I was a great believer in karate as a combat sport for many years. The arrival of MMA proved the true effectiveness of each of the martial arts in an actual combat situation. Karate has value in combat, but it’s certainly not as effective as I originally thought. I took my son to do karate training for a year and watched the classes and honestly it seemed pretty worthless to me as a way of learning to fight/defend yo…
Vale Tudo came before MMA and had the most effective value for actual combat situations.
- No rounds
- No hand wraps and gloves
- No resets to standing for “non-action”
- Attacks to prone opponents
The problem is that there’s a big gap between “sports martial arts” rules and “self defense.”
Sport BJJ is just as bad as karate for self-defense because there’s lot of new movements that just don’t make sense when you’re attacked at a frat house or walking home late.
Old school BJJ grappling (Carlson Gracie) with a focus on self defense is literally the best thing for smaller people, women & children because there’s a focus on:
- minimizing damage to yourself
- escaping and reversing compromising positions
- having MULTIPLE options to either kill, break a bone or put your attacker to sleep
- (if needed) striking with elbows and knees.