Hello Grapplers!

My main targets for this article are the type of guys that visit martial arts forums and rant and rave about how grappling is IT. They think that the grappling arts (those martial arts that focus on grabbing or wrestling your opponent, such as Judo, Jujitsu, Wrestling, and such) are the best thing since the wheel. Just because a lot of the guys that win the Ultimate Fighting Championships are wrestlers, they think that grappling is supreme. They totally ignore the fact that people like the Gracies or Tanktaron train for more than eight hours a day and are in superior physical condition. Of course they are going to beat the snot of someone, particular when the rules favor their style. Sometimes the only way out of a choke or a hold is with "dirty" or foul tactics.

I'VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE

I've heard it all. "Yeah, man, once you bring a striker on the mat, they're like a fish out of water"; "Karate doesn't work in a real fight", and "Those strikers need to study grappling! Grappling is where it's at!". Well let me tackle those issues one at a time.

As far as bringing a striker on the mat, of course they are going to be at a disadvantage. The surface of the mat does not allow for sufficient grounding in order to enable someone to get a lot of power on some of their techniques. In addition, if you don't allow the striker to hit or punch or KICK or elbow, then you've totally taken away his attack ability. Also, what you may not realize is that a lot of people are not out to hit you full contact when they spar you. Believe me, if they did, mat or no mat, you would feel it!

Yes, those strikers should study grappling. I know I have and will continue to do so. BUT, people who bill themselves as grapplers should also study striking. Why? Consider this:

• Most grapplers don't have to worry about being decked. Consequently, they leave their face WIDE OPEN when doing takedowns and matwork
• The bob and weave that you learn from boxing can be useful when doing randori (free wrestling)
• Studying striking can help you with timing
• Odds are you will be facing a striker on the street or an idiot who is going berserk
• Going to the ground is about the dumbest thing you can do if you have to fight more than one person at a time
• At least in a striking art, you learn how to DUCK a punch or move out the way of a kick

Know I know a lot of people say that the Karate type arts don't work in a real fight. Folks, let me tell you that NO martial art that is practiced as a DO (sport or martial "way") versus one that truly practiced as a JITSU (combat oriented with an intent to maim or KILL) will work in a real fight EXACTLY as it does in the ring. Our martial arts training works fine motor skills instead of gross motor skills. When you are hit by the wave of adrenaline, fine motor skills are the first things to go. That means for a grappler, you MAY have only the most basic throws and chokes at your disposal, and these are probably moves that streetfighters see all of the time and can intuitively counter. For a striker, it means that your jump kicks and complicated hand routines are out the window, and you are left with everything you learned up to about green belt. The excepts to these rules are those rare individuals who can actually stay focused in a brawl.

Let me go down the list of what is wrong with some of the arts I've been exposed to (not mastered mind you) in a real fight. These observations are taken straight out of the mouths of the experts who have trained me:

• Judo: You can't do matwork on a concrete surface without risking hurting yourself, and it's not good for multiple attackers, and it's tough to do on someone who's a lot bigger and stronger unless your techinque is REALLY good. If you go to your back on the concrete you can mess yourself up unless you have a REALLY strong back.
• Jujitsu: Same as Judo, and also, if the control techniques involve more than three movements or they flat out fail you can get hit, kicked, stomped, etc. And if you face a knife, you will get cut. Even if you win, you still may get cut. And if you practice too controlled all the time you may take it too easy on someone in the street out of habit
• Aikido: All of the above
• Boxing: Is really good, because most people know a little boxing, HOWEVER, YOU CAN BREAK YOUR HAND if you hit someone exactly like you do with the gloves on, and you are not training to deal with grappling
• Karate, Tangsoodo, Taekwondo, and Gung Fu: Forget about high kicks. Kicking high leaves you off balance, and you are not used to dealing with grappling. If you have no exposure to boxing, then you may not know how to bob, weave or duck. If you don't form a proper fist you can hurt your hand. And a lot of those stances really are not ment to be HELD in combat, they are transitory

Arts like Bando, Aikijistu, and Thai Boxing are closer to real fighting. But remember, it is still not REALLY fighting. And besides, who in their right mind would want to have to ACTUALLY fight someone every class period JUST to train?

Folks, all competitions have RULES, even if they are full contact. In most contests, you cannot poke in the eye, bite, stratch, kick in the groin, use joint breaks, hit the opponent with an object, or stab your attacker. In a real fight, all these things and worse can happen.

MY REALIFE EXPERIENCE WITH GROUNDFIGHTING

These are some of the things that I have seen people do in a real fight when it comes to ground fighting:

• Kicking someone in the ribs who is on the ground
• Tripping someone who has knocked you on the ground
• Kicking someone in the face who is on the ground
• Pulling someone's hair so they will get off of your chest while you are on the ground
• Pushing someone over your friend who is kneeling behind him (a favorite of school children)
• Throwing someone under a bus
• Hitting someone in the head with a rock who is wrestling with you on the ground
• Throwing someone down the steps and kicking him when he lands on the ground
• Slamming someone's head against the steps while you are kneeling on the ground
• Digging your fingernails into someone's back so that they will let go of you while you are on the ground
• Bodyslamming someone against a locker, throwing him to the ground, then kneeling on top of him and hitting him until YOU get tired
• Wedging an obese attacker between a bed and a wall with a lucky throw, and then kicking him in his buttocks while he is trapped next to the bed and on the ground
• Hitting a person with a car so that you knock him on the ground
• Knocking a guy out with a tire iron and kicking him a few times while he is laying on the ground

Now do you think you will learn THAT type of groundfighting in any institute? Yet, this is what people do all of the time who are in touch with their survival instincts.

If someone knows that you have studied grappling, THEY ARE NOT GOING TO LET YOU GRAB THEM. In fact, I know that I did NOT let people grab me in the few fights I have been in. I never have and I never will. You are going to have to EARN that throw, choke, take down, etc., ESPECIALLY if your opponent is fast. (What? Only martial arts students have speed?) And if you are narrowminded enough to only have explored this one area of fighting, you will come up short when fighting someone who stays out of your reach and picks at you until you get frustrated, then finishes you of with their own crude or instinctive grabs or hits you over the head with a lamp or something. Besides, if you pin someone on the ground, you CAN'T see if they have a knife or razor or a brother standing behind or beside you.

WHO WINS IN A REAL FIGHT?

Usually, the guy or girl who wins is the person who can stay focused under the onslaught of emotions that come up under the Fight or Flight syndrome of a physical confrontation. These are the people who can maintain some sort or techinque under that type of stress. Do most martial arts schools address this part of training? NO. So how can you walk around thinking that your style is better than any other style when MOST OF THEM NEGLECT DEALING WITH THE RUSH OF ADRENALINE! Besides, it takes a REALLY long time (some people say 20 years, some say less, it depends I guess on the individual) before you have the moves in your body's muscle memory so that you can call them up without thinking about it. Some people are naturals at dealing with adrenaline, while the rest of us will have to do meditation for years so that we can one day learn how to focus and control our breathing when we are confronted with an assailant.

SO WHY TRAIN?

Despite all of this, I still say train. Train for the fun of it, for the exercise, and for those handful of really useful techniques that CAN do damage. You also have to be creative. If you do a takedown, take the attacker down onto the corner of the hood of a car. If you do a throw, throw him so that he lands HARD. If you do pin him, slam his head on the ground a couple of times. If you MUST kick him, make sure you kick him into traffic or a brick wall. Use your imagination!

You cannot think that by ONLY studying one art without EVER even THINKING ABOUT what other arts do that you will be invincible. Don't let these "masters" fool you. Many people may have a very high rank in their favorite art, but they have fooled around with other ones here and there in order to compliment and supplement their technique.

I tell the grapplers the same thing I tell the strikers: NO ONE APPROACH HAS ALL OF THE ANSWERS. Learning the martial arts is a lifelong process. If you stop at just grappling, or just striking, you are only creating yet another box to confine yourself.