MMA as self defence

Compared to other martial arts, MMA has some real advantages for a real-life situation. There is no perfect style and there are always people out there who can kick your ass. However, for this situation, we will assume we’ve come up against some angry person without any training.

Over the years, I have done a few of the traditional martial arts (I also have YouTube to back up my following statements). In most cases, you don’t actually hit – you practice to almost hit. This can cause big problems though when someone is actually trying to knock your head off. There are countless videos which feature a Karate practitioner against an MMA guy, or a Kung-Fu guy against an MMA guy and so on. Usually, the traditional style squares up and throws a single strike. The MMA fighter will then follow up with a combo. This usually results in the traditional guy defending intensely until they reach a point where they drop their head and turn to the side. Just like anyone who is not used to being hit, they want to get their head away from damage (Brock Lesnar did this in a couple of MMA fights). This is a result of someone not having had much experience being hit. It takes lots of training to keep facing the strikes and trust your defence. From my experience, it takes many shots in the head to get used to the onslaught. To be honest it’s not that you get used to it (getting punched always sucks) but you just learn to weather the storm as it will stop sooner or later. It is accurate to say that unless you have had many years of striking behind you, punches to your head will really bother you. If you can deal with punches to your head, then you are a long way to being ok in a self-defence situation.

With other striking sports (boxing and kickboxing as an example) MMA will lose in a striking match – to both of them. The advantage MMA has though, is that we use little gloves and the defence against strikes from MMA gloves is a lot different. This is down to a couple of factors. The bigger gloves are squishy, and you can use them to absorb punches so when they land, they are soft. Being punched in the head by boxing gloves is not fun but it is more fun than MMA gloves as they hurt in every way possible. The same goes for the offence. Your hands are not a concern when using boxing gloves, you can hit the forehead, elbow and hips and get very little damage. In MMA gloves though, when you land a punch on solid bone and your fist is not clenched, you are in for a world of hurt (and an inappropriate middle finger splint if you are as lucky as me). In MMA, instead of weathering the storm with punches you have to either get closer to them or further away. If you stay at striking range, you are getting knocked out. With the defence, you are closing the distance to get hold of them, to get in the clinch. Then to keep the striking going you use your footwork to increase the distance but also get out of trouble and reset. All that being said, the one simple reason MMA is a good option for self-defence compared to pure strikers is that we can control a situation without using striking. That is, MMA can beat someone without hitting them – then everyone can walk away unhurt except for pride.    

As you will be aware, MMA is not the only sport than can close the distance, grapple and take a fight to the ground. Wrestling has the best takedowns and BJJ are the best on the ground. In this context, both will beat an MMA fighter in their individual sport. From my experience, wrestlers do not like jabs on their nose. So, this becomes the obvious course of action to keep them at distance. Of course though, once they get hold of you, you’re in for a whirlwind of takedown fury. BJJ practitioners in general do not like punches either but again, you are in serious trouble when they get hold of you (let’s face it, most street fights end up in a clinch). For the average BJJ person, takedowns are not that strong but far better than a boxers. The big advantage that BJJ has over wrestling is that once it gets to the ground, the submissions play a big role. BJJ has painful ways to stop someone wanting to move, or to prevent movement due to a lack of oxygen. Wrestlers will keep you there and it will not be fun but for the average wrestler there is not a submission. 

Overall, having any training is going to put you ahead of an untrained person. However, anger and alcohol are extra factors that may shift your approach. The single biggest advantage if you get stuck in a sticky situation is being used to the pressure of someone trying to kick your ass. Having taken a punch, being stuck on your back against a more skilled opponent, being rag dolled by someone bigger. These things all help as you have been in crap places before and it is not a surprise to you. This allows you to stay calm and think through what you need to do and react. With MMA, you have experienced more situations than any other single style and that’s why I believe it is very effective for self-defence. But, the almost contradictory feeling I have is that the real problem with any martial art is that it is not ‘real life’. That means that in the ring, the fight starts off relatively easy and the intensity increases. In a real-life situation though, the intensity starts off high, then decrease. Also, in real-life situations, you tend not to start at one end and touch gloves before you throw down. In saying that though, at the end of the day, fight training is always going to help you out in the real situation. 

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor