What’s the Best Martial Art for Street Fighting?
Whenever you’re training martial arts, the subject of self-defense is bound to come up. There’s a good reason why, since a lot of people want to know that they’ll be able to defend themselves should an altercation become physical. There is a desire to know if it’s best to be trained in one martial art or another, or if it’s actually better to train using potential scenarios where you may be under threat. Essentially, if your life is potentially on the line, what kind of training is going to save you?
Framing
When Lex Fridman asked John Danaher which martial art is the best for a real-world altercation on the Lex Fridman Podcast in the video above, Danaher struggled to answer. He struggled because the idea that one martial art is going to be superior to another in this kind of situation frames the question in such a way that you can only provide an unsatisfactory or incomplete answer.
Danaher then modified the question to ask, is it better to participate in a combat sport or learn theoretical moves that you can use in a self-defense situation? In other words, is it better to just train in a martial arts gym that encourages participation in competitions (jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, Muay Thai, etc.), or is it better to go to self-defense classes that prioritize drilling?
For Danaher, the answer is clear: “Combat sports are your best option for self-defense.”
Why Combat Sports
In addition to teaching you moves, there is an active sparring component when you participate in a martial arts class, and this is a fundamental aspect of real-world fighting that self-defense classes tend to leave out. You are forced to improvise in a high-stress situation, and people who know only to fall back on precise movements that they’ve rehearsed in theoretical situations may not be up to that task. As Danaher says, “Nothing will prepare you for the intensity of a genuine altercation better than combat sports.”
True, there’s some validity to the idea that these sports have rules and that people engaged in a genuine fight can break these rules to win. For example, people may punch below the belt or bite.
However, as Joe Rogan points out during the above conversation with Lex, the idea that animalistic violence is going to overwhelm someone trained in martial arts is something that people who don’t have a firm grasp of any martial art might say. People who have been trained in martial arts are not intimidated by wildness or extreme violence. They have a system and technique to calmly pick apart that violence and to subdue it. Especially with jiu-jitsu.
Not to be too glib, but that’s kind of what advanced belts spend months doing to white belts until the white belt begins to actually learn how to use the techniques they’ve learned. If unrestrained violence was a tactic that worked against an advanced system of martial arts, then no one would have bothered to create an advanced system of martial arts.
“Learn how to fight against people who know how to fight,” Joe says.
Choosing and Modifying a Martial Art
As far as which martial art is best, Danaher recommends one that has a sport element to it. The experience will get you close to a real-world fight scenario, just without the danger. Some people would probably recommend not training in just one martial art. Knowing at least one grappling art and one striking art will make you a better-rounded fighter.
Crucially, Danaher notes that some martial arts are not suited for street fighting without modifications. For example, boxers who are fighting outside of the ring have to punch without anything to cushion their fists. This is a big problem. Boxers throw punches with a lot of force, and they can break bones in their hands if they hit a particularly solid part of their opponent’s body. Mike Tyson was one of the most gifted punchers of all time, but he still broke his hand in a street fight.
To modify, Danaher says that boxers can learn to strike with elbows or open hands.
Similarly, the most effective knife fighters will probably be fencers who have live experience but have modified their tactical and technical approach so that they are more comfortable with an actual knife. However, their reflexes, endurance, mobility, and agility all come from fencing.
So, to answer the question from the top (What’s the Best Martial Art for Street Fighting?), Danaher would say a martial art with a live sparring component and sport element with tactical and technical modifications to make it better suited for a real-world altercation.