Chris Chase’s original post stating that boxing is better because it ‘translates to real world scenarios’ where BJJ is ‘second level stuff’ is a bit of a fallacy. The origins of BJJ are well known, it was developed by a ‘real’ fighter practicing his skills in ‘real’ fights in ‘real’ situations. So which is really better Jiu-Jitsu or boxing?
There is NO one martial art that is better than all, or even any other martial art, they were all developed for specific situations, many of which are buried in the mists of time.
One other point, please be specific, BJJ and Jujitsu are quite different arts and were designed for different scenarios, also modern Jujitsu is quite different for the older styles of Japanese jujitsu.
The truth is that all martial arts have a specific fighting range, the distance between the attacker and defender, it is this range the defines the effectiveness of an art in the context of the skills of the practitioner. Combine the fighting range with the original purpose of the art and you start to understand why Jiu-Jitsu or boxing works well in one situation and Silat in another.
If an art was envisioned as a one on one activity it is the skill and awareness of the practitioner that allows it to be used in a multiple attacker scenario, if it was designed to be used in a multiple attacker environment it is again the skill of the practitioner that tunes the art to the hair ball of a everyone against everyone situation of a bar fight.
Finding the ‘best’ art is really a case of finding the best art to suit you. That cannot be achieved by randomly picking an art and studying it for years like Jiu-Jitsu or boxing.
I would recommend two things, first read about the history of any martial art you might be considering, understanding the origins of an art will give you an insight as to the strengths and weakness of that art.
When I say read about the origins, I am not talking about skimming the net for hearsay, dig deeper into the true origins, consider talking to the instructors of the clubs local to you, go to the library and see what you can find in the catalogues. If you are feeling rich, buy some books. Whatever you do look into the past, it is a valuable guide to the current state of the art.
Secondly, from what you have learned, choose a range of arts and study all of them for a few years, select three or four based on the fighting ranges and how much ‘fun’ they appear to be then stick at them for a few years. It is only as you approach black belt level that you really begin to understand an art, it is only into the Dan grades when you truly start to appreciate the strengths and weakness.
If after several years of Jiu-Jitsu or boxing, silat and Tai chi (for an example) you as the practitioner cannot see how to blend the arts into one viable fighting system that works for you drop the ones that you don’t enjoy and focus on the ones that you do.
One last thing, consider finding some of the less well known arts and training in those. Remember that in a fight if you haven’t seen a technique before it is almost impossible to defend against it, having a couple of weird and wonderful techniques in your arsenal from an unheard of martial art may just be a fight winner.
