"Yes, I've used it successfully in a real life situation.

In this instance grappling worked because he didn't have any buddies with him to hit me again, and he wasn't using a gun. It was just some junkie with a pipe. "

"Grappling is an amazing way to incapacitate an attacker. You show a guy the definition of ground and pound and they will no longer want to play. As for multiple attackers, realistically barring the simple fact that fighting while standing makes it easier to run away, no matter what you do you are at a serious disadvantage.

It really is shocking what a well trained person can do from their back. I am a pretty good sized individual 5'11 290lbs and bench press around 370 give or take depending on the day. And I have been made an utter fool by 165 pound man that knew his sh!t when it came to BJJ. The whole point of Jits is to equalize hand to hand fighting. It's really hard to be a tough while whimpering in an armbar."

"370? I'm proud of myself when I can bench press 100lbs. Somehow being a woman doesn't make me feel any less of a wimp when there's a 270lb difference. I'm 145lbs and I've never managed to bench press my own body weight."

"Wide haymaker?"

"Let me rephrase; maybe disagreement isn't the right word.

It seems that the discussion has been very "grappling" oriented, and hasn't really discussed striking or gross motor skill responses at all. The amusing part is that while both systems requires some training, proficiency in grappling takes tons of time, whereas the latter can be taught to proficiency quickly. And it's effective because it could be argued that most formal martial arts are not natural responses, but gross motor skill techniques are. I'm not saying that grappling doesn't have a place, but for self-defense, I think we're probably overemphasizing it a bit.

I dunno. I don't know how to put to words exactly what I'm thinking. It's really frustrating when I have mornings like this; I think I need some coffee!"

"I think when should address the matter that when in a verbal confrontation never feel the need to stick your chest out, with hands to the side and your highly vulnerable throat blowing in the breeze. It amazes me how many douche bag idiots go to talk smack to each other in this ape like posture. It has to be something from the primitive part of our brain."

"So, here's my question: is it better to have formal, clean training or raw, real-life experience? Obviously, the better choice legally and health-wise is formal training, but I'm just wondering, can a person with formal training take down most street thugs easily, or do experienced street fighters tend to out-dirty the professionally trained?"