Recently, a student wrote to second-degree black belt Nick “Chewy” Albin saying that he is not sure which martial art is better for self-defense: Japanese jujutsu (JJ) or Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). He was concerned that BJJ is too competition and groundwork-oriented to be an effective self-defense system.
Before answering, Professor Albin admitted he was biased in favor of BJJ. After all, he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.
However, Chewy did have some experience with Japanese jujutsu. When he was a blue belt, he and his fellow BJJ practitioners had to share a gym with a JJ class, and Nick would often watch the jujutsu students practice their art.
One of the downsides Albin noticed was that the JJ practitioners never trained live. Everything was practiced in a nice, choreographed manner.
A street fight, Chewy warns, does not follow a nice, rhythmic pattern, though. Even if you have the best techniques, they can be useless if you don’t know how to use them in a stressful, chaotic situation.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, however — with its daily rolls and frequent competitions — gives its students a better idea of what it is like to be in a street fight.
Professor Albin also said that if the writer was concerned that BJJ was too ground-oriented, he could always train more stand-up techniques.
You can watch Nick “Chewy” Albin’s entire video above.
