The Limitations of MMA & Kickboxing in Self-Defense Applications

Not too long ago, I read a thread online posted by someone who wanted advice about which martial arts training. While most of the responses were just people talking about why their styles were superior to the others, there was one comment that I found to be particularly salient. The responder said, "You should learn kickboxing/MMA so you can learn something that works on the street."

There are hundreds of fighting systems out there. Some of them have techniques that stretch back to a time when people were actually killing each other with their bare hands. Can it really be true that the only ones with any self-defense value are the ones that dominate the UFC? Of course not. While kickboxing and MMA are both excellent fighting systems which impart a lot of the skills necessary for self-defense, they still have their limitations as well. Particularly since they are both sports. Listed below are just a few:

Lack of multiple opponent scenarios training

The first problem that I have with the argument that UFC dominant martial arts are the only effective ones is the fact that the UFC only simulates one kind of self-defense scenario: one on one. At least as far as my own life experience has shown, people who get into fights often do so because their friends are around to back them up. As such, street fights aren't always one on one. Furthermore, as your chances of losing in a multiple opponent scenario become exponentially higher the longer it drags on, crippling attacks (such as to the eyes or throat) should also be covered. As none of these things can be done safely to an opponent in the ring, and multiple opponent scenarios do not exist in ring fighting (pro-wrestling and Sando aside) you are not likely to learn them at a typical sport fighting gym. 

Lack of weapons defense training

Another very real self-defense situation not covered in ring-fighting gyms are weapons defense scenarios. Although things like timing, distancing, and autonomic defense responses will most certainly help you, defense against weapons is specifically trained for in most traditional martial arts and/or reality-based self-defense combat systems. My ring fighting background alone was enough for me to "survive" most of the simulated knife fights I'd done, but not all of them. Knowing the differences between fighting empty-handed and fighting with an edged weapon will increase your chances of surviving a situation that, unlike ring fighting, is often fatal.

Lack of an emphasis on avoiding fights 

During my time working as a bodyguard in Tokyo, I learned that if you or your principle gets into a physical situation to begin with, then you have already failed in your job. The same goes with self defense. The single greatest self-defense is lack of conflict.  Most fights can be avoided (or at least diffused) through having self-awareness or at least awareness of the situation around you. 

How exactly these principles are taught may vary from school to school or style to style, but emphasis on personal development is an integral part of traditional martial arts training. As such, awareness and avoiding fights are generally always covered. I'm not saying this to downplay the lessons you learn from pursuing fight sports. Really good fighters from any style are generally very modest and humble people. However, helping people to become aware of the things that they do that puts them into conflict situations is an important part of teaching self-defense.


Long-term Unsustainability

The fact of the matter is, serious fight sports are not for the faint of heart. They are simply not for everyone. In much the same way that PX90 is a great fitness system with proven results, the problem itself is not the system; it's the fact that the average person isn't tough enough to stick with that system long enough to see those results. Telling people that they have to learn kickboxing or MMA to be safe on the street is like saying the only way to be safe on the road is to drive a hummer. On the other hand a family-oriented martial art like taekwondo may not give its practitioners the same wholistic fight experience that MMA does, but the emphasis on safety does give the timid or uninitiated a fight experience they can handle. Through this experience they can stick with the training long enough to develop fighting skill sets that they otherwise never would. Furthermore, the more physically punishing a fighting system is, the higher the chances of long term affects on your body that could not just affect your ability to defend yourself but your ability to live life as well.

Overall, I am as big of a fan of MMA as everyone else is, and I think as a fighting system its merits will certainly stand the test of time. In one match in particular, Minotauro vs. Sapp, I saw a man not only defeat an opponent who outweighed him by 150 lbs, but do so without having to hurt or cripple him. If a result like that doesn't stand at the heart of what martial arts are all about than I don't know what does. At the same time however, I think it's important to realize that any kind of ring fighting is still a sport, and as such, has its limitations.

Anytime you impose a system of rules on a fight, you are giving it an artificiality that a real street fight wouldn't have, and that must always be kept in mind, regardless of what you are training in. Taekwondo players often lean on each other to stay inside kicking range, Jujitsu guys mount, dismount and mount again to rack up points, and Judo guys will "turtle up" to stop an opponent from submitting them. Despite the fact that these are all tricks to winning in the ring, any one of them could produce disastrous results if applied to a real self-defense situation. This does not however mean that these systems are useless. What it means is that once you develop a fighting skill set (regardless of which one it is) you should gain whatever experience you can in other kinds of fighting to learn what your own limitations are. Not only will you be a better all around fighter for it, but a wiser martial artist as well.