BJJ Self Defense Sucks 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are not necessarily held by the owners, instructors, or students of Metrolina Martial Arts. My views are completely my own.

I've wanted to go after that weird bjj self defense curriculum for awhile, but this is better than what I was gonna ever do. Very thorough... very well done.

A drunk guy legitimately tried to front choke me at a party one time because we ran into each other and that pissed him off. I’ve been doing martial arts since I was and I was 7 and I was 21 at the time. Didn’t do anything fancy, straight up punched him in the face and that was lights out for the drunk idiot. Self-defense is about keeping it simple. Also, avoid drunk idiots.

"The physical manifestation of a straw man argument." bravo, bravo. The one thing I would say about front choke is that, while it is awful as an actual attack, it is great as a show of dominance. Speaking specifically about domestic violence scenarios, a bigger, stronger man putting his hands on a woman's neck is VERY aggressive, and if she panics before she realizes she can defend herself, he's going to accomplish his goal of hurting her. So not a great attack, but a good power move. 100000% agree about the "*snort snort* you can't go to the ground, what about their friends!" bullshit

Yes!!! After taking freestyle wrestling, Judo and BJJ, what always worked in actual street fights (only 3) was single/double takedown, a few punches and just run. Running helps...lol

Thank you for pointing out the uselessness of the front choke. It's a decent intimidation tactic against defenseless victims, but that's about all it has.

"But, if you think he's wrong, go challenge Rener Gracie to a fight." To those who will inevitably comment that, hear me loud and clear. JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS A GREAT FIGHTER DOESN'T MEAN EVERYTHING THEY SAY IS TRUE. Rener Gracie can absolutely beat me in a fight, I'm not under any illusions that he wouldn't. But that doesn't change anything. Him being able to submit me, and his "escape from back choke" not working, are two completely separate things.

Kaylen carrying Jake out of the screen is the greatest thing I've seen today

The front choke is extremely common in domestic violence. That's why it's so common in self defence.

The real reason no, "self defense technique" works at all is that they're all supposed to be shortcuts that let people skip a fight, and that's not a real thing.

Watched 3 minutes into this video and I'm already subscribed. Finally someone who talks bluntly and talks sense. Excellent video so far

'Being put in a headlock is a gift' - I love it

The "more than I can generate with my throat" "equal and opposite reaction into my windpipe" section genuinely had me laughing out loud.

This is one of the only grappling/defense/mma related channels to make me laugh so hard I was crying, absolutely subscribing. Love it.

In self-defense, the simpler the moves, the better, in a street situation, having to think a lot, flowering too much ends up killing you. Do not fight unarmed with anyone, always have some kind of weapon within easy reach, always try to have an advantage.

I've studied BJJ for 2 years. Made blue belt. Everything he says makes sense. I could sense "something was wrong" with the moves I was learning, but I didn't have the confidence to just look for better solutions... like punching. I tried to trust my teachers. What a massive mistake. Thank you for making this video. It opened my eyes.

that was the fastest 20 mins of my life dude. The concept of people creating garbage fake solutions to sell a product is something that deeply irks me, but I had no idea it exists at such a deep level (even with the GRACIE family!). I watched a lot of those gracie self defence videos in the past and just took whatever he said as 100% truth. Thank you for calling out the bs and being funny and weird af while doing it lol

This is realistic, yet fun to watch. Not bored at all. You got my sub, bro.

One of the best videos about this topic, that is for some reason a sacred cow. BJJ is an AMAZING form of self defence, but only when being pressure tested to oblivion. People like Ryan Hoover, Aaron Jannetti, Eli Knight, Craig Douglas, Cecil Burch, Paul Sharp, Shawn Lupka, Jerry Wetzel, and so, so, SO many more are currently teaching self defence based on BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Muay Thai and Boxing-or in other words-MMA, but the common denominator between everyone here is that they all use the techniques and principles from the combat sports versions of the art! Yes, they may need some modifications and alterations, but you don’t need to make a whole new art! Spider Guard, leg lassos and gogo clinch are fantastic for gun grapples, arm drags are maybe the best move for self defence, reverse Kesa Gatame is one of the most underrated positions for weapons-based grappling, and many more solutions exist within the art, that just need to come out under pressure testing. But that’s the big thing-they have to come out of testing! Not out of lineage, out of testing! That’s what made BJJ different than most arts-the fact that it’s tested! But for another great thing you mentioned-the headlock. Oh, my fucking god. If you look at the school bully headlock, you’ll see that it isn’t a choke, it gives you a free angle, doesn’t really affect your posture if you know how to wrestle, and also-doesn’t tie up any of your hands, but it does tie up both of his! So-other than attacking the legs (which is a fantastic solution for this position, btw), you can also just pop your head back (if the headlock is tight, you might need to get your hand in beforehand) and get their back! For free! And even if you don’t-the moment you get your hand in (which isn’t hard to do-you can literally just comb your hair and your hand will be inside), you get a free angle, and if you’re not as slow as a turtle, also a free underhook and even a free split seatbelt, which is an amazing position of dominance for self defence (especially if you want to draw a weapon/hit your opponent and stop him from hitting you/getting his weapon). tl;dr-if you know how to grapple and strike, all you need to do for self defence is just FAAFO. Don’t know what to do against a gun/knife/stick? Just buy a training version of it and roll! Don’t know what to do against two attackers? Start clinching/striking/grappling with one person and then get a second one to try to attack you! Want to learn T-Shirt chokes? Roll in a T-Shirt! It’s literally that easy! If you want to get to the answers in a shorter amount of time, you can check out every person I’ve mentioned above. Thanks again man, you’re one of the most important voices in this community.

"just leave" This is most likely the best self defence advice on RU-vid. No joke

Great points as usual. Can’t believe this channel only has 9k followers.

One of my biggest problems with grip breaking techniques in general is they seem to imply that once you break it the bad guy can't just grab you again . Like some sort of reverse game of Tag.

Someone tried to use BJJ on me, so I used pocket sand to stop him.

OMG THE JUST LEAVE TECHNIQUE MADE ME CRACK UP

I learn something new everyday. Also props to your girlfriend for basically dying every vid for our education and entertainment.

As a black belt under Royce, I experienced a full range of human emotions watching this video! There was much that I agreed with, and a few points I thought were an unfair representation of Helio’s basic curriculum and it’s intention, or how self defense is taught and practiced in schools that make that the priority. Still, your video is awesome and really helpful, honestly. I chuckled a lot and thought deeply about my own beliefs and assumptions - that’s two wins. Thank you!

I just "escaped" a self defense based bjj gym some months ago, I was too blind to see it as newbie when I started there, the difference is huuuge, people in my new bjj and mma gym actually know how to fight and I'm learning meaningful stuff.

Great. Keep up with these videos. They're informative and entertaining.

I agree with your points. I think such a video was long overdue. Well done!

In my BJJ school the only guy who (very rarely) teaches self defense is also a MMA competitor. Punches, knees and ground & pound

As someone who has done Japanese jujitsu for 10 years and 5 years of BJJ, I agree with this video 100%. About 99% of self defense moves are totally sh-t and your just better off punching the guy. Sadly, most martial artists including BJJ black belts just toe the line and teach the same crappy moves because it was taught to them. They never bother to actually consider if the moves actually work. Bravo. Great video.

Man I'd love to hear a response to this from a bjj instructor who teaches this stuff, it'd be a great perspective to hear from. In my 7 years of training, I always wondered why no one just punched the other person during a front choke. Thanks for answering it finally

As a BJJ based self defense coach I love this! Some things you advocate like punching your way out of a neck grab are demonstrably not advisable or achievable in some situations, but it definitely definitely made me think about some things. I don't teach the collar grab defense as shown or even the finger pulling from the front neck grab. I had to find better solutions and modify the traditional curriculum a bit to make it more realistically applicable. A side headlock is not a 'gift' though, you can really get your neck broken. Also, we spar even in our self defense classes so a lot of the bullshit got filtered out pretty early on. The self-defense classes also work as a great feeder and introduction to sport BJJ and MMA.

It's true, the martial arts industry is the most shameless of all. They literally play with human lives and sell them garbage in gigantic, overblown curriculums, despite the fact that a couple of boxing and wrestling lessons give you the same amount of fighting prowess. It's sad really. 100 percent agree with you, the "giving people bad moves is arguably worse than nothing at all" is so very true. I experienced this myself.

Just binge watched your videos, keep up the good work.

Thanks, I’m one of the black belt instructors he grifted video from in this clip. A couple of the main reasons we teach this curriculum. 1. It’s a defined set of basics. I also coach Kali and Muay Thai. This vid represents an over simplification of the options available. As instructors, even Pedro Sauer offers that these techniques are limited in scope. 2. It’s not a move to make people look good. As he says, people who don’t have experience don’t know proper wrestling. Which is both why we need to teach headlock defense, as well the front choke. An aggressor who’s likely untrained is going to possibly front choke someone. 3. The movements in the Gracie self defense curriculum offer a lot of ideas on principles and mechanics. Anyone I’ve ever met who understands the self defense always has a better ground game than those who don’t. 4. He clearly doesn’t have the whole picture. Such as the shoulder slip, only turning one way. Of course we teach getting back into the headlock position as an option. It has nothing to do with money. That’s my opinion, but maybe I’ll do a call back video since he was so kind to put me and many of my peers in this clip.

Love this. Very well thought out and executed. This kind of “self-defense” garbage needs to stop. I think it’s entirely possible to help untrained people improve at their own pace in a safe environment by simply introducing A BIT of pressure testing through progressive resistance. No need to be dishonest, training martial arts properly is actually lots of fun! Thanks for sharing 🙏 - Patrick

I genuinely laughed with the "difficult difficult lemon difficult" with the voice altered from being choked

It looks like basic common sense must be taught as a prerequisite for advanced courses: self defense

Oh, Y'all big mad.

I guess my takeaway from the video is to go to a gym that has credible figures and is centered towards competition instead of being centered towards “self defense”, and then it’s important to practice other martial arts, or to deliver a proper punch or kick

My sensei used to call this stuff "Neighbor Waza", meaning it evolved during the period when various jutsus were becoming commonplace and it was designed to give peasants a way of resolving disputes without permanently maiming each other, and also to look cool while doing so. There's also a serious level of nerfing on the more dangerous techniques like armbars for a similar reason - little kids don't need ruined elbows. In theory they're supposed to tell you the real version later but sometimes that gets lost. They didn't set out to create bad women's self defense courses centuries later, it just happened. But before anyone blows them off entirely, consider what happens if the entire population is only learning the most dangerous stuff. Japan tried it, and even they decided to roll it back. A fully fleshed out martial art is a long list of stuff slowly escalating in effectiveness and level of permanent injury because they are the same thing. Defending yourself from a drunken acquaintance you have to talk to tomorrow, versus an enemy soldier, requires different levels of response. Otherwise the only technique you would ever need is: "bite their nose or finger off." Oh hey there you go a whole elderly / women's self defense course in one sentence.

I'm not against punching someone who aggressively grabs me in certain situations. However, in some instances a punch escalates the confrontation, and what really bothers me is that when the Police get there and they always get there, they ask "who threw the first punch." Now we have a criminal issue and no doubt if you hurt the person a civil suit will follow. Love the rest of the video!

Regarding the rear choke defense, our general grappling rule is "control the elbow, control the arm." Defender, controlling the tip of the elbow, forcing, anchoring it down, forcing it down and outward. Regarding the lapel grab, we call that situation 100% stupid, both of the attackers' hands are temporarily tied up, leaving them very vulnerable to strikes, and stuns. Striking, and causing immediate injury is important.

I love this! Thank you for this. With your explanation of headlocks and rear chokes I never seen it in this light before. Grappling is my weakest but ironically has protected more in self defense situations than anything else.

I never realized my biggest fantasy was someone saying "difficult difficult lemon difficult" while getting choked

I WAS going to say "well maybe they want to get out of the grip without striking as that could escalate the situation", but then I got to the part where they followed it with an elbow. Wow. xD Edit: Oh yeah, we‘ve had this self defense instructor come to our school and teach us some of those moves. The headlock escape for instance was exactly the one you talked about. I ingrained the steps in my brain, so when I finally did get put in a headlock like a year later, I immediately went to what I was taught, grabbed my opponent‘s head, pulled back… and nothing happened. They didn’t even budge. I then grabbed their hair at their forehead to make it more painful. Nothing. Naturally, naive me believed I had done something wrong, but in hindsight, how could that have worked? My left arm against their entire upper body? Ridiculous. I now do BJJ (just the martial art, not the self defense courses) and am planning on going into Wrestling and MMA once I‘ve got the basics down (still in my first year) and even I could see now that the rear naked choke defense was ridiculous. We were explicitly taught to turn into our opponent, toward their head, if we want to escape. The opposite of what was shown here. I repeat, I‘m in my first year. This is madness.

I've never really understood why the "defense" part of many schools isn't just old school "dirty jiu jitsu". You know, the super complicated stuff like... punching people. Or kneeing them. Or maybe the ultra complicated stuff like punching AND kneeing them as applicable.

Bjj is not for "self defense", neither is judo, or boxing, or muay thai, or wing chun, or krav maga etc. Bjj (and the rest) is for "fighting", which is different than self defense. self defense includes fighting, but it also includes stuff like de-escalation, situational awareness, even running away, and a bunch of other stuff that most people don't seem to want to learn about.

Major BJJ gym owners almost always turn BJJ into some weird aborted form of aikido when it comes to self defense seminars. If someone grabs my t-shirt, even if I don't punch them, why wouldn't you just collar tie and snapdown? The Pedro Sauer shit is egregious. You're taking a guy, pulling him into you, then elbowing him in the back? Why not just take a front headlock and sprawl? Or, hell, just shove the dude to the ground as his momentum carries him forward? At my gym, we don't look at any of that garbage. First, we always assume we are going to be punched in the face, so we protect the neck and face at all times. Second, every positional drill is meant to arrive at the simplest position to punch a dude in the face.

The problem is BJJ has effectively fooled those who don't have self defense experience. I realized this when I was doing weapons seminars and BJJ was being marketed as rape prevention. Everything this young man stated was spot on. The BJJ fans are hilarious and arrogant.

I started this video with a thought in my mind: "what the **** jerk"....and finished with "subscribe".

Great video, I always love these breakdowns, also "The physical manifestation of a straw man argument." yeah that's a brilliant line. And Kaylen rocking that strong main character hair.

I am so glad I discovered your channel. We see eye-to-eye on so many things. My favorite self-defense advice from Renner Gracie was something like: "If a much larger and stronger man attacks you, then you must close the distance and take him to the ground." Why? Instead, the way to survive such a situation is to maintain distance and strike! Unless you have otherworldly grappling skills, you are not going to overcome a "much larger and stronger man" on the ground, precisely because he is "much larger and stronger than you." So you are literally giving up your potential advantage (in speed and striking) and availing yourself to his advantage. Just utter nonsense.

Just stumbled upon your channel. Me likey much. Perfect speed of delivery (for me), you make great points and you seem very nice, too. Subscribed. I'm only now afraid you will debunk every single martial art/combat system in existence, meaning there is nothing that works besides the obvious (punching,...).

The problem with most martial arts, including some versions of BJJ, is that they don't understand asocial violence. I grew up in a violent environment and saw or was subjected to violence in some cases on a daily basis for years. True asocial violence is brutal, quick, nasty, and causes a huge adrenal dump (tunnel vision, auditory exclusion, loss of fine motor control) in the victim. 99.9% of martial arts techniques do not work against real physical violence as they teach too many complicated moves and/or they do not cause immediate trauma and loss of function to the attacker. Most martial artists do not understand this and thus cannot train properly to deal with it.

Interesting critique, I really appreciate you taking the time to make it. A couple of thoughts.... in domestic violence situations the front wall choke happens. So, say, you are a 120-pound girl against a 200-pound guy, with a sizable height difference and range of hitting... what's your solution? I have done "crotch shots" and guys don't always double over and guys are trained from birth to guard the crotch... the finger pull can at least get them to lift a hand to give an exit on that side to escape if there is a marked size difference maybe? I would not say the entire curriculum is trash, but some of it is definitely flaws. Some of it is very useful though. Considering that WOMEN are the target audience and those rape situations are a concern of many women. Most often these situations are not "girl is a dark alley at the wrong time of night" but more... "I was asleep on a friend's couch and then he was on top of me...." so the grappling aspect of the curriculum is actually pretty solid, also the break grips and basing out, technical stand-up is reasonable too. Anyway, the points you raise are good food for thought.

I'm almost 47 now, woman, learned karate for 6 years as a kid, judo for a few, was into hiking and climbing, had pack ponies for 7 years, still use a bicycle or walk. For self defense? Pack ponies and climbing helped best. Though karate did teach me how to not be shocked by a hit. Neither the mountain nor horses care that I'm a woman and that forced me to use what little force I have effectively. Technique can make up for a lot of strength. When sparring, I was usually paired with boys (told to go easy), as the girls usually weren't able to do anything notable to me. That taught me an important lesson. I don't want to fight against a man unless he's holding back. And remember, I wasn't bad. None of the girls could defeat me. But most of the trained men would. Easily. BUT the three times when I actually fought a man in all my life, the owning horses bit helped the most. If you can shove a horse and force it to take a step sideways to let you saddle the other one on a daily basis, you can shove a man off his feet. Particularly if he isn't expecting you to do anything. I once not only defended myself against a drunk ex trying to force me, I dragged his sorry ass out of the door and shut it. Thank you feed sacks. And once I got groped by a man on a scooter as he passed. Threw a stone, nailed his shoulder. I bet he felt my unwelcome touch longer than I felt his. Thank you, learning to herd horses on a mountain path - you learn to throw accurately pretty fast unless you want blind horses. I haven't ever used either the karate or judo moves in the wild. Any pushes and punches are instinctive, and not a form I can name. I'm a woman. They aren't practical in actual conflict. I'd rather grab a stick or stone, or get them off balance and give myself time to run. Though they did teach me to hit without hesitation and the judo moves can come in handy for putting somebody off balance. Being able to take a hit helps, but I've never ever used exact techniques as I trained in the wild - I don't dare to get that close, while the stones, feedsacks and shoving off balance were things I'd done on a daily basis for ages and a comfort zone. But the most important trick I've used a LOT more is talking. I help victims of domestic violence, and if there is one thing abusers hate worse than the wives they are beating up, it is that fancy woman teaching them they deserve better. But if you can remain calm and firm, they simply can't build enough momentum to get so angry it escalates to assault. You help the woman pack, get out of the home, and exit ASAP. No need to score points, no need to start confrontations. She's out. That's what matters. Do I really care what a drunk calls me? I've often even agreed with the man. Yes, she's probably lazy, gets tired, wants to spend money, whatever. Women don't have your strength, she gets tired at the end of the day. I even say I'll explain to her not to do whatever is making him angry. I just say I can see that it makes him angry, and I'm sure he doesn't want to do such things either. It is time for both of them to breathe calmly and use their words. I'm just taking her away to talk sesne into her. It doesn't the fuck matter as long as the battered wife exits safely.

I read one of Jack Dempsey (a legendary boxer who is also very damn good at wrestling and probably Judo as well) book about self defense. And what do you know, instead of teaching 4 5 complicated steps when the opponent's hands are not free, he tell you to punch the other guy in the face.

The wet willie is the offical MBJJ defense against the front choke

This is great! Back in the day I used to call the headlock the "suicide headlock" and actually give it to beginners. The three main grappling control points are hips, shoulders (under the armpits) and legs. When you grab the headlock, not only do you control none of these points on your opponent, you also expose all three on yourself! And both hands are tied up to give you zero striking or defence. So glad someone has finally done a video on this! 🤣

"Front choke" by someone trying to make you go unconscious without hurting you is as ineffective as you say, but if someone has bad intentions you don't want them touching your throat. Otherwise great video as always. Thanks for the great content.

THANK YOU. These days it feels like BJJ is trying to shoehorn really shitty self defense into its curriculum instead of focusing on 'actual bjj for self-defense'. Seems they violate every principle they stress to students when they switch to 'self defense mode'.

You're genuinely the funniest most practical teacher for fighting

I'm so happy someone is finally saying this. I roll my eyes every time I show up to jiujitsu class and we go over "self-defense" moves.

I rewatched the "you can now take them for a ride" bit four times 😂😂 your videos are great! It's nice to know my instincts, for the most part, are superior to silly self-defense courses.

I said this on Ramsey's channel, and I'll say it here. If you really want to practice self defense, as in not getting hurt, go to your local police station and find out how people get in those situations in the first place, and what mistakes do people make that get them killed in the first place. You are not going to find that out in almost(I'm stressing ALMOST) any martial arts school anywhere. With that being said, even though the video does make some very valid points that I do agree with, there is also the fact that if some mugger or assailant finds out that his victim is is fighting back with a calm face with controlled techniques, that could also count as effective self defense, because the assailant is going to have second thoughts. And that can include a grappling style as BJJ. Self defense is not about winning, it's about defeating an attack, and the attacker backing off and saying "fuck this shit" is a victory in itself. I think a lot of the sports based fighters and fans do not realize that.

The problem with a lot of these defense methods is the fact that they defend against attacks that just don't happen. Like, in any spontaneous fight, who makes a two hand grab of their opponent's shirt? This was a big issue when I studied Aikido 20 years ago; the grabs and strikes the techniques were designed for were things that nobody did.

Any good self defense moves for when a girl is being repeatedly ragdolled during a demo?

Good video. One factor that leads to the longevity of silly BJJ self-defense is BJJ lineages that maintain the "self-defense" curriculum as sacrosanct; you're to learn it and pass it on without modification. Many are trapped in that Gracie bubble, forced to teach things they don't genuinely believe in as a requirement to stay in the good graces of their jiu jitsu affiliation. I know and feel for instructors in that situation. BUT, as an instructor you have a more important obligation to your students if you're instructing on them what to do against real-life violence. I think BJJ instructors should teach what THEY believe is most effective in a given situation. Today, more and more BJJ instructors take a modern approach to so-called "BJJ Self-Defense", usually drawing heavily from things like wrestling & MMA. --And that's a good thing. BJJ students are becoming so sophisticated these days with exposure to all sorts of other grappling styles, they KNOW when a BJJ self-defense technique is not practical. Just like all other aspects of BJJ, the self-defense aspect SHOULD evolve; when you find a better method, use it!

I swapped to Judo because we always just sat down in bjj. Have to say I feel way more confident now then I ever did doing bjj. We have a good mix of standing, distance management, ground work and its over all more explosive instead of just playing human chess in slow motion. We also have a ton of people come from bjj to us for the same reasons, there usual pretty cocky but get humbled very quickly.

One of if not my favorite video on youtube. I love the way he puts so much emotian in the video.

This is why I say that you need to pair BJJ or wrestling with a form of striking. Like, I practice wrestling, BJJ, and boxing. In self-defense or street fight scenarios I wanna stay on my feet and be able to flee. I don't wanna fight unless I have to. But, hey I can strike when needed, and if I end up on the ground, I'm accustomed to going full force during BJJ practice, and could defend myself. Overall, I like the video.

This channel should have many more subscribers

There are a bunch of "common street attacks" shown in most self defence videos that are: a) Not how a criminal or violent drunk will attack you 99% of the time. b) Fail to incorporate intent, i.e. forward pressure, speed, strong grips, and high agression. c) Clueless of the fact that a grab, shove, even just a "friendly" hand on the shoulder as they talk to you in a sweet reassuring voice, is just a setup for a sucker punch or slam to the ground / into a wall. d) Suppose you failed to set boundaries, strike preemptively once the other guy's violent intent was evident, or try to counter a move before it was finished. e) Easily avoided/escaped if you throw punches, have decent balance and are agressive enough. Great job pointing out that you need a whole system behind you to actually make it out on top in violent encounters after that initial "escape/cool counter". Even Geoff Thompson, whose whole curiculum was based on deescalation, and seting up the perfect sucker punch, was a proponent of having a base to fall back on if you fucked up all the other steps, prefferably grapling.

Martial Science is a better name for your channel. Your approach is logical with a factual base on the mechanics of fighting. With emphasis on real pressure testing and experimentation. Excellent 👍

I don't always see eye to eye on your videos...but THIS. Man, this needed to be said. I hope everyone watches.

I can’t confirm how much of your videos is based on actual research, but man they are awesome and convincing!

Classic Gracie jiu jitsu self defense doesn't use that whack ass side headlock defense you showed.

Do you happen to be Spider-Man? Your looks and voice immediately make me think Peter Parker.

I think most "self defense" instructionals I've seen (including stuff from BJJ) has been based around countering B.S. techniques like static wrist grabs, headlocks, double legs with terrible posture, back bear hugs over the arms, ect. I think bad self-defense instructors and con artist base their curriculum around countering these techiques because they're so useless that basically anything you do will successfully counter them. This let's instructors just make up and teach whatever they want, and it'll work. For example, I've seen about a hundred ways of escaping a static wrist grab because any variation of twisting and pulling your wrist away will break it.

Very compelling until a few broad generalities are made like "no pressure testing" in the Gracie beginner programs (ie. Women Empowered.) Not sure if this statement is made based in ignorance or just a desire to hitch his wagon to famous names by lambasting their programs. I really enjoyed the short clip of Rener doing the front choke escape at 4 years old with Helio. I guess you could just teach a 4 year old to strike an adult as a possible escape. Seems problematic due to something I can't quite put my finger on....oh yeah, adults are much bigger. lol! After watching the whole video I gotta wonder if this is just a 22 minute troll bait. However, to be fair I did really like the analysis at the beginning of turning the shoulder in to deal with rear choke. You should do more videos like that. (Maybe you have already. I'm not familiar with your channel.) I've been spending a lot of time exploring how I can use the shoulder in a variety of positions to help survive attacks and or escape positions. It seems your espousing just teaching a double leg take down and punches as a basic self defense curriculum. Maybe I misunderstood your point there. A little less ranting and sticking to specifics would really help get your point across I think. Personally I think a weight disadvantage can negate the effectiveness of those two techniques. A great expirement would be to remove weight classes in boxing and wrestling for a year or so and look at the outcomes. That would be a good empirical test. If the outcomes of those matches didnt have any dependency tied to weight disparities then I think this would be a good point. Maybe. Still seems at best you would end up with a coin flip. Just a couple more points: Re. the word 'efficient' - " You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." Also the term BJJ is really starting to be hard to define. There sure is a lot mixed into that pot. Why I suggest using specifics which you did so ably in the first part of that video. Another point I may have not comprehended properly is the timeline of "self-defense" and BJJ. It sounded like you are saying self-defense came after. Apologizes if that is not a point you are making. I could have my history wrong but in examining the old curriculum of the original Gracie Academy it appears that self-defense was first. Really so much to unpack here on this topic or topics you bring up. I love discussing details about different moves and finding out better ways to handle various situations so keep exploring this topic as well. I am myself amazed to find out how much BJJ I learned early on (which were competition moves) are utter crap as I get older. So I guess this can go both ways. And oh yeah - I am a Pedro Sauer Black belt.

I like these longer videos

He forgot that tiny little women don’t punch very hard…so telling them to punch isn’t much help

You make great points, you’ve exposed the commercialism in the martial arts. Jujitsu although useful is not the Swiss Army Knife of the martial arts. Too many people are deluded and think their Jujitsu makes them formidable. Reality is the only thing that makes one “Formidable” is a uninhibited mindset & application of realistic violence. Anyone who says otherwise is selling something!

This is a great video. People should stop expecting a martial arts discipline to teach everything for self-defense. At best, people should fight instinctively and utilize the benefits of their chosen discipline if the opportunity presents itself. Forcing scenarios, like the ones in this video, will leave you vulnerable due to the limitations of that discipline. Even MMA has limitations because it is based on a sport with rules and restrictions.

One problem I see is that most BJJ school and BJJ as an art has focused so much on sport techniques and rarely even think about self defense. For that reason, those techniques never get updated or tested since most competition rule set really don’t advantage a skill set that is most useful in self defense. Two areas I will challenge you on. Punches and kicks are pretty complex athletic skills. So it’s not that so simple. Grappling is, especially if you have 40 years experience. Also learning to defend a headlock is an absolute. In addition to punches and a bulldog choke a person could throw you. A headlock throw without the arm trapped increases the risk of serious neck injury which is why it’s illegal in wrestling. You don’t want to be thrown like that.

Nice video. It made me think about the things you were talking about. The one problem I had was that you were doing moves without knowing how to do the moves and then saying they didn't work. Also, you can strike no doubt. But striking is not effective for everyone. In self defense I would rather get away than get in a fight.

If someone grabs you, you can just fart and your opponent will run away.

Bro, this is my first time watching your videos and you have perfectly illustrated alot of the things i thought about fighting. Plus! You make it so enjoyable to watch and learn……Thank you. P.s the sad abused dog music had me in tears.

Super interesting, hopefully this will get the discussion going! Obviously, sports-based BJJ where you never even practice defending punches isn't the answer either.

thanks for wrecking my whole outlook on fighting. liked and subscribed.

But.. but... my Helio! I've been through the Gracie's Combatives course, my old academy used it as the basic curriculum. Some useful stuff, but a lot I now realize are a bit phoned in.

I had a guy try to strangle me last year, but like you say, neck muscles are pretty sturdy, and my shoulders and neck are particularly strong, so he just tried to strangle me for like 8 seconds while I just kept telling him that he needed to knock it off and do what I told him to while I continued to hold his shirt (wasn't trying to hurt him, just make him look me in the eyes and listen). I used to think that strangling people was a remotely valid approach in a fight, if you were bigger and stronger than your opponent- now I'm pretty sure it's only good as a way to grab them so that you can just hockey-fight them. And a hair grab is still better for a grab and bash. Seems to me like strangling someone with your bare hands is mostly a movie thing, or maybe if you're strong as hell and you happen to be murdering a small girl.

Finally, someone said it! I love bjj but the "self-defense bjj" is god awful!

This was by far the most articulate critique of any martial art/self defense. Great report!

Anyone call me stupid. Me: “You say what, you £&@#%*?!” Armchair Violence calls me stupid. Me, who watched the video and understood why: “I’m stupid.”

Honestly, I feel like just do BJJ for the fun and sport of it and occasionally take Muay Thai classes along with it and you are golden. That's the best way to combine fun with practical knowledge.

hopefully no kaylens were harmed in the video

I see your point - practice is the only way to perfection and money can't buy _true_ safety