Is krav maga really effective?

Question

is krav maga really as "streetwise" as everyone makes out or is it just another martial art. i am currently doing MMA and was wondering which would be better on the street. thanks

Answer 1

I think that Krav Maga is still evolving from a millitary art to a street self defense art.  The Krav Maga moves that i've seen are much too lethal for the medium level situations that you are likely to encounter on the street.

Answer 2

It's hard to say, I've only been learning krav for a month and I can definitely see it working, in case you don't know much about its history it was developed by the Israeli Defence Forces in the 50's and was adapted for civilian use in the 60's. It has since been adopted by hundreds of law enforcement and other government agencies in the United States alone including 240 police departments and agencies like the CIA.

Many of the maneuvers involve strikes to the groin, which are illegal in many MMA competition, it also uses elements such as eye gouging and headbutting. One of the main principles is that "you will not care how much damage you do to your opponent" and all the things I've learned so far seem to match up with this pretty well: punches to the throat, eye gouging, groin strikes, they're all integral parts of Krav. I've never practiced MMA but I have a lot of respect for it, it involves a lot of grappling and seeing as somethin like 90% of streetfights go to ground, I wouldn't be surprised if an MMA guy beat a Krav guy in a grapple as Krav doesn't have a whole lot of grappling in it, one of its few weaknesses. I won't say which one I think is better as I don't know enough about MMA to judge, all I know is that I feel a lot safer on the streets with even a month's worth of Krav training.