It first started long ago when some unknown combat aficionado first posed the question: "Which is better, boxing or wrestling" ?
Since that time comparisons of combat skills and methods have become common place: Boxing vs. Wrestling, Grappling vs. Striking, Jujutsu vs. Boxing OR Wrestling, Karate vs. Judo, Karate vs. Boxing, Swahili Toe Fighting vs. Peruvian Nostril Boxing, ad infinitum. Ad Nauseum!
The latest "Battle of BS" centers around: Reality Martial Arts versus (you can fill in the blank).
This is total nonsense! Actually the entire "debate" over what is better than whatever is ridiculous and a complete waste of time, especially for those who consider time a precious commodity. However, arguing the merits of so-called reality self defense or "combatives" in regards to comparison fighting skills is absolutely baseless and denotes a true lack of understanding in what "combatives" is really all about(and maybe life in general as well).
Personally I don't like the term combatatives. But I also fully realize that it is the undeniable human nature to label things. Without labels who would we hate, who would we kill, how could we stereotype, what basis would there be for religious, ethnic or racial bigotry? So in order for the world to work as it does, labels are a foregone conclusion. When labels become a tool or device for divisiveness and enmity we really fall into a trap that should be avoided at all costs.
The root problem here is the very same fundamental problem that is the wellspring for most, if not all of mankind's ills: The ego. The absolute need for self-validation at all cost. Anyone who engenders all or most of their feelings of self-worth and validation from their training alone (or even in major part) needs to immediately cancel their registration at all forthcoming seminars on the latest evolution of NHB fighting from the mount or the latest innovations in submission "whatever" imported directly from the planet Venus (or perhaps more accurately Uranus) and seek professional counseling quickly!
Let's try this simple experiment: Go into your kitchen draw and find the best steak knife with the sharpest, keenest edge. Now place it on the counter or breakfast table. Next, find the best fork with the sharpest pointiest tines and lay that right next to the steak knife.
Step back and let the fun begin! We'll settle this once and for all time the universal query of which is better: The sharp steak knife or the pointy fork!
After a few minutes, seems nothing is really happening here does it? Well, that's the exact problem with debating "technique", or "system", or "method" or "style". It's all an exercise in futility without the all important factor of the persons involved. It is not the "technique" IT'S THE MAN (or woman-PC alert)! Until human hands pick up the knife and the fork nothing will ever happen! The method doesn't work for the man. THE man who makes the method work!
It's never the merits of "just" Boxing vs. Wrestling or Muay Thai vs. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It is the individual merits of the men involved and those merits are rarely if ever "equal". Since we are all human and not machines, those "merits" actually fluctuate on an almost daily basis! Even for those possessed of seemingly superhuman qualities, Father Time, Uncle Murphy and Mr. Reaper will sooner or later destroy all that.
Further still, this mindless need to debate only applies in terms of sporting competitions! Sporting competitions by their nature are structured events. They are planned for, they are trained for. They encompass well defined rules and regulations.
So good natured speculation on the merits of one participant or team pitted against another certainly has some substance, even extending to the competitive merits of one combat sport against another there is some basis in logic. But extending these diatribes into the realm of real world violence and individual survival is pointless! NHB means "No holds Barred". The real world really is NHB.
To truly evaluate a method of street fighting and survival, you must define parameters on which will set up a good system. This is because most "styles" have had recorded success in the real world. The most common "knock out punch" in the street is an over hand right. This technique is included in every system form boxing to Muay Thai. So it can't be technique alone. For a reality based self defense system to be effective it must have proven techniques. Be usable in the least amount of time possible. Be able to be used effectively by anyone regardless of age, size, man or woman. And can be trained with a minimum amount of equipment. To date there is only one method that is simple, effective and able to allow ANYONE to protect themselves in the shortest amount of time possible. The is the purpose of the self defense training system
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