The actual title of the video below is “Why I don’t train in BJJ,” but a better title would be “The limits of BJJ in a street fight.” The guy in the video never says people shouldn’t train Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In fact, he even calls it “the most important advancement in martial arts in maybe two or three centuries.”
With that said, he also realizes that BJJ has its limits. It’s not a good art for dealing with someone who’s armed or who’s attacking you in an environment where there are dangerous objects on the ground. I probably wouldn’t be eager to roll around with someone if I were wearing shorts and the ground were covered with broken glass.
Of course, all martial arts have their limits. One of the main disadvantages of the striking arts, for example, is that they don’t let me control my opponents without hurting them. I took karate for five years. During that time, I learned how to break people’s noses, gauge people’s eyes, and even paralyze people from the waist down (I’m not joking). That might be all well and good if I’m fighting someone who’s trying to kill me, but what if I’m just trying to control my drunken uncle? Do I really want to break his nose or paralyze him? Of course not!
This is where arts like Brazilian jiu-jitsu come in handy; they allow me to control my opponent in a way that keeps his or her safety in mind. This is also why many police officers need to train BJJ.
Concluding, I don’t exactly disagree with the video below, but I don’t entirely agree with it either.
What do you think?
