the_fallguy

I don't want to offend anybody here, but MMA is strictly a stream-lined sport, like hockey or baseball.....nothing more, nothing less. I know that it involves impressive striking and submission techniques that look like they would surely take someone out, but so would hitting them with a hockey stick or a baseball bat. I'm not saying that MMA is totally useless, but it's not going to prepare you to defend yourself for real, and it's especially not going to help you deal with the after math of a physical confrontation.

If you want to learn combatives for self defense, try to find somewhere that covers concerns like the recognition of dangerous situations, how to transition to weapons, the legal use of force, how to defend yourself without looking like the bad guy (to an onlooking crowd that may be called as witnesses in court at a later date), how to deal with multiple (and often armed) assailants, and somewhere that puts you through realistic scenario training to test your application of the subject matter.

If you go somewhere that doesn't advocate the use of firearms, that should probably be a red flag that says they aren't serious or realistic about real self defense.

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Where self preservation is concerned, if you're not cheating, your not trying...

KenpoTex

I don't want to get into a huge debate over MMA vs. combatives/martial-arts/whatever but I do want to make a couple of comments.

• Just for a moment, let's ignore all the other skills (weapons, pre-fight/post fight issues, mindset, etc.) and just focus on the empty hand combat aspect. In this context, I feel that it's pretty safe to say that MMA type training (boxing, Muay-thai, wrestling, BJJ) is far superior to just about anything else out there. Why? because of the intensity and level of resistance found in MMA training that is not commonly found in most other systems. As a result of this increased "aliveness," the practicioners are able to pressure-test their material against someone who is actively trying to prevent them from doing so, and who is trying to do the exact same thing to them (knockout, submission, etc.). I personally feel that the average MMA guy would easily dominate the average practicioner of pretty much any other system in an empty-hand fight.
  
  
• No one ever said MMA practicioners couldn't augment their skills with other training or alter their techniques to be more nasty. For example: the lead hand jab could just as easily be a tiger claw to the eyes, or they could be doing their punches with a push-dagger in their hands. Instead of going for a "tap-out" while on the ground, they could just break whatever limb they're cranking on. Or, use those same groundfighting skills to facilitate weapons access.
  As far as other training goes, there's nothing that says that just because a guy studies MMA, he can't be a shooter, or train with a blade, or attend FOF classes to "plug the gaps" in his "competition-oriented" fighting method.

Just my $0.02...

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"Being a predator isn't always comfortable but the only other option is to be prey. That is not an acceptable option." ~Phil Messina

If you carry in Condition 3, you have two empty chambers. One in the weapon...the other between your ears.

Matt K.