This article is part of a major effort by MixedMartialArts.com to understand what works, not by watching what happens in the cage or ring, but rather by what happens when martial arts are used on the street, or in this case, a park. Check out the Best Of library on on:
•Style vs. Style
•Martial Arts on The Street
•Jiu-Jitsu
Back in the early nineties, the Ultimate Fighting Championship was conceived with two questions in mind. First, which martial arts style is superior; this was to be determined via no-holds-barred contests, putting exponents of different styles against each other. The second question was who is the Earth’s apex predator; this was to be determined by an open invitation to top exponents of each style. Rorion Gracie, a co-founder, intended to establish that the form of jiu-jitsu developed in Brazil would overcome masters of karate, wrestling, boxing, sumo, kung fu, and savate. And he succeeded, for a time.
Fast forward to the present day, and cross-training between disciplines is the norm, and mixed martial arts has become a style in and of itself. But surprisingly style vs. style matchups, notably on the streets, still pop up every now and then.
In the below video, a 23-year-old wrestler takes on a 47-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in a park.
What Happened
Although the wrestler immediately gets the BJJ player to the ground, he quickly has his back taken and is put in danger via a rear-naked choke. Not knowing what to do, the wrestler desperately tries to escape by cranking on the BJJ player’s finger, which the jiu-jitsu practitioner and on-lookers tell the wrestler to stop doing, due to it being potentially injurious, without being significant.
Eventually, the skilled BJJ artist’s strategies pay off and he locks in the choke and has his foe tapping away on the grass and begging for mercy. He walks off with $100 less in his pocket, but hopefully older and wiser for his trouble.
The Lesson
It is a mantra in some unfortunate circles that the style doesn’t matter, it is the person that matters. This stance does not correspond with reality. There is now an incontrovertible record that jiu-jitsu experts will defeat experts from most martial arts, and they will do it so handily that it can accomplished without hurting them.
To be crystal clear, this is not to say that jiu-jitsu makes one invincible. There was a generation of BJJ blue belts in the 90s who believed fervently that they could take Mike Tyson. That too is goofy, and the view is no longer found anywhere in the community. But it was never as goofy as the folks who think the focus of training is irrelevant.
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