I have four years experience in Scholastic Wrestling and 3 years in Tae Kwon Do. Unfortunatly, I don’t find these arts brutal enough for my taste. Wrestling season is over for good (I’m graduating, yes!) And my Tae Kwon Do Center is as pussified as they come…a pregnant housewife passed her blackbelt test, while getting half her form wrong. I did not mention my belt level for a reason, I DONT RESPECT IT. Anyway, any oppinions on some truly deadly and vicious martial arts, doesn’t matter what country it comes from, just as long as it is devestatingly hardcore. Thank-Watts-
Find a place that stresses sparring. Not point sparring, but in the ring like boxing or kickboxing. Avoid the schools where your class is mixed in with mom and kids. No style has secret moves so don’t look for one. As long as you now a grappling and a striking style your set. 20 mastered techniques you can use in the street will do more than hundreds you’ll need to memorize for a blackbelt.
Every style will have strong and weak practitioners, and hardcore and more commercialized schools. Try a local boxing gym. Yes, boxing does have rules, but those guys can hit, and they pound each other. Most martial arts schools discourage full contact, and you wouldn’t be interested in th esport karate schools out there. Unfortunately, due to liability concerns, boxing gyms are about the only place left that really go hardcore. Sure, there’s plenty of martial arts schools that may, but they’re tough to locate from city to city, whereas a boxing gym can be found just about anywhere. Good luck.
Take up boxing. Go to some inner city gym that’s not pussified. OR look for another Karate place.
While I don’t have any experience with it, I’ve seen a couple of things on Krav Maga, an Israeli fighting system. Apparently a couple of UFC guys swear by it. I tend to agree with the other guys though. I’ve been looking to take some martial arts classes but I think I’d rather take some boxing lessons. Can’t seem to find any thing on the web though. Is there a national boxing organiation site that will list gyms or something?
Go with boxing, if you wanna be a tough SOB you’ll have to learn to take a beating as well as give one, a boxing gym is about the only place you can do that. I’m sure there’s a martial arts message board check it out if boxing ain’t your thing… You may be able to find a hardcore martial arts school in your area on the board. Try not to swallow too much blood, they’ll be no room for a post match Surge :P. outlaw
Have you tried the ancient and deadly art of Tae Bo? 
goes and crawls back into the cave from which he came
They are right, in that all arts have something to offer. I do Kempo, which I like as a striking arts (especially with all the eye, groin, and throat strikes) and jujitsu for the locking/grappling aspect of things. If you wanna get really “evil” there is always sticks and knives. I do some kali and escrima which is cool too. Also, look into stuff like kickboxing, shoot fighting etc. That stuff is pretty effective. Basically, try a lot of things to get different perspectives and not get locked into one style.
Muy Thai kicks ass.
Dude, try Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu … better yet, if you can find a Gracie-certified instructor, then you’ll be on your way. We don’t do much striking, but learn how to prevent it … but most importantly you’ll be able to choke someone out or break any limb, wrist, ankle, etc., from just about any position. Most of the guys who go into UFC competitions are turning toward this discipline as it’s best for fighting from the ground. Plus it’s a great game of mental chess too, and burns a hellova lot of calories!
First of all, why do you want this? So you feel safer? So you can mangle criminals? Release tension?
Make sure you’re not doing this out of some desire to be the bully of the block. That being said, I recommend two guys who can show you whatever you need.
Gene LeBell who is in L.A. he choked Steven Seagal unconscious and was Bruce Lee’s grappling instructor. I picked him first because you’ve got a wrestling background and Gene specializes in catch wrestling and ju jitsu/judo finishing holds. He’s also really outstanding at sambo and frankly that old man is dangerous.
Joe Lewis( while in the Marine Corps he went from no belt to black belt in Okinawa in six months. He was heavyweight champion in full contact karate back when that meant something, was voted the greatest karate fighter of all time by Black Belt magazine and I swear in the ring he is unstoppable even today. He trained with Bruce Lee as well.
Both of these guys are well respected in the NHB community as well as their respective disciplines. Joe only does seminars but if you contact him (you can find him on the internet and Gene's on there too) he can tell you where to train. Don't try to impress either one of them just tell them you want realistic training.
BTW Krav Maga is nothing more than what Bruce Lee envisioned, a system that trains for realism and to meet whatever situation might arise. The moves are even similar. I like to think of it as parallel evolution.
Post again if you have any other questions.
I’ve preused a couple web sites that espouse street fighting as a particularly brutal art. It’s not that there’s any real technique or form, but that they literally use anything and everything at any time. They actually encourage their people to attack each other on the streets unannounced! Could either make you really good at being ready all the time, or really paranoid. I have no experience with any fighting arts, so you can take it for what it’s worth. Might be worth looking into, though.
I think Muy Thai Kickboxing is great. It’s a style that works well in street fighting. Being able to use your knees and elbows while fighting can really make a grown man bleed. I had a hardcore instructor who had only been in the US for a few months(from Thailand). I could never understand what he said so he would demonstrate on me. He would smack our shins with his stick when we were doing situps. First he taught us how to box,including elbows, and you had to fight in the ring once a week (3 five minute rounds). When He was happy with your boxing technique then you learned to kick and use your knees. Once you find the style you want then start searching the different gyms in your area and you’ll find one that is hardcore.
Hi Watts – I also am a little concerned about your reasons for wanting to do this, but here is my suggestion. I agree with a couple of the other people who already answered. For a total mad dog rush, kali and escrima are hard to beat. This is really an entire region’s worth of different martial arts systems (the Phillipines). Other than that, look for a more traditional martial art branch from any region. You will find that every martial art has a great deal to offer YOU personally. The thing about martial arts is you must adapt the art to fit your body type, and there will be bits in every form that fit you. Good luck and have fun!
half the reason boxers and kickboxers and grapplers are good on the street is because of conditioning.
as far as joe lewis goes. he was good in his day, but that was along time ago.and things have changed quite abit.
i don’t think joe would fair well against peter aerts,ernesto hoost,jerome le banner, mike bernardo or mirko filipovic.
there wasn’t a very big talent pool to pick from in them days, and joe was ahead of his time.
I know what you mean I attended classes at one of those wossie Tae schools as well and then I found an instructor who really knows his shit and doesn’t just pass people for the extra cash. I am taking Tae Kwon Do from him again as well as Hap Kido. Hap Kido is way dangerous. I have to be very careful in sparing matches for Tae Kwon Do not to use my Hap Kido as it is not a form you can spar with as you would have no one left to fight in a very short period of time. Hap Kido is very efficient and deadly if I was ever in a position I had to defend myself I sure as hell would not use my Tae Kwon Do. They both have their pluses though I prefer Hap Kido. I am probably mis-spelling it anyway. If I were you I would check around and find a Master who really knows his shit first and formost.
All the arts mentioned are truly effective. However few arts address the psychological component of street combat, while even fewer speak of weapons defense and use, specifically edged-weapons. Two systems that address these issues and utilize the most powerful elements of some of the world’s most effective arts are Vee Arnis Jitsu and Chu Fen Do. do your research you will not be disappointed!
Regards,
trend
i would go with jitsu, most fights end up on the ground, and if you don’t know how to fight on the ground you’re screwed unless you can get a quick punch in, but the toughest people i know of, are knowledgeable in several disciplines, a good friend of mine is proficient in jitsu and judo, he also also has good size and leverage as he’s fairly tall and strong…he’s tough…also part of what made shamrock so tough is that he knows a little of everything, he knows how to fight on the ground, and strike and kick, plus he has good strength, if you read his book, he explains in it how he would prepare for his fights, by bringing in an expert of a different discipline, so for example he would practice muy thai with an expert for months, before battling a muy thai fighter
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu - enough said. Well, maybe not - all grappling systems have their benefits but I believe BJJ is the best. Someone can’t hit you if they’re on their back being quietly choked unconscious. Try it sometime I’m sure you won’t be dissapointed. Grow where you train?
All arts have their value at certain ranges. My instructor, Dan Inosanto, uses an analogy: whats the best vehicle a dug out canoe or a Porshe 928. . .If your on the LA freeway the Porshe wins hands down, in the Amazon Jungle, got to go with the canoe. Boxing is awesome. . .at the boxing range, but not to effective when grappling, grappling is great on the ground but you have to go thru the kicking, boxing, and trapping range to get on the ground. Ultimately it’s not the art, it’s the individual. The top 10% of any art could kick the ass of 90% of the people in any other art. Southeast asian martial arts were used in combat up until the 20th century and some are still used today. The mainstream Japanese and Korean martial arts were altered by the Zen influence of becoming a way to enlightment and mass teaching techniques(I’m making an observation not criticizing)note: any Japanese martial art which ends in -jitsu is an original combat art, …DO implies way of. Rules do not apply to street fighting so limitations inposed by rules ie, ring size, gloves, rounds, etc. limit street fighting ability. When you become more mature within your choosen martial art you will understand the martial arts go beyond kicking ass (although that’s important) the physicial aspects of the art are the tip of the iceburg. As you continue to practice the need to kick ass will diminish, although you must continue with realistic sparring and drills at all ranges. Muey Thai, Shoot, Wing chun, Jun Fan martial arts, Kali, Silat, Boxing, jiujitsu, are all great arts. Keep an open mind, if you really want to defend yourself buy a shotgun.