Can You Rely on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu For Street Fighting? Is It Effective?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is an art that is currently topping the charts of the most famous martial arts worldwide. Each year, many people from across the world join this art and start training, and the number is increasing with each passing year. Despite its increasing popularity, many people, particularly those who know nothing about BJJ and have seen it sometimes, think that this martial art is not at all effective in street fighting. But this statement is completely baseless, and there is no truth behind it. BJJ is very effective, and there is no doubt about this. Let’s dive into this.

BJJ is considered one of the best martial arts for defending yourself in street fighting. Not only defend, but you can also effectively counter your opponent through the techniques and moves that you learn in BJJ. The following are given the ways in which you can understand how and why Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is very effective in a street fight.

• We all know about self-awareness and its importance, but no one focuses on keeping themselves aware of their surroundings. If you cannot stay with your sharp and active mind, then you cannot defend yourself, and the result will be devastating for you.

• So you need to keep yourself aware of your surroundings. But how can you make your mind sharp? The question arises.

• Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a good way to develop a habit of staying aware of the surroundings. The reason is that you have to stay active and aware of your opponent all the time. The moment you lose awareness, activity, or sharpness, you will be shifted from the dominant to the submissive position in the same movement. Your opponent can attack from any side, confronting you from any angle. They have a number of options to attack you. They have several techniques to execute against you and the command on various moves.

• So you have to keep yourself aware of your opponent's attacks and moves throughout the match. At first, you are not very active and sharp minded or aware, but with time, you learn to keep yourself aware of your opponent at all times throughout the match. So you eventually become the well aware person who knows what is happening in their surroundings, and not like the person who knows only about their thoughts and nothing about their surroundings.

• So this awareness reflects in your real life as well. In a street fight, you can easily counter because you know you are in a difficult situation. When you know, you develop some strategies and implement them against your opponent.

• Most people think that street fighting involves fighting that happens only when both are in a standing position. But this is a wrong statement and nothing but the absolute misconception. A street fight or any other sort of fight can happen in both ground and standing positions. So you should restrict your training to any one particular position; otherwise, you will be badly injured because in a street fight, no one is going to save you except you. So you definitely need to train in ground fighting.

• When we talk about ground fighting, the first thing that comes to our mind is some sort of grappling martial art. The best art in which you can learn advanced ground fighting is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It is believed by many fans and practitioners across the world. So you should definitely consider Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, particularly if you are planning to become an expert in ground fighting.

• If you confront someone trying to punch you while you are going somewhere on a random day in the street, then the first attack you and your opponent do will be from the standing position. But you can take them down by executing various forms of takedowns, which you also learn in BJJ. Once you have taken your opponent down on the ground, you will already be dominant over your opponent, and you can execute a number of attacks from there easily, such as an armbar, which will make them immediately apologize to you.

• Training in martial arts often involves higher risks for injury. If you are training for a long time, then you might get injured, and the chances become even higher if you do intense training. This injury is very harmful for you because you cannot train again until you have recovered completely, and the recovery takes days, depending on the extent of the injury. So why do you even need to train in such martial arts with a higher risk of injury?

• This problem is very effectively and efficiently solved by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BJJ is very unique in its nature that when you train its techniques, the chances for injury are very low, and they are further reduced if you are doing this with a partner or in front of your trainer.

• During the street fighting, the main goal or purpose of your defense and counter attack must not be to injure your opponent. Instead, you should be able to trap them in your technique, and then you can do whatever you want with them. This goal can be fulfilled easily by Jiu Jitsu. So it provides you with both effects. You don’t get injured by training it, and also your opponent becomes easily trapped in your techniques without getting injured. Nevertheless, it's totally up to you whether you want to injure them or just trap them.

• In street fighting, you can come across any person who might try their best to punch you or throw kicks at you. They can be of any size or strength, and you will have to defend against them and counter their strikes or actions. So you have to prepare according to that. Most martial arts make discrimination in this case, that if you are weaker, then you cannot fight against the stronger person, no matter how many techniques you have learnt, and strength dominates the techniques. This is an injustice. You need to train in martial arts that provide you control, dominance, and leverage over stronger opponents, even if you are a weak person.

• The perfect example of such a martial art is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In this art, the technique is the king. You can get your arms or legs stronger, but you can only win if you have successfully executed the technique against your opponent.

• So you need to learn the control and leverage that you can implement against your opponent in street fighting. If you are a weaker person and are not physically stronger, then you don’t have to worry. You just need to focus on the techniques in BJJ. If you have learnt them and mastered them by practicing again and again, then you can easily win against your opponent in street fighting.

• In street fighting, people often get nervous, particularly if their opponent is physically strong. This nervousness makes them mentally weak, and they become so panicked that they cannot even defend themselves. This happens because of a lack of confidence. This lack is legitimate because you have no proper techniques to use them against your opponent as a weapon. So at this point, you are left with no option other than to get beaten up.

• But this has a solution, and that solution is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While you are training in BJJ, you will learn many techniques that you can use against your opponent, whether they are stronger or weaker than you. You do sparring and also do challenges with other fellow practitioners. So you are essentially developing yourself a system in which you are physically stronger and also able to win against any opponent. When you have won many matches and challenges, your confidence boosts. If you win against a stronger opponent, then your confidence takes a major boost. You know you have many techniques, moves, skills, and strategies that you can execute against your opponent. So all of this develops a very high confidence, preparing you for winning against any opponent in street fights.

As we all know, there is nothing in this world that can be called perfect in all angles. The same case applies to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as well. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best martial art for street fighting, but it has certain limitations. These limitations also have a solution, but you have to make sure to implement them into your training to make yourself the best in defense against the criminals in the street fighting.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is primarily focused on the ground-based fighting, does not help you when you are having multiple opponents fighting with you. It is perfect for fighting against a single opponent. You can fight with a maximum of two opponents, but not more than that. So you have to rely on other martial arts at this point for fighting against multiple opponents. But this does not mean that you should completely switch from one martial art to another. You can learn some techniques from other martial arts, such as Muay Thai, and implement them in your BJJ training. So this is how you can handle multiple opponents.

As we have already discussed, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does not cause harm or injury to its practitioners. One reason behind this is that in BJJ, there is no striking involved. But striking is very necessary for you to learn because in street fighting, your opponent will try to strike you multiple times. So you need to learn and master striking, but you cannot do this in BJJ. You have to rely on Muay Thai for learning how to strike your opponent perfectly. This is because Muay Thai is considered the best martial art for teaching you striking. So this is another limitation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in street fighting.

Another limitation of the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is that you cannot fight against armed criminals in street fighting. BJJ is an art that focuses on and teaches you how to effectively combat and fight in close combat. It does not include the training to protect yourself against the armed individuals. So you have to rely on other martial arts for this.

Over the decades, people have been debating whether Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can help you in street fighting or not. It does help, but you cannot 100% rely on BJJ in street fighting. You have to implement some techniques and moves from other martial arts to help you in such points in street fighting, in which BJJ cannot help you properly. Overall, we all have to admit that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best martial art for protecting you and countering the attacks of your opponent or criminals in the street fighting. So, without confusing any further, start training BJJ and you will become better each day.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu does help, but you cannot 100% rely on BJJ in street fighting. You have to implement some techniques and moves from other martial arts to help you in such points in street fighting, in which BJJ cannot help you properly. Overall, we all have to admit that Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the best martial art for protecting you and countering the attacks of your opponent or criminals in the street fighting. So, without confusing any further, start training BJJ and you will become better each day.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is very effective in the street fighting due to the following reasons:

• You Become Aware of Your Surroundings

• Teaches You Ground Fighting At The Advanced Level

• Prevents Harm And Injury

• Control And Leverage

• Boosts Your Confidence

The following are the limitations of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for its effectiveness in street fighting:

• You Cannot Handle Multiple Opponents

• BJJ Does Not Teach You Striking

• No Training For Fighting Against The Armed Criminals