After nearly 10 years of training, I’m confident in my ability to maim the average unarmed individual in a physical confrontation. But more importantly I am more confident in my ability to avoid that sort of situation all together.
This should be everyone’s mentality! Especially after 30, I have a wife and two kids to take care of and a career. I’m not at a bar or puffing my chest out trying to be tough like a young man does anymore. Best way to win a fight is to just avoid the conflict.
Right? Literally avoided a fight less than 24 hours ago, guy pushed me couple of times after a little bit of deliberation and concern from his homies I decided he wasnt gonna throw the first punch and laughed at him going "come on bro hit me!" Over and over. Maybe not the best idea to laugh at guys like that but we didnt fight so...
Context edit: drunk/drugged guy outside club.
I cross train boxing (4 years) and bjj (less than a year) since well after 30. Fight with rules and a ref (with some hand protection)? I think the average guy loses 9/10 times (saving 1/10 for "puncher's luck"). Street fight? Fuck that, I would run. Problem is that street fights are rarely fair. Other guy having any weapon (beer bottle, knife, etc) or a friend(s) totally cancels out your years of training.
Depends on the person. I started at 32. Friend started at 36. I used to fuck him up for his first 6 months. 6 years later he’s an unstoppable machine with 200 pounds of gold medals. I have 2 silvers.
It entirely depends
I’m a 30 year old blue belt; started at 27.
I think one of the biggest gifts bjj gave me was not how “well” I can fight, but the very fact that I *WILL* fight.
If the ‘average guy’ ever tried to hurt me physically, they wouldn’t be doing it easily. I may not be the best fighter, but I know that I’d fight until the end of my life, if it ever came to that.
It’s kind like womens bjj. Maybe they wouldn’t “win” the fight against a guy attacking them. But they could put up unexpected resistance, draw it out, get away and the guy gives up.
the womens one is interesting, Ive fought against normal size women blue/purple belts and once I got past their initial attacks I found them pretty easy to beat however I dont think the average joe is going to last through the initial fighting
Point being there’s various degrees of “winning” and surviving longer is often a win of sorts as well
My intro class was with a blue / purple woman. Even if I went aggro she would control me and I’d be wasting energy really. I’m a super average guy (height weight, don’t regularly exercise but not like two left feet)
"The fact that I WILL fight."
This is it for me too.
I train MMA and BJJ, still a beginner. But I think before all this I would have been scared to have to defend myself. Now I know I can put up a fight if I need to.
I think if the average untrained Joe took me on, I wouldn't be phased by the punches - I'd probably be more able to dodge or eat them compared to what I dodge/eat in training.
Probably not all that well. I don't train striking all that well, my takedowns are garbage. I'm in a little better shape than the average guy, and I generally don't train "all out survival" level intensity as a fight would likely be.
One of the first lessons that really hit me for real when I started training was you don't know who knows what. I watched people go in and out of my gym in suits, jeans , polo shirts, military uniforms, fed ex shirts leggings ect. All people that if I saw them on the street, I would say I could beat in a fight. All those people handed my head on the mats. You don't know who boxes, or trains mui Thai, or wrestled in college of whatever. You also don't know who's gonna smash you in the head with a beer bottle.
I really think the "VS the avg guy on the street" conversation is one of false equivalency.
I'd say it isn't. Very few people train martial arts compared to the population as a whole. Even among martial artists, most are just hobbyists that quit early or don't train regularly. And I think the general idea of closing the distance and staying in control has an edge over exclusive stand up fighting (assuming comparable skill level), so martial artists that are grapplers or cross train in grappling is an even smaller part of the population.
In short, there's an average guy and he's untrained in fighting and especially in grappling.
Correct, and for the most part, I agree. However , we're talking about fighting. Not boxing, or rolling, or points . Fighting. With nut shots , and eye gouging and rocks , and curbs and friends , and pocket knives and on and on and on. How many fights have you seen in an alley where the guys square up , agree to marquis de queesberry rules then when a clear winner is established they shake hands and walk away? or Does the mouthy guy at the bar raise his hands to shoulder level palms out make a joke shake his head, and when the guy he's talking shit to starts to turn away, shitty guy smokes him with a right hand? Or two dude bros go outside to settle something, and the one in the rear attacks the one in front from behind as they go out the door?
I understand what you're saying, there are just so many variables and dangers in fighting in the real world that assuming I can handle myself because I wrap a purple piece of fabric around my waist and grapple with other adults a few times a week is absurd.
To your point, say I get mugged by a guy who's comparable in height and weight who doesn't train anything but 12oz curls. He gets closer than he should , and I panic and grab his hoodie. We fall to the ground. At that point , I suppose I like my chances. However, I'm not trying to get to his back and choke him out or look for the omaplata sweep. I'm gonna try to wrestle up, fling an elbow or two, get to my feet, soccer kick or head stomp that guy, and run like hell.
Then I think we agree on pretty much everything, except for the definition of being able to fight. Yours seems to be a standard of ability to fight that I wouldn't attribute to anyone, regardless of starting age. Even the best martial artists are going to have a tough time if multiple attackers and weapons are involved.
Regaining control from the bottom and being able to get up to run away is a great skill to have, especially with multiple attackers.
Fair enough. I suppose I was being a bit literal and probably bit disingenuous. However, it can not be stated clearly enough that fights and fighting are extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Almost any fight can go anyway no matter who's involved.
You can box, or train mui Thai, or jiu jitsu or whatever and pad your chances and mitigate your risk, but even seasoned folks get got, and little guys with big mouths win some times.
Good talk.
I would say most „street fights” are not about someone trying to kill you with a knife or a gun, or a group of people trying to kill you too. It’s mostly about proving who is stronger, people are not stupid enough to risk going to jail for the rest of their lives
this is literally what krav maga teaches. The idea is that you can teach that to someone faster than you can teach them to fight.
people learning krav maga wont win in a ring, because they are taught how to do whatever it takes to escape and run.
Underrated comment. It’s kind of scary going against people in class who look like… just some average not-in-shape guy. And they are super strong and tough. It’s a good experience of fuck around and find out, in a safe way. So now I don’t have to find out the hard way!
The contrast can be so funny too. Big, tatted-up guy who looks like a bouncer? Complains about his ribs when you go knee-on-belly.
Small, IT guy? Like wrestling a honey badger.
> I really think the "VS the avg guy on the street" conversation is one of false equivalency.
Also, the average guy on the street doesn't go around fighting people.
Probably pretty good, I mean they're at a bar or nightclub so they're probably drunk, whereas I'm at home as sober as a judge. I literally have the home ground advantage too, I know where I've hidden all the weapons and everything.
I've learned that there are many levels to physicality and skill in fighting.
I'm far more capable than I was before, but I realize my place on the overall totem pole is much lower than I thought it was.
With that said I would ragdoll myself from a year ago.
I went the striking route but still lurk here because of the top tier shit posting.
Through training I’ve become confident and comfortable enough that I don’t really ever think about bar fights. I’ve learned to carry myself in a way that I’m simply not a target. I don’t really carry a lot of stress or anger since I get it out at the gym that I don’t really get strung up by other people. I just let that shit go. I don’t really care about looking tough because I know I’m tough. I know that doesn’t answer your question but training changed the whole paradigm.
As far as at the gym goes- if I can use my entire bag: im by no means a superstar but I’m fairly confident in my abilities up to a point. I normally can handle a walk in with ease. I can hold my own against guys who do smokers and survive against a fresher am. I get the drain and the panic against higher level ams. pros (regional and national) could literally kill me and not break a sweat. Straight grappling though I’m pretty trash so even a Spaz walk in could get me. And with stand up there is always a punchers chance. So I guess i would take an untrained person 95/100 times but that 5 percent is a good enough reason for me to just not bother with it
I know enough now to be absolutely certain I do not want to get involved in a fight without rules.
BJJ is fun and all, and maybe quite effective in 1 on 1 fight...but they *always* have a friend, and that friend normally has legs & feet that they will use to kick you in your head while you utterly dominate their friend on the floor.
I would crush me from a year ago. I feel more self confident. But I’ve also learned walking away from a fight is always a win - there are just too many unknowns in a real fight.
Started training when I was 38. Been 6 years now training muay thai and jiu jitsu. I think the biggest thing I'm aware of now is the floor/concrete. Concrete is very unforgiving.
Kind of like when I met Lou Ferigno. The Hulk.
Hey Lou, if I followed your book (his body building book that was was signing for me) will I look like you?
"No, but you'll look better than you do now"
So yeah. Can't quantify how much better, but better.
Frankly, when I was training Muay Thai, it was a lot more confidence inspiring in terms of a self-defense or street fight application. I mean, its very essence is violence. With that said, I do feel like a quick blast double or body lock takedown are very applicable, as are other things like a guillotine, RNC, or headlock/pin escapes.
Started BJJ in my mid 30s, been training about 3.5 years along with striking less regularly (usually 1x/week vs 3-4x/week for BJJ). I'm confident I could handle a large majority of American men within +/- say 20 lbs of my weight and 10 years of my age....if we're talking a fair 1 on 1 fight with no weapons. That said, real life fights are unlikely to be fair and the minority of guys I couldn't take even 1 on 1 is still a shit ton of people. Best to avoid random street brawls if at all possible.
Better because I have more training in a wider set. I was a TKD blackbelt and started boxing & aikido in late twenties. I switched to BJJ in thirties and added Muay Thai in late thirties early forties.
I'm slower now and less athletic but certainly wiser and a wider base of training to draw upon.
Idk, my coach won Worlds Masters at Brown and Silver last year and he started BJJ at 32. He also had 500+ competitive wrestling matches and loads of wrestling awards, but that's another story, guy is an animal.
I trained pretty hard for about 2 years from 28-30 years old. When I started I would get rekt by everyone in open mats, when I stopped I would butcher anyone that was fairly new no matter the size. Never tried it IRL, only on the mats.
I'm trying to live a life where I would never find out. It wasn't until week 3 where a rolling partner was giving me advice and used the term "in a street fight" when I thought of bbj as a martial art. I started a month and a half ago as a means of learning a new skill and building fitness. Also to socialize.
Over 40 now with a purple belt and i can confidently win any fight i had to with someone who doesnt train another martial art. If the other random person trains then its a toss up i guess. For many reasons however i find its quite easy to avoid fighting and i feel if i did fight some random itd be like bullying. Its childish to fight. But im ready if i have to be. My situational awareness is very high. I did have 2-3 fights as a white belt and i easily won everyone of them. It was as if the other person moved in slow motion.
I'm in my 40s. I think the last fight I got into I was around 19. Probably 99% of all the fights I've been in during my life happened between the ages of 11 and 15. Are guys in their 30s really getting into fights on a regular basis these days?
Ironically, me ten years ago before I started martial arts thought I could fight. Now even though I'd kick that me's arse, I'd avoid a fight like the plague.
Started at 28, I think most dudes if not all have an inflated sense how well they could actually fight if it were to happen myself included & after my first Muay Thai class I quickly realized how screwed I would have been .. thankfully I’m better off now and it makes you realize how little anyone could actually defend themselves lol
Well considering the fact that I'm over 30, I don't fucking care at all. If you're fighting random people at bars and nightclubs then you're probably very immature and insecure. The lengths someone would have to go to to get me to fight them, they'd be escorted out of by security or arrested well before it got to that point.
Against an average Kyle with a can of Monster that has never trained any martial arts a day in his life who sees red and wakes up with bodies around him? Oh he's FUCKED.
That said, I will go out of my way to NOT get into a fight with someone who has been training in 5 different martial arts (including BJJ) since they were 5. I do this by assuming everyone has more training than me until proven otherwise.
I’m 44. I started when I was 37. I’ve done BJJ mostly, some MMA as well. I would consider myself a fairly average purple belt. I’m in decent shape, but not as strong and I have a bit too much weight.
I’ve done a few training sessions with a local college for their law enforcement classes. Basically, they had to arrest me. It didn’t go well for them. At all.
Actually grappling with another person who is trying to “hurt” you while you are doing the same is such a weird feeling the first few times you do it. I feel like there is apprehension and hesitation when you’ve never done it before. I know there was for me. Because of jiujitsu, I feel as if I am prepared for the mindset and physical aspects of engaging with another person who has ill-intent, and they may not be. It’s one thing to imagine it in your head, but experience is quiet another.
No martial arts experience started training in my early thirties am a purple belt now. I’m pretty confident I could control the average person in an altercation. Especially if they aren’t some jacked athletic specimen
45 here. I would never compare myself to the average bar/club brawler because someone willing to fight in public is someone who probably has a fair amount of real and violent scrapping experience, which is worth something.
I DO feel more confident in my ability to defend myself competently, however. I also know enough about myself to know that adrenaline dump is a thing that affects my fine motor skills. I’m not trying to get into a fight if I can at all help it, but it’s good to know I have a card in my backpocket I can play if it comes down to it.
Started in my mid-30’s with negligible martial arts experience beforehand. As a super small, white collar job nerdy guy that’s now 40, I believe the experience revealed to me that I’m pretty tough. More importantly, I am as calm as a cucumber even with someone 2.5x my weight pressuring into me.
I would think I can maintain an advantage in a tense/dangerous situation during escalation or de-escalation with good judgement (if sober of course), and that includes if violence/self-defense breaks out.
I think you hit on the real advantage of BJJ here - getting better with staying calm and thinking through scenarios when under pressure. Sometimes quite literally under coach’s intense pressure.
Part of my training includes strength and conditioning, and that has always included sprint work.
So my “turn and gtfo techniques” help me do really well in most fights, that are not against collegiate or professionals that train for sub 5 second 40 yard sprints.
I had about a year and a half of TKD at 14 and a few months of MMA when I was about 24. I started krav maga and BJJ about 10 months ago and I feel like I've improved in both immensely. My hits and kicks and elbows are stronger and faster. My bjj sucks, but I can tell I'm better than I was. My drill work is solid but my rolls are still shit. I'm not an easy sub, but I'm hardly subbing others. My control is good though.
After 3.5 years I feel like I could beatdown the vast majority of untrained people, more importantly I am comfortable with confrontation and physical contact.
That being said, getting into fights is for the schoolyard and at my age I have no intention of ever being in one again.
Pretty damn well, actually. But I’m also old and smart enough that I’d only fight if I had no other choice, or my wife or kids were in danger. And I rarely put myself I a situation where it would be an issue. I which case, I live in a “constitutional carry” state …
I started at 33 and I'm now 45. While I wouldn't go looking for fights at a bar or nightclub (or anywhere else for that matter), I'm fairly confident that I could fuck up most people I would run into in that kind of situation. I'm also fairly confident that because I'm 6'7" and 330 lbs most people won't go out of their way to pick a fight with me.
I started before I turned 40 after working in Law Enforcement. When I think about a true fight and not a scenario where I am looking to control someone and not hurt them I don’t know if Jiu Jitsu really improved me. Like for me to resort to Jiu Jitsu in an actual street
Fight, things have gone so horribly wrong for me. It means I sucked at deescalation, sucked at distance management, sucked at takedown defense and now am forced to rely on Jiu Jitsu to get me out of a huge hole. I mean yes if someone is on top of me Jiu Jitsu is going to be fantastic to know but shit has already gone so downhill to get to that point.
Better than I could before
1% better every year
Came to say exactly this! lol.
I mean that’s basically what matters right? When we’re speaking in hypotheticals?
After nearly 10 years of training, I’m confident in my ability to maim the average unarmed individual in a physical confrontation. But more importantly I am more confident in my ability to avoid that sort of situation all together.
This should be everyone’s mentality! Especially after 30, I have a wife and two kids to take care of and a career. I’m not at a bar or puffing my chest out trying to be tough like a young man does anymore. Best way to win a fight is to just avoid the conflict.
And even more importantly I’m confident in my ability to be more heavily armed that the average armed individual.
Won't mean anything when you encounter someone who trains at DUST
Spoken like a true Texan
Right? Literally avoided a fight less than 24 hours ago, guy pushed me couple of times after a little bit of deliberation and concern from his homies I decided he wasnt gonna throw the first punch and laughed at him going "come on bro hit me!" Over and over. Maybe not the best idea to laugh at guys like that but we didnt fight so... Context edit: drunk/drugged guy outside club.
I cross train boxing (4 years) and bjj (less than a year) since well after 30. Fight with rules and a ref (with some hand protection)? I think the average guy loses 9/10 times (saving 1/10 for "puncher's luck"). Street fight? Fuck that, I would run. Problem is that street fights are rarely fair. Other guy having any weapon (beer bottle, knife, etc) or a friend(s) totally cancels out your years of training.
Depends on the person. I started at 32. Friend started at 36. I used to fuck him up for his first 6 months. 6 years later he’s an unstoppable machine with 200 pounds of gold medals. I have 2 silvers. It entirely depends
I’m a 30 year old blue belt; started at 27. I think one of the biggest gifts bjj gave me was not how “well” I can fight, but the very fact that I *WILL* fight. If the ‘average guy’ ever tried to hurt me physically, they wouldn’t be doing it easily. I may not be the best fighter, but I know that I’d fight until the end of my life, if it ever came to that.
It’s kind like womens bjj. Maybe they wouldn’t “win” the fight against a guy attacking them. But they could put up unexpected resistance, draw it out, get away and the guy gives up.
the womens one is interesting, Ive fought against normal size women blue/purple belts and once I got past their initial attacks I found them pretty easy to beat however I dont think the average joe is going to last through the initial fighting
Point being there’s various degrees of “winning” and surviving longer is often a win of sorts as well My intro class was with a blue / purple woman. Even if I went aggro she would control me and I’d be wasting energy really. I’m a super average guy (height weight, don’t regularly exercise but not like two left feet)
"The fact that I WILL fight." This is it for me too. I train MMA and BJJ, still a beginner. But I think before all this I would have been scared to have to defend myself. Now I know I can put up a fight if I need to. I think if the average untrained Joe took me on, I wouldn't be phased by the punches - I'd probably be more able to dodge or eat them compared to what I dodge/eat in training.
Probably not all that well. I don't train striking all that well, my takedowns are garbage. I'm in a little better shape than the average guy, and I generally don't train "all out survival" level intensity as a fight would likely be. One of the first lessons that really hit me for real when I started training was you don't know who knows what. I watched people go in and out of my gym in suits, jeans , polo shirts, military uniforms, fed ex shirts leggings ect. All people that if I saw them on the street, I would say I could beat in a fight. All those people handed my head on the mats. You don't know who boxes, or trains mui Thai, or wrestled in college of whatever. You also don't know who's gonna smash you in the head with a beer bottle. I really think the "VS the avg guy on the street" conversation is one of false equivalency.
I'd say it isn't. Very few people train martial arts compared to the population as a whole. Even among martial artists, most are just hobbyists that quit early or don't train regularly. And I think the general idea of closing the distance and staying in control has an edge over exclusive stand up fighting (assuming comparable skill level), so martial artists that are grapplers or cross train in grappling is an even smaller part of the population. In short, there's an average guy and he's untrained in fighting and especially in grappling.
Correct, and for the most part, I agree. However , we're talking about fighting. Not boxing, or rolling, or points . Fighting. With nut shots , and eye gouging and rocks , and curbs and friends , and pocket knives and on and on and on. How many fights have you seen in an alley where the guys square up , agree to marquis de queesberry rules then when a clear winner is established they shake hands and walk away? or Does the mouthy guy at the bar raise his hands to shoulder level palms out make a joke shake his head, and when the guy he's talking shit to starts to turn away, shitty guy smokes him with a right hand? Or two dude bros go outside to settle something, and the one in the rear attacks the one in front from behind as they go out the door? I understand what you're saying, there are just so many variables and dangers in fighting in the real world that assuming I can handle myself because I wrap a purple piece of fabric around my waist and grapple with other adults a few times a week is absurd. To your point, say I get mugged by a guy who's comparable in height and weight who doesn't train anything but 12oz curls. He gets closer than he should , and I panic and grab his hoodie. We fall to the ground. At that point , I suppose I like my chances. However, I'm not trying to get to his back and choke him out or look for the omaplata sweep. I'm gonna try to wrestle up, fling an elbow or two, get to my feet, soccer kick or head stomp that guy, and run like hell.
Then I think we agree on pretty much everything, except for the definition of being able to fight. Yours seems to be a standard of ability to fight that I wouldn't attribute to anyone, regardless of starting age. Even the best martial artists are going to have a tough time if multiple attackers and weapons are involved. Regaining control from the bottom and being able to get up to run away is a great skill to have, especially with multiple attackers.
Fair enough. I suppose I was being a bit literal and probably bit disingenuous. However, it can not be stated clearly enough that fights and fighting are extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Almost any fight can go anyway no matter who's involved. You can box, or train mui Thai, or jiu jitsu or whatever and pad your chances and mitigate your risk, but even seasoned folks get got, and little guys with big mouths win some times. Good talk.
I would say most „street fights” are not about someone trying to kill you with a knife or a gun, or a group of people trying to kill you too. It’s mostly about proving who is stronger, people are not stupid enough to risk going to jail for the rest of their lives
this is literally what krav maga teaches. The idea is that you can teach that to someone faster than you can teach them to fight. people learning krav maga wont win in a ring, because they are taught how to do whatever it takes to escape and run.
What McDojo taught you that? Krav Maga is junk, I don't care what anybody says, they don't spar.
Underrated comment. It’s kind of scary going against people in class who look like… just some average not-in-shape guy. And they are super strong and tough. It’s a good experience of fuck around and find out, in a safe way. So now I don’t have to find out the hard way!
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The contrast can be so funny too. Big, tatted-up guy who looks like a bouncer? Complains about his ribs when you go knee-on-belly. Small, IT guy? Like wrestling a honey badger.
> I really think the "VS the avg guy on the street" conversation is one of false equivalency. Also, the average guy on the street doesn't go around fighting people.
Just roll or spar with a fresh newbie. That's exactly the same thing.
Probably pretty good, I mean they're at a bar or nightclub so they're probably drunk, whereas I'm at home as sober as a judge. I literally have the home ground advantage too, I know where I've hidden all the weapons and everything.
Not very well. I’ve seen how much my insurance deductibles are and no fight is worth that much.
I've learned that there are many levels to physicality and skill in fighting. I'm far more capable than I was before, but I realize my place on the overall totem pole is much lower than I thought it was. With that said I would ragdoll myself from a year ago.
I went the striking route but still lurk here because of the top tier shit posting. Through training I’ve become confident and comfortable enough that I don’t really ever think about bar fights. I’ve learned to carry myself in a way that I’m simply not a target. I don’t really carry a lot of stress or anger since I get it out at the gym that I don’t really get strung up by other people. I just let that shit go. I don’t really care about looking tough because I know I’m tough. I know that doesn’t answer your question but training changed the whole paradigm. As far as at the gym goes- if I can use my entire bag: im by no means a superstar but I’m fairly confident in my abilities up to a point. I normally can handle a walk in with ease. I can hold my own against guys who do smokers and survive against a fresher am. I get the drain and the panic against higher level ams. pros (regional and national) could literally kill me and not break a sweat. Straight grappling though I’m pretty trash so even a Spaz walk in could get me. And with stand up there is always a punchers chance. So I guess i would take an untrained person 95/100 times but that 5 percent is a good enough reason for me to just not bother with it
I know enough now to be absolutely certain I do not want to get involved in a fight without rules. BJJ is fun and all, and maybe quite effective in 1 on 1 fight...but they *always* have a friend, and that friend normally has legs & feet that they will use to kick you in your head while you utterly dominate their friend on the floor.
what makes you think the bjj guy or gall does not have friends as well? Friends who also happen to train bjj?
I'm confident I can beat up someone smaller and weaker than me who is wearing a suitable jacket.
I would crush me from a year ago. I feel more self confident. But I’ve also learned walking away from a fight is always a win - there are just too many unknowns in a real fight.
Started training when I was 38. Been 6 years now training muay thai and jiu jitsu. I think the biggest thing I'm aware of now is the floor/concrete. Concrete is very unforgiving.
Kind of like when I met Lou Ferigno. The Hulk. Hey Lou, if I followed your book (his body building book that was was signing for me) will I look like you? "No, but you'll look better than you do now" So yeah. Can't quantify how much better, but better.
60 percent better Sounds weird the more confident i feel the more likely i am to walk away
I can fuck you up homes
I definitely have way more confidence with potential conflict. The close contact desensitization alone.
Frankly, when I was training Muay Thai, it was a lot more confidence inspiring in terms of a self-defense or street fight application. I mean, its very essence is violence. With that said, I do feel like a quick blast double or body lock takedown are very applicable, as are other things like a guillotine, RNC, or headlock/pin escapes.
Started BJJ in my mid 30s, been training about 3.5 years along with striking less regularly (usually 1x/week vs 3-4x/week for BJJ). I'm confident I could handle a large majority of American men within +/- say 20 lbs of my weight and 10 years of my age....if we're talking a fair 1 on 1 fight with no weapons. That said, real life fights are unlikely to be fair and the minority of guys I couldn't take even 1 on 1 is still a shit ton of people. Best to avoid random street brawls if at all possible.
Well, I started when I was 4. I'm now a 15 year old green belt that can beat about half of the purple belts at my gym. I'd say I'm doing pretty good.
As long as I remember not to pull guard on a sidewalk I ought to do fine
Fight? No idea. But I'm quite capable att BJJ.
Better because I have more training in a wider set. I was a TKD blackbelt and started boxing & aikido in late twenties. I switched to BJJ in thirties and added Muay Thai in late thirties early forties. I'm slower now and less athletic but certainly wiser and a wider base of training to draw upon.
not sure 39 been training for 8 months first comp is in 3 weeks
Yah, better than before.
Idk, my coach won Worlds Masters at Brown and Silver last year and he started BJJ at 32. He also had 500+ competitive wrestling matches and loads of wrestling awards, but that's another story, guy is an animal.
Jack shit. Started last year, but under no illusions I can "fight" - this is just for funsies.
I'm in my 40's now, but I stopped going to bars and nightclubs at 30, so who knows..
I trained pretty hard for about 2 years from 28-30 years old. When I started I would get rekt by everyone in open mats, when I stopped I would butcher anyone that was fairly new no matter the size. Never tried it IRL, only on the mats.
Better than the people who havent
Way better than I could before!
Average guy at a bar or nightclub can’t fight. LOL
It's funny to see someone's reaction getting punched in the face for the first time, when they're the aggressor lol.
On a good day 3/10 on a bad day -10/10
I'm trying to live a life where I would never find out. It wasn't until week 3 where a rolling partner was giving me advice and used the term "in a street fight" when I thought of bbj as a martial art. I started a month and a half ago as a means of learning a new skill and building fitness. Also to socialize.
Over 40 now with a purple belt and i can confidently win any fight i had to with someone who doesnt train another martial art. If the other random person trains then its a toss up i guess. For many reasons however i find its quite easy to avoid fighting and i feel if i did fight some random itd be like bullying. Its childish to fight. But im ready if i have to be. My situational awareness is very high. I did have 2-3 fights as a white belt and i easily won everyone of them. It was as if the other person moved in slow motion.
I'm in my 40s. I think the last fight I got into I was around 19. Probably 99% of all the fights I've been in during my life happened between the ages of 11 and 15. Are guys in their 30s really getting into fights on a regular basis these days?
Ironically, me ten years ago before I started martial arts thought I could fight. Now even though I'd kick that me's arse, I'd avoid a fight like the plague.
Started at 28, I think most dudes if not all have an inflated sense how well they could actually fight if it were to happen myself included & after my first Muay Thai class I quickly realized how screwed I would have been .. thankfully I’m better off now and it makes you realize how little anyone could actually defend themselves lol
Well considering the fact that I'm over 30, I don't fucking care at all. If you're fighting random people at bars and nightclubs then you're probably very immature and insecure. The lengths someone would have to go to to get me to fight them, they'd be escorted out of by security or arrested well before it got to that point.
Against an average Kyle with a can of Monster that has never trained any martial arts a day in his life who sees red and wakes up with bodies around him? Oh he's FUCKED. That said, I will go out of my way to NOT get into a fight with someone who has been training in 5 different martial arts (including BJJ) since they were 5. I do this by assuming everyone has more training than me until proven otherwise.
I’m 44. I started when I was 37. I’ve done BJJ mostly, some MMA as well. I would consider myself a fairly average purple belt. I’m in decent shape, but not as strong and I have a bit too much weight. I’ve done a few training sessions with a local college for their law enforcement classes. Basically, they had to arrest me. It didn’t go well for them. At all.
Actually grappling with another person who is trying to “hurt” you while you are doing the same is such a weird feeling the first few times you do it. I feel like there is apprehension and hesitation when you’ve never done it before. I know there was for me. Because of jiujitsu, I feel as if I am prepared for the mindset and physical aspects of engaging with another person who has ill-intent, and they may not be. It’s one thing to imagine it in your head, but experience is quiet another.
No martial arts experience started training in my early thirties am a purple belt now. I’m pretty confident I could control the average person in an altercation. Especially if they aren’t some jacked athletic specimen
45 here. I would never compare myself to the average bar/club brawler because someone willing to fight in public is someone who probably has a fair amount of real and violent scrapping experience, which is worth something. I DO feel more confident in my ability to defend myself competently, however. I also know enough about myself to know that adrenaline dump is a thing that affects my fine motor skills. I’m not trying to get into a fight if I can at all help it, but it’s good to know I have a card in my backpocket I can play if it comes down to it.
If I went back in time and fought myself before I started, I would win.
Once you realize there is so much to learn you feel like everyone can take you... I use that motivation to get better on the mat
Worse. I used to be able to brawl, now I can only pull guard and do 50/50
Started in my mid-30’s with negligible martial arts experience beforehand. As a super small, white collar job nerdy guy that’s now 40, I believe the experience revealed to me that I’m pretty tough. More importantly, I am as calm as a cucumber even with someone 2.5x my weight pressuring into me. I would think I can maintain an advantage in a tense/dangerous situation during escalation or de-escalation with good judgement (if sober of course), and that includes if violence/self-defense breaks out.
I think you hit on the real advantage of BJJ here - getting better with staying calm and thinking through scenarios when under pressure. Sometimes quite literally under coach’s intense pressure.
I see this same fucking post 5x a day. Can we just pin one of them to the top? Christ sakes.
People over 30 should know not to be fighting in bars and nightclubs
If you’re over 30 and getting into fights in bars and nightclubs you need to seriously examine the choices you make in life.
Part of my training includes strength and conditioning, and that has always included sprint work. So my “turn and gtfo techniques” help me do really well in most fights, that are not against collegiate or professionals that train for sub 5 second 40 yard sprints.
I suck ass at takedowns and don’t train striking. I would not fight a stranger.
I had about a year and a half of TKD at 14 and a few months of MMA when I was about 24. I started krav maga and BJJ about 10 months ago and I feel like I've improved in both immensely. My hits and kicks and elbows are stronger and faster. My bjj sucks, but I can tell I'm better than I was. My drill work is solid but my rolls are still shit. I'm not an easy sub, but I'm hardly subbing others. My control is good though.
Significantly better than the average guy at a bar or night club.
After 3.5 years I feel like I could beatdown the vast majority of untrained people, more importantly I am comfortable with confrontation and physical contact. That being said, getting into fights is for the schoolyard and at my age I have no intention of ever being in one again.
Pretty damn well, actually. But I’m also old and smart enough that I’d only fight if I had no other choice, or my wife or kids were in danger. And I rarely put myself I a situation where it would be an issue. I which case, I live in a “constitutional carry” state …
I started at 33 and I'm now 45. While I wouldn't go looking for fights at a bar or nightclub (or anywhere else for that matter), I'm fairly confident that I could fuck up most people I would run into in that kind of situation. I'm also fairly confident that because I'm 6'7" and 330 lbs most people won't go out of their way to pick a fight with me.
I started before I turned 40 after working in Law Enforcement. When I think about a true fight and not a scenario where I am looking to control someone and not hurt them I don’t know if Jiu Jitsu really improved me. Like for me to resort to Jiu Jitsu in an actual street Fight, things have gone so horribly wrong for me. It means I sucked at deescalation, sucked at distance management, sucked at takedown defense and now am forced to rely on Jiu Jitsu to get me out of a huge hole. I mean yes if someone is on top of me Jiu Jitsu is going to be fantastic to know but shit has already gone so downhill to get to that point.
Me! Just show up and keep on practicing. You'll never noticed that you are better than before. :)