixing different styles so as to be well versed in all aspects of unarmed combat). Even that being the case, you're almost certainly not going to get the same quality of say boxing or grappling training at a MMA gym that you would at a gym that specialises in boxing or in grappling, the few exceptions being the top tier MMA camps (i.e. Militech camp for example). Its best to go to the guys who are the best in their fields, learn what they have to teach and after thats done work on trying to incorporate it into your entire game.

Absolutely not- I've managed to choke people out with nothing but t-shirts. The reason why a shirt is likely to tear is because your opponent is likely to tear away from you when you grab hold of it. Considering that you're most likely going to be on the ground when your applying your choke hold, your opponent will be pinned and wont have this luxury. Also take into account that it only takes 5lbs of pressure to collapse your caratoid arteries, so you dont need a whole lot of pressure in order for your choke to work effectively.

Other options you have to the double ankle sweep, should your opponent try to lift you up, is to simply underhook one of his legs, or work to "walk" your guard higher up. It also helps to keep your opponents head down when hes in your guard. by breaking his posture, you will make it more difficult for him to lift you off the ground.

Technically all the chokeholds in jiu jitsu are strangleholds in that they cut off your blood and not your air. It would be easily justifiable in that the perp would be alive and well shortly after being used. The leglocks thing Im not fond of, simply because leglocks are offered when someone tries to defend with their legs (i.e. guard) and most people have no guard at all. Moreover, your goal is to subdue your attacker, not cripple him, and chokes will be your best option. If I were to chose 10 myself: 1: Double leg 2: Pummeling to achieve double underhooks 3: Bump and roll escape from the mount. 4: Elbow escape from the mount. 5: Guillotine choke (from poorly executed takedowns, i.e. tackles) 6: Stand up in base from guard 7: RNC 8: Kimura from guard (should a perp reach for the firearm) 9: Standing headlock escape 10: headlock escape from the ground.

To deny that different systems produce different qualities of fighters is to deny the obvious- thats WHY we have different styles of martial arts, because different people have different approaches to combat. Lets look at someone like Maurice Smith, a world class kickboxer who started fighting MMA. He didnt fair too well initially, losing many of his matches to others train in grappling. Then he starts training in a different style under Frank Shamrock, and next thing you know hes knowledgable of the ground fight and able to fend for himself on the ground long enough to get back to his feet- which is what he used against Mark Coleman in their fight for a win. The same goes for Igor Vovchanchyn- a quality kickboxer who gets beat by a quality wrestler in Mark Coleman who manages to drop a few knees from the north south position. Vov goes on to train more extensively in his ground game, and now hes able to throw his weight around on the ground. Then theres people like Stefan Leko, a K-1 world class kickboxer who is every bit an athlete if there ever was, but hes atrocious in mixed martial arts because he has no ground skills and training whatsoever. Then you have someone like Royce Gracie, who's anything but an athlete- hes not fast, hes not strong, and hes not big. Hes done karate for about 15 years, but still cant strike worth anything off the feet. He won his fights because he trained in the martial art that gave him the edge to defeat his opponents. Someone like Harold Howard was credited as being a canadian ju jitsu champion/black belt, but he went on to be pounded out by a TKD fighter who weighed less than he did and had no ground experience at all- even when comparing JJJ and BJJ, there is a big difference in styles.