What do you consider as the best martial art in the world?

Originally posted by AGENT_T
Long distance running...

And keep a pair of very thick geeky looking glasses in your shirt pocket to pull the "You wouldn't hit a guy with....." routine

I don't think you can beat good old standard boxing..with a little Ju-jitsu thrown in for grappling fighting..

Anything else is just added for visual entertainment.

I would add to that a little wrestling and some Muay Thai Kickbxing. A good MMA gym that has an emphasis on self defense would be good. You might be able to learn them all at one place that way. The combination of Muay Thai, Ju Jitsu, boxing, and wrestling has been proven to be most effective combination in hand to hand by no holds barred or Vale Tudo fighting, MMA etc. Krav maga would be a close second if you can find a real instructor as there are a lot of fake ones out there... Also look for a place that does live training not just going through the motions in slow motion. You have to train as close to real as possible for it to be effective.

My 3 cents

I agree with many other posters here and have to say that running away is probably the most effective martial art ever invented. It has probably saved more lives than any kind of direct confrontation. It minimizes your chance of pain and injury. You don't have to be strong, just reasonably fast. And most attackers are not going to want to chase you down.

Yeah, people might call you a coward, but so an idiot calls you a coward. Big deal. If it really bothers you, you can always sneak up on those people and kill them in their sleep.

reply to post by kimish


So there is no fault in an art that doesn’t advocate gaining “skills” to go along with their “knowledge”? The knowledge should make some difference by itself if it was anything worth knowing. A boxer is certainly going to be better off having done the boxing, but that's not the case with everything.

Can you catch a fist every time? I've grabbed one guy's head and smacked it against another guy's head and it knocked them both out but I don't expect to be doing that in every fight and it isn't something that I would teach others to do. I won't be looking for any lessons from a sensei, I have had plenty of respectable teachers in the past and plenty of experience to validate what they teach.

reply to post by runetang


Hey Buddy,

Muay Thai takes alot longer than 3 months to learn. People might think they're a proficient striker, but they're not after that time. Just clearing this up.

To be proficient in Muay Thai takes between 8-12 years.

Real Muay Thai is some seriously nasty, nasty, powerful stuff. People don't understand the intricacies of it.

But yeah, it helps to learn it, better than not learning it, and better than most arts for learning striking quickly.

For striking definitely Tae Kwan Do,Grappling of course Judo,for both either Karate or Jeet Kune Do.
but the most devastating Kick-Boxing and Krav Maga
for weapons Eskrima

I've learned some karate and jujitsu for a couple years, enough to hold my own against average drunk Joe, but if I went against a real master, someone who's been doing it since they were a kid, no matter what martial art they been living, they;d kick my ass

reply to post by beyondthepast


Nice to see you know the names of a few martial arts.

This thread is what do you consider the best martial art in the world, you went and listed a bunch of martial arts and then named 2 more as the most devastating. You should probably learn what you're talking about before just spouting of the names of a bunch of famous arts.

Also I think by kick-boxing you might mean Muay Thai or even Thai boxing, which is indeed a different art to kickboxing entirely.

Tae kwon do for example is not the best striking art, in fact, it is a horrible striking art as it doesn't teach follow through to cause maximum damage from a strike.

Karate is not good as it's not taught properly, proper karate is vicious, but 99% of western dojos are not teaching you to fight. Besides that, the Japanese did not teach foreigners correctly when Japan was first opening to the west. If you've trained in Goju Ryu Karate Do in Japan with a japanese guy, I will have respect for your skills. Other karate no so much.

Basically the most effective martial styles are ones taught where the objective is to decimate an opponent as quickly as possible, and have had solid, recorded experience on the battlefield.

Krav Maga ticks these boxes, Muay Thai also originated as a battlefield art, which is why it is quite dangerous, however no one is taught how to kill using this art anymore, only a few old thai men know the techniques.

You know what would be awesome ATSers? If we could have a board where everyone actually knew what they were talking about, we might actually learn something!

god dragon tsingi chuan tang sao dao

Krav Maga

It has a proud history of being used to beat up woman children and unarmed civilians. Its developers were pure evil, so you know its good.

reply to post by aliengenes


Hahahahaha you crack me up hard.

Stop stealing my dragon god heaven essence (moves mouth without words) or i will call the eastern tiger monks to defeat your eagle claw style! (mouth keeps moving)

reply to post by ShadowScholar


you know there is nothing else

eagle claw, Ying Zhhao Pai,and Akido, when put too use very effective in putting one down , if not use properly it will kill or cripple your opponent, i am at it still,every day, as well as Tai Chi Chuan, with tai ji Quan, no i am not a bad @$$ but one must know how to defend ones self.

I developed a free form style that is happy and passive called "Crocodile" it forces your opponent to relax and enjoy himself and when you sense hes no longer on guard you explode with any killing strike you see fit. works perfect against law enforcement in over amped situations and bar room fights

as with any art, the key is to become one with your opponent

reply to post by aliengenes


A free form style that is happy and passive hahahahahahaha

I can just imagine it now,

Antagonist "my karate will finish off your, wait, wait, what are you doing?"

AG " Crocodile style, it is happy and passive, let us drink some warm milk together!"

Both "mmmmm, warm milk"

*five finger death punch*!

reply to post by ShadowScholar

its the happy trap, you'll never see it coming

Grasping the tao te ching

Then you become formless and invisible, and start to control the matrix lol

Surely spiritual enlightenment or mind power is the ultimate martial art, something similar to what jesus or gandhi accomplished?

i reckon judo would have to be up there somewhere not the best but up there

ninjitsu

i think the chinese Kungfu is very practical
Exercising this not noly can protect yourself when in dangerous situation but also an let you become more healthier and energetic

Well my main style is wingchun. The problem is that due to Bruce Lee Wing Chun has become almost all things to all people. The style is small (3 unarmed forms) but the concepts vary so not all wingchun is the same.

I with all of these styles I am looking for efficiency in terms of becoming an effective martial artist (not fighter) in the shortest time.