Martial Arts/MMA Thread
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Interesting video about a Chinese martial artist who tries to take a realistic view of self defence e.g. always carry improvised weapon (scissors, wrenches, etc) so if you get into a real fight you have a better chance of winning. And he also puts emphasis on knowing the laws.
As someone who trained in Karate a long time a few things I want to address about fighting.
In fighting there are always trade offs. There are some important ones I want to talk about.
For example is that the "bladed stance" which is used by some boxers and some Taekwondo people and even some karate people is generally a stance which has a few positives but that comes with a lot of negatives. Your front jab is weaker because you get less shoulder rotation into your jab. Its harder to do front kicks because your foot has to pivot extra making it slower to execute and that is true for kicking from both legs. It is also harder to do roundhouse kicks from the bladed stance. You also cannot leg check a low kick to your front leg very effectively which means you are going to get your leg taken out. However from the bladed stance your mid body is less open to attack because its angled out of the way and harder to reach. Also its easier to do a side kick, back kick or back spinning kick from that stance.
Gabriel Varga (famous kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter) and Bas Rutten (famous MMA fighter) both do videos talking about the weaknesses of this stance. Overall I would say its not a great stance for most people but occasionally you find a fighter like Steven "wonder boy" Thompson who can make the stance work. For most fighters a more frontal stance is a better option. However when I say frontal I mean a standard frontal stance not a very short Wing Chun stance which also many weaknesses.
Many boxers might be light on their feet when moving around but often when they duck punches or punch their opponent they often have a low centre of gravity and go into a deep stance. This can deliver more power into the punches in a low stance but is adapted to boxing rules and in a real fight or mixed martial arts fight often means that you are too heavy on your legs and will will get your legs kicked repeatedly. If you ever fight a boxer just keep kicking their legs. Also ducking punches leaves your vulnerable to get kicked in the head if they follow up the punch with a head kick. Finally a lot of boxers always train and spar with gloves and are not used to using bare knuckles and hence sometimes they injure or even break their hands when they punch someone hard in a real (street) fight because they don't get used to having correct hand form and positioning.
In real fights unless you are a a top tier fighter (i.e. pro level) even as a trained martial artist I would avoid any kicks to the head for a few reasons. One reason is especially for older guys or less flexible guys doing a high kick when you are not stretched or warmed up often causes you to feel funny due to overstretching your groin muscles, etc. Also if you fall on concrete like if you miss and slip over and fall or the guy cuts you off and pushes you over etc it can hurt a lot falling on concrete (and you leave yourself vulnerable on the ground) and not worth the risk in general.
In a real fight I would also generally avoid doing any back kicks or back spinning kicks because if you don't execute well or miss your back is vulnerable and they can hit you in the spine or the back of the head etc all things which are generally disallowed in any tournament fights.
Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, (grappling in general) etc are highly effective in a one on one fight but less effective if there are multiple opponents as while you are on the ground rolling with the other guy his buddy can come and stomp on your head, etc.
And in a real fight often times you don't know how many guys you are actually fighting. I have been in situations where a fight almost broke out (luckily it was avoided) and seemingly out of nowhere more guys came in to join the guy who wanted to start a fight with me. In many situations you cannot be sure how many guys you are actually fightiung.
Grappling skills are useful in case the other guy takes you down (or tries to take you down), etc but striking should be the first port of call. Also there is always the possibility they can pull out a knife etc and in the situation you want to keep distance rather than be grappling somebody.
In a real fight scenario improvised weapons if available should be the used if available (empty beer bottles, scissors, a big stick, a broom, chair etc). If nothing is available punches, knees, elbows, and lower body kicks e.g. kciks to the knees, groin, legs, etc should be used. Also important to focus on stuff like attacking the groin, pucnhing the throat, eye gouging if in close range, etc.
In general you always want to avoid a fight as too many things can go wrong like they have friends that will join them, they might have a hidden knife or gun on them, you could win the fight but seriously injure the other person and get into serious legal problems (this has happened to people I know) despite the fact that they started the fight. Most fights happen due to ego battles and can be de-escalated. I have been in a few situations where the other person wanted to fight me and I de-escalated and avoided a fight by letting them have the ego win.
In fighting there are always trade offs. There are some important ones I want to talk about.
For example is that the "bladed stance" which is used by some boxers and some Taekwondo people and even some karate people is generally a stance which has a few positives but that comes with a lot of negatives. Your front jab is weaker because you get less shoulder rotation into your jab. Its harder to do front kicks because your foot has to pivot extra making it slower to execute and that is true for kicking from both legs. It is also harder to do roundhouse kicks from the bladed stance. You also cannot leg check a low kick to your front leg very effectively which means you are going to get your leg taken out. However from the bladed stance your mid body is less open to attack because its angled out of the way and harder to reach. Also its easier to do a side kick, back kick or back spinning kick from that stance.
Gabriel Varga (famous kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter) and Bas Rutten (famous MMA fighter) both do videos talking about the weaknesses of this stance. Overall I would say its not a great stance for most people but occasionally you find a fighter like Steven "wonder boy" Thompson who can make the stance work. For most fighters a more frontal stance is a better option. However when I say frontal I mean a standard frontal stance not a very short Wing Chun stance which also many weaknesses.
Many boxers might be light on their feet when moving around but often when they duck punches or punch their opponent they often have a low centre of gravity and go into a deep stance. This can deliver more power into the punches in a low stance but is adapted to boxing rules and in a real fight or mixed martial arts fight often means that you are too heavy on your legs and will will get your legs kicked repeatedly. If you ever fight a boxer just keep kicking their legs. Also ducking punches leaves your vulnerable to get kicked in the head if they follow up the punch with a head kick. Finally a lot of boxers always train and spar with gloves and are not used to using bare knuckles and hence sometimes they injure or even break their hands when they punch someone hard in a real (street) fight because they don't get used to having correct hand form and positioning.
In real fights unless you are a a top tier fighter (i.e. pro level) even as a trained martial artist I would avoid any kicks to the head for a few reasons. One reason is especially for older guys or less flexible guys doing a high kick when you are not stretched or warmed up often causes you to feel funny due to overstretching your groin muscles, etc. Also if you fall on concrete like if you miss and slip over and fall or the guy cuts you off and pushes you over etc it can hurt a lot falling on concrete (and you leave yourself vulnerable on the ground) and not worth the risk in general.
In a real fight I would also generally avoid doing any back kicks or back spinning kicks because if you don't execute well or miss your back is vulnerable and they can hit you in the spine or the back of the head etc all things which are generally disallowed in any tournament fights.
Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo, (grappling in general) etc are highly effective in a one on one fight but less effective if there are multiple opponents as while you are on the ground rolling with the other guy his buddy can come and stomp on your head, etc.
And in a real fight often times you don't know how many guys you are actually fighting. I have been in situations where a fight almost broke out (luckily it was avoided) and seemingly out of nowhere more guys came in to join the guy who wanted to start a fight with me. In many situations you cannot be sure how many guys you are actually fightiung.
Grappling skills are useful in case the other guy takes you down (or tries to take you down), etc but striking should be the first port of call. Also there is always the possibility they can pull out a knife etc and in the situation you want to keep distance rather than be grappling somebody.
In a real fight scenario improvised weapons if available should be the used if available (empty beer bottles, scissors, a big stick, a broom, chair etc). If nothing is available punches, knees, elbows, and lower body kicks e.g. kciks to the knees, groin, legs, etc should be used. Also important to focus on stuff like attacking the groin, pucnhing the throat, eye gouging if in close range, etc.
In general you always want to avoid a fight as too many things can go wrong like they have friends that will join them, they might have a hidden knife or gun on them, you could win the fight but seriously injure the other person and get into serious legal problems (this has happened to people I know) despite the fact that they started the fight. Most fights happen due to ego battles and can be de-escalated. I have been in a few situations where the other person wanted to fight me and I de-escalated and avoided a fight by letting them have the ego win.
This happened a long time ago. Since then Benny the Jet has cross trained in even more martial arts including Brazilian jiu Jitsu. Benny is old now but still in good shape and still a legend.
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Although to be fair that is 2 highly skilled fighters. I am sure Khabib could submit most big guy amateurs from your local wrestling club or Brazilian jiu jitsu dojo.