Your best bet is probably boxing and BJJ.
Specifically if you aren't interested in the "Art" aspect and just want to be able to defend yourself.
Despite most fights going to the ground I doubt you'll be wanting to drop to the ground when you're fighting off two or more guys.
I doubt you'll want to throw down in gravel,glass or some other counter to rolling around on your back.
Boxing is probably the single most basic and effective martial art on the planet.
Look at the all the guys in the UFC who make it far only knowing boxing and some wrestling/BJJ you can really do some damage with it.

For the most part I doubt any fight where you aren't fighting for your life will involve the full extent of either martial art.
So I'd take it for fun.
I'm currently interested in BJJ,Boxing and Karate. I just need to tear myself away from the T.V. Lol

It's a good thing to do martial arts. I am practising Kick/Thai boxing and like to have a good fight in the gym and NOT outside gym.

I was thinking to combine Kickboxing with another martial art called Sambo, its origin comes from Russia and it's a very powerfull, usefull and respectfull sport to do, but remember.. if you got a fight and you can run away, JUST DO IT!

thanx!

_________________
If she ain't got it she ain't got it, the theory is brilliant.

Anything is good if it helps you defend yourself. But its all useless if you dont have the endurance to back it up. anyway if you cant end it in 3 moves run as fast as you can.
for some good arts try wrestling, boxing, joint locks, and some of the moves bruce lee used to do like side kicking the shins.

He used to say "Im more afraid of the guy who practices one punch 10,000 times than the guy who practices ten different punches 1,000 times." or something along those lines.

There is not "best" martial art since they all lack some qualtities
I did BJJ for a long time and i realized my stand up game was absolute shit.
I had no confidence standing up, I had to on the ground to feel like a god.
That said, we RARELY practices take downs therefore my takedown was crap as well.

IMO the best is:
BJJ with JUDO and Muay thai, you got everything covered.
Boxing is too narrow imo, ignores the use of legs. but if your gonna use legs you have to be gifted and practice a lot with it, or else its going to be weak and probably get you in more trouble so you can substitute muay thai for boxing.

If you want to know which 1 to take first it depends if your going into law enforcement , judo or BJJ. if your going to clubs and partying and causing havoc then its most likely going to be a group fight and you do not want to end up on the ground so choose boxing

in order: BJJ/Boxing, then alstly Judo. I dotn recommend any other martial art. Wrestling is up for debate though. Its definitely good too if your a huge guy. Would not waste time on tae kwon do and karate and all that other stuff

Agreed. Muay Thai is simply the best overall striking martial art.

I'll have to chime in with my 2 cents here. In my opinion learning martial arts for the sole purpose of defending yourself in street fights is backwards thinking. Learn to avoid fights by communication, if you're good at that the chances of getting into a fight at all is almost non-existant. Yeah there's always the chance something can happen but where in life doesn't it? I reckon most people here drive a car on a pretty much daily base. Everytime you go out into traffic there is the chance someone will hit you no matter how good a driver you are. Does that make you avoid driving? It probably doesn't, why should you worry so much about a bar fight? Hell you could slip and break your neck in the bathroom but that doesn't stop you from going for a piss.

The problem with most martial arts also is that before you can utilize it in a street fight it takes years of practice. It's a completely different world, drunk people fight dirty and they WILL call their friends to help beat the crap out of you. Now I have great respect for people who are good at martial arts, it takes dedication and skill to become. But you should love what you're doing, and not go around with the mindset that you can beat up people. And even if you beat the living daylights out of someone what do you gain from it? Absolutely nothing, people won't respect you for it, they'll fear you instead.

Thought I would throw something in here...

I did Judo for 11 years and fought for my country, black belt and national champion. I have never been able to use it in a street fight because every time I have been attacked from behind with bottles, glasses and tables! Been knocked unconscience four times in all the street fights I have been in.

My point is.. people will attack you like a coward if you are bigger than them try and get a boot in and run away - im 6ft1 100kg.

I've learnt that the hard way and it knocked my confidence for a while but then I realised. If you hang around in the wrong places ie clubs and bars where egos are massive and people are drunk. You will not get hit the fair way they will act like scum cos its the only way they know how to win. So be ready to literally fight for your life in a millisecond and just be happy you made it out alive, dont fight for a rep in those situations. Your ego is worthless. Staying alive is the most important thing there is no honour in some stupid chavy brawl.

A theif is much easier to fight due to the situation. You are sober 99% of time very aware and they will be more scared than you. And i reccomend 100% people should learn to defend themselves for those situations.

In a drunken brawl however, people are cowards and will use whatever they weapons they can so there is a massive element of luck in you being able to dodge 4or5 guys throwing whatever they can at you. Just run. Believe me I have been there. Nothing is more important than staying alive and you do not want to feel guilty for what you have done to someone else either. Its all macho BS and that above everything is retarded. But being able to protect yourself is different and that I can do, I may have lost a lot of fights but i'm not dead yet and i'm still not scared either cos i can say no one has ever fully punched me square in the jaw because drunken brawls hardly ever happen like that. They all just end up in a stupid mess so stay away from them unless you have to defend yourself. Plus police are more likely to lock you up for a drunken brawl even if you were defending yourself.

I'm surprised Muay Thai FINALLY got covered on the 5th page of this debate.

I'v been a fighter for 6 months now. I saw a girl almost get raped by 2 guys (luckily everything got solved quick) and I thought to myself.. damn... what if someone tried that on my little sister? Next morning I signed up and have been training 6 days a week ever since. (don't worry, I use this as a DHV story all the time )

Aside from losing a considerable amount of weight and having it noticed, I developed discipline that I didnt have before, and an unshakable confidence that simply wasnt there. I'm a short guy (5'5) and have been intimidated my whole life. I can pretty much tell you guys that I don't get intimidated very easily anymore.

Do I go out looking for fights? Hell no. I havnt been in a street fight in my life. But I just give off this vibe and conflict just eases out quick.

Now in terms of the general effectiveness? 80%. Why the missing 20? I doubt I can take on more than 2 guys. I have done SOME training for 2 guys, but never more. I heard for multiple opponents, you'd have to go for either Krav Maga or Ninjitsu.

80% tho is REALLY good. Your kicks are devastating, your punches are great, and a close-quarter elbow is an instant knockout. Guy gets too close? Theres clinching in which you can bend him over and conveniently raise your knee to his face.

You wanna learn to fight? Take Muay Thai, and learn it seriously. It will work wonders.
Plus a chick loves a man thats a fighter

TheMack

_________________
DUDE! Take my free ebook... It's FREE --> http://centeredmanproject.com/

wrestling hands down...
Not really a martial art-but the martial art killer.
Look at the UFC, wrestlers dominate.
Wrestling requires tremendous physical fitness, strength, coordination, reflexes etc etc. Training wrestling will allow you to learn how to use leverage and gravity to take people to the ground.
I wrestled for 7 years and got to a moderately high level and then switched to other fighting styles: bjj, muay thai and boxing. Within a couple weeks (no joke) I could grapple with some of the top guys at the bjj club, do to the similar positions. I was far stronger, more aggressive and better conditioned than most of these guys and the technique was very easy to learn after years of wrestling. Boxing and Muay thai have been trickier since i'm prone to leading with my head, however I can easily take any boxer or kickboxer down and then they dont know what to do.
Wrestling is great for street fighting, I'm not much of a street fighter but in the 2 fights i've been in in my life both times the takedown was a sufficient portrayal of dominance and now strikes needed to be throwen.
From a pure fitness point of view: nothing is better. Wrestling is physically exhausting like you cant imagine and will get you into shape that you've never been in.
On the negative side: watch out for cauliflower ear. Most people dont like it, although I love mine: like a badge of honor.
Good luck.

The most useful thing to practice imo for real life situations is MMA (mixed martial arts) for stand up you will probably either learn boxing, kickboxing, or muy thai and for ground you will probably learn some wrestling or judo with a lot of BJJ. All of these are practical combat martial arts. I started out boxing for my city gym and wrestling for my school, then moved onto MMA which I love to death. Doing those individually before helped me a lot when starting but ultimately MMA has everything you need all in one. Hoped that help , hit me up if you wanna talk about anything fighting related its one of my passions and I hope to ultimately go pro one day.

I don't know much about Martial Arts / Fighting Styles but a good friend of mine swears by Jeet Kune Do.
The Martial Art founded by Bruce Lee.

_________________
401, my introduction post:
here-vp568455.html#568455

Bas Rutten (such a boss) is an retired mma fighter who also used to do pancrase who has street fought more then one person multiple times. Once he fought like 7 bouncers all with broom handles.

Brazilian Jui Jitsu is extremely useful especially for someone who cant outmuslce an attacker, but it works even better if you can lol..

HOWEVER in the street you dont WANT to go to the gruond against more than on eguy cuz their friends will be kicking u in the head stepping on ur face etc which can be way extremely dangerous.

I recommend MMA (mixted martial arts) bease it trains you in only the effective parts (nothing flashy and useless) of all amrtial arts and shows you how to string things together like punches into throws or takedowns into chokes etc...

if i were you i would definitely take up maui thai, its good for mind body and soul, it takes the basics from boxing and adds in elbows knees and legs and a bit of grappling its real good fitness and pretty much teaches you how to defend your self and lets your opponent know never to start on you again, but don't go looking for trouble, only use the techniques they teach when a situation occurs

Muay Thai for the clinch and striking aspects. Wrestling, and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

Forget all traditional martial arts. Belts mean nothing (exception of BJJ belts.)
Also, hand-wise boxing is vastly superior to Muay Thai. (I'm not biased, I practice Muay Thai.).

If you ever get jumped in the street do not go into the traditional muay thai stance, go into boxing stance, it's heavier and it prevents takedowns much better.

_________________
A bullet shaped hole where the answers should be.