Mixed Martial Arts Training for Self Defense

Is MMA the Right Style to Learn for Self Defense?

If you're interested in learning self-defense to protect yourself in the unthinkable case of attack, robbery, or assault, then you might wonder how well mixed martial arts classes will train you for such a situation.

First of all, if this is your quandary then you're in an excellent position because you've already identified the goal for taking martial arts classes. This allows you to better evaluation which art you should choose to take. However, the answer to the question is not as simple as a yes or no.

As an instructor and student of various martial arts for well over 20 years, including modern mixed martial arts, I would say that as with anything, it all depends on the instructor or instructors you train under. Most techniques learned in MMA classes are effective in many situations, including self defense. However, the way each technique is taught may not prepare a student for a real "street" encounter. Much of this comes down to strategy and practice versus the particulars of each technique.

Knowing when to apply certain techniques and strategies to each situation is more the dilemma when trying to use MMA as a self-defense art. It should be understood that it is not designed to be a self-defense art. MMA is designed to be a competition art aimed at winning under a given set of rules.

Despite potentially questionable origins and the old "underground fight leagues" today's top MMA schools teach fighters to compete against each other in fair, one-on-one, refereed, mostly even weight matches. The training is based on a very specific set of rules that govern the sport they compete in. These classes in and of themselves do not necessarily prepare the same fighter for a street encounter with an armed thug.

The MMA student has many advantages over a typical street thug and in a large percentage of cases they will find themselves able to dominate any relatively even match even under street conditions by using a bit of common sense with their training. However, when the odds are stacked heavily against them, as is often the case in street fights and robberies, things may be a bit different.

Very often robberies and assaults are perpetrated by a large, strong individual against a smaller weaker one, or by multiple people against one or two targets, or by those with weapons including guns, knives, clubs/batons, pepper spray, and even stun guns. These factors change the self-defense strategies used. Suddenly "ring" or "cage" tactics such as ground fighting may not be effective due to dangerous conditions such as broken glass on the ground or multiple attackers.

Strategies of careful, patient fighting and attrition through jabs and leg kicks become unsafe. In a street situation, the more time spent fighting the more danger there is of another opponent or a weapon entering the fight and causing additional problems. Also, being slammed to the ground may result in potentially fatal head injuries.

So generally speaking I do not believe that mixed martial arts, as it's normally taught in competition oriented schools, is the best style for a beginner to take if your goal is purely self defense. You need an art that teaches how to quickly subdue opponents, and practices dealing with multiple attackers, knives, guns, clubs, and other weapons.

MMA teaches how to deal with highly skilled opponents, but most street attacks come from untrained or very poorly trained thugs. So this level of training may not be necessary in dealing with most street situations. Should you encounter someone highly trained on the street, you may still need years of MMA training to be a match. Instead, you should learn arts that teach how to escape dangerous situations instead of how to fight in a controlled environment.

This is not to say that mixed martial arts training cannot vastly improve your self-defense skills. If you wish to train in MMA for self defense, the trick is to find a school that dedicates specific practice time to self-defense applications of the skills they learn. Because it's not the skills themselves learned, but rather the strategies and tactics of how to apply them to self-defense situations.

In my home school, the Baltimore Martial Arts Academy, we have a separate class that teaches MMA students how to apply their techniques to self-defense situations. The class is a combination of MMA Striking, Aikido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and various other arts.