Self Defence question

If you can't afford BJJ, you can definitely afford judo.

Mick Coup also suggests rugby. The conditioning demands have significant carryover to dealing with getting knocked about by big, aggressive blokes and battling through it. Bit more social than most martial arts too, and let's be honest, more likely to get you laid.

1. Kickboxing
2. Boxing
3. Wrestling

Basically, what MMA fighters mostly have. Of course they have other things like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, but i wouldn't recommend in a real street fight where you don't want to leave yourself exposed.

Sistema - Self defence and combat technique developed for Spetnaz and the other Russian special forces. A hand to hand combat situation in a battle may be somewhat similar to a bar fight, so I think there is promise in terms of its application in everyday life

The answer to this question is no longer a mystery. Literally the only thing that you need to do is watch how mixed martial arts has developed over the last twenty years and you have the purest example of what fighting styles work. Thousands of fights over two decades provides a pretty damn scientific answer. Primarily you need to know how to grapple. Without this knowledge there's a big chance that any striking skills will be rendered useless as soon as some thug grabs hold of you or your clothes. So if you want my advice, get a solid background in BJJ or submission wrestling. The fact that you are able to spar 100% every time that you train without getting hurt means that you will remember your training under stress. The importance of this cannot be overstated. The reason that arts like wing chun, aikido and Krav Maga do not have a history of being effective in live fighting is that they are not generally practiced in a live setting. It's simply not possible to remember how to fight if you haven't done any fighting. I've had experience in wing chun, systema and many of the arts mentioned on this thread, and the truth is they they simply don't work. Please take my word on this, take BJJ for a couple of months (multiple times weekly, this will get you MUCH faster results) and if you still do not feel confident, then try supplementing with some striking training, in boxing or kickboxing (ideally Muay Thai). The problem with these arts is that full sparring is very demanding, and it will take a lot of experience to become confident enough to throw meaningful strikes in a self defence situation. I have trained and competed in Muay Thai for three years and BJJ for just one, yet I feel that if I was attacked I would defer immediately to my grappling.

Please trust me on this, BJJ is the way to go if you want to get the most out of your time. I promise that you will very quickly find yourself becoming obsessed. The art also has a reputation for friendliness and playfulness, so you'll have **** loads of fun and learn how to defend yourself in the most effective way all while never taking a single punch to the face. Does it almost sounds too good to be true? That's what I thought. It took me years for one of my BJJ friends to convince me to start grappling, but I've never looked back.

Start your journey man, you will not regret it. See you on the mats.

Yes BJJ is the best martial art to learn. What belt are you man?

Despite all my raving about BJJ, I'm still a white belt, 4 stripes.

Oh thats cool, you done any competitions yet who is your trainer?

Just once at the Nottingham Open last year, I got dominated but it was only about 8 weeks after I started BJJ so I didn't take it personally. I train under a guy called Luiz Salles, who has ties with Nova Uniao in Rio.

Thats really cool, I am borderline blue belt and my team is ICON BJJ

A boarderline blue belt sounds a lot like a white belt to me! Haha

Haahaha yes i am a white belt, Are you going uni this year too?