A Rational View
Grappling vs Stand Up Primer
The age-old debate of what is better grappling or stand up fighting will no doubt rage on long after this article and video post.
However let the small minds continue their debate. If you are reading this then you are more intellectual than most and want a rational view point.
I’ve been in the martial arts world a long time and have trained in both grappling and stand up fighting.
First for sport martial arts and then later for reality-based martial arts.
So let’s go over a series of pros and cons for both grappling and stand up fighting.
You will notice that sometimes there seems to be some contradiction in what I will say… that’s ok. Because we aren’t dealing with closed systems.
When discussing fighting, especially real violence there are many variables and most of them are out of your control.
Martial arts are a way to bring as many of those variables as possible under your control.
So without further ado…
Grappling Pros & Cons
Ever since UFC 1 back in 1993 people’s eyes were opened to the power of grappling and the reality of which martial arts were kinda bull stuff and which ones worked better.
The absolute dominance of Royce Gracie in UFC 1 while representing his family’s Brazilian Jujitsu legacy was a polarizing story that got him booed at UFC 1 and applauded by UFC 2.
It takes people time to accept change.
Pros to Grappling
Hard to Stop the Takedown
If you are really good at the standing clench and take downs then a striker will be in danger of being taken down whenever they get close enough to strike. Now keep in mind that if you are good on the ground or even at take downs but not at getting past punches you might wind up in trouble.
Controlling the Chaos
There is a lot of chaos in a fight. When 2 (or more) people are wildly swinging away there are lucky punches that can drop even a skilled fighter.
Going to the ground can offer a more controlled environment where you can wrap up your opponent’s arms and put them in an unfamiliar place where you can easily move to a superior position to end the fight.
Just Damn Uncomfortable
Let’s face it. Most people just don’t know what to do on the ground. They will either grab you and lock on to you, try to push away, or turn away from you giving you an easy choke or ground and pound opportunity.
Cons to Grappling
Multiple Attackers
You have heard it before. Despite some cheezy and easy-to-tell phony martial arts demos, using grappling against multiple attackers is a foolish tactical move.
Weapons
I’ve seen the Gracie Jujitsu response to a knife and I call B.S.!
Shooting for a double leg takedown against someone with a knife is taking a BIG chance and there are FAR more effective ways of dealing with a knife.
As for a handgun. I mean no disrespect to these fallen warriors but there have been several famous cases of world champion elite Brazilian Jujitsu guys that tried using BJJ against a handgun-wielding attacker and were killed.
To be fair the same could happen to a boxer or kickboxer, etc. But once again there are better and worse ways of dealing with handguns and BJJ is not meant for dealing with weapons. It was developed as a 1-on-1 sport with LOTS of rules in a controlled environment.
Squirmy Aggressive People
When you have someone who is very aggressive, very squirmy (for lack of a better word) it can be very difficult to hold them still on the ground.
They can explode out of positions and start throwing bombs even against a skilled BJJ grappler.
” Punch a Brazilian Jujitsu black belt and he turns into a brown belt. Punch him again and he turns into a purple belt…”
Carlson Gracie
Now sure there are amazing grapplers like Khabib who could easily deal with that aggressive guy on the ground but… I mean c’mon… we are talking one of the world’s best MMA grapplers and a UFC champion… not someone who is deciding which martial art would be best for them if they had to get into a fight after 6 – 12 months of training.
Stand Up Pros & Cons
As MMA started developing strikers quickly modified their game to be effective against grapplers.
They started preparing to stop the takedown and weather the storm on the ground.
Kickboxing champion Maurice Smith took the UFC heavyweight championship from Olympic wrestler Mark Coleman at UFC 14.
If I’m not mistaken the first Gracie to be defeated in the ring was Ralph Gracie. Takanori Gomi of Japan anticipated Gracie’s classic double leg shoot and fired a kick which landed. Then Gomi sprawled on top of Gracie and fired a series of knees which ended the fight in 6 seconds which at that time was the fastest MMA knockout in history.
Having said that, let’s look at the pros and cons of stand up fighting.
Pros to Stand Up Fighting
Control the Chaos
You can absolutely control the chaos of a stand up fight if you use correct tactics.
I have written on numerous occasions about not standing toe-to-toe and swinging it out.
Instead stay in lunging range where you can easily defend incoming strikes because the distance gives you time to react. Then once you land your strike close quickly using a straight blast and get a Thai clench. Use that clench to fire off headbutts, knees, elbows, kicks to the testicles, etc. And you can easily throw someone to the ground using the Thai clench if you want to go to the ground.
Multiple Attackers
Not that multiple attackers is a walk in the park or anything BUT compared to being on the ground it sure is way better.
You have the ability to move away, create space, and avoid being flanked… or at least try. I’ve written other articles on multiple attackers so I won’t belabor the point here. Stand up fighting IS the way to go with multiple attackers.
Weapons
As with multiple attackers weapon encounters have their own set of tactics that must change based upon the weapon. You aren’t going to grapple, tap out, or kickbox a gun or a knife… sorry, it ain’t happening. I mean you could… but you would either die or wind up in the ICU.
Having said that all of the good tactics for fighting against weapons requires you to be mobile and on your feet. So stand up fighting modified is the way to go.
Cons to Stand Up Fighting
Size / Reach / Quickness
If you are fighting someone who has better reach and fast punches it can be quite daunting to stand up fight against them.
I mean if they are a low level pro boxer or even high level amateur you could be in some trouble.
Going to the ground can take that person out of their element. And that is a smart way to fight.
Chaos Factor
Yeah I know I just said stand up fighting can control the chaos… but this is the “cons” section so I’m putting it here. Chaos does happen and if you use the wrong tactics in stand up fighting then you are in for it.
Going to the ground can be an option that will control that chaos as you can wrap up someone’s arms, smother them, take them out of their element, and choke or ground and pound them into dreamland.
Grappling vs Stand Up Conclusion
Ok… wait for it…
You should train both!
If you wind up on the ground and you haven’t trained there you will be in big trouble.
Nearly 100% of fights and violent assaults start standing so even if you want to go to the ground you need to know how to stand up fight to one degree or another.
Tactically it can make sense to go to the ground in some instances and in other ones it is suicide to go to the ground.
Bruce Lee said, “be water.”
What does that mean?
It means that you must be adaptable and not rigid. If you are fighting a striker then grapple. If you are fighting a grappler then strike. If you are fighting someone who is aggressive then stay calm and use skill. If you are fighting someone who is calm and skilled then overwhelm him with aggression.
Basically don’t fight the other person’s game. And if you only have 1 game then you don’t have options.
Until next time,
Brian
