The Controversial Podcast
A client sent me a podcast of a martial arts instructor discussing the state of martial arts and self-defense. He made some bold claims about sport fighting being superior for self-defense.
In the video I go into my responses and thoughts on what the instructor shared. Below I will summarize his points and my thoughts.
Sport Fighting is Best for Self-Defense
The interviewee states that sport fighting is superior to other forms of martial arts for self-defense because it teaches you how to actually fight someone. Here are my thoughts:
Pros to Sport Fighting
In many martial arts schools the focus is on learning forms, breaking boards, following traditions, etc. But there isn’t a focus on how to actually beat the crud out of someone.
In sport martial arts the goal is indeed to win. Thus a good school will eliminate things that are a waste of time.
If you try some weird fancy move in a sport school against a classmate who is resisting you it simply won’t work. And thus you quickly figure out what works and what doesn’t work in a sport martial arts school.
Cons to Sport Fighting
Sport martial arts avoid the most effective areas of the body such as the eyes, throat, testicles, back of the head, etc. This is for safety of course.
In sport martial arts that strike gloves are almost always worn which means you strike with fists. Unfortunately fists are easily broken when they hit the hard bones of the skull. Sometimes even through gloves.
Palms would be a wiser choice to strike with in a street encounter. Now you might be thinking, “I’ll train with my fists but in a real fight I’ll use my palms.” And that is a great idea but in reality you perform how you train. Don’t think that you will somehow fight using your palms if you have trained years with your fists. No professional athlete would train differently than their competition and neither should you for your (hopefully never) violent street encounter.
MMA is indeed a foundation for movement, timing, strikes, clenching, ground fighting, etc. But it needs to be modified with street tactics to be ideal for what one would truly encounter on the street.
Street vs. Sport Fallacy
The instructor says that there is a fallacy that if you know how to do vicious illegal strikes that you will easily defeat a sport fighter.
Well look, the eyes, throat, and testicles are by far THE BEST targets to attack because they are vulnerable and you can’t toughen them up. However, knowing to strike them vs. being effective at entering without getting hit and being able to strike them is another thing.
It takes skill to fight and skill is built by years of dedicated training against resistance. So an undertrained martial artist with a knowledge of which targets to strike but with too little experience in actually applying what they know won’t be very effective.
Having said that someone that did MMA for 3 months is no more effective than the guy or gal who did the weekend self-defense course.
Better tactics is superior period. Sport fighting has no advantage tactic-wise. I think this instructor was comparing someone who competes at a high level in MMA vs. someone who took a weekend course in self-defense. And of course the seasoned MMA fighter will win.
But what if we take someone and trained them in street tactics and got them to the same level of experience? Ultimately there are so many variables that dictate who will win the fight but better tactics are always better.
Persistence of Fake Martial Arts
The interviewee was asked about fake martial arts.
Fake martial arts can range the gamut from bizarre energy systems using mystical chi powers to simply uniformed people doing endless forms and katas but couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag.
Hey fake martial arts schools make money. Cram dozens of kids at $200+ per month plus uniforms, belt testing, this and that other fees, clubs, etc. It is a business and like any business some people are better at marketing and sales than they are at what they actually do.
Real martial arts should make people dangerous. Now look I realize that not everyone is capable of being dangerous even with good martial arts training because a person’s personality, confidence, etc. play into it A LOT. But what they are being taught should at least be dangerous.
Let’s make more good people dangerous so it is dangerous to be a bad person!
Real martial arts should prepare you to deal with the following:
Bruce Lee’s Legacy – JKD Lost It’s Way
The interviewee said that JKD has lost it’s way from Bruce Lee’s original vision.
Bruce Lee believed that martial arts should not be limited or restricted by tradition. He thought that they needed to adapt to the times and to the individual. For instance a small female should not be fighting the same way a large man should be.
Bruce said a boxer doesn’t kick, a karate man doesn’t grapple, and a wrestler doesn’t strike… and that we need to be able to do all of those.
2 Flavors of Jeet Kune Do
Original JKD
Original Jeet Kune Do is actually a martial art called Jun Fan Kickboxing. It was Bruce’s personal style that worked for him. It was a combination of boxing, Savate, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, wrestling, jujitsu, and a few other things that worked well for him. It is a great style and really a fantastic MMA foundation but it in itself is not Jeet Kune Do.
JKD Concepts
Jeet Kune Do Concepts is of course not a style either because JKD is not a style at all but a concept of how to make martial arts better for an individual. Bruce gave the reigns for JKC Concepts to Dan Inosanto. JKD Concepts incorporated Brazilian Jujitsu, Muay Thai, and several other styles into the Jun Fan Kickboxing but each JKD Concepts instructor has their own version that they focus on. Paul Vunak focused on dirty street fighting and that is where Rapid Assault Tactics (aka the RAT) came from.
Too Much Fluff
Unfortunately JKD Concepts schools tend to incorporate too much Filipino stick and knife fighting drills, Silat moves, and other things that aren’t really what someone would face during real violence. It has kind of taken the reality out of many JKD schools. But every JKD school might be a little different (like mine) and if you find one that focuses on the RAT with MMA as a foundation then you have found pay dirt.
Suppressing Our Innate Violent Feelings is Unhealthy
One of the interesting points brought up in the interview was that we are by nature violent beings. And to suppress those feelings and pretend that we are not violent is unhealthy.
I totally agree!
Jordan Peterson says something to the effect that if we can’t recognize that we have a monster inside of us then we can’t control it.
We have these “non-violent”, “anti-gun”, “inclusive” “Karen” people preaching about toxic masculinity but at the same time they will go onto social media and violently rip people apart from the anonymity of their computer avatar. Do you call that controlling the monster inside?
The funny thing is that people who feel powerless are the first to lash out at others and mistreat them.
Paul Vunak says that the enigma of practicing and becoming good at violence is that you become a more peaceful person. And it is true. When you know you are powerful your ego is harder to injure. You have more control of your ego and thus can keep your emotions in check. The monster is always there but it is only allowed out if you let it out.
This is what it means to be a part of the warrior class.
People should fear weak people not strong people. Strong people don’t do mass shootings. Strong people aren’t bullies. Weak people do that sh*t.
Join the warrior class so we have more people to stand up to those weak predators.
Decrease the Contact in Training to Avoid Injuries / TBIs
One point brought up was that we should decrease the contact in training to avoid injuries especially head injuries.
I also totally agree.
People do need to know what it is like to get hit – that they will be ok, and to keep fighting. But once they figure this out repeated head trauma is only going to cause them to become worse fighters due to the accumulation of small traumatic brain injuries.
My understanding is that the Cuban boxing team has the most gold medals in the world and they do very light pit-pat sparring.
Georges St-Pierre is considered the best MMA fighter in history and sparring with him is said to be a delight. He doesn’t use hard contact, pulls his shots if they will be damaging, and it is more of a fun play with fighting.
This is seen over and over again with top level fighters in Muay Thai and other champion full-contact sports.
They guys at the top value longevity and know that there are areas of training to go hard in and other areas to go easy in.
Why Do Fantasy Martial Arts Still Exist?
During the interview the question was raised, “why do fantasy martial arts still exist?”
I agree with the interviewee, that people want a magic bullet. They don’t want to put in the years of hard work.
The good news for you is that most people have a terrible work ethic. That means regardless of how untrained, how much of a “slow learner” you are, etc. If you are willing to put in the years of dedicated consistent training you can outshine most people.
There is no secret 2-hour course or special technique to become amazing at anything.
Ok ok, you want the secret to become amazing? It will only take 2-seconds.
Spend years of dedicated consistent training.
There you go… it took me 2 seconds to tell you how to become amazing. Now go get your reps.
Summary
So are sport martial arts the best for self-defense?
At the end of the day there are just WAY too many variables for an easy “yes” or “no” answer.
Each individual is comprised of various attributes that play into their ability to win against violence. And each violent scenario is different. There are plenty of examples of sport fighters winning street fights and plenty of examples of sport fighters getting badly injured and killed in street fights.
That is just the reality of violence.
I will agree that MMA lays a foundation and then if you apply street tactics you have a far better result.
At my school we use street tactics and sport training drills so we get the best of both worlds.
At the end of the day the internet is filled with people talking, arguing, taking sides, and… not training! What a waste of bad breath.
Quit arguing, be a man (or woman), drop your ego, and start training to become a warrior.
With each day you spend training there is one more person in the world you just became capable of defeating.
Until next time, get your reps…
