what do you think is the most effective fighting style, your own opinion?
830367
There is not one most effective style.  If you look at MMA fights you see styles getting beat all the time.  Black belts highly acclaimed in BJJ getting KO'd in 30 seconds.  World class Kickboxer's get submitted in one minute.\n\nLike Bruce Lee said.\n"Don't get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend. "\n\nSo the answer is there is not one best style.  It's up to the athlete.  Can you imagine your typical black belt TKD, Judo or Karate thinking he had a chance against a guy like Tito Ortiz ha ha ha what a joke.
96630
Ok, I'm gonna stop this one with one fell swoop. There is NO cure-all one move to win anything. Period. With that said, I can direct you along a path of finding a martial art that fits you:\n\nKarate: Okinawan. Covers Percussion. Civil Art. Kara- meaning open or empty depending on translation. -te originally meant Chinese Hand but they later changed it to just hand after the Chinese were driven out. Derived from White Crane Kung Fu. Believes in hardening the body against strikes and striking hard is the key.\n\nKung Fu: External Chinese. Most cover percussion, projection, and armament, with a few covering immobilization as well. Usually either martial or civil art. There are SO many systems within the term kung fu that it is hard to describe this system effectively. To say the least the best Kung Fu I have seen was in Dallas, and was translated to the Water-Fire Kung Fu.\n\nAikido / Aiki-jujutsu: Japanese. Covers immobilization with slight touch on projection. Civil Art. Was originally derived from Nihongo Jujutsu or Japanese Jujutsu (honestly I hate that I have to specify WHICH jujutsu compared to Brazilian or American… as if you would get an French taco or Russian sushi). Aikido has sadly become one of the snobbiest “styles” out there and they insist that what they do would work in real combat, although only about 10% of EVERYONE who is involved with that system knows what they’re doing. Though I will admit those that do, can do some beautiful Aiki.\n\nJudo: Japanese. Covers projection. Sport Art. Another derivative of Nihongo Jujutsu. A sport derived from the throwing system used in Japan’s combat. As with all sports, there are certain things that they threw out as “illegal moves” due to their effectiveness therefore making the “style” weaker.\n\nBrazilian: Japanese origin. Covers a portion of Immobilization and Projection. Martial Sport. This “style” was made famous by the Gracie family after they were originally taught by a Japanese man who refused to show them any more than the grappling section of Jujutsu. So they concentrated on the art of ground fighting. Most people that do Brazilian are extremely competitive and aggressive in nature.\n\nTaekwondo: Korean. Percussion. Sport Art. This is a primarily kicking “style” and is considered one of the most famous “styles” in use. Another system that is sport / competition based they rely heavily on flexible and fast legs. Originally a derivative from a certain school of Karate which name eludes me at this moment.\n\nKrav Maga: Israeli. Um… Percussion? Military wannabe. I REALLY don’t suggest this system unless you’re looking for a Billy Blanks on steroids kinda feel. This system was built to teach the foot soldiers of Israel a quick, brutal and less than effective hand-to-hand fighting method in a matter of a week, so seriously, don’t bother.\n\nThose Russian arts: Mainly knife junkies who think they know what they’re doing. More flashy than anything else, don’t fall for the hype.\n\nPilipino: Mostly Stick and knife, and they are not for the faint of heart, although not much art to the system, it seems those whom you can find who actually know what they’re doing are pretty good with a knife and stick but that’s it.\n\nMMA: Mixed martial arts. Probably the worst thing that has ever happened to martial arts besides Krav maga. The concept of mixing martial arts is taking a system that is inferior and mixing it with another inferior system to hopefully make up for the gaps left by the other one. For example: Karate doesn’t have Immobilization, so lets throw in Aikido and Brazilian, and those don’t have projection so lets throw in Judo, and all of those don’t have armament so lets throw in Pilipino. \n\nThere are zillions of others that I’ve missed because in order to catch them all, I’d have to write a book, which is stupid, but here’s the names of a few so you can look them up: Savate, Kenpo, san shou, shuai-chiao, gr
665190
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu / Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is an highly effective self-Defense system, it is designed to allow a smaller, weaker person defend his or her self in a real world situation. It teaches standing self defense against punching, kicking and various weapons as well as grappling and ground fighting.\n\nJeet Kune Do/Personal Defensive Systems . JKD/PDS takes the best the martial art world has to offer in the area of self-defense and combines it all into one simple and easy-to-learn system. Every range of self defense is covered - Kicking, striking, trapping, Joint locks, grappling, Blunt and edged weapons, and much more. This system is designed to teach you to defend yourself.\n\ngood luck with it...
1059345
Well I can't think of one art that focuses on all of the things that you name. Brazillian Jujitsu probably comes the closest. It focuses on grappling, pressure points, and submissions. I believe they do have some takedowns but most of it is groundfighting so I wouldn't consider take downs to be a part of the focus. On the flipside, Judo focuses on takedowns, grappling, and submissions but not so much on pressure points because it is a sport. Then there is Japanese Jujitsu, which is what I practice, and we focus on take downs, pressure points, and submissions. We don't do so much grappling but it is there. So all in all, if you want to focus on all of the elements you named, I would combine a couple of martial arts (BJJ and Judo would be quite effective if you want to compete in a fight competition or just get in good shape. If you are looking to study for pure self defense, then BJJ and Japanese Jujitsu would be good).
178725
Tae Kwon Do\nno need for years of practice. \nmainly defensive\nnot extremely formal, but has uniform structure.
285590
It will depend on the situation, but yes, Tae Kwon Do or karate could be effective if you are highly skilled in it, and the odds aren't stacked too much against you (he has a gun, or melee weapons, or lots of friends etc)\n\nI would also like to comment of Brazilian Jujitsu as mentioned by the guy above me. BJJ and wrestling/grappling are very effective against your opponent as popularized by UFC matches in recent years by the Gracie clan and Dan Severn etc. But they work best only if you are going ONE on ONE with somebody. In the streets/bar against thug(s), you are left very vulnerable if you take the guy down and roll on the ground with him. While you are holding him in some joint lock his friends will kick your head in. Striking has made a come back in recent years in UFC too if you watch the shows lately (The Iceman and Randy Corture). With kickboxing/karate/TKD you probably still won't win against a bunch of guys in real life, but you will have a better chance to get in a few good quick and hard shots at their weak spots (knees, groin, throat) and then run like hell while they are stunned and keeled over in pain.\n\nUltimately, any self-defence or physical training will do you a tremendous amount of good, because the stronger and more lethal you become will allow you to better walk away from potential risky situations because you have less to prove and more self-confidence to not give into the moment.
922300
Lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down Fight Fight Fight!\n\ngreat for getting the crowd involved.
743283
I have to answer this because it is one of the few sincere questions I have read. \n   Fighting skills are actually several pegs down on the ladder of benefits in my opinion. I've been studying and teaching Shotokan Karate for over 20 years and I can tell ya that the "side benefits" are way more important than just being able to fight. \n   In my personal opinion, it is the self confidence I have gained through training that is the greatest thing to me. By this, I don't mean that I'm arrogant. I don't go around bragging about my ability, I don't go looking for fights, and I can't catch bullets with my teeth. What I mean is that if a situation does arise, I KNOW I can handle it. \n   You take on a different viewpoint when you know that you can really hurt someone...when you know that you could break bones, cripple or kill someone if you really had to. The question becomes "Was what this guy did REALLY worth hurting him that badly? Does he REALLY deserve that?"\n   So, when some loudmouth ticks you off and insults you or your siginficant other, you have the self confidence to walk away. You know you could go hand him his butt on a silver platter, but you don't HAVE to just to prove a point to yourself. When some immature clown says, "Hey, you take Karate...show me something!" you know you don't have to get into a sparring match just to prove to them that you are good. \nYou get to that point when you don't feel you have anything else to prove to yourself, and you certainly don't have to prove anything to anyone else. A sort of serenity sets in when you realize that life is not a competition where you win when you are the absolute best and everyone knows it. You're good.....you're good enough that you can deal with something BAD if it should happen. That's all that matters.
472300
I took Karate(Tae Kwon Do) for a short while, but it will probably not help that much against a skilled fighter.  Karate is mainly used to denfend yourself against someone who doesn't know that much about fighting, but it is still helpful.  You take belt tests which are not very difficult as long as your dedicated.
822768
Brazilian Jiu jitsu is the best ground game strategy in mma. Wrestling has too many techniques that don't help you in a mma match. Muy Thai can be used with BJJ to give you a good all around game.
1129120
Brazilian jiu jitsu is based off of Japanese jiu jitsu. Mitsuyo Maeda emigrated to Brazil and taught jiu jitsu to Carlos Gracie around 1912.  Carlos taught the style to his brothers, including Helio Gracie, who then began to modify the techniques.  Helio Gracie was small and not very strong, so he found ways to adapt the style so that it could be used by a weaker person to defeat a larger opponent.\n\nWhich style is better?  That depends on what your purpose is.  Traditional Jiu-Jitsu was developed to help warriors on the battle field when they had lost their weapons.  It's primary purpose was to help the warrior maim or kill as quickly as possible and retrieve another weapon.  Helio, however, was a challenge fighter, not a war fighter.  He fought open matches against anyone who would face him to test his art.  He discovered that ground fighting was the best way for him to be able to defeat other fighters because of the strength and size disadvantage he had.  He also had to deemphasize some of the more deadly techniques as they had no place in sport fighting or sparring.  As a result Brazilian Jiu Jitsu became an excellent fighting style for one on one hand to hand combat sports.  That is why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is as successful as it is today in MMA competitions.  However, many have rightfully pointed out some disadvantages Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters have when it comes to using their style for self defense.  For example, their strategy of taking the fight to the ground, an area they are famous for being proficient at, is not a wise approach for facing multiple attackers.  Traditional jiu-jitsu was designed to be used by a fighter on a chaotic battlefield, so some of its techniques and strategies are useful in a multiple attacker situation.\n\nMany will argue the self defense topic into the ground, though.  BJJ propenents will argue that no fighter has a good chance when facing mutliple attackers.  Even the ancient warriors of Japan knew that they were most likely already dead when they had lost their weapon.  Others will argue that the maiming techniques that the Gracie's took out, such as eye gouging, are much more effective at ending a real fight quickly on the street.  BJJ fighters will respond with the argument that those techniques were taken out so that the style could be practiced in full resistence sparring, and that sparring is necessary to prepare a person for a real fight.  Then there's the question of what is better when a weapon is involved...  You can see that this debate could go on forever.
198783
systems? like styles?\nyou can get real specific like\nmonkey style kung fu\naikido aikikai\naikido kokikai\ntaekwondo\nishin-ryu\nching style tai chi etc...\n\nstrategies? not sure what you mean.\nYou can be defensive or offensive, be a striker, grappler, or joint-locker.  Strategy has to do with the big picture, like do you want to incapacitate, kill, distract long enough to get away, etc...\n\nTactics are what you use to accomplish that strategy, so if my strategy is to kill, I would use offensive tactics, like throat strikes, or vital point strikes as opposed to grappling or locking.  If my strategy is to hold someone until the police arrive, i will use the opposite tactics.
640293
Whoever's bigger and trains harder.  \nBut those being equal, I'd have to go with Kung Fu, just because a boxer is not used to gaurding low or blocking kicks of any kind.
929200
Muay Thai because its the funnest to watch,  you can knock people out with elbows, feet, knees, hands, shins, i've even seen people get kicked with the heel of a foot and go to sleep.\nor Ju Jitsu because its smart, its the perfect way to neutralize someone who is a better striker then you.
755287
There are a couple of styles. There is the slugger style. This is the type of style George Foreman, Joe Frazier, and Larry Holmes used. They are very strong punchers but extremely slow. There are speed type fighters like Muhammad Ali who used their speed to dodge blows and tire out their opponents. There are many other types of style that you can find at the website below:
874171
I am not going to use this forum to discuss why BJJ is effective or why it isn't effective either in real life situations or as far as UFC is concerned. Rather that do that, I will try to answer your original question and ignore your rambling philosophy (to which I agree to a great deal, actually).\n\nIt seems that in martial arts, just as in every other aspect of society, there are fads. In this, something grows extremely popular for a while due to many different factors, such as film, sports, or television, or something else entirely. \n\nIn the 70's "kung fu" (Chinese Boxing) was all the rage, then in the 80's, ninjas were cool, then enter the 90's with TKD gaining such popularity that now instead of just soccer moms, we also have TKD moms. These days, it seems that BJJ, Muay Thai, and MMA is the current fad.\n\nPeople who follow trends never stick it out to become life-long learners. People who are life-long learners shouldn't mind the fads one way or another anyway.
513752
i believe that your strenght , power and your own aggression are enough to fight \n\ni know a taekwondo black belt holders beaten by ordinary but tough people , i also know a world champions backed off when his opponent brought out a knife from his jacket , he got really scared because he was used to fight in a championship , so forget about myht of the super martial artists that can beat 10 people , defend against weabons .. that's all myth , and if one of them did , that could be because of what he's got naturally like i told you ; strenght and aggression ...\n\ni waste my life rotating around such things to understand finally what am telling you now ...\n\nat last , if you really want to enhance your fighting skills , so beside going to gym , buiding a strong body , you can go directly to what most people avoid ... boxing , just ordinary boxing , because what you really afraid of about fighting is that someone look you in your eyes furiously and punching the hell out of your face to break you nose or teeth , and hurt you badly , so to be able to fight a real fight , i believe your base is to be a boxer \n\nbeside boxing , you can go for aikido , it will take time , but will give you some sense of grapping and wrestling in a fine way , maybe judo , but i prefere aikido .... or jujitsu , as it's also a very practical way of fight ... aikido or jujetsu BESIDE BOXING and all that after building a really good strong body in the gym\n\nkarate , kungfu , taekowndo ... forget it all , that's all good for showing off , to demonstrate high kiks and jumps , or wearing the black belt , but think about fighting an angry criminal ot thug with big muscels and full of evil and fury , do you think you will just stand and kick him in the face so he go down like movies ? no , never , what will happened is that he will run to you like an angry bull , crashing with you and you high kick , then even you find him over you at the grownd or very close and just punching your face like crazy , so what could save you at that moment ? your strong body , to be stronger than him ar at least tough enough to stand against him , the boxing will let you punch him back better than he is punching you , maybe avoid or defend against some of his punching , then aikio or jj will help if you find yourself in a wrestling with him (beside your strenght) , then comes anything for a finish or showing of like kicking , jumping and so , or waaaaaaaaaaaaa kung fu , akaaaaaaaaaaa , hahaha \n\nforgive me for my english , i'm not a native english speaker