The Timeless Debate of Martial Dominance
How many debates have been struck over what is the best method for “X?” Self defense, martial arts and tactics alone could keep you debating until the end of time. That said, Kravists and Martial Artists alike need diversification in their skillsets.
I listened with great interest to a Lex Fridman audio clip conducted with the great Joe Rogan. Joe makes many outstanding points about the reality of street defense, especially, when confronted by a trained grappler. As a Krav Maga instructor trained by current Grandmaster Haim Gidon, I did not take offense at Krav Maga’s being held in an unfavorable light in some circles. Krav Maga, as taught to the masses, is ineffective against a skilled adversary. I said as much in my sixth book Krav Maga Combatives. Indeed, Krav Maga, unfortunately, as it is widely now taught, will provide scant defense against concerted resistance, particularly when opposing someone who knows how to attack (including with weapons).
Joe’s assessment is dead-on regarding grappling’s efficacy in tying someone up and landing them hard on mother earth. I believe one of the most dangerous tactics in the world that one may face is grappler who specializes suplex throws. Flat out, a correctly executed suplex can easily kill the average thug or amateur martial artist who is not trained to counter such a professional tactic.
As a Krav Maga instructor under Grandmaster Haim Gidon, I am a big proponent of having a diverse understanding of grappling, BJJ, and Judo. Key elements of these formidable fighting systems are built into Gidon Krav Maga training. One needs to keep in mind that Krav Maga founder Imi Lichtenfeld was a European wrestling champion while Haim excelled in Roman-Greco wrestling. In addition, the Arab armies specialized in Judo training as their primary hand-to-hand combat method. Accordingly, Krav Maga, to provide effective counter-tactics, focused on the most effective Judo throws and counter-throws. In the early 1990s, Haim, with Imi’s approval, began to incorporate the core tactics of BJJ and Sambo.
Brutal effectiveness of both grounding an attacker, as well as the suplex — (WARNING: This video contains graphic content and may be upsetting to some people)
Haim recognized that Krav Maga’s clinch, counter-takedown, and grappling had to evolve – and it has under his non-pareil Krav Maga insights. Now many Krav Maga instructors who have learned from other Krav Maga organizations supplement their training with BJJ. As many KM instructors do not have BJJ/Grappling/Judo backgrounds, it’s s a good strategy since the original Krav Maga curriculum did not heavily emphasize ground survival with the time honored conviction of staying off the ground. Those instructors who bring such a background to Krav Maga training (as Haim did) immediately excel. In short, Haim was 25 years ahead of this learning curve when he introduced these necessary fighting skills.
Another important consideration is how and why Krav Maga evolved. Imi was constantly confronted by multiple assailants often armed with cold weapons (edged and impact). As a wrestler and later a Judoka, Imi recognized the constraints and dangers that a grappling-centric strategy would impose. Therefore, a Kravist must, as Joe points out, be well rounded in all aspects of a fight. Professionally, we are honored to have trained some of the America’s top warfighters and law enforcement personnel. (Letters of commendation and photos on file.)
If a bullet to the bad guy’s head is not an option, one key element is a scenario where an operator is tangled up with a bad-guy who is trained in grappling BJJ and a co-operator comes to his colleague’s aid. In other words, against bad-guys, we train operators in open-hand and cold-weapon lethal tactics (and less than lethal should situation dictate it) to dispatch such a trained attacker tangled up with a teammate. So, the co-operator teammate can use certain tactics to severely injure or take out the BJJ/Grappler attacking his colleague on the ground. The point is against multiple attackers grappling skills can be an instrumental in one’s defense, but going to the ground can have a terrible outcome.
In sum, Joe makes excellent points; he is a consummate pro both on and off the mat. Legitimate Krav Maga trains you against a trained, determined adversary who also knows the dirty tricks of the trade. What you can do; s/he can do. Anatomical targeting works both ways, but, it is damn hard to do so when someone has your back or has you in a negative 5 ground position. Lastly, it is important to emphasize that hot (firearms) and cold (edged, impact) weapons are integral the training and used seamlessly both while standing and on the ground. Finally, I would ask everyone to consider that not all Krav Maga is the same. Joe echoed this point in this insightful interview from one of the fighting world’s greatest advocates.
Kidah.
