Krav Maga or Jiu Jitsu?

Question

I am a normal person looking to learn an H2H mainly for "street fighting." I don't plan on taking on any terrorists anytime soon. What is best for me?

Thanks in advance to all who answer my question!

Answer 1

Well between the two, go with Krav Maga. Jiu Jitsu is a good system but its grappling-oriented and you basically just train to win a ground fight against one guy. And in a street fight, you never want to be on the ground.

You could be great at Jiu Jitsu, but on the street there's probably going to be more than one threat, and no matter how easily you get the guy into an kimura or something, it won't stop his friend from running up and kicking you in the head.

Krav Maga (which translates into "close combat") is designed for hand to hand combat in a street scenario (like if you get jumped, are outnumbered or if your opponent has a weapon) and it teaches you how to defend yourself practically from day one. If street fighting is what you're looking for, then find a Krav Maga school. You could try reading up on Kajukenbo too, which is similar.

Answer 2

First let me point out that Martial Arts are designed for self defense, not street fighting, and unfortunatly many people on here do not realize there is a difference.

A street fight is a clash of ego's that requires 2 willing participants. 99% of them can be avoided if one person or the other has the b**** to walk away and refuse to fight. Self defense falls into that other 1% where no matter what you do to avoid it you are forced to defend yourself physicly. The name of the game in self defense is survival, pure and simple. All that is really at stake in a street fight is your ego and bragging rights. In self defense it can be ever seeing your family agin thats at stake, or the life of a loved one.

That being said the best style is going to be the one that is taught and trained the best in your area. You say Jiu Jitsu, but I don't know if you are talking about the Japanese or Brazilian version. BJJ is mainly about ground fighting, someplace I really don't want to end up if it is my life, or someone I love's life on the line, as my options are very limited if I am faced with more then one attacker. 1 on 1 it is an excellent style, and excells at grappling. Japanese ju Jitsu is weaker on the ground, but it does have stand up, which solely in my opinion is where I want to be. You od need to be familiar with the ground, just in case, but it would be a last resort for me.

Krav Maga when taught correctly is an incredibly destructive fighting style, and is geared totally to self defense. Nothing flashy, it's main goal is to help you survive, and get away at the first oppurtunity. Self defense does not necessarily mean finishing your opponent, merely doing what is required to get out of the situation.

Be warned that many Krav Maga schools have sprung up in the US, but many are being taught by unqualified instructors. Be sure you check out references and qualifications very carefully. In fact one of the top contributers on here, Judomofo, actually trained Krav in Isreal and is a brown belt, so any questions you may have I am sure he would be happy to answer.

I personelly do not train any of these styles but I do know what they are about and would say any would work for you, more importent then the style though is how well it is taught, how you train it, and how hard you train.

Answer 3

Go with Krav Maga and use it on the Sadie's so Gas can reach a record high!!

Answer 4

Jiu Jitsu is far more effective and also very enjoyable to learn.

Answer 5

Krav. I personally take BJJ and in all honesty in an anything goes streetfight I wouldn't want to rely solely on BJJ. Someone else here said something about american bjj being a more watered down version of bjj and I tend to agree. It really does depend on the instructor though. The first place I trained at the coach was more hardcore and sometimes had us doing breakfalls on cement to show that if you do it properly you won't get hurt, but not all places are hardcore like that. And lots of them really just teach sport bjj.

Answer 6

If you're looking for a martial art to do "street fighting", then you're losing sight of why you should learn martial arts in the first place.

M.A. is and was created for self defense, *NOT* attacking someone.

BJJ is mostly a sport these days, and is very unsuitable for defending yourself on the street. It relies on you going to the ground for most of its techniques...which is pretty much the LAST place on earth you want to be in a fight, *especially* if there's more than one opponent. If it's you vs. 2 or 3 people, and you're on the ground, you're in deep trouble at that point.

I would choose a grappling art, such as JuJitsu (Japanese), Aikido or Judo - all three have many techniques in common (as JJ is the parent art of the other 2), and all 3 are suitable for close-quarters defense. Judo in particular also teaches ground control as a major part of the curriculum, but I believe many JuJitsu and Aikido styles do try to at least familiarize you with techniques to defend yourself until you can get back to your feet again.

You can manipulate the opponent's joints, ceasing his attack, or project him away from you. Randori (free-sparring) is commonly used in all 3 of these arts as a realistic use of JJ, Aikido or Judo techniques against one (or more!) attackers.

Answer 7

Krav is really brutal. They teach you to do hard core I wanna hurt this person fighting like groin strikes and neck strikes. So I would only take Krav if your planning on really hurting people bad.  THis is what I got from researching Krav

Answer 8

Any style will work but not everyone is suited to them my advice is take a few classes in each then decide.

I agree with Katana on this one and there's not much else I can add to his answer although I'm Japanese jiu-jitsu trained.

Best wishes :)***

Answer 9

Whatever you want dude ! Its a free country !

Answer 10

Krav Maga.

If its BJJ you're talking about, Krav Maga.  BJJ in America has lost its street fighting brazilian roots, and even Royce Gracie himself said this was a concern as to the family's reputation.  If you are training under a Gracie, then, it comes down to a coin toss.

However if you do not have a Gracie there available......

Krav Maga.