Karate defence against BJJ

[b3n]

Lately ive been watching some UFC videos and ive seen that BJJ almost every time wins. They usually dive in at the knees and lift the opponent off their balance and throw them to the ground and then lock them up.

How would a Karateka like me, or any other MA, defend against these BJJ attacks?

Low stances? Evasion? Share your thoughts.

[White Warlock]

Learn bjj so you can utilize your karate techniques without being 'ignorant' of what is being posed against you. I.e., a bjjer will have bjj, while you will have bjj and karate.

Edited September 30, 2005 by White Warlock

[AngelaG]

How would a Karateka like me, or any other MA, defend against these BJJ attacks?

Low stances? Evasion? Share your thoughts.

In an actual fight, or a compeititon type fight?

[b3n]

White Warlock: That sounds like a good solution, except i dont have time to start learning another MA.

AngelaG: Actual fight.

^ PS: (Hi, from all-karate forums)

[White Warlock]

If you don't have the time, then you are limited in what you can learn... plain and simple.

By examining some ufc videos, you can see 'some' of the techniques used to present a takedown. The more common ones used nowadays are wrestling takedowns. But, the problem is not that. If you learn to effectively counter one technique, it doesn't present you with the knowledge to counter a different technique. Also, it doesn't present to you an understanding of what that person can do when/if you do successfully counter.

Just like in karate, where there are principles which must be absorbed, there are principles with groundfighting that must be absorbed. If you focus on a few techniques, you fail to grasp the principles... and thus must 'rely' on those few tools "if" the opportunity presents itself.

To give an example with karate, if someone attempts to perform a strike to your face, and you block, then they grab your arm, pull down, and attempt a second strike with the opposing arm, you block, then they grab that arm, cross it against the other, and release one arm to strike you without resistance, what went wrong? Simple... you didn't know counters to follow-up actions and relied only on one counter... that of blocking a strike.

So, the answer is, learn bjj, not a few 'counters' to a few more 'common' techniques presented. For every action there is a counter and for every counter there is a counter-action, etc. But, it would be foolish to learn each and every technique, when in reality what you need to do is 'understand' the principles so that everything flows and you instinctively know what to do, even if a particular technique has never been applied or studied before. Why? Because it is a technique based on a principle... as opposed to a technique, stand-alone.

[b3n]

What you are suggesting would take years of BJJ training.

Ill ask instead: Is there anything i can do, given my limited karate-only training, that would help handle a BJJer? Or am i simply screwed?

[AngelaG]

White Warlock: That sounds like a good solution, except i dont have time to start learning another MA.

AngelaG: Actual fight.

^ PS: (Hi, from all-karate forums)

Alright?

Well the best you can do against a BJJ trained person is try to prevent them taking you to the ground. We do some groundwork in my karate classes, but obviously someone that is trained purely in groundwork would most likely have a better chance on the ground than me.

You need to evade any takedown they try to do, and use your arms and legs to make them keep their distance. Punches and kicks will need to be fast or they will try and grab you and start locking you up. Kicks to their knees, knees to their faces if the duck in for the shoot.

Ultimately it will come down to who is more highly skilled in their chosen art, and also a little bit of lukk on one side.

[b3n]

OK, thanks.

[jion]

karate was made to defend against normal attackers, not specialised martial arts. Although karate does have grappling techniques within the katas, it just wasn't made to defend against someone with state of the art grappling skills.

In a street fight you are likely to go down but your training as a karateka should (in theory) prevent this from happening. The basics of karate is, avoid the fight by all means, strike to the head, maim, do whatever to get out of there, and don't end up on the ground (i.e. on your feet ASAP). And run!

In a competition arena, chances are as soon as you go down against a grappler, game over. It's just a limitation of karate itself in a competitive surrounding. (Some would argue that takedown on the street are as effective as knife/gun defenses)

My tip for you is to learn all the grappling techniques in karate (hidden in the katas) and go to as many open seminars as you can (BJJ, JJ, Judo, etc). And forget people like the Gracies, those people are top notch martial artists that trained grappling for a lifetime.

[lgm]

Lately ive been watching some UFC videos and ive seen that BJJ almost every time wins. They usually dive in at the knees and lift the opponent off their balance and throw them to the ground and then lock them up.

How would a Karateka like me, or any other MA, defend against these BJJ attacks?

Low stances? Evasion? Share your thoughts.

Be sure your fighting stance is low, knees bent . Try to evade being held by the legs. But, if he does catches your legs, use gedan empi (downward elbow strike) to hit the back of his neck before or when he makes contact to free yourself. If you are able to evade being held by the legs, step back and execute a strong mae geri (front kick) to any part of his face and then use your elbow for a follow-up downward strike.

It would be helpful if you know some basic ground fighting techniques, in case you are tackled to the ground, otherwise you are a gonner. Nevertheless, whether you have learned effective ground fighting or not, keep on hitting him in every vital area open (throat, eyes, nose, balls) while you are on the ground. Of course, this is done only in a real streetfight, not in sports.