You have undoubtably seen videos or discussion regarding “this art” versus “this art” in a fight. Sometimes it’s a Karate guy versus a Taekwondo guy. Or a Kung Fu guy verses a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu guy. The arts change, but the idea is the same. An attempt at proving one art is better than another. One thing we know for sure, is that it’s hilarious when it involves the “no touch knockout” guys getting reality beat into them.

When I first started this series of Myths and Misconceptions, “this art vs that art” was top of the list to write about. It’s always driven me nuts hearing people who know nothing about martial arts and self-defense confidently explain why one art is better than another art. As I began listing out my bullet points to cover, I quickly realized how complicated and wide reaching this topic is. I’ve decided to stick to the basics and keep it as simple as possible for this blog post. Then when compiling it into book form I may go into more depth and see just how far these numerous arms can reach.

Does one martial art stand out as “better” than the rest? If a Brazilian Jujutsu practitioner defeats a Karate practitioner in a fight, does that mean BJJ is better than Karate? What if that scenario was played out hundreds of times with different practitioners of these same arts and one art had considerably more wins than the other? That would be definitive, wouldn’t it? Possibly. However, as with many of my previous Myths and Misconceptions articles, we first have to set a clear definition of what “better” means.

Does “better” mean more effective in a 1 on 1 fight? Are there rules to that fight? Are there weight and age classes? Or maybe “better” means it’s better for the individual to train on a life level. Meaning, better health, higher confidence, better sense of awareness, better chance of avoiding physical altercations, and overall, just a better quality of life? Or does “better” mean it’s more in-depth in its studies and training methods and includes more aspects of martial arts. Such as weapons, de-escalation techniques, historical discussion, learning the language of country of origin?

You can immediately see how complicated this topic can really be. A one-off fight between two competitors that train different styles quickly becomes quite irrelevant. Most likely, the average person makes the assumption that “this art vs that art” is a test of physical martial arts skill in the realm of fighting. Even if this is the attempted definition, there are a number of issues that still arise. What rule set do you go by? Is it just kicking and striking? Is grappling allowed? Are there parts of the body that are off limits, such as eyes and groin? If one art is used to one set of rules and is matched against a completely different art that has very different rules, which rules are used?

Even within the same art, different associations have different rules with their sparring. For instance, one Taekwondo association prohibits punches to the face, while another allows it. This dramatically alters the way the practitioner goes about their sparring. You might be thinking, let’s make this fight between two arts have no rules! Ok, does that mean weapons are allowed? And what about the arts that aren’t sport related? Their fighting techniques aren’t geared towards fair fights or even agreeing to be involved in a fight and only reacting to a sudden out-of-nowhere attack. How does this play into all of this?

Clearly, a simple fight between two different martial artists with two different styles just isn’t a good measure for anything other than who knows how to play the current game with the current set of rules better than the other. The art no longer matters much. Therefore, if we can’t determine which art is best through simply pitting fighters against each other, then what can we measure?

How many active practitioners there are in the world?

How long it takes to get to black belt?

How well adjusted a practitioner is in everyday life?

For youth, can we look at a student’s grades in school and determine if implementation of martial arts improves this?

How about sociability? Does a specific martial art style improve one’s social skills?

Maybe we judge the art based on how often a practitioner gets into fights/self-defense situations?

I could go on and on with these hypothetical ways of deciding what martial art is best. You can see now what I mean at the onset of this blog. This discussion is absurdly complicated and far reaching. If there were 1000 different martial arts styles in the world, there would be 1000 different answers to the “this art vs this art” discussion based on what questions and ground rules are applied. Therefore, I’m going to simplify a few things and get to the heart of how to answer this question.

First and foremost, there is a great answer to this question without laying down ground rules or creating boxes to discuss the answer within. Yet, I know most won’t like the answer. I wish I recall who I was talking to that gave me this great answer so I could give them credit, but alas, it’s like a fart in the wind. It has disappeared without a trace.

“Whatever the art was created for is what it’s best at”, is the answer I heard all those years ago. And it’s quite true. Some arts were developed to defend oneself against an unarmed single opponent. Another could be created to deal with numerous armed attackers. Yet another could be created to determine who has the best kicks. Take Aikido for example. It was created as a passive, humane art and would not intentionally inflict damage, not even to the attacker. Karate doesn’t do that. Jujutsu doesn’t do that. Taekwondo doesn’t do that. Aikido is best at that. Whether you like Aikido or not, in the confines of that description, it’s the best.

Not happy with that answer? I get it. Especially if you are looking to get into martial arts for the first time and want to know what would be best to get into so as not to waste your time and money. To find out what art is best, first, you need to decide what’s most important to you in regard to your training. Are you looking for a unique way of getting into better shape? Are you looking to break out of your shell and try new things? Are you looking to meet new people to build a bigger network or new friends? Are you looking to get into competitions? Do you feel more comfortable kicking and striking than grappling? Do you typically carry a weapon (knife, handgun, cane, etc.) and need to know how to use it?

Notice that I didn’t mention self-defense. There’s a reason. I’ll let you in on a secret. Virtually every martial art on the planet will provide you with what you need to defend yourself. This is yet another reason why “this art vs that art” is a mostly useless question. Understand what I mean by self-defense, however. I don’t mean two martial artists fighting each other to determine who’s a better fighter. I also don’t mean getting into stupid fights involving your ego. Those are just examples of a test of skills, not self-defense. Self-defense has no rules and involves you or a loved one’s life being threatened, and you’ve done everything you can to avoid it without physically fighting.

Proper physical self-defense training involves the following:

Developing a quick and definitive reaction to an attack. Virtually anything at all. A punch, a kick, a throw, a joint lock, even just a well-timed push with stability to get away. Most attackers don’t expect you to fight back. A quick, confident response may be all that is needed to make the attacker stop and move on to the next person. This all depends on why they are attacking you though. But it all starts with this response as most all untrained people will freeze and do nothing.

Learning how to fall correctly. Even beyond self-defense situations, most people are injured in their life from falling. Learning how to fall properly can be a life saver. Not getting knocked unconscious or breaking your arm or neck in a fall is crucial for self-defense!

Learn how to take a punch (or kick or slap or any impact). The shock of being struck by someone, especially unexpectedly, can be devastating. If you’ve never been hit hard before, you will most likely freeze due to the shock of what’s happening. Most people aren’t heavily injured by this hit/impact. It’s simply the shock of being hit that can cause problems. I have my youth students play impact games regularly, such as dodgeball. We use foam dodgeballs that are nearly impossible to injure anyone with. Yet, most every new student freaks out when they are hit in the face the first time. They are never truly injured. Just in shock of being hit in the face. Once they realize they are fine, they learn not to react to it as it can lead them to sitting out of a fun game!

Being mentally prepared for an attack. Again, most people are completely clueless in regard to being attacked and what to do. Even just being yelled at in an aggressive manner can spin many people out.

Understanding your physical limitations. Most people are completely unaware of how uncoordinated or weak they are. Or worse, some are way too confident in the above-mentioned. If you don’t know that your punch is not only useless but can lead you to break your wrist or knuckles, you’ve just placed yourself into a really bad situation by attempting to throw a punch you’re ill-equipped to throw.

Confidence in your abilities. Confidence, in general, makes you less likely to be attacked in the first place. Most attackers are looking for the easy target, not the one that’s going to be difficult. Most martial artists carry themselves with a certain confidence that is a natural bully/attacker repellent.

Look back over those again and ask yourself what martial art style doesn’t train or create these key elements? Virtually every martial art on the planet does so. All of the rest is just highly irrelevant details that are only useful when doing the monkey dance (ego driven fights). If the art you are looking into develops all of the above, then all you need to focus on is whether or not your individual needs are also being met at that specific studio. That has very little to do with the art and everything to do with you, the instructor, and the atmosphere.

If you watch videos of contrasting martial arts for enjoyment, great! But if you watch it to determine which art is better, you’re wasting your time and being imbued with misinformation. Especially not knowing who shot the video or who set the match up. Many times, the person creating the video/competition is specifically trying to boost one fighter over the other. Possibly seeking out an opponent that is not good, just to “prove” one art is better than another. As with anything you watch on tv, movies or video clips, it’s not likely real. But even if it was, it doesn’t prove anything other than one person is better than another at playing a very specific game with a specific set of rules.

Don’t fall victim to the whole “this art is better than that art” discussion. It’s all crap, presented by people who usually have done little to no actual training in multiple martial arts styles to understand them well enough to provide insight into the contrasts between arts. Like with most TV, movies, and online videos, it’s just there to get clicks and views or to manipulate someone into buying something.