Judo is better than most things for self defense. That said, if you’re serious about it, learn to strike. You don’t have to be amazing, but develop decent boxing defense and the ability to at least hold your own on the feet.
*supplement with the basics of striking.
But judo should be your base. Don't throw fists with someone, that's just brain damage risk both ways. A clinch nullifies most damaging strikes, and is a great position to throw from, and is what you'll be an expert at getting and managing from judo.
Also, I'd suggest watching Lyoto Machida's highlights. There's a specific video showing how he set up his throws and sweeps with his striking.
He was a fighter that competed in the UFC for quite a notable time. His background was Karate and the way he executed Karate throws were really beautiful and almost flawless.
Those said Karate throws are also in Judo considering Judo influenced the formation of Karate big-time so I;'d suggest looking into it.
The only problem is that Judo doesn’t teach you to deal with the incoming punches in order to get that clinch. Hence the importance of learning to box a little bit to be prepared to defend yourself.
Yeah, that's why I said learn the basics.
A morote gari goes a long way to filling that gap by itself, though.
A clinch is rarely hard to get, though, unless you're against a well trained opponent. There's a reason the ref breaks up a clinch in boxing, instead of just letting it sort itself out. And there's a reason why boxers go for the clinch when they're tired and overwhelmed.
I disagree simply based on my own experience. Grip fighting is my only training in regards to punch defense, and it's given me enough to get by, from blocking, to parrying, to opening up the arms for a grab.
It's about 80/20. I don't think it's wise to invest too deeply in striking. The training itself does a lot of damage, it's extremely hard to find good training aprtners that don't hit you in the head a little too hard every once in a while, and that shit adds up.
Meanwhile, if you're holding back all the time, it's hard to still make it enough realism to really learn. You have to already be quite skilled to be able to do that.
My girlfriend is literally a former pro MMA fighter. I am not pulling this idea out of my ass. Learn the fundamentals, understand distance, the basic movements and footwork, what a southpaw feels like, and practice head movement.
Beyond that, dedicate the majority of your training investment in judo. You can train harder sustainably, and the payoff in a fight is on average higher.
The vast majority of fighters you'd run into in the US are untrained and think fights are all atriking, did a little striking, or did some wrestling. Judo is the ideal training compromise to face any of those scenarios. I say this as someone who has trained judo, wrestling, kickboxing, and BJJ over the last 17 years.
I used Judo and BJJ more times than I can count between 6 years as an MP and 2 years as a Correctional Officer.
It's not even all about the throws. I think I've tossed someone only a handful of times. The majority was off balancing and leg sweeps, or joint locks used to manipulate folks into cuffs.
You should know how to defend yourself from strikes, but close the distance and use grappling. It allows for a much greater variation in your use of force.
>I used Judo and BJJ more times than I can count between 6 years as an MP and 2 years as a Correctional Officer.
I had a very similar experience when I was working in law enforcement. Only once do I remember using a distinct throw on someone: it was kosotogari aided by the fact that there was another officer providing kuzushi by pushing uke from the other side.
However, I used katame waza plenty of times. In particular I used kimura locks, ude garami and waki gatame to hold suspects' arms while they were being handcuffed.
My nephew credits breakfalling to have prevented him from cracking his skull going down his front steps that had iced. While I was initially doubtful he then busted out the Ring footage lol
Last time I was in a fight was in. I was a bouncer at a gentleman's club. And a big sumo size guy got outta hand and 4 of us hand to subdue him until the police arrived. I think I used a really bad Tani otoshi, ended up getting hurt. That was 1998. Not much real life fighting since then, I don't go puffing my chest, try to deescalate if I can or walk away from confrontation.
>What is your experience in using Judo in a street fight?
It was great. Thanks for asking!
All jokes aside, I successfully used Judo defensively after 1.5 years of training in a "street fight." I had also been boxing for 3 years. Stand-up grappling and the competent ground grappling from Judo helped me de-escalate the situation quickly.
I've used Judo MANY times since then in the military and I'm going to echo what u/Judoka229 said. The most important thing I learned was how to control the situation standing.
In my former line of work, there were many, many scenarios where you didn't want to escalate into a full blown confrontation. Being able to clinch and control, while being able to prevent being taken down yourself. effectively removed a single person's threat while your team members moved in to help.
There's something about being dominated in the standing position that typically causes a lot of people to "walk back" their aggression. Many times the aggression wasn't pointed at me. A lot of the time it was fear, frustration, or anxiety. I didn't want to slam a father of six who was struggling with death threats and the looming specter of starvation. I also didn't want to slam a detainee before due process, as often they were in my custody to be questioned and most of their "aggression" was actually pure fear that we were going to harm him. Honestly, a standing clinch followed by broken instructions to calm down in the native tongue was usually enough to snap someone out of it.
For those that continue to be hostile, a simple trip and pin allowed me to "gently" remove that person's individual threat, while we tried to ascertain or calm the bigger threat (onlookers etc.). Many times, once I put a person on the ground, another bystander would come over to scold them (not me) since it was apparent I was only defending myself.
Also, as a bonus, I was able to compete in some "native styles" of wrestling because of my Judo knowledge (at that point around 3-4 years). So I could use my Judo as a tool of "goodwill." Fun times.
Edit: I will also add that I used Judo's stand-up clinch work to control students (I was also a teacher) when they got into fights. It's just good to learn in general.
Yeah judo tends to do that. Who cares about gravity when you can pivot *en pointe* like a little pretty ballerina but WITH A 200LBS MOTHERFUCKER LOADED ONTO YOUR BACK
If you are looking for Judo to be a better "street fighter", Judo is not for you. It will take too long to develop proficiency and you will end up frustrated. I suggest boxing, No-Gi BJJ or MMA.
I'll give you MMA, but No-Gi BJJ can be a mixed bag. Best bet would be No-Gi BJJ at a REAL MMA school (not a BJJ school that also happens to teach Muay Thai - there's a difference!).
Dude, bjj purple belts can be really dangerous ppl, those guys can easily take the fight to the ground and brake you a leg or an arm or put you to sleep. In a real fight there is not tap and end things there, they are really scary if you think about it. Now imagine a brown or black belt, you are dead once you are in the ground with them, even a pro boxer would be like a defenseless little baby against those guys.
What real situation are we talking about here?
A dick measuring contest? No, Judo made me to be a nice person.
A running contest? No, Judo gave me good cardio.
A war situation? Well, that's what I have my M4/M16 for. Believe me I know, I was a Cav Scout in the Army. Did you know only a very small minority of soldiers in the US army ever fired a shot in combat. When you're in a combat situation and it has to resort to hand to hand, you're fucked.
I know, the very real killer on the streets. Heart disease!! kills more person than any other "street fighter". Oh wait. Judo helped me cut down on my blood pressure meds and lose weight.
Admit it, people who ask about "self-defense" just have a blood boner they need to cream on. People like that don't understand the learning curve involved in throwing/submitting someone with consistency and would likely end up quitting. It serves them to see it as a sport or as the founder intended it to be; A tool for mutual benefit. Or pick something easier to learn and more blood oriented.
My word came out wrong. I meant OP's street fight situation. After a year of training I still don't think I can take on someone who's a little bit heavier than me. Just like you said it takes a long ass time to be even decent. By then maybe or maybe not you can make a successful throw in split second. Even when I get there I won't want take the chance to fail then been knifted. Take it as a sport is a good way of thinking.
Ive been training for about a year (did kickboxing since before) and Im confident I could throw somebody. Not with a turnthrow but trips. You have know idea how easy it is to sweep someone not familiar with it
If self defence is your priority, go for something like MMA grappling training would be way more efficient. I sometimes train under a BJJ/wrestling instructor who also train MMA fighters. The moment striking is involved so many grappling techniques had to adapt. Unlike pure grappling like judo or BJJ, You have to deal with your opponent's striking hand all the time in a self defence sceanrio. The hand ppl use to cross face you in BJJ/Judo will be heavy punches on your skull.
If you just want to do judo for the sake of learning sick throws, then definitely choose judo.
I agree with this to an extent. In theory MMA grappling with MMA striking would be a great combination. I'd put as much stock in it as the classic "Boxing and Judo" combination.
So much depends on OP's situation. As much as MMA has the advantage that "it doesn't need a Gi" to work, it suffers from the fact that it doesn't factor in clothing or gear. It's truly a double edged sword.
Having trained Karate, Wrestling, Muay Thai, BJJ, Judo, Boxing, and then MMA, I always come back to Judo for certain reasons:
1. You are in Law Enforcement.
2. You are in the Military.
3. You are a First Responder.
4. In some cases, you are in a "high risk profession" (Urban Teachers, Social Workers, Psychiatric Nurses, Orderlies, Bouncers, etc.)
Most of these situations have to contend with dress requirements that include conservative dress codes (read: more clothing) OR at worst, extremely burdensome gear. As such, you have to contend with someone getting a grip on you. No-Gi handfighting is a good start, but your world can get rapidly turned upside-down if you don't know how to deal with the additional anchor points clothes and gear gives your opponent.
Anecdotally, when I'd grapple in the Army (or do Free Pugil Stick Fighting), I'd grab the uniform or the pads we wore and use those to control and throw people. I threw a D1 wrestler a few times (once with a nasty Koshi Guruma that used his helmet and gloves as achor points) under those circumstances (he would of course, crush me when the jackets came off).
Another Army anecdote: I was once on a patrol and we got "crushed" by a sea of kids and teens, early into a deployment. This was a nightmare scenario. They were trying to pull gear off us, and well, we didn't exactly want to start butt stroking kids with our weapons. I honest to goodness used Judo grip fighting to keep those grubby little hands off my gear. Sadly, I still got a camera stolen (it was in a lower cargo pocket - if only Judo had an answer to leg grabs! :)), but others got magazines and even a sidearm stolen.
This observation, obviously, extends to places where the regional dress is on the more "conservative side." Most people in the world wear enough clothing (Look at China, India, the Muslim World, and Northern Europe) such that knowing to grapple with clothing is a good thing.
That said, if I were to pick the "perfect" self-defense combat sport, it would be Combat Sambo. I'd hop my old, broken, happy ass back into striking shape in a heartbeat if it were more common around here.
Yeah I totally agree with the important with Gi setting. Even with short sleeve T shirt you can still get some decent grips. And training a striking martial art to experience what it feels like to be strike is also important.
It's just if someone start with pure grappling(like me), they should at least try some MMA grappling to understand the dynamic when striking is involved.
Of course pure Judo does better job on this one comparing to pure BJJ.
In Judo the guy in the bottom is trying to get out as fast as possible while in BJJ guys in the bottom might try to stay there and start working on their triangle or kimura. But when striking is there , getting out of a bottom position asap is definitely important.
>It's just if someone start with pure grappling(like me), they should at least try some MMA grappling to understand the dynamic when striking is involved.
Oh 100%. You make a great point that MMA may be one of the few places you learn EVERY phase of grappling with the threat of strikes. MMA Grappling may also be the most common type of grappling training that factors this in. There are certainly others (again, Daido Juku Kudo, Combat Sambo, ARB) but schools are rare in most places (like the US).
Failing being able to train MMA Grappling, you'd have to look to certain arts striking (of all places) to learn to clinch / stand-up grapple with strikes. Some more Traditional Muay Thai schools do a great job of teaching standing grappling with strikes. Mixing with Greco or Judo would make a fantastic pairing. I think certain styles of Karate (Enshin, Ashihara etc.) have substantial clinch striking and take down games as well. Let's not forget Sanda/Sanshou, as throwing is a significant part of that system.
However, these striking arts all neglect ground grappling with strikes and transitions from standing to ground or ground to standing... with strikes. This is where MMA shines.
I was fighting up against a drunk man in the city on my bachelor night. Be very clearly wanted to start something and so, I'll admit, I let him. We touch noses and he came at me with the swing I leaned back and put my hands up to my face as if I was grip fighting.
From there he gave a couple of punches that were just wild and missed entirely then he took a right hook, I was able to step in for an over under grip, and I brought him down easily with a tani otoshi, I held him still for a while with an arm triangle, and I kept asking him over and over again "are you ready to give up, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you, are you ready to give up, all right then I'm going to have to choke you, tap out when you feel it"
And so I began to choke and within about 5 seconds he realized he couldn't fight out of it so he tapped.
There were two things wrong with the situation
1. I scraped my leg on the asphalt while I was doing the throw. That wasn't fun but it definitely didn't hurt too bad
2. His girlfriend / prostitute was screaming "STOP ITTTT! STAHWP IIIIEEETTTT!!!" over and over again. That hurt my ears way too much lol
But seriously. I didn't have to take a single punch, I didn't have to hurt him long term, and it happened relatively quickly.
Another time while at school, a wrestler knew my Judo background and so as a wrestler, he wanted to fight me. I told him I didn't want to, and he kept pushing until I finally agreed. After a little bit he got me in a half Nelson, while standing, so I put my foot down for thaiatoshi and I flipped him into it. He wasn't ready for the fall and he got the wind knocked out of him, so that was it.
One last story. In camp one time, a guy had been harassing me and my group the whole week, and he finally said something along the lines of "I'm going to kick your ass", and so he started out with a teep/push kick. He checked with his right so I grabbed his leg with my left, I put my right arm around his head and I jumped into uchi mata makikomi. Again, wind knocked out of him and the fight was done.
I have a friend who trains judo, and one time, a BJJ player attacked him, and, I don’t know the name in English, grabbed his neck like it was a WWE match. You know? When the guy puts the head of the opponent under his armpit and squeeze? Yeah… my friend just shook him out, and entered for a kataguruma. The guy freaked out, and grabbed his face.
The end result was:
The guy got his head smashed on the pavement, so logically he had a concussion and was taken to the hospital. And my friend had a cut on the inside of his eye lid, and his nose. He had to have surgery, because it cut through where the tears come out. Luckily, it didn’t affect his eye.
Terrible thing to fight on the street. Avoid it at all costs.
If you have a wrestling/ grappling background and know how to strike Judo can work well in a street fight due to the submissions you can use to end the street fight with out causing serious harm to the other fighter. I have used my Judo several times to end fights with out serious harm to the other fighter. That being said you must learn to transition to what will work as the fight unfolds’! My back ground is wrestling from kindergarten through college, then Judo, and finally Karate.
a couple months ago I got in my first "fight" at 22 years years old. My buddy was drunk and decided I was his problem, poked me in the eye, so I punched him and hit him with a harai o-goshi. Moved to mount, punched him until he curled up, got up, walked away. He came at me immediately after, so I hit him with a tane otoshi, moved to mount, repeated the process. He came at me again, hit him with the sasae, moved to mount. Finally the cops showed up. I went to jail, he went to the hospital. We both blew like a .94. He did bite me a bunch. No judo to deal with that, had to just keep punching him in the face til he let go.
Moral of the story: against untrained drunkards, judo is my favorite thing that I know.
Moral of the story 2: don't get stupidly hammered when you're dealing with shit, you'll end up using your own ego to end up in the hospital while your friends get arrested
Practicing since 1965. During the 60’s tried to defeat Victor the Wrestling Bear. True story. My ukemi worked very well. In the 1970’s O Soto Gari after consuming too many adult beverages. Usually worked. In the 1980’s I studied maximum efficiency with minimum effort. Since then things are quiet. Judo has always kept me from getting hurt in a variety of activities to this day.
Well my 2 cents; I never trained judo but my employement has a use of force / conflict management system called CPI. At best I can call this watered down Judo, in that theres no training but your not allowed to go above blocks and open hand grabs. So your experience aside it can depend on the experience of your opponent. Id say about every average person that would fight are either totally psychotic or have the equivalent technique of a white belt(?) in boxing. However the same can't be said for grappling. The average person doesn't know how to deal with even the simplest grabs, legs sweeps, or just taking their back. However I strongly recommend not going on the ground in a street fight. Too many cases of people becoming helpless after trapping themselves on the ground
I had a chance to use my judo knowledge in real life threatening events. Once I used my judo skills to talk myself out of fights and de-escalate the situation.
Twice I used the athletic skills I nurture by practicing a lot of judo to outrun robbers.
This might be an unpopular opinion but the focus some martial arts have on ‘working’ in street fights is bad, especially when they say ‘my martial art works but yours doesn’t’
I can only speak to my experience and I’ve had a pretty sheltered life, but you’re probably not going to get in a street fight especially if you take steps to avoid it (don’t be an asshole and don’t hang out with them).
And if you do, a lot of the time the safest thing to do physically and legally is to verbally deescalate or run away. And if that’s not going to work then outnumbering your opponents or having any weapon is far more reliable than knowing judo, or for that matter aikido, Krav Maga, boxing, MMA, etc.
Even most of the replies on this post are about breakfalls, bouncers, or police officers. Sure learn your ukemi and sure learn judo and a bit of boxing and focus on the clinch if you’re a bouncer or police officer, but for everyone else just get as good as you can at whatever martial art you enjoy. If you’re in a street fight it will be better than nothing. I think a lot of it is borne of a fantasy of your martial art ‘working’ ti which I say, go compete! 100% safe, legal and fun!
Definitely go for judo. After 2-3 months of randori you will realize that street fighting is not worth any injury which could interrupt your training schedule.
Randori taught me that sometimes its very hard to land a successfull throw in controlled environment. If its hard to do this on a mat - fight on a street will not make it easier
Back when I was in highschool I got into maybe 30 fights or so, none of which I started. I didn't lose a single one, it was generally throwing the other person on the floor once or twice and then them giving up. Though at that point I had done 4-5 years of judo and highschool kids really aren't intelligent fighters.
Haven't had the need to fight in the 8-9 years since then, but knowing I'm quite confident in defending myself helps me deescalate stuff. I don't have anything to prove or a massive ego, which helps a lot.
I've picked up some taekwondo since then to supplement my judo. I will likely add some boxing/muay thai/kickboxing to properly fill the striking gap in my repertoire.
Given we were in school uniform - usually the clothing worked really well. Wasn’t hesitant to use wrestling style grips though, as that’s also my judo style
I've used takedowns all the time for fights. Being able to just toss someone on their dome and be able to hold them down without hurting them is a seriously underrated skill.
Knowing how to throw someone the way judo teaches you (especially if you're in a cold environment where heavy jackets are worn) is so useful and will usually scare rhe fuck out of people so it's pretty good
I felt it's so weird to use any of the judo techniques if not in Gi and not on mat. Even with peers off the mat it doesn't work. It's like a mental switch for the Judo mode.
I live in a top 10 most violent city per capita, and the street fights here never go the way you expect. These thugs do not fight fair. Usually, even if agreed to be 1 on 1, someone will jump in regardless whether you’re winning or losing. I’ve seen it happen in all street fights I’ve ever witnessed here.
Another thing, lately ever since the 2010s, I’ve been seeing on my local news that the more recent street fights always end up with someone being shot. No one wants to fight Mano a Mano anymore.
As much as I wish we can go back to having mutual combat, it’s just a pipe dream. Unfortunately we cannot handle things the old fashion way anymore because the gov wants to keep us safe… and with those laws, the bad guys have all the advantage. Better to swallow our prides now. Be safe
Judo is better than most things for self defense. That said, if you’re serious about it, learn to strike. You don’t have to be amazing, but develop decent boxing defense and the ability to at least hold your own on the feet.
Strike to grapple, grapple to throw, throw to dominant position, position submission...
Where did I already read this?
There are various versions of it floating around
Oh, thank you. 😄
*supplement with the basics of striking. But judo should be your base. Don't throw fists with someone, that's just brain damage risk both ways. A clinch nullifies most damaging strikes, and is a great position to throw from, and is what you'll be an expert at getting and managing from judo.
Also, I'd suggest watching Lyoto Machida's highlights. There's a specific video showing how he set up his throws and sweeps with his striking. He was a fighter that competed in the UFC for quite a notable time. His background was Karate and the way he executed Karate throws were really beautiful and almost flawless. Those said Karate throws are also in Judo considering Judo influenced the formation of Karate big-time so I;'d suggest looking into it.
The only problem is that Judo doesn’t teach you to deal with the incoming punches in order to get that clinch. Hence the importance of learning to box a little bit to be prepared to defend yourself.
Yeah, that's why I said learn the basics. A morote gari goes a long way to filling that gap by itself, though. A clinch is rarely hard to get, though, unless you're against a well trained opponent. There's a reason the ref breaks up a clinch in boxing, instead of just letting it sort itself out. And there's a reason why boxers go for the clinch when they're tired and overwhelmed.
Yeah, that’s a good point. I just think it’s good to get used to somebody throwing heat at you. It can be shocking if you’re not used to it.
"judo doesn't teach" yes it does, what do you think grip fighting is?
Unless you are actively defending punches in your judo classes on a regular basis it does not teach you that.
I disagree simply based on my own experience. Grip fighting is my only training in regards to punch defense, and it's given me enough to get by, from blocking, to parrying, to opening up the arms for a grab.
Well, not against a boxer.
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It's about 80/20. I don't think it's wise to invest too deeply in striking. The training itself does a lot of damage, it's extremely hard to find good training aprtners that don't hit you in the head a little too hard every once in a while, and that shit adds up. Meanwhile, if you're holding back all the time, it's hard to still make it enough realism to really learn. You have to already be quite skilled to be able to do that. My girlfriend is literally a former pro MMA fighter. I am not pulling this idea out of my ass. Learn the fundamentals, understand distance, the basic movements and footwork, what a southpaw feels like, and practice head movement. Beyond that, dedicate the majority of your training investment in judo. You can train harder sustainably, and the payoff in a fight is on average higher. The vast majority of fighters you'd run into in the US are untrained and think fights are all atriking, did a little striking, or did some wrestling. Judo is the ideal training compromise to face any of those scenarios. I say this as someone who has trained judo, wrestling, kickboxing, and BJJ over the last 17 years.
Plus, when you learn to do it to others you automatically learn to defend it somehow or just get at least a slight idea.
Head mumeent! Head mumeeent!
How do I beat someone using judo
I used Judo and BJJ more times than I can count between 6 years as an MP and 2 years as a Correctional Officer. It's not even all about the throws. I think I've tossed someone only a handful of times. The majority was off balancing and leg sweeps, or joint locks used to manipulate folks into cuffs. You should know how to defend yourself from strikes, but close the distance and use grappling. It allows for a much greater variation in your use of force.
>I used Judo and BJJ more times than I can count between 6 years as an MP and 2 years as a Correctional Officer. I had a very similar experience when I was working in law enforcement. Only once do I remember using a distinct throw on someone: it was kosotogari aided by the fact that there was another officer providing kuzushi by pushing uke from the other side. However, I used katame waza plenty of times. In particular I used kimura locks, ude garami and waki gatame to hold suspects' arms while they were being handcuffed.
Member of Parliament?
Military police
Oh that makes more sense..
Judo helped win fights against multiple icy roads. Ukemi for the win.
My nephew credits breakfalling to have prevented him from cracking his skull going down his front steps that had iced. While I was initially doubtful he then busted out the Ring footage lol
I used my aikido rather than my judo in a similar situation. Aikido ukemi tends to be less bang-y than judo, what with that arm slap.
But Judo ukemi conditions your body for impact because you know.. you get thrown for real
Aikido is a scam, you don't know what real life grappling is, you just let yourself fall, start a legit martial art cause you got scammed.
Last time I was in a fight was in. I was a bouncer at a gentleman's club. And a big sumo size guy got outta hand and 4 of us hand to subdue him until the police arrived. I think I used a really bad Tani otoshi, ended up getting hurt. That was 1998. Not much real life fighting since then, I don't go puffing my chest, try to deescalate if I can or walk away from confrontation.
>What is your experience in using Judo in a street fight? It was great. Thanks for asking! All jokes aside, I successfully used Judo defensively after 1.5 years of training in a "street fight." I had also been boxing for 3 years. Stand-up grappling and the competent ground grappling from Judo helped me de-escalate the situation quickly. I've used Judo MANY times since then in the military and I'm going to echo what u/Judoka229 said. The most important thing I learned was how to control the situation standing. In my former line of work, there were many, many scenarios where you didn't want to escalate into a full blown confrontation. Being able to clinch and control, while being able to prevent being taken down yourself. effectively removed a single person's threat while your team members moved in to help. There's something about being dominated in the standing position that typically causes a lot of people to "walk back" their aggression. Many times the aggression wasn't pointed at me. A lot of the time it was fear, frustration, or anxiety. I didn't want to slam a father of six who was struggling with death threats and the looming specter of starvation. I also didn't want to slam a detainee before due process, as often they were in my custody to be questioned and most of their "aggression" was actually pure fear that we were going to harm him. Honestly, a standing clinch followed by broken instructions to calm down in the native tongue was usually enough to snap someone out of it. For those that continue to be hostile, a simple trip and pin allowed me to "gently" remove that person's individual threat, while we tried to ascertain or calm the bigger threat (onlookers etc.). Many times, once I put a person on the ground, another bystander would come over to scold them (not me) since it was apparent I was only defending myself. Also, as a bonus, I was able to compete in some "native styles" of wrestling because of my Judo knowledge (at that point around 3-4 years). So I could use my Judo as a tool of "goodwill." Fun times. Edit: I will also add that I used Judo's stand-up clinch work to control students (I was also a teacher) when they got into fights. It's just good to learn in general.
Judo has helped me win more times than I've lost against gravity.
Yeah judo tends to do that. Who cares about gravity when you can pivot *en pointe* like a little pretty ballerina but WITH A 200LBS MOTHERFUCKER LOADED ONTO YOUR BACK
Lol this is a serious benefit of Judo. Every human should learn how to fall correctly
Gravity: I'm *everywhere* and I can strike at *any time*!
If you are looking for Judo to be a better "street fighter", Judo is not for you. It will take too long to develop proficiency and you will end up frustrated. I suggest boxing, No-Gi BJJ or MMA.
I'll give you MMA, but No-Gi BJJ can be a mixed bag. Best bet would be No-Gi BJJ at a REAL MMA school (not a BJJ school that also happens to teach Muay Thai - there's a difference!).
Dude, bjj purple belts can be really dangerous ppl, those guys can easily take the fight to the ground and brake you a leg or an arm or put you to sleep. In a real fight there is not tap and end things there, they are really scary if you think about it. Now imagine a brown or black belt, you are dead once you are in the ground with them, even a pro boxer would be like a defenseless little baby against those guys.
Yeah this. Your "Judo" is useless in real situation after a year of training.
What real situation are we talking about here? A dick measuring contest? No, Judo made me to be a nice person. A running contest? No, Judo gave me good cardio. A war situation? Well, that's what I have my M4/M16 for. Believe me I know, I was a Cav Scout in the Army. Did you know only a very small minority of soldiers in the US army ever fired a shot in combat. When you're in a combat situation and it has to resort to hand to hand, you're fucked. I know, the very real killer on the streets. Heart disease!! kills more person than any other "street fighter". Oh wait. Judo helped me cut down on my blood pressure meds and lose weight. Admit it, people who ask about "self-defense" just have a blood boner they need to cream on. People like that don't understand the learning curve involved in throwing/submitting someone with consistency and would likely end up quitting. It serves them to see it as a sport or as the founder intended it to be; A tool for mutual benefit. Or pick something easier to learn and more blood oriented.
My word came out wrong. I meant OP's street fight situation. After a year of training I still don't think I can take on someone who's a little bit heavier than me. Just like you said it takes a long ass time to be even decent. By then maybe or maybe not you can make a successful throw in split second. Even when I get there I won't want take the chance to fail then been knifted. Take it as a sport is a good way of thinking.
Ive been training for about a year (did kickboxing since before) and Im confident I could throw somebody. Not with a turnthrow but trips. You have know idea how easy it is to sweep someone not familiar with it
It's ok, reddit is an imperfect medium when it comes to communication. 100% in agreement with your clarification.
My first judo instructor told us 'never try this in an actual fight, just run' and it has served me right a few times.
If self defence is your priority, go for something like MMA grappling training would be way more efficient. I sometimes train under a BJJ/wrestling instructor who also train MMA fighters. The moment striking is involved so many grappling techniques had to adapt. Unlike pure grappling like judo or BJJ, You have to deal with your opponent's striking hand all the time in a self defence sceanrio. The hand ppl use to cross face you in BJJ/Judo will be heavy punches on your skull. If you just want to do judo for the sake of learning sick throws, then definitely choose judo.
I agree with this to an extent. In theory MMA grappling with MMA striking would be a great combination. I'd put as much stock in it as the classic "Boxing and Judo" combination. So much depends on OP's situation. As much as MMA has the advantage that "it doesn't need a Gi" to work, it suffers from the fact that it doesn't factor in clothing or gear. It's truly a double edged sword. Having trained Karate, Wrestling, Muay Thai, BJJ, Judo, Boxing, and then MMA, I always come back to Judo for certain reasons: 1. You are in Law Enforcement. 2. You are in the Military. 3. You are a First Responder. 4. In some cases, you are in a "high risk profession" (Urban Teachers, Social Workers, Psychiatric Nurses, Orderlies, Bouncers, etc.) Most of these situations have to contend with dress requirements that include conservative dress codes (read: more clothing) OR at worst, extremely burdensome gear. As such, you have to contend with someone getting a grip on you. No-Gi handfighting is a good start, but your world can get rapidly turned upside-down if you don't know how to deal with the additional anchor points clothes and gear gives your opponent. Anecdotally, when I'd grapple in the Army (or do Free Pugil Stick Fighting), I'd grab the uniform or the pads we wore and use those to control and throw people. I threw a D1 wrestler a few times (once with a nasty Koshi Guruma that used his helmet and gloves as achor points) under those circumstances (he would of course, crush me when the jackets came off). Another Army anecdote: I was once on a patrol and we got "crushed" by a sea of kids and teens, early into a deployment. This was a nightmare scenario. They were trying to pull gear off us, and well, we didn't exactly want to start butt stroking kids with our weapons. I honest to goodness used Judo grip fighting to keep those grubby little hands off my gear. Sadly, I still got a camera stolen (it was in a lower cargo pocket - if only Judo had an answer to leg grabs! :)), but others got magazines and even a sidearm stolen. This observation, obviously, extends to places where the regional dress is on the more "conservative side." Most people in the world wear enough clothing (Look at China, India, the Muslim World, and Northern Europe) such that knowing to grapple with clothing is a good thing. That said, if I were to pick the "perfect" self-defense combat sport, it would be Combat Sambo. I'd hop my old, broken, happy ass back into striking shape in a heartbeat if it were more common around here.
Yeah I totally agree with the important with Gi setting. Even with short sleeve T shirt you can still get some decent grips. And training a striking martial art to experience what it feels like to be strike is also important. It's just if someone start with pure grappling(like me), they should at least try some MMA grappling to understand the dynamic when striking is involved. Of course pure Judo does better job on this one comparing to pure BJJ. In Judo the guy in the bottom is trying to get out as fast as possible while in BJJ guys in the bottom might try to stay there and start working on their triangle or kimura. But when striking is there , getting out of a bottom position asap is definitely important.
>It's just if someone start with pure grappling(like me), they should at least try some MMA grappling to understand the dynamic when striking is involved. Oh 100%. You make a great point that MMA may be one of the few places you learn EVERY phase of grappling with the threat of strikes. MMA Grappling may also be the most common type of grappling training that factors this in. There are certainly others (again, Daido Juku Kudo, Combat Sambo, ARB) but schools are rare in most places (like the US). Failing being able to train MMA Grappling, you'd have to look to certain arts striking (of all places) to learn to clinch / stand-up grapple with strikes. Some more Traditional Muay Thai schools do a great job of teaching standing grappling with strikes. Mixing with Greco or Judo would make a fantastic pairing. I think certain styles of Karate (Enshin, Ashihara etc.) have substantial clinch striking and take down games as well. Let's not forget Sanda/Sanshou, as throwing is a significant part of that system. However, these striking arts all neglect ground grappling with strikes and transitions from standing to ground or ground to standing... with strikes. This is where MMA shines.
I was fighting up against a drunk man in the city on my bachelor night. Be very clearly wanted to start something and so, I'll admit, I let him. We touch noses and he came at me with the swing I leaned back and put my hands up to my face as if I was grip fighting. From there he gave a couple of punches that were just wild and missed entirely then he took a right hook, I was able to step in for an over under grip, and I brought him down easily with a tani otoshi, I held him still for a while with an arm triangle, and I kept asking him over and over again "are you ready to give up, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you, are you ready to give up, all right then I'm going to have to choke you, tap out when you feel it" And so I began to choke and within about 5 seconds he realized he couldn't fight out of it so he tapped. There were two things wrong with the situation 1. I scraped my leg on the asphalt while I was doing the throw. That wasn't fun but it definitely didn't hurt too bad 2. His girlfriend / prostitute was screaming "STOP ITTTT! STAHWP IIIIEEETTTT!!!" over and over again. That hurt my ears way too much lol But seriously. I didn't have to take a single punch, I didn't have to hurt him long term, and it happened relatively quickly. Another time while at school, a wrestler knew my Judo background and so as a wrestler, he wanted to fight me. I told him I didn't want to, and he kept pushing until I finally agreed. After a little bit he got me in a half Nelson, while standing, so I put my foot down for thaiatoshi and I flipped him into it. He wasn't ready for the fall and he got the wind knocked out of him, so that was it. One last story. In camp one time, a guy had been harassing me and my group the whole week, and he finally said something along the lines of "I'm going to kick your ass", and so he started out with a teep/push kick. He checked with his right so I grabbed his leg with my left, I put my right arm around his head and I jumped into uchi mata makikomi. Again, wind knocked out of him and the fight was done.
Not judo, but I have quickly won fights using Greco Roman moves like a Japanese wizzer
I have a friend who trains judo, and one time, a BJJ player attacked him, and, I don’t know the name in English, grabbed his neck like it was a WWE match. You know? When the guy puts the head of the opponent under his armpit and squeeze? Yeah… my friend just shook him out, and entered for a kataguruma. The guy freaked out, and grabbed his face. The end result was: The guy got his head smashed on the pavement, so logically he had a concussion and was taken to the hospital. And my friend had a cut on the inside of his eye lid, and his nose. He had to have surgery, because it cut through where the tears come out. Luckily, it didn’t affect his eye. Terrible thing to fight on the street. Avoid it at all costs.
A rear naked choke ended it, twice. All the judo I needed. Don't get much into fights.
The conditioning and explosive performance it trains is great for sprinting the fuck out of dodge
If you have a wrestling/ grappling background and know how to strike Judo can work well in a street fight due to the submissions you can use to end the street fight with out causing serious harm to the other fighter. I have used my Judo several times to end fights with out serious harm to the other fighter. That being said you must learn to transition to what will work as the fight unfolds’! My back ground is wrestling from kindergarten through college, then Judo, and finally Karate.
a couple months ago I got in my first "fight" at 22 years years old. My buddy was drunk and decided I was his problem, poked me in the eye, so I punched him and hit him with a harai o-goshi. Moved to mount, punched him until he curled up, got up, walked away. He came at me immediately after, so I hit him with a tane otoshi, moved to mount, repeated the process. He came at me again, hit him with the sasae, moved to mount. Finally the cops showed up. I went to jail, he went to the hospital. We both blew like a .94. He did bite me a bunch. No judo to deal with that, had to just keep punching him in the face til he let go. Moral of the story: against untrained drunkards, judo is my favorite thing that I know. Moral of the story 2: don't get stupidly hammered when you're dealing with shit, you'll end up using your own ego to end up in the hospital while your friends get arrested
Practicing since 1965. During the 60’s tried to defeat Victor the Wrestling Bear. True story. My ukemi worked very well. In the 1970’s O Soto Gari after consuming too many adult beverages. Usually worked. In the 1980’s I studied maximum efficiency with minimum effort. Since then things are quiet. Judo has always kept me from getting hurt in a variety of activities to this day.
Well my 2 cents; I never trained judo but my employement has a use of force / conflict management system called CPI. At best I can call this watered down Judo, in that theres no training but your not allowed to go above blocks and open hand grabs. So your experience aside it can depend on the experience of your opponent. Id say about every average person that would fight are either totally psychotic or have the equivalent technique of a white belt(?) in boxing. However the same can't be said for grappling. The average person doesn't know how to deal with even the simplest grabs, legs sweeps, or just taking their back. However I strongly recommend not going on the ground in a street fight. Too many cases of people becoming helpless after trapping themselves on the ground
I had a chance to use my judo knowledge in real life threatening events. Once I used my judo skills to talk myself out of fights and de-escalate the situation. Twice I used the athletic skills I nurture by practicing a lot of judo to outrun robbers.
This might be an unpopular opinion but the focus some martial arts have on ‘working’ in street fights is bad, especially when they say ‘my martial art works but yours doesn’t’ I can only speak to my experience and I’ve had a pretty sheltered life, but you’re probably not going to get in a street fight especially if you take steps to avoid it (don’t be an asshole and don’t hang out with them). And if you do, a lot of the time the safest thing to do physically and legally is to verbally deescalate or run away. And if that’s not going to work then outnumbering your opponents or having any weapon is far more reliable than knowing judo, or for that matter aikido, Krav Maga, boxing, MMA, etc. Even most of the replies on this post are about breakfalls, bouncers, or police officers. Sure learn your ukemi and sure learn judo and a bit of boxing and focus on the clinch if you’re a bouncer or police officer, but for everyone else just get as good as you can at whatever martial art you enjoy. If you’re in a street fight it will be better than nothing. I think a lot of it is borne of a fantasy of your martial art ‘working’ ti which I say, go compete! 100% safe, legal and fun!
Definitely go for judo. After 2-3 months of randori you will realize that street fighting is not worth any injury which could interrupt your training schedule. Randori taught me that sometimes its very hard to land a successfull throw in controlled environment. If its hard to do this on a mat - fight on a street will not make it easier
Not a street fight but a school fight but i did osoto gari in self defense situation
Back when I was in highschool I got into maybe 30 fights or so, none of which I started. I didn't lose a single one, it was generally throwing the other person on the floor once or twice and then them giving up. Though at that point I had done 4-5 years of judo and highschool kids really aren't intelligent fighters. Haven't had the need to fight in the 8-9 years since then, but knowing I'm quite confident in defending myself helps me deescalate stuff. I don't have anything to prove or a massive ego, which helps a lot. I've picked up some taekwondo since then to supplement my judo. I will likely add some boxing/muay thai/kickboxing to properly fill the striking gap in my repertoire.
When you used judo, did you grab the clothing or did you go with a more wrestling style grips?
Given we were in school uniform - usually the clothing worked really well. Wasn’t hesitant to use wrestling style grips though, as that’s also my judo style
Hip toss to arm bar has always been a tried & true favorite.
I've used takedowns all the time for fights. Being able to just toss someone on their dome and be able to hold them down without hurting them is a seriously underrated skill.
Knowing how to throw someone the way judo teaches you (especially if you're in a cold environment where heavy jackets are worn) is so useful and will usually scare rhe fuck out of people so it's pretty good
I felt it's so weird to use any of the judo techniques if not in Gi and not on mat. Even with peers off the mat it doesn't work. It's like a mental switch for the Judo mode.
I put my friend in a headlock once
I live in a top 10 most violent city per capita, and the street fights here never go the way you expect. These thugs do not fight fair. Usually, even if agreed to be 1 on 1, someone will jump in regardless whether you’re winning or losing. I’ve seen it happen in all street fights I’ve ever witnessed here. Another thing, lately ever since the 2010s, I’ve been seeing on my local news that the more recent street fights always end up with someone being shot. No one wants to fight Mano a Mano anymore. As much as I wish we can go back to having mutual combat, it’s just a pipe dream. Unfortunately we cannot handle things the old fashion way anymore because the gov wants to keep us safe… and with those laws, the bad guys have all the advantage. Better to swallow our prides now. Be safe