Best Martial Arts for Self Defense Ranked

Icy Mike of @hard2hurt a self defense, combat sports expert and former police officer and me, a former Aikido instructor now on a quest to expose various martial arts myths joined together to rank the best and worst martial arts for self defense.
00:00:00 How we ranked the martial arts
00:01:19 Aikido
00:04:08 Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
00:07:10 Gracie Jiu Jitsu
00:09:50 Boxing
00:12:46 Ninjutsu / Bujinkan
00:15:35 Capoeira
00:18:31 Wrestling is an S?!
00:21:34 Japanese Jiu Jitsu
00:23:52 Jeet Kune Do
00:27:36 Judo
00:33:35 Filipino Martial Arts | Kali / Escrima / Arnis
00:38:34 Karate
00:42:46 Kyokushin Karate
00:44:54 Kenpo Karate
00:48:20 Kickboxing
00:51:27 Muay Thai
00:53:40 Lethwei
00:57:23 Krav Maga
01:01:22 MMA
01:06:38 Systema
01:08:50 Taekwondo
01:12:05 Tai Chi
01:13:20 Wing Chun
01:17:39 Why there are no S martial arts
01:21:40 Did any of the scores surprise Icy Mike?
#hard2hurt #selfdefense #martialarts
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Welcome to the Martial Arts Journey KZbin channel!
My name is Rokas. I'm a Lithuanian guy who trained Aikido for 14 years, 7 of them running a professional Aikido Dojo until eventually I realized that Aikido does not live up to what it promises.
Lead by this realization I decided to make a daring step to close my Aikido Dojo and move to Portland, Oregon for six months to start training MMA at the famous Straight Blast Gym Headquarters under head coach Matt Thornton.
After six months intensive training I had my first amateur MMA fight after which I moved back to Lithuania. During all of this time I am documenting my experience through my KZbin channel called "Martial Arts Journey".
Now I am slowly setting up plans to continue training MMA under quality guidance and getting ready for my next MMA fight as I further document and share my journey and discoveries.
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► • Aikido vs MMA - REAL ...
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[@MartialArtsJourney]

For those who are wondering where the discussion about Pencak Silat disappeared you can find me and Ramsey Dewey discuss Pencak Silat here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5W4qY1uZ5t-mbs

[@ahmadnasri9635]

Kinda understand why you cut that out🤦 you should get ready for the incoming wave of Indonesian and Malaysian people

[@marcusfranconium3392]

This is the most idiotic comment i have ever heard Japanese ju-jutsu you only train and no pressure Do you Know why they dont use it in full contact and under presure ? people die and its one of the major reasons Judo exist as Ju-jutsu , is a martial art created to kill , disable and hurt some one the most effective way . not some sport element , ju-jutsu has no rules. you want to rip some ones eyes out you do it . you need to break some ones kneecaps you do it . There is a reason why Ju-jutsu is called the mother of all martial arts ( asian that is ) and that only competive forms are sparing , katas and fighting sysem . You go full contact many people will break limbs and some will die . Any self respecting martial arts practitioner knows this , it like bajonet fighting and shooting at targets in real life people die . So that also awnsers your question its just training , I bet you dont even know what martial arts are and what a self defense sport is . or even the origins of martial arts or what european martial arts are. Here is a hint they are for war not for sport. a sport has rules preventing lasting or injuries. martial arts have none . nada zero null.

[@albinocake]

@@ahmadnasri9635 true

[@Pind0wind0w]

pukulan (poekoelan) one of the best!

[@pkatsigris]

What are your thoughts on sambo/ combat sambo

[@jameshegeman5660]

There *is* one ‘S’-Tier self-defense art: Track & Field / 100m dash. 😉

[@drewcasper4608]

I think you forgot about glockfu

[@calebhu6383]

It's good when you're on your own, but not the best if you are around loved ones

[@supaF]

SS-Tier self-defense art: Persuasion 100

[@Krissada1000]

I give it C+ for these reasons : 1. When you are on the ground, you can't run. 2. When you are held, you can't run. 3. When you can't abandon your love ones, you can't run. 4. When there is no space, you can't run. 5. When you are slower,, running is useless.

[@Krissada1000]

@@drewcasper4608 In my country, Thailand, people are not alllowed carrying guns.

[@DoctorZisIN]

Ever so casually, Icy Mike gave us one of the best thoughts about self-defense: "You need to be really amazing at one specific thing, and be good enough at everything else to funnel people to that".

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Agreed

[@IronShinsDicello]

This a fantastic quote and rings very true.

[@bondjames-bond7664]

@@MartialArtsJourney that is how basically Khabib fights

[@SayWhatSuca]

Greco-Roman is fantastic for a street fight. If you can't get the guy to the ground, you BJJ won't mean a whole lot. A suplex on the concrete is game over. My buddy threw a dude over the bar in a scrap. A quick hip toss and the fight was done. But, it all depends. You can clipped with a hook, knee, upper cut, etc...on the way in.

[@douglasknupp4574]

That glorious hairless head can think hard.

[@harryohrn6051]

I'm 70 years old. I currently hold Black Belts in Taekwon-Do, and Shotokan Karate and have 25 years of Yang style Taichi Chuan. I joined organized martial arts when I was in my early 40's. I did so for exercise. Having said that I started fighting when I was around 10 years old. School yard fights, back alley scraps and later parking lot fights when the bars closed. I had many many fights in my early 20's and 30's. I have an Anxiety Disorder that manifests itself as anger. Consequentially I ended up in prison in my early 20's. But that is another story. I have been beaten so severely that my own father didn't recognize me. In my early 40's I decided to start with organized martial arts for exercise. And first started playing Tai Chi Chuan and then gravitated to Taekwon-Do and Katate with a bit of Judo thrown in. I found that organized martial arts helped me with my anxiety which in turn helped me with the anger issues. OK. But I never viewed, and still do not view, organized martial arts as a form of self-defense other than how it helps me emotionally. Organized Martial Arts from what I've seen is concerned with rules and is generally sports orientated. Which, I suppose, is the the most effective form of self defense. "Defending oneself from our greatest enemy which is the one that lives inside of us." But that is "waxing philosophical". As a martial arts instructor I have taught self defense classes. But those have nothing to do with any type of organized Martial Arts. Self defense is defending yourself. It is fast, dirty and get out of there as quickly as possible. And it is not "fighting". Do what you have to/need to, to get out of the situation. If possible do not allow your assailant to grab onto you but if they do you need to eye gouge, bite, or stab them with whatever is at hand. The second step of self defense is "Don't put yourself in the position to get hurt in the first place." That is the second step because the first step in 'self defense' is learning to believe that you are actually worthy and therefore you deserved to be defended and take care of yourself. Don't put yourself in harms way. As I mentioned I've fought, I've fought hard, I've kicked and bit and been kicked and bitten. I've run away to fight another day. People need to stop confusing organized Martial Arts as self defense. There is no "tapout" when you get assaulted in an alley. There is no ref or corner judge or coach.

[@Dggb2345]

Corollary: You have no idea what that man you don’t know is capable of.

[@RakaTwo13]

Most of what I remember in Tae Kwon Do, it was 95% conditioning. Practice was run laps, 2 basic kicks, 3 basic hand strikes, run laps, cardio + footwork practice, run laps, pushups+situps+more bodyweight, sprints, practice taking body shots, run laps, and stretching. Then run more laps. It didn't teach me to win a real fight, but I sure as hell could run without gassing out and throw a decent punch. Good starting point for learning a practical fighting style.

[@UKMonkey]

The lowest risk of getting injured in a fight is to not be in a fight. Running with decent stamina to avoid the fight should be the primary defence, and for some reason people always drop it....

[@kennethgonzales3300]

Definitely a good starting point. We didn’t spar much when I was in it, almost 5 years. I transitioned into Tang Soo Do alternating BBJ biweekly. We spar. I’ve seen how TKD has definitely helped in a lot of ways. As you stated. I knew I needed to have some pressure testing so a change was good. I’m better at my kicks and definitely more limber than most student in class.

[@gamingstylejutsu9468]

WTF tae kwon do right? Try ITF

[@thomaskingschillerlein7843]

TKD is one of the most beautiful martial arts. Unfortunately though... hands and fists are almost always faster than knees and legs! You never get to kick artfully with a running start in real life situation. And y'all know dat!

[@Bluejay-ri1yf]

The point is to keep the opponent out of reach distance, and for your kick to be like a lightning bolt.​@@thomaskingschillerlein7843

[@metalheavyawesome]

I was like "I'm not about to watch an 1:23:14 long video, so I'll just click on the ones i want to hear about" and then i clicked on every martial art out of order and watched the entire video lol

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Haha, cool

[@djibrilr6s]

lmao same

[@SniffiestHalo1]

I didn’t even realize it was over an hour long 💀

[@Dontbustthecrust]

same!

[@raginasiangaming910]

I agree 100% that one of your best self-defense skills is verbal de-escalation. I've worked in the military, high-risk security and VIP protection and in all areas verbal de-escalation has played the biggest role. As a trainer, I used to tell new guys that the best martial art was a verbal judo class. You can't lose a fight that doesn't start. You also can't get sued for it. People don't think about it, but if you beat the crap out of a guy and then the civil court finds out that you've studied ten different martial arts and fought amateur MMA...things don't look quite so rosy for you if you didn't make every effort to de-escalate first.

[@user-vm5ud4xw6n]

Does that include a man intent on assaulting a woman? I’m probably wrong but since they are mostly about power and control and almost always nothing to do with sexual desire verbal de-escalation is probably unlikely. Especially since in this situation you may be 3/4 of the way past deep doo doo before you even realize you’re in deep doo doo.

[@v.d.2738]

Exactly. And one of the others is running away.

[@b1822]

best self defense is buying a gun 🌚

[@The_Art_of_AI_888]

@@b1822 Until someone or your kids took it from you...

[@davidnolan2115]

Problem is: psychopathic predators don't "escalate". So you won't have an opportunity to "de-escalate". If you are still talking, violence is not warranted. If you're attacked, defending yourself is not "violence"

[@dubz4828]

Martial arts isn't about self-defense, it's about finding the perfect gi to accentuate your beer gut.

[@opossumgrylls3275]

Facts

[@stalker7892]

I know beer gut bouncers who could put you away in seconds.

[@Dontbustthecrust]

then bjj would be s tier for that

[@kalash2874]

Are you saying they found the perfect gi? ​@@stalker7892

[@alexanderkosik7000]

Thought I saw Aikido over BJJ in the thumbnail and I nearly had a stroke 💀

[@Shadow__133]

That would be true if only Steven Seagal was considered. Then again, no one would be alive to witness it. 😂

[@alltheworldsastage4785]

Lmao

[@Skylander404]

As a former Wrestler with 11+ years of experience, I think one of our biggest issues in a self defense situation is how vulnerable we can become to outside interference in an actual street fight. If you are getting in a fight, chances are there are going to be more that just you and your opponent there. There is a high likelihood that as soon as you take a guy down and start clubbing him with your fists (we don't know what punching is), his friends are gonna come in and kick you square in your head, and next thing you know you are getting jumped. While I think this is a pretty universal weakness in grappling in general, I think other martial arts/ self defense systems are more equipped to deal with something like that. If we had to rank the best SUPPLIMENTARY martial arts, I think wrestling and a lot of grappling arts would rank pretty high, but by themselves, there are a lot of dangerous holes for a self defense situation.

[@aureusindustries]

ya I got jumped after I hip tossed a dude and was on top ground and pounding his friend came up and kicked me in the face big issue then got jumped so personal experience but its true

[@liamj374]

I had this exact thing happen to me. I had tripped a guy and got on top of him and instantly got kicked in the throat by his friends was a terrible situation to be in lol

[@soramirez5473]

If I percieve more than one person, thats when the pen or pencil in my pocket comes out.. one on one, if the guy doesnt have grappling experience, he is toast.

[@spacey9707]

the biggest issue is the slow thinking in play, you decided bare hands while you got car keys on your pocket in the first place, a pen or pencil can do it too. always look out for anything is the key, you can even find a brick to bash their head. theres a reason why i always carry a bag with only 1 book with me so i can block sharp objects (its a habit, i came from a city with a school war tradition who fights with sharp weapons) i did taekwondo and boxing, but only a fool fight bare hands in the street you just simply do not do that (but who am i to say such things i knew about punching people first before doing any martial arts so maybe its just another habit)

[@soramirez5473]

@@spacey9707 my FIRST thought when I am about to throw down in a street is always "does this guy have friends and or weapons and if so how do I neutralize this?"... sometimes the art of talking is best lol. but i'm prepared to do the worst, to ensure my or my loved ones safety, so talking is my preferred route.. for BOTH our sakes.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

I have a real life example regarding boxing and wrestling. Two friends were involved a fighting vs a larger group of people (sort of self-defense situation, as they may or may not have had option to run away). One was trained boxing, one was trained wrestling. One on one, the wrestler would destroy the boxer, but in that fight, the boxer was unharmed (knocked out few attackers in fact), the wrestler was badly injured because he took the fight to ground (he knocked one guy out, but was beaten by the the group). If there are multiple people involved, don't go down ground.

[@joshuadavis5899]

Very interesting

[@Fatelvis2]

i was surprised how low they ranked boxing and i am a grappler

[@TyGosketch]

My friend, your imagination is grade A1. Outstanding. LOL.

[@GuitarsRockForever]

@@TyGosketch I didn't know I have super power to make reality. I was talking to real person face to face, and we touched fists. You can choose to believe me or not, after all, I'm only a random dude on the internet.

[@jon-kd5st]

Was boxer a golden gloves champ with some brain cells? Was wrestler a JV wrestler who couldn't get a starting spot to save his life. Here's another story for you. Had 2 friends one was a folk style wrestler other guy did muay Thai. Muay Thai guy got mobbed and brought down by 5 dudes got the shit kicked out of him. The wrestler hit a few dudes with the ground knocked some of them out. They tried mobbing the wrestler but since getting up off the ground and escaping is a required skill he was able to fight off the group.

[@lkxbrw1874]

As a Judo practitioner myself and ex Police, Mike is on the money with Judo. For self-defence situations, the quick grabs and instinctive movements (escapes, trips, off-balancing and of course throwing) developed when practicing judo over time will provide a big advantage in self-defence situations (when stood up). Ground work is frequently practiced so agree not better than BJJ but better than the average punter. All subject to individual physical/psychological limitations. Good to hear Mike keeping Rokas on track with that.

[@roelofklooster4349]

True, but I've overpowered a lot of bigger guys, then me because of judo.

[@whollymercurial9129]

In judo, if you're talking self-defense.. you're likely slamming a dude on the concrete. I'd argue a non-tweaker isn't likely to get up.

[@SkyeAten]

Police in Japan have to train in Judo... it's a prerequisite here. They know it's useful.

[@carlosperezdelema]

​@@hugoramallo1980There's a lot of value in BJJ ground work. It has a lot more variety of holds (kneeholds, etc.) than judo and less limitations (for example I can choke with the legs even if I don't have one of your arms). But you're also right BJJ guys just sit there waiting for you to attack them in a BJJ manner. Judo's ground work is limited, but I think it's stood up part is way more useful and the ground part is more than enough to subdue any untrained attacker.

[@mcfly3374]

Boxing that low is crazy

[@theghostofbabanovac7069]

is because these guys never got to taste their own blood

[@ConsiderTheCrows]

It's great to have. It's up there. But it is missing a lot of tools and it's not so great for female use. It's also disabled when you get hemmed up, wrestled, slammed to the ground or you fall.

[@peacequietunited7953]

these guys have never been in a street fight, obviously

[@martylund8411]

The question here is about self-defense, though, not fighting. #1 concern is probably escape. Boxing has no escape training, nothing about defense against weapons, etc. Great striking and man-to-man combat or even brawls, but obvious gaps in survival and escape.

[@ConsiderTheCrows]

@@martylund8411 Tell that to the video who put MMA and wrestling and BJJ at the top when these arts have no strategy against weapons and multiple attackers. None of the arts in A, B and C can disarm armed assailants. JKD and Krav Maga may have some concepts and techniques.

[@dogsartandhealth]

As someone who has unfortunately been in alot of fights, something I've noticed is that grappling pretty much always comes into play, even when neither myself or an opponent(s) intended to. You're in a survival mindset, you get close to somebody attacking you, and you instinctively grab and hold. Grappling training with a basic knowledge of striking is your best bet in a life or death hand to hand situation. Boxing is great but the candid videos you see of dudes lighting someone up on the feet, is in reality, a small fraction of street fight's outcomes. I took capoeira for 5 years, and I agree with what they said 100%, one thing they missed in it's favor, is the understanding of measuring and rhythm it gives you, which if a fight goes long enough on the feet (>30 secs), is a HUGE benefit to your safety and success. That being said, there's no great defense for a bullet. The best fight is one you just don't get into.

[@_MSNfrfr]

Grappling is very important

[@eugeneaddison2851]

I have dabbled in several martial arts over the years...they make a very valid point...the one I learned the most in was the one where I got punched in the face. 😁

[@dogsartandhealth]

@@eugeneaddison2851 getting punched in the face definitely teaches you alot!😅

[@XieTianXieDi888]

IMHO Capoeira, because of its multi directional movement and ability to control space, is better at defending against multiple opponents than on a one on one situation.

[@dogsartandhealth]

@@XieTianXieDi888 I agree! It can be devastating to multiple opponents when executed properly!

[@jarlbregadan914]

Fun fact: greco-roman grappling techniques were developed to be used in real combat situation (particularly in war) and we have historical records of those techniques being actually used in battle.

[@ronfox5519]

Possibly a small point, but it would have been nice if theyd specified which type of wrestling they were referring to.

[@lovelife1867]

@@ronfox5519 greco-roman , don't know what "type" of wrestling it is ?

[@jarlbregadan914]

@@lovelife1867 We don't know, the sources jusy say "wrestling". A famous case (and also a quite lqte one, since it happens in late antiquity) is that of Andreas, in The Battle of Dara, under the command of Belisarius.

[@jarlbregadan914]

@@ronfox5519 That happens all the time. We now have these typologies of swords, weapons and techniques, these specific categorizations, and ancient and medieval chroniclers just write "sword", "spear", "wrestling". The only marked differentiation that we get from ancient sources is πάλη (Pálē -wrestling-) from πανκράτιον (pankátrion -a form akin to modern mma).

[@lovelife1867]

@@jarlbregadan914 same shit different names. They all learned the same thing, and it all falls under the same umbrella. Complicating this is like discussing lineages with kung fu freak nerds.

[@patriot3636]

I was a police officer for 18 years and one thing, that lacked in our training, was self defense. There are techniques in all martial arts, which would probably help, but for me, what really helped was getting into boxing, then Jiu-jitsu. From there, I started training in an MMA class, which taught a bit of everything combined, that I'd already worked at and how to apply things, in a self defense type of situation.

[@weeblackskelf]

I guess that’s why most of you just shoot anything that moves.

[@BeefDog666]

scared little piggy cant throw a punch so he joined a gang

[@williamwest9204]

​@@BeefDog666all u have is bad takes

[@BeefDog666]

@@williamwest9204 what do you mean by that

[@Jason-Moon]

​@@BeefDog666: insecure guy makes an overly manly and devil worshipping username and spends time trying to alleviate his insecurity and probably criminal tendencies by writing childish insults to a respectful and intelligent comment made by a cop on a KZbin video.

[@Shinobito1]

What my karate teacher always repeated was: the best self defence is running really fast. If you can't run, yell for help. If nobody comes, give them whatever they want. If they still want to hurt you, then and only then you fight. And yes, he knew and taught us difference between martial art, sport and self-defence. We did kata, sport fights and self-defence scenarios. All different beasts of their own.

[@christopheredig2332]

He's an idiot

[@heisenbergwalter3363]

I'm not surprised and that's I've always prefered boxing to martial arts

[@DeezzzzzzNuts12]

What kind of fighters are you guys?

[@bookknight]

Situation awareness is even better

[@aneczka413]

I’ve trained three years of Muay Thai and after traveling around to different dojos in the U.S, the biggest issue is tradition vs. fitness. So many people try to compete locally and although their cardio is excellent and they are muscular, their technique is lacking. Striking a balance between the two is important.

[@ProTuner06]

Exactly. I was shopping for quality Muay Thai training and most dojos were based on exercise. Found one that was tradition/Thai way. He trained in Thailand, got certified in Thailand, and fought in Thailand. Everyone really needs to research a new dojo as well as the teacher(s).

[@dontblink3042]

@Austin Batton he called a Muay Thai gym a dojo lmfao

[@stefanandersen2628]

in Thailand i wouldn't even touch a muay Thai fighter

[@rwdchannel2901]

Understanding where it hurts to get hit on the human body is essential. I got beat up a few times and then realized where it hurt and used that technique back on those who bullied me. I only won about a dozen street fights in my life.

[@KT-pv3kl]

The fk do you mean "tradition"? Muai thai is a sport form that actively bans most moves used in the actual martial art called muai boran.

[@onotinikow]

My japanese Jiu Jitsu club was excellent. I think mainly due to our instructor though... he had black belts in multiple martial arts and used to encourage us to go train at other clubs. He said we may learn techniques that work for us, but was confident that at worst we'd appreciate our club more. He also said if we learned something cool somewhere else, he wanted us to show it at our club and see if it was viable. He was a pretty cool instructor.

[@NeroAngelo616]

I feel like og jujutsu has the best mentality of being the most open minded in situations as it's similar in fashion to wrestling historically and mma but gets too defensive based. Whereas you need to use it against resistance and attackers at full force.

[@danewood2309]

@@NeroAngelo616 the Ryu of Japanese Jiu Jitsu I studied as a child in Penang had offensive moves and weapons.. we were taught Weapons before we learned empty hand techniques, some thing I have done over the last 35 years of Instructing

[@THE_Secular_Conservative]

I have seen JJJ videos and it appears to be a complete system.

[@NeroAngelo616]

@@THE_Secular_Conservative It's one of the oldest arts as most martial arts are a refined piece of it extended down from the 20th century onwards. Og Jujutsu was a piece of the Samurai.

[@THE_Secular_Conservative]

@@NeroAngelo616 It looks cool. My current Gracie Jiu-jitsu instructor was a student of Japanese Jiu-jitsu for many years.

[@clintcarpentier2424]

S-tier self-defense? ... ... ... ... 100 meter dash! It's harder than you might think... kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnuzlYpujLx0qdE

[@Buzzerker_1775]

As a teenager I spent two years doing bujinkan ninjutsu before moving on to JJ, boxing and muay thai (thankfully), but I must admit that it wasn't a complete waste of my time. The breakfalls and rolls translated nicely into jiujitsu, one of the kicks was pretty much the teep from muay thai, and the basic wristlocks were neat

[@Shadow__133]

I did 5 years of Hapkido. I landed backflips, some nunchuck work and "mortal" kicks to the neck. Not to mention getting used to some bruises. All that led me to what I consider the S tier of self defense: learning to shoot a gun 😂

[@RequiemTao]

Having grown up in one of the most dangerous part of my town in poland and seeing people geting jumped on daily, this list is very odd. I think it all comes down to the viciousness and fact that theres usually more than 1 opponent. Kickboxing and muay thai always was the king and fellas who were training those faired by far the best.

[@alexanderstevens145]

Visciousness yeh I agree. Also fear management those things can’t necessarily be taught

[@RequiemTao]

@@alexanderstevens145 This is huge, i think they did mention it a bit in the clip, but you need to be ready to get hit, multiple times. Whatever you train, however good you may think you are, there will be pain.

[@timproc9355]

But how often do you face collegiate level wrestler in a Poland street fight. I rather face a striker than get punched by the earth.

[@RequiemTao]

@@timproc9355 While you are right, if your opponent is a vicious monkey who doesnt care about your life, and your takedown try is literally a coin flip with better odds due to your training (seen too many wrestlers not being able to take people down to change my mind), id rather stick to standup. Life isnt gym mat.

[@GF-tg8fm]

Agreed. They obviously have a grappling bias as most sport fighters do. Would love to see a grappler take on multiple opponents or deal with small joint manipulation, blades, biting, etc.

[@tmauntler]

This was so easy to watch. I started it without looking at the length and about 20 min in realized what I signed up for lol I am happy that I wrestled in HS for 4 yrs and that coupled with Army Combatives training has always made me at least a little more confident in my ability to defend myself and my loved ones. I don't want to give anyone too much false hope, but even simply being the first to calmly step up can easily turn people away from wanting to fight you. I've stepped up to groups of 2 or 3 dudes who wanted to do harm to someone else on multiple occasions and they turn away with a remark. Nobody wants to fight someone who's calm and confident.

[@blahhdelmy1035]

it is true what you said, confidence has a huge role in defining a situation, but to be actually capable is to some degree a concrete confidence that will be shown, so better be actually competent than looking like one.

[@tmauntler]

@@blahhdelmy1035 you’re right and it’s not always the right move to step up at all. I did put the disclaimer in there that I wasn’t trying to give too much false hope lol All anyone can do is trust their training, knowledge and instinct to make the right call.

[@Drikkerbadevand]

@@tmauntler Active self protection channel on youtube talks about this.. 3rd party encounters, be VERY careful, because you don't know who either person is or what it's about or what they're capable of. But if there's something happening where you don't think you can look yourself in the eye ever again if you let it happen, of course you do what you have to, but he generally advises to stay out

[@tmauntler]

​@@Drikkerbadevand lol well, they were all people I knew/loved being targeted in ways I couldn't turn from. I agree that not knowing context can simply make things worse

[@Chattepliee]

This is why I always defend aikido as a useful practice. I've literally had people try to punch, grab, or kick me thousands of times and am so desensitized to bodily threats that I'm not going to freeze up in a bad situation. I've trained people who don't have that experience and it's really sad how vulnerable they are psychically (I mean sad in an empathic way, there are a lot of reasons to be that way).

[@gbremnbremn330]

how about sambo? and also, which combo of two of those you talked about would you place on top as the most likely combination (of two) in being able to defend yourself? what about boxing/greco-roman?

[@bennettwogan3176]

“Muay Thai is not winning ufc fights” has to be the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard

[@TsarFrancisDrake]

Get used to it. All of these "Best Martial Arts" videos come from know-nothings that just wanna gas up the martial arts they like. Go into the Aikido forums, and they'll be talking shit just as hard. Same with Krav Maga, Boxing, Muay Thai, etc. Hell, the most shit-talk tends to come from BJJ guys that couldn't throw a punch to save their lives, but they'll try to convince you that they could take down 4-5 armed Crips.

[@lightfury3390]

In UFC rules, Striker is already at a disadvantage in terms of rules because he cannot attack the back of the head.

[@mixdayful]

assault enemy on ground is dishonorable in muaythai, it’s a rules.

[@BullyMaguirest]

@@mixdayful oh wow snow flake, in real fight you don't care about the rules. Leave your anime reality. “Muay Thai is not winning ufc fights” - yeah it is the dumbest thing i've ever heard. +

[@WHime]

@@mixdayful Muay Thai as seen today has rules for use in sports competitions. But its origins come from being used by soldiers to fight for their country hundreds years ago(Nowaday called "Muay Thai BoRan"(Boran = old style). Therefore, Muay Thai in that era could do anything because it was created to kill enemies. (In those days there were no guns, only swords and knives. Muay Thai is practiced when you don't have a weapon in your hand to kill your enemy.)

[@coffeeortea547]

The duality of how sport can wash away BS but also water down a martial art is quite an interesting thing to think about.

[@frederickmorton275]

i was thinking the same thing. from one side sport allows to pressure test the art and produce strong athlete but to pressure test the art it's hisk risk techniques have to be removed in order to practice the art somehow safely. then again if we were to practice self defence it would always be partial and a lot of it couldn't be tested anyway so we are probably still better of practicing sports like wrestling, judo, bjj etc. but it obviously can get to the point of taekwondo where sport gets so ridiculous that it become patting contest. ps: the good taekwondo that they talked about is ITF and it still sucks- in competition strong kicks nd punches are not allowed and actual class consists of at least 50% patterns training(kata).

[@Rex-golf_player810]

This lies in how we decide the rules within the sport

[@andycampbell85]

I find this interesting as as well. The competition process makes the martial art effective but the ruleset can breed bad habits for free fighting.

[@andycampbell85]

Pulling guard in a street fight is the classic example.

[@paba1042]

Yeah I thought that was a good conversation and then it sort of went out the window for TKD. All the other sport arts made it to at least C- I appreciate this list more than others I’ve seen.

[@Liberum69]

A Navy Seal once said the two best MAs to learn for self-defense that're available to the public are boxing and BJJ/GJJ, simply due to the fact they're highly effective even with the worst instructors.

[@Akasxh]

what is not available to public?

[@Liberum69]

@@Akasxh I don't know. I'm only aware of the public ones. I'm guessing there's some advanced CQC training when you're a Navy Seal or something?

[@abcdefksohfosuh9024]

@@Liberum69 I don't think that's necessarily the case. The most effective martial arts will already be known of. Most military martial arts will be ones that can be taught quickly because they have to spend so much time training other things and the chances of hand to hand combat in warfare involving no weapons is very unlikely.

[@Liberum69]

@@abcdefksohfosuh9024 That makes sense. And it explains his practical suggestion of boxing and BJJ, too, as they become useful very, very quickly, and it's easy to find somewhat competent trainers in most places, unlike most MAs.

[@thedarkking32]

I see boxing as the best martial art, because boxing is more effective than wrestling and bjj, is true that boxing doesn't teach you what to do if you're on the ground but it's the best way to finish a fight, for example if you're fighting in a street fight against three opponents, how are you going to end the fight with them with wrestling or bjj ??? You can't even subdue one opponent because the others will destroy you, but boxing on the other hand is the best martial art to teach you how to punch harder and deliver a knockout that will finish the fight

[@haydenhanson4635]

As a 6 year wrestler, that has dabbled in bjj and Muay Thai for a year this made me smile ear to ear 😊

[@jtower1000]

Which discipline is more effective in a real life fight, bjj or wrestling. 6 year wrestler here as well

[@williamwest9204]

​@@jtower1000I'd say it depends on your size, a big guy who knows either proficiently is scary, but a small wrestler I think is less effective than a small BJJ user

[@ejkalegal3145]

You're 6 and wrestling already? And muay Thai?? Wow your parents are really no nonsense 👍

[@SLCclimber]

I'm looking for a new hobby, and landed on martial arts and found this video with a cursory search on youtube. You guys play off each other well, and I watched beyond the specific styles I was interested in. About to browse the rest of your channel!

[@diegoruln]

Judo is very underrated as self defense, slamming a guy on the ground usually just takes the person out, if you're not careful you may hurt his head depend on where it lands, the thing about judo, I always ask my sensei to teach me no-gi throws because not everyone will be wearing jackets for you to perform that.

[@v.d.2738]

I think Judo + some striking techniques are enough for self-defense/street fight. It provides throws, ground works, chokes, joint locks, sweeps, holdings and strikings enough for a regular person.

[@bh4462]

One thing about street fights/anything outside a competition or sparring session? The ground is typically a LOT harder. Seriously. Getting slammed on a hard floor is not fun. And concrete? Just call the ambulance already.

[@theogillan5510]

It's also really good because it has some of the most practical training/sparring of any sport so it really helps you stay in control in these situations

[@PeaceDweller]

Rather than learning Judo you should learn Combat Sambo. It's essentially Judo, Kickboxing and Wrestling together.

[@theogillan5510]

@@PeaceDweller depends why you’re learning martial arts. Sambo isn’t as popular or accessible and outside of Russia and it’s neighbours the quality of the coaching isn’t consistent. I like judo because of the respect, rules and uniqueness of its style. Self Defense wise sambo is good but it is also very technical with limited sparring because it is not as common so in practical in-the-moment testing it’s not as strong.

[@Schantsman]

Most streetfights i've seen were boxing matches, i know boxing is limited but i still think they massively underrated it.

[@RickSanchez167]

They did. Boxing is easily A Tier or higher. The issues with BJJ is it only works 1 on 1. And even if you think it's 1 on 1, it may not be if the guy has a buddy role up. Never go to the ground if you don't have to

[@jcadwell1172]

boxing should be higher on the list.

[@kabukiarmadillo]

I tend to agree. I read a quote from a pro boxer once. He said that most people think of the sport version of boxing when they dismiss it as a self-defence system. However, experienced boxers know how to use elbows in close, know how to strike vital targets that normally aren't allowed, know how to clinch effectively... They just don't get to use these techniques in competition. If a boxer taught himself a few basic kicks and grapples, he would be pretty formidable.

[@baconcommander4643]

The footwork and positioning learned is so very important!@@jcadwell1172

[@roelofklooster4349]

Yeah, but boxing doesn't teach kicks and grapples. If you teach a judoka basic kicks and punches, he would be just as if not a harder opponent than boxing with basic kicks and grapples. I mean one on one, the boxer needs to be very good at keeping distance or get a really good hit, before a grappler gets close. Because as soon as the grappler gets close it's over.

[@opossumgrylls3275]

I totally do not understand this ranking system.

[@brothab5900]

Its hard to take this list seriously because its clear you guys have absolutely no understanding of most of these arts.

[@CrossedKatana]

I trained in Japanese ju-jitsu for 3 years and we full contact sparred in every class, both standing and ground. There was a degree of weapons training that was mostly knife and sword work. I consider myself very lucky because I was worried that it was a mcdojo. I had a mugging confrontation and the techniques in that class saved me getting my ass beat.

[@AtticusDenzil]

did you use the opportunity to kick their ass though?

[@craigjones8518]

What kind of sparring? Like Judo style throws and pins type?

[@jammin1881]

We used to do the same in aikido. Messing with rubber knives, marker pens and plastic bottles. It sounds funny but helps immensely with timing and situational awareness. You also realize how many times an aggressive opponent "marks" you.

[@tinkywinky4449]

@@jammin1881 Just a pity that aikido is shit irl.

[@Brett-yq7pj]

Yea bjj sadly took over because over hype but traditional jujitsu is pretty handy to train in

[@nein62]

As someone who wrestled for 15 years it really makes me happy to finally hear it included in a "top martial arts" discussion... always feels like it gets left out but you guys summed it up perfectly.

[@jaroslavzaruba2765]

bro do you live under a rock? i never did anything martial whatsoever, i am a super-casual mma pseudo-fan, and even i have heard countless times that wrestling is the shit - makes you durable, strong af, physically and mentally tough, and "most of the top mma-fighters come from wrestling" (probably heard it from Rogan)

[@nein62]

@@jaroslavzaruba2765 lol I might as well be living under a rock, haven't watched MMA for quite a while. Last I was watching the only thing anyone talked about was BJJ.

[@hampuswallin5942]

​@@nein62 I'm sure you have seen Khabib when he was dominating MMA. He was a tough wrestler. Now there is this guy called Khamzat, and he is a scary dude making his fights look like he is fighting amateurs, and I believe he is a tough wrestler.

[@liamdoes8580]

Wrestling and judo are easily the best grappling martial arts for self defence and wrestling is the best for MMA. One throw on concrete is all it takes to ko someone a double leg that leaves you in the top position gives you the perfect opportunity to strike someone and finish them

[@sadetwizelve]

Perfectly how,there's no strikes or submissions in plain old wrestling and in a streetfight it's useless against multiple people. Do you know how stupid you're gonna look just going for a double leg over n over? You can easily get hit by someone else while you're grappling. No way it's an S.

[@philipanderson9434]

Fantastic video guys. I found so interesting, thanks.

[@table_tennis_fever]

EXCELLENT vid. I love the bald guy who's so rational and knowledgeable. Passionate, yet not emotional.

[@rubenrodriguez3164]

My parents forcing me to go to Muay Thai and MMA classes literally saved my life several times. Once a guy kept messing with me, long story short he started to hit me and I low kicked into his upper thigh and that was it. They left me alone and stopped hanging around my school, no clue if they would have jumped me but I booked it once he stopped attacking. Another time was at a party and it never moved past pushing but once I took a stance and got ready to be hit the guy said nope and stopped right there, he was way bigger and in better shape but that confidence my parents installed into through forced classes has no doubt saved me. I was never a bully just the quiet ackward person I am today but WAY smaller. Thank you Mom and Dad, anyone on the fence do it, get in there and learn. Don't do it to fight, do it so you can defend yourself when forced to fight. Good luck friends and great video.

[@yoeyyoey8937]

@@Tyborzthat’s most “mma” nowadays but really what they should be doing is teaching how to use them in an mma match (rules where you can strike, grapple and ground fight)

[@ctsirkass]

Yeap, the confident eye, that's something that has saved me many times. I've done some Tae Kwon Do when I was younger and although there are plenty of guys out there than can beat me, I'm so confident and calculative when the fighting starts that people get discouraged and immediately back down.

[@memcore1312]

​@@Tyborzbro stop glazing

[@yahya_elistinsary]

Thankl your parents. After doing karate for a lesson I got into a fight in school and my parents pulled me from the lessons. After that I was always getting punched trough out high school.

[@KARATEbyJesse]

No need to watch… we all know AMERIDOTE is on top!!! 👊 Just kidding, Karate of course 😇

[@MartialArtsJourney]

Oh no, we forgot to put AMERIDOTE on the list! But yeah you are right... It's obvious Ameridote would be an S

[@burt2800]

Only really need to learn the sidekick

[@marunia256]

@@MartialArtsJourney you need to make video with master Ken, he will explain why everything on the list is BS

[@RenzDavis]

Correct answer is actually gun-fu as made popular in the late 90's. John Woo for the win.

[@marunia256]

@@RenzDavis it's with guns so it doesn't count... still Amerido-te beats Gun-fu every time

[@hideshiseyes2804]

I’ve been doing Japanese ju jitsu for twelve years and the assessment of it here fits with my experience of it. We do pressure test at my school, but in a fairly limited way. We do various exercises where you don’t know what attack is coming, some where you’re outnumbered, and we do a lot of groundwork randori with techniques that we stole from BJJ. But we don’t do full-on stand-up sparring, and I do think that’s a big gap. Interacting with other Japanese JJ schools I’ve seen some that do sparring and some that do less pressure testing than us. I’ve been in two real fights since I started training and I know for a fact I came out of both MUCH better than I would have otherwise. But I also don’t walk around feeling like a badass.

[@susansheffield2931]

I'm a psych nurse and have had to get good at the soft skills of self defense for inpatient milieu management and outpatient home visits. I'm learning Krav Maga for lots of reasons, mainly to get some confidence for when I'm attacked, but I will say that I am far less likely, statistically speaking, to be a victim of violence than my patients are.

[@nemo5335]

krav maga is fake, learn wrestling or judo. you want skills that let you take someone down and control their limbs, wrestling and judo do that.

[@anesthetized8]

Try Systema, this is unpopular here, but I like it. It teaches about balance, breath work, posture and how to be effective with limited effort. It covers a lot of psychology as well, how to read other people, etc. For me, it is like Krav Maga and thai-chi :D

[@opossumgrylls3275]

Have you considered getting a concealed carry license for those home visits?

[@geoffas]

@@anesthetized8 It's not easy to find a *good* systema instructor.

[@cosmichef75]

I disagree about Escrima, I did a year of it at that point in my life and was attacked by a guy with a knife and was able to disarm him after getting stabbed once in the arm and slashed on the ribs. Those drills saved my life because it was dark and one of my contact lenses got knocked out in the scuffle. It could also have been the 16 years of karate, 3 years of BJJ, 1 year of Muay Thai and was teaching gymnastics in my twenties. All I saw were flashes of silver and had no time to think it was just reactions burned into me from repetition.

[@evanmcclure67]

you got cut, but least nothing too vital

[@Genktarov]

@@evanmcclure67 not sure if this is what you mean but no matter the art you’re probably getting cut.

[@evanmcclure67]

@@Genktarov I'm saying you're gonna take damage if you're dealing with a knife. I'd rather get sliced or cut on my arm than my kidney

[@davidherron3136]

It's interesting huh, I could actually see the key in one guys hand when he went to punch me one time it's like super vision

[@cosmichef75]

@@davidherron3136 Yeah it was weird because it was fast but in the moment time slowed down.

[@taiyojimusic]

Been training in Taekwondo for a little while now. My instructor always made sure that no kicks to the legs or punches to the face (unless you're a red belt up) were allowed during sparring because if something goes wrong, you're out for a long time. However, feel free to hit hard if you can take the hard hits anywhere else. He also teaches you how to take out knees gouge eyes, takedowns, etc in real fights. I hate seeing the 'tag sparring' be the face of Taekwondo

[@sirgoldengoose4712]

Yeah tag TKD is the ‘sport’ not the martial art

[@michaelnurge1652]

I got DQ'd a long time ago in a TKD tournament for opening a cut on another guy's face when he was coming in. It was supposed to be light point-sparring (as opposed to the one with the armor and gear on), and this was only a little bit after the WTF / ITF split. On the one hand it was a good result because I didn't pull it sufficiently, but on the other hand, he was advancing and it was a counter to that. Anyway, it seems like every TKD instructor will have other things to teach besides "sport" TKD - the worthwhile ones, anyway. Even the TKD I had, which wasn't too bad, considering, didn't deal with takedowns and close-range attacks. We did ridge hand, chop, spear hand, as well as punching, but the focus was on kicks (it was TKD, after all). I'll bet most of the low attacks you had were things like the twisting kick or the back kick or low side kick. We used to practice a while measuring distance to the bag and going some of that stuff to gain distance. Good counters for high attacks can be low attacks and vice versa. Especially now, you can seemingly advance to black belt and further with just forms and breaking techniques. Now, those things aren't nothing, and nearly every TKD program will spar as well, but the focus doesn't seem to be on practicality anymore. A lot of the "self-defense" taught at a lot of schools is just a move without a whole lot of realism to put that move in context of when you need it, so I'm not convinced of the legitimacy even if the move itself is legit. I don't know what the face of TKD is these days, just that if you say you used to do TKD the next question generally is "what else did you study". I find it a little ironic because I still remember asking the guy next to me IN TKD class who was an Aikido black belt why he was doing TKD (I was in my 20's at the time). TKD nowadays isn't quite to the level of Aikido now; more slightly behind sport fencing I think. Cool tricks, great game, will keep you in pretty good shape, can be made useful for real-world applications if you know a whole bunch of other stuff too...but on its own pretty limited.

[@yuzonly]

same here, exactly same here

[@digitalcamaro9708]

They did mention in the video that Karate (full contact and with skill) can be very good for self defense. And ITF TKD stems from Karate as well, so would you say that it's pretty useful if trained with sparring and less limited ideologies?

[@gribobus]

@@digitalcamaro9708 main problem with any tkd is it mainly relies on legs for fight which is not the best

[@roundandsquareful]

My son started off studying jiu-jitsu, but moved over to the judo classes and loves them. He has a t-shirt that says something like, "Judo takes them down, Jiu-jitsu keeps them there."

[@Eparker09]

Hard2Hurt what do you classify or call your gym/dojo?

[@BlacK40k]

Would have loved to hear Mike's opinion on Sambo.

[@junichiroyamashita]

Me too.

[@Katcom111]

I agree, in the Sambo system. There's the regular Sambo and combat Sambo which is like MMA.

[@rockyv9228]

Same....was gonna ask that, too

[@m4n1czg]

You, was also thinking about combat sambo

[@bat0s4i]

I dont know about Mike but i do muay thai and my opinion is sambo and sanda both work very well but i dont know if its different enoph from kickboxing or mma to fall into a different section.

[@laizamineli346]

Here in eastern europe countries there are a lot of street fights as you can guess and there are also alot of Judokas and I can tell you especially a Judoka against a non trained person is devastating. Judo is really dangerous in a street fight, usually 1 throw and it's over as most of the times an untrained person wouldn't know how to land and would hurt themselves pretty badly

[@glowNINE]

Well the truth is all martial arts is useful against an untrained person

[@ig-8892]

As Icy Mike said, Judo is better for stand-up fighting in a self-defense situation than BJJ is, but BJJ is better at ground fighting than Judo. That said, in my opinion, it is preferable to keep yourself standing in a self-defense situation than going to the ground if you can, and Judo more or less allows that.

[@danielkeizer4174]

@@ig-8892 bij = judo. Check their background. Gracie family were thought judo. Not jiujitsu Wich never made it to Brazil. It is judo and teaches the same curriculum. Judo has the same ground game. Just not in competition. Might i add judo is the sport version of jiujitsu (military fighting). It being a sport means that its main focus is NOT to hurt your opponent. It's literally the soft path. Jiujitsu practitioners will throw you head first into the ground. Result death. It's no joke. A good judo guy can throw you and knock you out. But judo teaches all the throws,holds,locks,chockes,passes ECT. Because BJJ = Judo

[@milferdjones2573]

@@glowNINE But Judo will take out the untrained in a move easy and I've used it in real fights subduing a person and Army sparing where I just could not stop myself from throwing full speed which knocked the guy almost out and out of it for a good amount of time. But correct I know from WWII British commando Karate can kill in one blow.

[@hehe_not_hehe]

True, I was knocked few times by judoist thats was fast and gravitation was devastating

[@TheShortCon]

I would be interested to know how or if this list changes if the practitioner is smaller in stature than the average person. Should wrestling be as much of a focus over striking if you're fighting Goliath?

[@Elektrabit]

This video was super cool, I would love to see some advice on what martial arts complement each other better and make you a well-rounded fighter

[@oneprotest4281]

Great video! As a Muay Thai instructor/practitioner for 20+ years I learned a painful lesson against a wrestler. He caught my kick and dumped me on my ass. It was a real eye opener for me. I asked the wrestler to teach me how to stop that and defend against the shoot. I started to add take down defense in class. I would point out the weaknesses of Muay Thai to my students and make sure they were aware of them as well as ring fighting vs street fighting. At the time I was teaching stand up at a Daniel Moraes BJJ school so many of the students would take both so they could help fill the gaps in their games.

[@weekdaycycling]

In a street fight with no rules, with unpredictable outcomes, fighters will get more advantages if they know other combat techniques.

[@Khristos13]

Haha, the unseen weapons of wrestlers are gravity and Mother Earth 😁 They can easily break bonesssssss with any throw on the concrete ☠

[@tappajaav]

Excellent performance

[@iROChakri]

In street fight, dont ever knee or leg. Use clinch and elbows. Your mistake is to try to kick a wrestler. If a wrestler tries to grab you, use clinch to give you advantages and cut his head with your elbow,.

[@piotrd.4850]

You know.... this is basically first month of Karate Shotokan or whenever Mae Geri is introduced. Take leg even faster then you threw or when it gets caught you are toast. Usually done by sensei.

[@yt1300inHtown]

My son did TKD for 2 years. I don't think he ever understood that it was a contact game. He was rehearsing dance moves.

[@MrDagren]

I don't understand why taekwondo is considered a sport or ineffective here. What I'm learning primarily at taekwondo is how to punch and kick people really hard with a little bit of learning which bodyparts can take an opponent's hit the best. I'm guessing it must be the difference between the different federation's styles? I've never really looked into taekwondo outside of my own school.

[@yt1300inHtown]

@@MrDagren I think in most cases, your average YKD student is 8 years old and belt progression is fast so it seems kind of like you're being sold something outside of actual combat skills. I think they all have something to offer but in my son's class, it was a lot of memorizing moves done in a solo performance.

[@yt1300inHtown]

@Jesus is God What is it like for you?

[@EvoluGO]

I only remind you, one thing is taekwondo and another thing is how they teach it, especially here in the West, real taekwondo, as it was devised, is a very complete martial art, I recommend you look for videos of how the Korean military trains

[@GKlatt-fz2gs]

Would be interested to get anyone's take on the self-defense focused ikijujitsu styles, especially ones that include a fair amount of randori in their training regimes.

[@Joao-kd9ey]

I train jujutsu or japanese jiu jitsu. We have a big array of training, from ground, throws, striking. We have the study of the japanese tecniques, which is more memorization than pressure. But in our self defense classes, we have knife and short staff combat. Both for unarmed vs armed and armed vs armed.

[@MaxMortis]

I have taken Judo, Taekwondo, Wrestling, Muay-Thai and a little bit of BJJ. Unfortunately I've been in alot of bar fights and this describes what has happened to me on many occasions. 1. Punches, kicks, shoves get thrown (first 10 seconds) 2. Clinch (next 5 seconds) 3. O Goshi or Uki Goshi happens quickly, they land HARD and I get side control. (fight usually is about to be over at this point because people around now intervene by pulling you off or attempt to kick you in the face etc) Judo - O Goshi or Uki Goshi variation is the most natural, easiest and effective technique in a street fight once you clinch. Judo has been the most helpful martial art for me in real life situations.

[@guidos2090]

Gold comment

[@malkomalkavian]

Ogoshi is very easy and natural and instinctive. You can always just do it without thinking and it is very effective.

[@yetanotheryoutuber4271]

Looking at the data, most street fights end within the first 10 seconds because people lack basic boxing skills. To defend against punches and to throw them properly is probably your best initial skillset to know. Therefore BOXING is S tier in my opinion, and as you say, some basic clinching skill and judo is next.

[@malkomalkavian]

Boxing also comes with a reduced fear of face-punches, which is very useful

[@theblackmonk3153]

Yeah I say all you need is boxing/judo or wrestling

[@acsatornad]

I trained aikodo when i was a teenager and my master was also doing kyokhusin pretty seriously. He was always very upfront about the fact that even he as a blackbelt couldnt and wouldnt try to pull off any aikido based-move in a real fight, he would rather hit and low-kick. The founder of aikido also required originally that his students must be a black belt in some other martial art like judo or karate. I mean if your aikido master is not a self-righteous ego inflated man, it is definetly be a different experience than in the bullshido videos. From the first days of my training it was very clear to me that it wont help me in a real life situation, but i've learned so much about physics in a sense that i really started to feel how you can turn a straight force to a circular orbit. I think if someone is trained in other, more concrete and effective martial arts, aikido could be sort of an elevated, more abstract addition to their feel within a fight if you know what i mean. If you only do aikido you dont stand a chance, but it is still a very interesting thing to do.

[@cslife6666]

It's a waste of time, stop dancing around.

[@acsatornad]

​@@cslife6666 You havent even read what i have written, have you my boy?:D

[@Jd-zl7mn]

Supplemental? Redirecting opponents would work great with multiple opponents as far as I can tell. Wrestling came from medieval knights which were TANKS so they didn't really worry a out that 3rd person as far as I know.

[@cslife6666]

@@Jd-zl7mn Except you're not redirecting anything cause it's not real, your opponent doesn't resist, drop your ego, I'm trying to help you, go try 1 BJJ session u will see the truth, nothing works against multiple.

[@Jd-zl7mn]

@@cslife6666 its not ego just trying to find uses. Planning on getting into HEMA.

[@JuanHiribarren]

I would love to see Mike fighting some practitioner of every martial art here... Would be awesome.

[@tsaxondale2499]

He couldn't fight sleep

[@JuanHiribarren]

@@tsaxondale2499 he would learn 1 thing or 2... Haha

[@johannagy5399]

Karate might only be a C- for self defence but for picking fights and then roundhouse kick people in the teeth it’s an S tier martial art. In Sweden in the ‘80s and ‘90s karate guys that had trained 1-2 years were dropping dudes left and right in bars and night clubs for fun giving every martial art a bad reputation. So much so that Swedish national TV aired a documentary to give an alternative view to martial arts being just a fancy word for street violence. Those were the days.

[@bw5020]

The clinch work comment is understatement. Clinch work is so beautifully useful for closing distance that many striking arts don't realize they need....some will literally stall up wondering what to do next. That clinch can be such a game changer.

[@gerardgerardino7171]

They are talking about self defence. In the streets clinching will probably get you stabbed even by guys who don´t even have the balls to cut you on their own.

[@kriscrystaline9793]

Yes so true.. There is a lot of places that teach Muay Thai don’t spend enough time teaching the clinch IMO

[@Umar-gw6fy]

@@kriscrystaline9793 I agree they focus too much on the striking/k1 aspect of it and don’t utilise the clinch

[@steves1015]

I did Krav Maga in the UK for many years. Interestingly we were taught most of the things that you say others lacked, but the instructor did break away from the main Krav Maga group (I think it was Krav Maga Worldwide) and formed his own. We did pressure testing very regularly, and we also sparred often. Most importantly, he would stress that the first option is always to avoid the fight in the first place if you can (including role playing situations), and we even covered after the fight - the legal aspects and talking to police / emergency services. I feel very fortunate to have found one of the better instructors, especially after seeing the dreadful “combat krav maga” online.

[@nekozombie]

What's wrong with what you call "combat krav maga? :o Is it an organization or something?

[@SoroushSabzi]

krav maga is not even a real martial art, it is copied mostly from everything else ... mostly a bad copy!

[@1NVERT2011]

My instructor did this too and i left after realizing that i was paying a lot of good money for my instructor to tell me how to talk to cops, not fight. Same with history lessons, save that for a different classroom. Sure your instructor is great, sounds like youre getting ripped off

[@aliahmoosafeer9447]

What was the place called where you learned ?

[@ryanbotha9775]

So these guys are so full of shit that they stray so far out of their lanes that they are giving legal advice!? Best way to deal with the aftermath is to get the hell out of there before the cops get there.

[@ketilart9675]

@MartialArtsJourney What do you think about Combat 56? Is it similar to systema?

[@SanjiTripathi]

My traditional Japanese Jujutsu school does live training where we sit back to back, the count down and then go at each other throwing grappling and sometimes striking until a submission.

[@Drikkerbadevand]

Lethwei definitely is crazy. The judges don't even score the rounds, it's either KO, TKO or a draw lol

[@johnkennedy7368]

No judges or rounds, this is self defence not sport. Lethwai has brutal rules but the level of competition not good, their best fighters are not great.

[@weekdaycycling]

@@johnkennedy7368 Lethwei is probably fit for a street fight as a headbutt can be applied against your opponent. It's hard to become a real sport.

[@johnkennedy7368]

@@weekdaycycling You don't have to be a Lethwai fighter to headbutt, I trained in Boxing and Muay thai for 43 years, I headbutted guys in clubs but hey what do I know im just a noob.

[@Saaannn22]

@@johnkennedy7368 lethwei is a martial art used to beat up siam (Thailand) in war history the fact it a sport is crazy definitely a good self defense

[@johnkennedy7368]

@@Saaannn22 I never said it isn't a good form of self defence, it disgusts me when people twist my words. I said they havnt produced many good fighters.

[@hysterical5408]

From my experience, getting on the ground in general was never a good idea for self defense situations. Mostly because every instance of a street fight I've seen or briefly been involved with was heavily centered on groups of people targeting smaller groups or even an individual person. I've seen guys get on the ground to do a choke or attempt an armbar only to be descended on and mobbed. It's why I'd suggest Judo instead of BJJ or Wrestling, personally.

[@gudea5207]

Judo though promotes a lot of bad habits in terms hip throws. Turning you back especially if you don’t have as many points of contact (no gi) is bad. Most foot sweeps maybe besides O Soto or Ouchi require the opponent to be operating under Judo rules (and a fancy de ashi to strike is not going to help you if you can’t throw a cross). Even if you get thrown it’s worse on concrete but not fight ending necessarily. If your opponent has any natural wrestling inclination, you don’t train sprawls and in fact are probably standing too straight.

[@hysterical5408]

@@gudea5207 It does train bad habits, there's no arguing that. I can only recommend Judo more than I can BJJ due to what I've personally seen. Which is Judo being used to end fights by sending a guy head first onto concrete compared to the one or two times I've seen someone bring a fight to the ground, only to get mobbed on. I also say this, being someone who practices BJJ (no Gi). I think Judo is just better for that situation due to my experience.

[@chowmonkey2002]

Prevent getting to the ground anyways. Others can kick you in the head.

[@hysterical5408]

@@chowmonkey2002 It's just not a good idea in general.

[@orlandogonzalez9360]

whether is a good idea or not, 90% of all fights end up in a clinch of some sort and eventually can and do fall to the ground. Being able to defend yourself on the ground is extremely important. If you are skilled you WILL get that armbar or choke someone out.

[@knightshousegames]

I think a factor a lot of people don't consider with codified martial arts systems is that quite often if they have a competitive sport scene, the teaching will often be optimized and gamified for the rules of that sport rather than winning a real fight. Someone who is really well trained in a competitive martial art is going to instinctively avoid stuff that would get them disqualified like groin shots, eye gouges, rabbit punches, illegal chokes, etc. and conversely not have any training to defend against those sort of moves because in a competitive context they aren't expecting to encounter those moves. And your goal as a competitive fighter is to score points within the rules, not potentially maim your opponent. Someone like a Muhammed Ali or a Sugar Ray Leonard who were all time greats in a boxing ring might not have done so well in a street fight, since a lot of their tactics were optimized for scoring points, and wearing an opponent down over many rounds with breaks in between. Not saying all boxers would do poorly, a good pressure fighter might do insanely well for example. I find it interesting to look at the roots of different arts, and see how they started, like a good example is wrestling since going back through European fight manuals from medieval/renaissance era sources, almost all of them have some mention or even a whole section about grappling/wrestling. I've heard striking with fists was mostly alien to medieval europeans because 1, Everybody had knives, so why not just use that, and 2, striking with unwrapped fists was a good way to break bones in your hand, which is a very scary prospect in a pre penicillin world. Wrestling has a long tradition in basically every part of Europe going back to antiquity, and has never really died out, which to me says it has value as a system. With something like TKD or Karate, those ones on the other hand are very much divorced from their roots and can be best compared to something like Sport Fencing vs actual sword fighting, where they are so completely gamified that they have basically nothing to do with fighting anymore. Just like sport fencing, at one point they were based on real martial arts, but over time as they became more watered down to make them safe enough for competition and as the rules changed over the years they just ceased to be anything similar to fighting and became more of a game. I think at the end of the day, he is right about the economic aspect, because anyone who is SERIOUSLY worried about self defense could either spend hundreds of dollars and years training at a gym, stay in shape, and maybe be able to handle themselves when the time comes, or take that same money, and go buy a gun, and beat almost anyone with a significantly lower learning curve, (even if they aren't actually as safe as they think, as that gun is just as likely to be turned on them, or cause some collateral damage, or any other number of issues that creates)

[@jasonguido9057]

Rokus was afraid to be turned into a human piñata 🪅 when avoiding to comment about Kali, and leaving it all to Mike 😂

[@dany1441]

I started Kyokushin at 13. Muay Thai at 16, competed for years, trained at competition level till my mid 40's. Started BJJ at 48 (am now a Blue Belt), Judo a year later (Brown Belt now). Striking is still my first go-to, but I would say Judo is the best art for SD, and I wish I had started it when I was a kid. Judo has the best takedowns for SD, it has chokes, holds, breaks, and it had Olympic level conditioning. The only people that are a problem for a good Judoka are wrestlers, but the same is true in reverse. And since we're discussing SD and not interdiscipline competition, I vote Judo. ;)

[@The_Scouts_Code]

So to be clear, you like judo better for SD than BJJ? I practiced judo as a kid and am looking for a martial art to get back into for SD, but also fun and fitness…

[@dany1441]

@@The_Scouts_Code Yes, I would prefer Judo, providing (but that's always true I guess) you practice it for competition (no matter the level) or you do proper randori. Every BJJ school I've trained at does proper sparring, and this is why BJJ is always 'real' whereas a lot of other MA schools don't spar. I've seen recreational Judo classes where there was no real sparring, and the results speak for themselves. Not good. But why I prefer Judo is that it starts - and usually ends - standing up. The moment you lay a hand on someone, or someone lays it on you, you have the edge, because that is where Judo starts. But it has to be practiced under pressure, with resistance. Sparring, randori, in other words.

[@linusbrinkenstrahle8433]

@@The_Scouts_Code I'm going to say Judo as well. I've done Judo, BJJ, boxing and Muay-Tai, although boxing only for a year, and I have found that my Judo training has been the most useful for SD. I've been in three situations where I can surly say that it helped me but not necessarily in the way most people think. Adding to what Mike was saying in the video the break-falling part and balance you gain from Judo is probably what will be most useful for everyday life and I don't even know how many times it has helped me avoid injuries which is why I recommend it over some of the striking sports/arts since they don't teach that element.

[@lordtains]

Whoa, you started Judo at 49? Isn't Judo pretty though on the body, especially if you're over 40? Ive heard people choose BJJ over Judo because Judo led to more injuries. Much respect to you, sir, for starting new martial arts at a later age.

[@dany1441]

@@lordtains It helps that I never stopped being an athlete. I had my last competitive Muay Thai fight at 46. Learning to breakfall was not easy but it was certainly doable. But thank you for the compliment. As for injuries, it's certainly true that Judo has more of those than does BJJ, but I never competed in Judo, and sparring recreationally is less demanding. I do compete in BJJ at a very local level and I've never been injured. I'll be 60 at the end of this year and doing fine. ;)

[@surrealistidealist]

8:38 In my experience with Gracie BJJ, we'd usually do 1 hour of lessons & drills, followed by 1 hour of free rolling with pressure. The rolling was done from Day 1, but they'd go relatively easy on you until you're ready for more. It was a safe environment to be progressively challenged.

[@BM-13_KATYUSHA]

I'm challenged!

[@Krissada1000]

That sound like sport bjj. I was in gjj' combative class, there was not rolling. You need to go to gi or nogi class to roll.

[@irongrip]

@@Krissada1000 I don't think every Gracie academy or Gracie Garage is doing the exact same thing.

[@pwnership3292]

God damn that sounds like fun, 2 hours of balanced BJJ like that would be the highlight of my week

[@valentinramos6341]

That is incredible amazing

[@MagVair]

This is a VERY interesting conversation! I think a good follow up would be what should you learn/ seek out of your looking for self defense training?

[@roalwinks7961]

I always saw Aikido as a complimentary martial art, I wouldn't want to rely on it in a fight but it's great for teaching people how to fight. Spatial Awareness, how to fall, positional awareness etc.

[@BlitzSchlag]

Underrated comment. Everyone trash talking about Aikido. Most people just don't understand Aikido is a survival martial art, not a competitive one. The fact that many Aikido senseis are flower smellers doesn't help either. But properly tough (my sensei was a disco guard, so he knew stuff) and complemented with a day-to-day martial art (Karate in my case, Taekwondo or Kickboxing) is a must. Special mention to girls. Aikido, in my experience, is extremely effective in girls. They are usually grabbed and mostly underestimated. Aikido is very effective in those situations. If trained properly, of course.

[@benjaminforster2529]

Rokas, we need more tier lists. I'm loving it. It was great how carefully you guys discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each style.

[@yesiasked]

does this baldy have good experience in every one of them? He is commenting like he knows them all

[@Fabio-bu9bp]

​@@yesiaskedhe does. He knows well what he's talking about

[@falscakesrighteyebol1332]

@@yesiaskedyup basically, he even mentioned his past experiences multiple times throughout the whole video, idk how you missed that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@KnightJiuJitsu]

Thanks for conveying what I meant, Mike. People are always surprised when I mention that about Aikido at first. Haha

[@johnreidy2804]

Aikido is actually less than worthless as it can get you harmed if you try to use Aikido when attacked. Better you realize you know nothing and run!

[@christopherknight3942]

I do want to point out that Aikido is one of the martial arts used by the Japanese police to incapacitate perpetrators in Japan in combination with other Japanese martial arts in a system they call taiho jutsu(which literally translates arrest technique). You can see the influence of Aikido along with Judo in taiho jutsu in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nnPac2RjfNadjs0

[@johnreidy2804]

@@christopherknight3942 There is a big difference between facing someone to fight them and trying to use Aikido and being a Police Officer and having someone on the ground and using a joint lock. Keep in mind that Aikido will get a person hurt in a real fight. Aikido was created for "show" not "go"

[@christopherknight3942]

@@johnreidy2804 Aikido's predecessor Daito Ryu Aikijujutsu has been around for hundreds of years and includes long and short sword training. Aikido because of it's defensive philosophy is a watered down version of it but includes many of the same joint locks you find in Daito Ryu. The application of it's techniques are situational just like Krav Maga but because of it's limited nature(purely defensive with no strikes or grappling) is best used with other martial arts just like taiho jutsu. I like being a complete fighter myself and have trained in different martial arts and can attest that some of the techniques aikido or it's Korean equivalent hapkido teaches is indeed quite effective even against a larger opponent resisting in certain situations.

[@johnreidy2804]

@@christopherknight3942 Aikido is worthless and its Korean equivalent is NOT Hapkido which is effective. If you think I'm wrong go pull up a video where two people face off and the Aikido guy wins. You won't find one unless its just for laughs. The creator of Aikido Ushebi even said it was for show. The word Aikido even means "harmony and together". Its basically a choreographed dance friend. Really it's not what some think it is.

[@happychappy8326]

Great video...really enjoyed and especially valued the rankings since rationalisation was put forward for each ranking. I sensed the rationalisation was very honest. What about Sambo though?

[@MorganTDaniels]

I enjoyed this. I have experience in multiple martial arts. Even have attained black belts in a few them. And I thought this was a fun challenge to rank them.

[@deis.w]

I personally prefer striking forms in real life street fighting situations because usually there are multiple aggressors. With striking you can maintain distance and you don't always have to fully supress your opponent(s) to defend yourself. Often 1 or 2 strikes are enough to deter or put doubt in your opponents' mind, giving you a window opportunity to walk/run away. With grappling, too often you need to fully commit and you can only target one at a time and end up on the ground only to end up being surrounded. When choosing where to train, look for dojo/gyms with a master who has a lot of experience at competition level that also offers full contact sparring.

[@conorcrawford8311]

That's why you should train multiple like muay thai and bjj if you could get good at both of those you will be extremely dangerous in a street fight

[@WTFNoobProductions]

Why boxing is best for this

[@conorcrawford8311]

@@WTFNoobProductions muay thai would be the best for street fighting if its multiple opponents

[@Baci302]

@@conorcrawford8311 That's a great combination

[@dragonbane44]

@@Baci302 Boxing and wrestling for me is the supreme combo for self defence

[@orvil9223]

SELF-DEFENSE EXPERT: Boxing C- "It's a primary focus of my training."

[@HaikBoyadjian2]

It was never mentioned in here. But what were your thoughts on sambo and shou shu. sambo being more on the grappling side shou shu being more on the striking type of style.

[@karatekid3233]

In my Gracie Jiu-jitsu gym, we basically do BJJ with ground and pound and strikes from standing and how to deal with them while grappling.

[@karatekid3233]

@Oodles of Noodles Yeah because its stupid to go to the ground most of the time

[@wisewigga7129]

@Oodles of Noodles giving your leg to a dude with full guard can also mean u get tripped

[@marcos0055101]

@Oodles of Noodles Nonsense. There are a good amount of videos of that not happening at all

[@KungFuChess]

BJJ, Muay Thai and Judo is the ultimate combo

[@emmentaalijuusto8966]

Muay Thai, MMA and Sambo are too.

[@caiodosanjos157]

Hapkido >>>

[@emmentaalijuusto8966]

@@caiodosanjos157 Muay Thai better

[@Azyo62]

Kyokushinkai is more badass than muay thai, punches to the face were removed because it was too deadly !

[@chaska8144]

judo is basically bjj so no

[@photojoebill1989]

BJJ is very effective of 1-on-1 combat. It is bad for multiple attackers. The biggest issue is the willingness to go to the ground. You better know that person doesn’t have friends next to you that are going to soccer kick you in your head.

[@Eparker09]

That was enjoyable. Thankful for my dad at least instilling situational awareness in me.

[@firun2635]

I did some Jiu-Jitsu when I was a teenager. I was never very serious about it, used it once in self defence against a not very determined attacker, and I think learning how to fall is the best thing I got out of it. I was also an inline skater, half pipe included, and knowing how to break falls saved me so many times. Even today, I can still easily break falls and not hurt myself. That is hugely underrated. Other than that JJ was most useful against my girlfriends - I'm a strong guy, and they always wanted to playwrestle to see if they can somehow best me. JJ was great in very gently putting an end to that when they didn't want to stop.

[@SlickNinja1984]

Icy Mike is basically saying the same thing I've been thinking about while considering a martial art to get into. Being REALLY good at one and exceptionally well at others to compliment what you are really good at. Kind of like mixing a striking art like Taekwondo with some Muay Thai and a takedown and groundwork art like wrestling or jui-jitsu.

[@Kevin-qj7fp]

yea i did TKD at the age of 8-14 and still continue i thought of BJJ but now that i see this list i feel like there are 3 other better ones (in A/-A/B list)

[@cslife6666]

Taekwando is mostly a waste of time.

[@Kevin-qj7fp]

@@cslife6666 not entirely but if you looked at it compared to the other martial arts then yes

[@charzanboo9940]

How about a gun or a martial art that gets a person ready to defend themselves in a short amount of time by exploiting natural weaknesses?

[@danielsterling4918]

@@charzanboo9940 if time is your limiting factor, just buy a pistol. The problem with training something that teaches "natural weaknesses" is that it's highly technical (stuff like joint manipulation, pressure points, understanding balance/center of gravity, etc.,) and that takes *a ton* of time for it to be realistically useable under pressure. If you want the overall (in my opinion) best combination of martial arts for self defense, I'd say learn wrestling (catch wrestling ideally, but less common) and muay thai.

[@Sx-xy2zi]

Can someone explain the A tier as a icon materialized during tbe japanese jujitsu bit but i cant read that icon what it say

[@enochroot9438]

I worked security for over 20yrs in bars, clubs and concerts, many martial arts experts in self defense experts I worked alongside fared worse than the naturally big rugby player types whose sheer physicality won the day

[@geoffas]

There's no substitute for size and weight.

[@cjd2889]

Some of the best things you can learn for self-defense are 1.how to see the attack coming 2. How to run 3.How to take a hit if the first two don't happen. My karate instructor taught us early on that things don't always go to plan. He taught me how to break a choke, and then he choked me, and I broke it, and he came back and choked me again and again and again until I got the message that the techniques he was teaching us would not always work in every situation.

[@optioningthabears861]

My dad liked to choke me too Homer was a good guy though

[@Outlander34]

I took judo as a kid, 10, but only took it for a year. However, it had taught me a lot in that year, simple throws, choke holds and how to fall safely. The falling safely has saved me more times than not. Also most fights end on the ground and that is were Judo has helped me.

[@1kontrabida]

Out of all the noise i just watched, you sir spoke not base on hearsay or anything else but real life experience. Judo should be top tier ( if i had to go back in time it'll be the first i'd take) along with Muay Thai being street fight is a different ball game and very rarely a one on one were rules are thrown out because its never a defense but a survival.

[@MorganTDaniels]

I think you brought up the greatest thing martial arts can teach you. Rolls and falls. I guarantee at some point everyone will need and use those. Great point.

[@windupmerchant1679]

Ah, yes. I see that you know your judo well.

[@Outlander34]

Defiantly. I've taken a few falls, tripping for example, and I just rolled with it instead of breaking my pelvis@@antondrachuk6552

[@beimircc6434]

Most fights don't actually end on the ground. This is a mith coming from a statistic of encounters with police officers.

[@SyphriX]

KZbin algo brought me here out of nowhere. Spent my teenage years in kuk sool won and have never heard anyone mention it on the internet until now. Knowing how to fall has been the most useful thing from that training. Freaky.

[@HyperactiveSloth79]

I respect all of your analysis and compared to most people arguing about martial arts you guys have a ton of knowledge and are very objective. The only thing I i can add is regarding Muay Thai. Your analysis of technique against other arts is spot on, however if you're taking about real Muay Thai schools (as in actual Thailand training camps) then one thing to consider is that in one to two years the thing you would have learned more than anything else is how to take a strike. Most Muay Thai students i have seen are exceptional at being able to just shrug off a normal strike (and i mean HARD) while devastating their opponent with a counter that would put an ordinary person in the hospital immediately. It's almost like they get a free strike because whatever a random criminal tries to do to them they are going to do times ten in a split second. I know you are well are of this, and it applies to a few other arts as well, but it sometimes gets ignored when talking about self defense because we forget that most criminals are not conditioned in any meaningful way. You might occasionally run up against a bad ass biker, or someone who has survived a dozen street fights, but a lot of the time you're attacker is a coward who expects you to be afraid of being hurt, while anyone who has been trained in full contact is going to obliterate them handily. Just my two cents.

[@cuban-being3087]

Boxing has helped me with 90% of the confrontations I have been in. Easy to use subconsciously when the adrenaline is high. About a year of training and you are already in better shape physically and mentally. Sparring keeps your fight or flight from clouding your mind. And learn a bit of BJJ or Wrestling and you have the whole kit.

[@zomb1elvis]

I have to agree with this. The combination of physical fitness plus full contact sparing is excellent for self defense.

[@midnightvibes5485]

Yeah I laughed and knew he would pit boxing on low. Boxing is a fat S tier, they did it dirty. Nobody will do fancy jump kicks or grapples while fighting on concrete.

[@badlanz8642]

It’s also practiced at full speed and power other then kickboxing/ Mui Thai…. The others are not

[@zomb1elvis]

@@midnightvibes5485 yeah definitely training 1 or 2 nights a week in a hour long sanitised class isn't enough to build up the strength, stamina or reaction control that can help you deal with a real world confrontation. Most boxing gyms will have several different classes focused on different aspects like fitness, techniques or sparring and coaches who have actually had a fight or two in their adult lives

[@Prime_Legend]

Boxing is mainly useful against your average/untrained person,a boxer would lose to someone that knows wrestling, mma or kickboxing on the street

[@684W13]

Kali: defending yourself with a knife against a knife attacker, while knowing kali, and your attacker does not have the skills you have will result in.... Saving your life basically.

[@rejeangadbois3123]

yes, offence, counter-offence and re-counter offence.

[@skywalkerneoblade]

I'm a south African and have been in a mugging situation twice in Cape Town. I never knew instinctively that If I where to find myself in that situation weather I would have a fight or flight/freeze reaction. I practiced wing-chun forms for many hundreds of hours before these incidents. IE: The forms where wired into my brain like a musician's instrument. The first incident happened when my dumbass wanted to take nighttime photography of the town during a misty night. (dont do that in SA). I was jumped by two guys and I responded so quickly that I surprised myself. I always trained to use palms and fingers to the face and fists to the solar plexus. Because of my hard wired training and explosive reaction I managed to mess both guys up and escape with my camera, which was my source of income at the point. I probably would not have responded the way I did if it was not. The guy who thought he was a flight man became a martial artist in a second. (this sounds lame but it's true). The second time I was much more aware of my situation and as the assailant reached into his hoody pocket for his weapon blood was coming out of his nose. I did not stick around in either situation. I acted very swiftly and left just as swiftly. I was fitter and stronger back then but I know that those neural pathways are still in my brain and my body will react without much thought. I dont need to bench the whole gym if I can stick my finger in someone's eye; they don't want to play when they are blind. Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk.

[@KainMalice]

What would be a good style to train in if you like the style of aikido but was usable in self defense??

[@CommandoMaster]

The best ones to learn is BJJ, Muay Thai, and Wrestling. A good amount of skill in each of them will help you in self defence in most situations (unarmed ofc).

[@TheOlzee]

The thing is most of each one will be a waste of time still. Imo this is the where MMA comes in. It takes the best from each martial art that works best in a real (or close to real) situation. They should do another vid on what they would specifically take from BJJ, wresting, boxing etc

[@jontor8938]

@@TheOlzee one thing though ofc always run if someone brings a knife. The mma stance is counterproduktive against a knife, and gets you killed hence learn some krav maga fma for Those situations aswel

[@kalterkakaozumfruhstuck1515]

a good boxer can eliminate two or three opponents fairly quickly. Honestly, who would have liked to have a street fight with Prime Mike Tyson? No man in the world!!

[@clorkmagnus]

@@kalterkakaozumfruhstuck1515 a trained individual can take down multiple untrained individuals relatively easy, Mike Tyson can probably take down dozen of people if they don't jump at him at once in no weapon situation. The physical capability is very bizarre, an Asian man can deliver a punch only around 1/9 of his punch, you only need twice the normal man amount to knock a person out or stun them, I once stun a guy for hours, he was knocked down for minutes. In self defence situation, your mentality, quick wit, being able to use brain in combat along with physical ability and understanding how your opponents will move really help, also ferocity, a lot of people get scared so easily which hinders their ability to defense themselves.

[@randallsanchez3161]

No point in learning BJJ if you're learning wrestling. The wrestler outmatches the BJJ practitioner in all things groundwork. Muy Tai or boxing covers the striking shortfalls. BJJ came on the scene when no one knew any groundwork. It lost its dominance once people learned Greco-Roman and how to defend against takedown attempts.

[@todayandtomorrow360]

I love seeing how MAJ has grown over the years and how humble he has become. Remember when his channel was all Aikido and how awesome it is?

[@rohnfibers1380]

And it takes a lot to make yourself reconsider and then publicly announce that. Good man, indeed.

[@dakotatrue12]

@Ravi Verma this channel

[@armandomendoza3167]

I'm curious. There are other martial arts the where not mentioned. Tang Soo do, Wu Shu. Where would these fall in the categories?

[@GibranLahud]

Amazing video, man. I'm learning a lot, but how come you put Judo two tiers above Karate?

[@everythingknife8763]

My Korean father-in-law fought in Vietnam and taught Taekwondo in the Korean army. He was also a radio operator for a couple years and survived. Dude's in his 70's and I still wouldn't want to test him. Also, the nicest guy I know.

[@shawnmendrek3544]

He does the testing.

[@shawntailor5485]

You don't test men like that ,they already passed

[@mrorange3490]

Cool story bro but taekwondo is a joke. On a side note, I have the utmost respect for veterans, which I am also a veteran but even if I had never served, I would have the highest respect 🫡

[@everythingknife8763]

@mrorange3490 I agree that competative taekwondo is a joke for self defense but it's always a different story for someone who has used a martial art in actual combat. A martial art is far more effective when you don't have to follow rules.

[@mrorange3490]

@@everythingknife8763but even without rules, I don’t think all those high flying super cool kicks would be a good idea. In fact when I was in my 20s, I had a altercation at Starbucks with a guy who followed me because I had apparently cut him off in traffic. Unintentionally of course, but the dude wouldn’t let it go. An Asian dude who was a little taller than me which was crazy because im a giant in my family at a towering 5’9 (jk. Obviously I’m not very tall) so the guy was talking all kinds of shit and he was still wearing his karate shit that said, “Kim’s taekwondo,” black belt And all. He said he would beat my ass, and that he is a black belt. I gave him a second chance because I was coming from work and I was tired and I Didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his hot Asian gf. So I was like, “stfu before I take your girl home with me.” Well, he didn’t like that too much so he did some cool spinning ninja kick which I basically moved to his inside really fast and just pushed him on the ground really hard, then I punched him in his chin about half as hard as I could. He was out like a light but it looked like he was having seizures or something so I banged his girlfriend really fast in my car and I Called 911 for him. 100% true story… except the part about banging his gf, but she was super hot. Anyway, rules or not, I would not recommend taekwondo in a street fight

[@Langarm]

I boxed for 8 years, starting at 19 and ending at 27; light heavy. Three carded fights, 2 wins 1 loss (I only competed in the last year). I also coached it for 6 years. With the history out of the way, whenever I had someone new coming into the gym asking to learn boxing as a form of self-defense I usually told them it's not the best choice of a martial art for that. I explained that this is a sport, it has rules and those rules will be DRILLED into you and your mindset. We break on a clinch, we don't kick, we need SPACE (that one is important), etc. Space is probably one of the most important trained aspect in a street fight for a boxer. We train (and get use to) fighting in a set ring-space, we also fight 1v1, what happens when it's not 1v1? What happens when there is not enough space (packed bar, tight alleyway, etc.)? We don't train you for that. I agree with the list, especially regarding wrestling. Being able to fight in a tight space with your opponent starting pretty much right on top of you, smothering you, I would expect to be a prime aspect of effective self-defense. Wrestling seems a perfect fit for that. Just my 20 cents.

[@dmitripogosian5084]

I would think one of the important things of fighting in crowded space is a control of what is behind your back. Or you will get your head smashed by the bottle. Wrestling does not seem to help here with the focus on one opponent.

[@hish33p32]

I like this type of mindset, I used to think negatively of boxing as inferior to real martial arts because it's just a sport as what was said in Baki, but after reading your comment, Boxing being a sport, It conceptually makes it more appealing to me now that it's not some real martial arts suitable for every combat situation

[@joekent6576]

I can't believe how much respect wrestling gets. I wrestled for ten years and never knew how much people realized it's intensity. Our coach told us we ran more than every sport except cross country, but only barely, and sprinted more than all sports, including soccer. What I can say is that I've been in several fights over the years that went to the ground and I dominated. I was not a great wrestler in school but it turns out I'm infinitely better than someone that's never wrestled.

[@baconcommander4643]

I get it. I've never been knocked out in a fight, though i have been hit hard, many times in many street fights. Being held down and immobile in a streetfight can be the death of you.

[@acethe8th]

I always think it’s funny how many wrestlers don’t understand how truly dangerous they are. Maybe thats a good thing?

[@nothingelse1520]

I took Taekwondo as a kid, I only got to orange belt and dropped out. I didn't like learning forms at all. They taught us how to punch and had us hit a bag all day. When I was in like 5th grade during recess some kid punched me in the face and I hit him like I learned in my classes. It worked pretty well. lol