Can you use MMA for self-defense? The argument between mixed martial arts fans and traditional martial arts fans has been raging for decades.
MMA fan: MMA is the greatest lab in history for testing fighting techniques that really work.
TMA fan: Ha! MMA isn’t even a real martial art!
MMA fan: You’re right—it’s better! MMA is the evolution of martial arts.
TMA fan: MMA is a sport. It’s not real fighting because of all the rules. There are no rules on the street.
MMA fan: An MMA guy doesn’t have to follow rules on the street.
TMA fan: You fight how you practice. Guys who practice real self-defense will beat guys who practice sports moves.
MMA fan: Ha! Self-defense guys don’t practice anything for real! Their techniques won’t work at all.
TMA fan: Go get a tattoo, musclehead!
MMA fan: Go burn some incense, grasshopper!
And so on. And so on.
So…who’s right?
Both of them. And neither of them.
The questions regarding MMA for self-defense are impossible to answer because there are too many variables involved—
- Who are the fighters?
- What training do they have?
- How good are they?
- Why are they fighting?
- What are they wearing?
- Where are they fighting?
- Is there a weapon?
- Is it one-on-one?
Even if you answer all of those questions, the fact is that anything can happen in a fight, which makes predicting outcomes a very tricky business.
But let’s put the MMA versus TMA debate aside for a moment. Can we all at least agree that someone who trains in MMA has a much better chance of surviving a real-life street attack compared to someone with no training whatsoever?
If you don’t agree, let me ask you…
Would you prefer to be fit or out of shape in a self-defense situation?
Would you prefer to have done a little boxing or wrestling in high school or have no combat sports experience whatsoever?
Would you prefer to have played some football growing up or have no experience with physical contact?
If you prefer being in shape and having some experience with combat sports and physical contact, how can you say someone training in strikes, takedowns, and groundwork doesn’t have a huge advantage in a real fight?
Suck it up, MMA haters—an MMA guy has an edge over any bad guy even if he plays by the rules, faces multiple attackers, or confronts a weapon.
Still not convinced? Well, consider that people with NO training of any kind defend themselves successfully all the time. No training at all! Add a little conditioning and technique into the mix and you’ve just increased the common man’s odds of surviving even more.
So, in my opinion, using MMA for self-defense is more than okay. But that’s not the end of the discussion. As a TMA and self-defense guy myself, I also recognize that MMA training has a flaw when it comes to self-defense.
No, I’m not going to argue about rules versus no rules, refs versus no refs, gloves versus no gloves, scheduled fights versus surprise attacks, fighting one versus fighting many, or raise the issue of weight classes. Put those typical arguments aside and there is still a big difference between sports fighting and self-defense.
The difference is time.
How long does the average street fight last?
How long does it take to defend yourself from an attacker?
How long should it take to defend yourself?
One round in the UFC lasts five minutes. Can you imagine defending yourself from an attacker on the street for five-minutes? How about three rounds of five minutes? Ridiculous, right?
If a punk invades your home while your wife and kids are sleeping, you would never shuffle around with the guy throwing jabs and kicking him on the thigh.
If a mugger puts a hand on your throat, you would never spin him into a wall and spend two minutes working for a single leg takedown.
Never. Ever.
In a real fight, you don’t spend time wearing your opponent down, finding your range, winning by points, or waiting for the clock to run out.
In a real fight, you lead with your best move. You commit right away.
In self-defense, the faster you finish the fight and escape danger, the better.
It doesn’t matter if you’re fighting one-on-one, one against two, two-on-two, you and your wife versus three punks, or you and your kids against a dozen thugs, in self-defense, you must move now, hit now, and “win” now.
Which leads us to another big difference between MMA and self-defense—the need for control.
Combat sports like MMA seek continuous control of an opponent. To win, you must set the pace and push the action for as long as you can. You need to gain dominance over your opponent and hold it. If you score a knockout or submission along the way, great, but it’s not required.
Self-defense, on the other hand, only seeks momentary control. You don’t need to push the pace or maintain dominance. You only need one moment of dominance. In that one moment, you are only required to cause your attacker enough damage to get away or—in more serious situations—make sure he can’t chase you.
The differing demands of time and control between combat sports and self-defense result in completely different mentalities, strategies, and choices of technique.
Some will argue that MMA was closer to real fighting back when there were no rules and no time limits. But was old school MMA really more realistic?
It’s true that the first UFC bouts had fewer rules and no clock… and what happened?
UFC 1: Fight times ranged from 26 seconds to 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
UFC 2: Fight times ranged from 20 seconds to 12 minutes and 13 seconds.
UFC 3: Fight times ranged from 46 seconds to 4 minutes and 49 seconds.
UFC 4: The final match lasted 15 minutes and 49 seconds.
UFC 5: The final match lasted a full 36 minutes!
36 minutes! Is a 36-minute fight in any way realistic?
When have you ever defended yourself in a real fight, or seen a real fight, or heard about a real fight lasting 36 minutes? You haven’t because in real life someone gets hurt, someone gives up, someone breaks it up, or someone jumps in.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of MMA. I have attended live events and paid to watch the UFC from the comfort of my couch. But I’m a bigger fan of self-defense and I have no problem seeing the difference between sports and real-life.
But sometimes I dream…
I dream I had the power to bring the two worlds together. How would I do it? Simple…
I would make one small change to the rules of MMA that would instantly make it more street-ready.
Here it is…
One round. Ten seconds long.
Wait! Even better—one round, five seconds long!
Can you imagine what fights would look like then? How much different would the tactics and techniques of the next UFC be if the fighters were only given five seconds to win?
Think about it because whatever answers you come up with will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of using MMA for self-defense. Let there be no doubt, changing the time changes the game.
While we’re at it, let’s imagine all sports with shorter time limits. I mean, who has time to watch a whole game nowadays?
- What if baseball only lasted one inning?
- What if golf only featured one hole?
- What if football only allowed one ball possession per team?
Everything would change. Everything! With so little time, you must be your best and get things done RIGHT NOW. (For more on “How to Get Things Done”, click here.)
Of course, no one is going to pay to watch a five-second fight or drive across town for a one-minute football game. Sports is entertainment after all. We want a show.
We want stories of endurance and perseverance. We want stories of adjustment and recovery. We want stories where underdogs stage mighty comebacks. And all of those stories take time to play out.
But when it comes to protecting my life and the lives of my loved ones, I don’t have time. I train myself to think quickly, act decisively, and bring my self-defense story to an end as quickly as possible.
That’s why I practice sparring and grappling in short rounds every chance I get. If you aren’t including short rounds into your training, give it a try!
Set the clock for a 30-second round. Then 15 seconds. Then five. Then one!
By forcing yourself to move, hit, attack, and counter sooner and sooner, you will immediately feel a shift from a sports mentality to a self-defense mentality. You will see which tactics and techniques you can depend on in a real-life attack and which ones are just for fun.
Whether your goal is success in self-defense or success in life, train yourself to trust your judgment.
Train yourself to make quick decisions. Train yourself to take action.
Train yourself to make something happen.
The sooner, the better.
Ossu! [bow]
Wow, that was quite a teaser in your email – I’m really glad you went a different direction than most people do when trying to compare martial arts. Because it usually does end in “aw, go burn some incense, Grasshopper!” (LOL at that)
I love the idea of short rounds incorporated into training. I’ll ask Sensei if we can do that (and I better be sure I can answer if he asks me why I’d like to do this – chances are he’ll see the benefit, but he’ll want to know if I know why it would be beneficial!)
[bow]
OSU and bow, Jo!
I’m not here to burn down anyone’s temple. Martial artists have far more in common than all the trash talk and debating would suggest.
I LOVE that you’re going to ask your Sensei for short rounds! They really do make a difference. But even if he doesn’t agree, drill them in your head anyway! If you’re sparring for three minutes, pretend you’re fighting 18 times for 10 seconds each. It’s a whole different ball game!
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Ossu! [bow]
Great class tonight, I did talk with Sensei about the short drills – he suggested one of our sister dojos might like to try it. He’s right – there are some things that might not quite work out with our particular mix of students, so I think I’ll be practicing in the garage until I can get out to that sister dojo again 🙂 Us students aren’t allowed to spar without a black belt present, so my daughter and I can’t actually do the short round in the garage, but what we can do is hold a stopwatch for each other 🙂 Maybe whoever’s holding the stopwatch can call out a movement the imaginary opponent is doing!
[bow]
Hey– I’m not telling you to disrespect your teacher, but…
…what happens in the garage stays in the garage!
Osu!
Osu! [bow]
LOL, then how would I explain injuries to Sensei? Blame the dog? 🙂
[bow]
If your dog is beating you in sparring, then definitely stop sparring. 🙂
Ossu! [bow]
Hahaha! Whenever I try to grab a minute or two of practice when I don’t have time to go to the garage, the dog sometimes body slams me, growls, yips, and gets himself tangled in my feet. Good thing he only weights sixteen pounds soaking wet.
[bow]
Very thought provoking Sensei Ando! Trust. Train. Keep a gun close by?? Ok, just kidding.
HA! Yes! Self-defense is either run or pull your gun! 🙂
Guns are for knuckleheads.
And recognizing knuckleheads can be a tough task in the heat of the moment — just ask Alex Gong when you meet him in the next life.
Thanks for commenting, Randy.
I looked up the Alex Gong story. What a tragic situation. The world can truly be scary. Be safe out there, sir!
Love the moral of the story… Train yourself to make quick decisions and trust your judgment. Yes. Thanks Sensei!
Life is short. Gotta hit and move to make the most of it. Thanks for dropping by, Sensei! 🙂
Sensei Ando nice article.
What I find most intriguing about this age old argument is that those who are either traditionalists or the RBSD types always assume that those who compete in any form of MMA, full contact, Thai or even boxing are not capable of defending themselves on the street.
I’ve been in all three camps, traditional, competition and street orientated and I can say without any doubt, the full contact side of things certainly helped my street side of things.
There’s lots of talk from traditionalists about weapons, edged, blunt trauma and firearms but if you are not practicing with any weapons for street applications continuously then you are in the same position as the MMA gut.
RBSD people make the excuse that they can’t go full on because what the do is too dangerous.
It’s living in a make believe world. Most people have never been in a situation where they have to physically defend themselves, because of this they have a picture of how they think a fight will look and when it doesn’t go like how have imagined then there is nothing to fall back on.
Your thoughts
I’m honored you dropped by, Rock.
And I agree wholeheartedly. Some–not all–RBSD and TMA practitioners spend all their time working on technical issues while neglecting emotional issues. The fact is if you aren’t prepared to hit and be hit for real, even your best techniques will fall apart. That’s where MMA, Judo, Boxing, and other combat sports provide value. Yes, they may have rules and limit techniques, but they do not limit emotions.
I suppose that’s why there are sayings like, “Courage first. Power second. Technique third.”
Thank you for your comments, sir!
As you said in your blog post, people can and do defend themselves with no training at all.
I find the notion that MMA types will not be able to distinguish between the ring / cage and the street rather a narrow minded point of view.
Timing -good comments, got to either finish it or escape in the shortest time possible. Have you read Geoff Thompson’s book 3 Second Fighter – The Sniper Option great book.
Narrow minds? In the martial arts? Never happens! 🙂
I’d sure rather have my loved ones train in MMA than nothing. Or ANY sport for that matter. The only training that doesn’t provide some benefit for real-life self-defense is unrealistic self-defense training. Seriously, I’d rather have no training than walk around with a false sense of confidence. That’s dangerous.
Thanks for the book recommendations!
Great article, Ando! Your point on reducing time in MMA rounds, though commercially not viable, made something click in my head; battle being won in the flash of the moment, as commonly mentioned by the samurai.
I really have more to say but my memory isn’t functioning properly from being too tired.
Anyway, I will be incorporating time limits in my spontaneous attacks training. At the same time, I think there is merit in being able to endure for a long time within a fight until help arrives (useful for situations with more than one attacker; escaping from a hostage or kidnapping situation). Then again, fighting more than 2 attackers would greatly diminish the chance of survival IMO. We’ll leave that discussion for another time. My thoughts aren’t flowing right now. Haha.
Logen! Thanks for dropping by, sir!
Being able to endure an attack is great… but never the goal. Finish fast and go home!
Of course, you can train for both scenarios, but I’m just wary of self-defense training that routinely encourages long rounds. It’s very easy for a sports mentality to warp real-life priorities.
Keep those thoughts flowing! 🙂
Kata drills.
Typically A -> B -> C -> fight over.
5 seconds maybe. The techniques required to end the fight that quickly are brutal though; they’re consistently shoulder, elbow dislocations, neck attacks, eye gouging. Maybe a throw or two, but even there they tend to finish the opponent off.
The biggest problem for MMA practitioners is they train for a safe environment and yeah that gives them time. They’re strong fighters sure but judo, bjj, wrestling the strategy assumes that the fight is taking place in a controlled environment. There are no bystanders with knives, girlfriends with stiletto heels etc.
Reality is different, “bystanders” might well step in and stab you to protect their friend as you attempt to choke him out, Same for a girlfriend, might stamp on your head with heels.
The problem for most TMA schools is lack of resistance. It’s a valid criticism. What’s there in the katas is absolutely brutal, a lot of it is joint related so applying it at full strength during training is problematic. How do you train to break someone’s elbow? It’s like training to pull a punch every single time.
Punching and kicking, no problem:
A photo of Mabuni in full contact gear. Must be 1930s:
http://www.karatebcn.com/web3%282%29/fots/2011-12/art84_04.jpg
Exactly right. That’s why teaching children (a large part of the karate community) is tricky. You can’t responsibly show them the brutal applications, which means you either end up teaching NO applications (bad) or making up a “block/punch” application (worse). Obviously, many adults have also fallen into this teaching trap, too.
Add to that, even if you do show brutal bunkai, you can’t really practice it, which is where the combat sportsmen gain an advantage. It’s quite the pickle!
For me, the answer is training techniques that can almost be practiced 100% with as much resistance as possible. It’s an ongoing process, but works for me.
Love the picture of Mabuni!
Another interesting aspect of MMA I would mention is studying the opponent which is also related to time. Any good fighter will watch videos of their competition, analyzing, training counters, and preparing for the style of whoever they are fighting. They spend weeks if not months training to fight one person.
Great point, Alex! Unless you’re attacked by your training partner, you probably won’t be familiar with an attacker’s style, habits, or timing! Thanks for the comment, sir!
Along with the shorter rounds I believe that utilizing sprints followed by those 15-30 seconds of self-defense sparring is crucial.
If you have a chance to run….as fast as possible to avoid, great!
But if the attacker happens to chase you down and you are sucking wind, you must be able to execute your arsenal while tired.
Sprawls can be used in SD.
If you get caught and are going down face first using a sprawl can save you from serious injury.
And training with non Martial Artists is important.
Get a few buddies who lift and are big, strong and put some protective gear on them.
Have them attack you randomly and work your techniques.
Add open hand strikes, pokes, and hair grabs to your MMA arsenal you will be good to go.
Awesome. These are all great ideas. Thanks for the comment!