Is BJJ a good desicion for a martial art???

[TJS]

wrong make the assumption that every street fight involves more than one person.

If I was standing in the middle of a field across from a big tough golden gloves boxer and i kneww BJJ would it be a bad idea to take the fight to the ground? You realize that would be a street fight..what if If friend or family member was irrate and trying to take a swing at you in your living room..would it be a bad idea to grab them and hold them down until they calmed down? so once again you did make a generalization that was false.

secondly the gracie stategy is not to take the fight ot the ground 100 of the time clinch work, a few strikes and throws/takedowns are also part of jiu jitsu.

[tufrthanu]

There are other reasons besides multiple opponents for not going to the ground. Things such as debris and any mystery liquids that may be on the ground. It also takes away a persons most valuable asset. Mobility. Once you are tangling with someone on the ground you have lost your ability to run away if things get bad. Alot of martial artists feel that if you are taken to the ground you have already made too many mistakes in a street fight...but assuming you end up there your first goal should be to defend so that you are able to get back to your feet. Family members may be restrained without tackling them in some fashion...they may fall down...but it isnt necessary to put them on the ground. Personally...I could care less if you want to roll around on the ground...do what you want it's your self defense system. And if you'll notice in my original post I said that I like the techniques just not the policies.

[glockmeister]

Taking a fight to the ground also means that while you are tying the bad guy up for a submission hold, you may suddenly feel 6 inches of steel going into your kidneys

The LAST thing you want to do in the rela world is go to the ground. As has been mentioned before, the possibility of multiple attackers, but also if you take a guy to the ground holding a knife, it can be suicide. The idea of taking a angry, drunk relative ( or enemy) to the ground "untill he calms down" isn't realistic. Think of it this way, you get into an altercation, you take the bad guy to the ground, now, you have 3 possible things that can happen:

1: The bad guy does calm down (This however is unlikely)

2: he gives up, only to re attack you again once you let him up, only more angry and more cautious to avoid being taken down a second time

3: You take him to the ground, realize that as soon as you let him go, that u will be re-attacked, so you dislocate or break something to ensure he can't. Problem with this is, if he is already submitted, and you go ahead and damnage him, you are going to jail. There will more thna likely be witnesses that will attest to the fact that: "OH yes officer, he was down, he said he gives up and mister BJJ went ahead and snapped his arm."

Choking him out or strangling him out may be better, however, if the guy would realize you are trying to chock him into unconciousness, it gives him more legal wiggle room for whittling your ribs with his pocket knife.

Since choking or strangling someone has the potential to kill them, all they need to do is convince at least one juror that he was in fear for his life and he will walk.

I don't know how many people here are familiar with court proceedings, lawyers, judges, jurys, etc. But I cna here it now, you being in court and the guy who stabbed you has his lawyer grilling you.

"So Mr. BJJ you did attempt to put my client in a strangle hold?"

"yes, I was defending myself."

"but he was on the ground, yet he still was enough of a threat to justify a choke?"

"um"

"Choking or strangling has the potential to cause death or possible brain damage does it not"

"well, yeah, but...."

"Sir, if someone was literally cutting off your air supply, would you do anything possible to get this guy off of you?"

You see where I am going with this I hope. Going to the ground is always a bad idea. in a ring sure it's great, on the street, bad news.

[tufrthanu]

You brought up some very interesting points in your post glock. One of the ones I thought deserved more attention was the idea of once you have subdued an opponent what do you do. Because you are on the ground you cannot walk him anywhere to have someone call for help. And because you are the sole means of his submission you must maintain the hold until A) he passes out...in case of extreme pain or choke B) Someone comes to your aid or C) Another bad guy comes along.

[Treebranch]

Look I love BJJ, and I'm new at it. I see lots of holes in the art that I can see being a big problem on the street. For instance, there is no padding on the street so alot of the techniques would have to be modified. We train on soft mats and out knees hit the ground alot, this would be a big problem on the street. The other is the throws and ways of getting someone to the ground in BJJ could cause you to injure yourself if the surface is hard. The other thing is they don't teach striking at all and they don't teach how strikes can lead to lock and holds because you can't practice that in class. Like I said, I love BJJ and I'll study it as long as I can. The thing is that BJJ is groundfighting and not a complete system. So if someone on the street really knows how to fight and all you know is BJJ, well good luck. There is so much mean stuff you could do while in someone's guard.

[TJS]

Treebranch

We train on soft mats and out knees hit the ground alot, this would be a big problem on the street.

I think this varies from school to school guys like Royce Gracie who do alot of self defense stuff emphasise doubles that dont bang your knee into the ground like a wrestling shot. We learn them that way at my school but I have seen alot of sport jiu jitsu school what learn takedowns that might hurt their knees on a hard surface.

The other thing is they don't teach striking at all and they don't teach how strikes can lead to lock and holds

Once again in sport Jiu jitsu no they dont teach strikes. If it's a SD of vale tudo focuses school you will learn strikes. Things such as kicks to close the distance, short range elbows and headbutts on the ground and how to defend against punches from your gaurd..etc.

You train at a machado school if I remember correctly? From my limited knowlade and what I have heard most Machado schools tend to focus on sport Jiu jitsu. Whitch isint a bad thing and the machados are some of the best in that area but that may explain some of the things in your training.

[shotokanwarrior]

I would just like to add something from my own experiance, I have done BJJ and am no means an expert, but with a little bit of training it is quite easy to stand back up, especially when the other guy knows nothing.

[Daedalus]

I would just like to add something from my own experiance, I have done BJJ and am no means an expert, but with a little bit of training it is quite easy to stand back up, especially when the other guy knows nothing.

Good point man. I also do BJJ and I find that being a student of grappling makes it so much easier to not only keep others from taking you down but also to get back up more quickly when you are on the ground.

[CapitalKarate]

Learning BJJ cannot have a negative impact upon your MA training. If you want it for self defense, then knowng BJJ will help you defend yourself against your attacker if he knows BJJ, you'll know what he might try on you. And if by some chance he CAN bring you down to the ground, you'll know how to get him into a position so you can get back up.

[TJS]

I think getting attacked by someone who knows BJJ would be pretty rare.

although Sadly I know quite a few martial artist who get into street fighs quite regularly..BJJ guys included.

but there are thousands of people across the US who have done BJJ, Judo, or wrestled in school...so it's not as unlikely as some people think.

I do know alot of guys who wrestled in HS and will double leg people right of the bat if they get into a fight and pound them on the ground...and these are guys who have never even watched mma or train to fight.