Jiu jitsu is a grappling style of martial arts that is great for developing techniques to defend yourself. In a street fighting scenario, you could use your skills to subdue an aggressor without inflicting unnecessary injuries. Alternatively, an individual may use jiu jitsu to maintain positional dominance as they proceed with ground and pound strikes. This article will describe how jiu jitsu was effectively used in 9 different street fights.
Warning! The following content will contain offensive language and violence.
1. Cul-de-sac Brawl
One of the first thing apparent in the video is the obvious size difference between the two individuals. As the larger fellow tries to bring down the shirtless individual to the ground with a headlock, you can see the shirtless one quickly transitioning to the back. To obtain back control, the shirtless fighter swung one leg around the far hip of the big guy and then added the second hook as they both rolled on the ground. The shirtless fighter had an arm wrapped around the neck of the big guy early on, which made it easier for the shirtless fellow to secure a rear naked choke hold.
At the 37 seconds mark, you will see the inherent danger of fighting in the street as the bigger fighter tries to stand up and then throws himself backwards. The shirtless fighter is lucky that his head hitting on the concrete did not knock him out. One option for reducing the chance of that happening to you is by positioning your head right next to the opponent’s head and tucking your chin towards your chest. The action of tucking your chin is commonly used in judo break falling drills to prevent head whiplash.
This video clip also shows that the action of tapping to submission is not always honored on the streets (At 47 seconds), and being choked out will leave you defenseless to whatever your opponent decides to do next.
2. Street Fight Challenge
In this video, the description states that an MMA fighter was challenged to a street fight. Based on the events that occurred, the MMA fighter should be the guy wearing the shorts. Shortly after throwing a light low kick to the opponent’s leg, the MMA fighter immediately shot for a takedown. Notice how the MMA fighter beautifully “windmills” his opponent’s leg before slamming him to the ground. This action puts the MMA fighter directly into side control, which is a great habit for avoiding the opponent’s guard and countering their guillotine attempt.
Upon landing on the ground, the MMA fighter continues to circle his body towards the other guy’s head and then shove his knee towards the challenger’s near hip. The latter movement blocks off the opponent’s bottom leg from coming in. Afterwards, the MMA fighter slid his knee across the opponent’s belly and based out to achieve the mount position. His balance and hand positioning allowed him to maintain the mount as the opponent tries to bridge and buck him off. The MMA fighter continuously threw strikes from the mount position and had the skills to adjust his balance as the opponent tries to cover himself from the strikes and squirm away.
3. A Fight Between High School Students
The video clip consists of a fight between two high school students among a crowd of their peers. The fight started with wild punching exchanges. As the kid in the white shirt got into clinching range, the one in grey grabbed an overhook and thrusted his hips forward to bump his opponent to the ground. When both kids took a tumble down the grassy hill, the kid in grey did an exceptional job of getting back control and maintaining it on the way down. Once they both stop rolling, the kid in grey displayed fantastic jiu jitsu by extending his legs backward and pushing his hips forward to flatten out his opponent and making it highly difficult to escape. He also successfully secured a rear naked choke before the fight was broken up.
4. Fighting in the Snow
The jiu jitsu practitioner, the individual wearing the pants with the green stripes, started out the match defensively to avoid getting hit. Once in range, he grabbed his opponent’s lead leg for a single leg takedown attempt and then shifted to a double leg. The bigger guy was able to use his size to his advantage and sprawled to defend the takedown. The jiu jitsu practitioner adjusted to obtain a half guard before advancing to a closed guard. He proceeded to use his slick skills to set up an armbar and finished it with the belly down technique. The large opponent is lucky that the jiu jitsu practitioner respected the verbal tap, let go of the armbar and they were able to settle the situation from going any further.
5. Jiu Jitsu Used In a Street Fight Between Two Kids
After having a solid punch land on his face, the shirtless kid immediately went for a double leg wrestling shot. As the kid in the yellow tries to scoot away and get back on his feet, the shirtless kid did an amazing job of using shoulder pressure to drive his opponent to the ground. When the yellow shirt kid tried to roll away, the shirtless kid smartly use his shin to pin the other kid’s head to the ground before quickly transitioning to an armbar. The shirtless kid, however, went too far and unnecessarily hyperextended or even broke his opponent’s arm.
6. Dealing With a Drunk Customer
Ryan Hall is a jiu jitsu black belt and MMA fighter. In this old video clip that dates back to 2011, a drunk customer started being overly aggressive and rude in front of Ryan’s face. Ryan took the drunk down with a spear double leg takedown. He slid into the mount position and used wrist control to keep the drunk person from striking him. Around the 5:10 time mark, the drunk customer still would not leave the restaurant so Ryan pulled him outside and subdued him with a rear naked choke hold. This scenario shows how a practitioner can utilize jiu jitsu to take control of a situation without inflicting unnecessary damages.
7. Beating a School Bully with Jiu Jitsu
The video started off with the kid in the beige shorts bullying the kid in red. When the kid in red gets his kick caught, he promptly dragged his opponent to the ground and rolled right into the mount position. After a series of strikes, the bully turns away to avoid getting punched in the face. This response created a submission opening, which the kid in red capitalized on by going for the armbar and hyperextending the bully’s elbow. The bully definitely needs to think twice before trying to mess with the kid in red again.
8. Fighting In the Parking Lot
The guy with the shirt, Troy, ducked under a punch and got himself the body lock position. He successfully used this body lock to off balance and take the opponent down. Troy moved into the half guard position before mounting his opponent. He proceeds to grapevine both of his opponent legs to secure the mount position. Troy also used his hands to base out and had his hips pressing towards the ground to create heavy top pressure as he threw punches. The rest of the video shows the consequences of giving up your dominant position to stand back up and absorb avoidable punches.
9. Fighting in Public
The person with the blue shirt displayed excellent jiu jitsu skills. As his opponent launched towards him with strikes, he changed level and shot for a leg wrap takedown. The person in blue smoothly transitioned to the mount position, as soon as they both hit the ground. Just as the opponent tries to turn and get away, he expertly pinned the opponent’s left hand to the ground as he obtained back control. This is a good video for demonstrating how a grappler can rapidly neutralize a heated situation.
Conclusion
Those 9 videos above prove that jiu jitsu techniques can be effective in a street fight. It is a useful tool to dominate control of a single individual and reduce the amount of strikes absorbed. However, these videos also displayed the importance of having good takedown skills to complement your ground game.
Practice Your Takedowns
Fighting in the street, you don’t want to leave it up to a lucky punch. You want to neutralize and take down your opponent with as minimal harm to you as possible. That is why takedowns are extremely important in a street fight. Learn your takedowns and you will most likely have the upper hand when it comes to fighting someone with little to no fighting experience. Go here to check out the takedowns you need to learn to get the upper hand in the streets.
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