Originally posted by yourmaker
finally my kind of thread!

as someone who practices martial arts I can safely say no one style is good enough. with the exception being..

JEET KUNE DO, but it takes the best of the martial arts and combines them into one style (no style)

you can keep any attacker at a perfect distance, they could never hit you if your face is always 1 centimetre away from their fist. it's an exact science and takes awhile to learn but it is extremely handy.

the counters you learn are incredible. the moment your attacker lunges at you, you can strike in their moment of attack at their moment of vulnerability.

you learn to act like water, when they attack you can detract and morph into a movement that allows you to strike, and when you strike you strike like a raging river, just flowing right into the movement.

theres no limitation in jeet kune do except which you place on yourself.

thats my personal opinion. but I can lead you towards more traditional arts.

Muy thai has it's advantages such as elbows and knees
wing chun with it's energetic kicks
taekwondo with it's high kicks and side

but really you can learn the best from each of those styles and create your own.

another interesting way to learn is to play mortal kombat/tekken/street fighter and study each characters style against each others. mortal kombat armageddon is the ultimate game for this. they have over 30+ styles and you can watch them interact with each other. it's really interesting, can take the best from each one and never really have a definable style that your opponent can defeat.

Grow up and stop quoteing bruce.Think for yourself, jkd is just his interpratation of wing chun,find a good wc teacher and you will get all of jkd except the stupid high kicks.

I am a black belt in the art of pepper spray.I chop and kick and wham,I pull out the pepper spray with lightning speed .

A ll forms of martial arts are good in their way
I knew a man that was a 2nd degree black belt in tie quan do..when I asked him what the best defence against a gun was he said dont be there!
Im 62 now and that was long ago..I have had some fights in my day and I have always won ! Not that I am (or was ) that good but I fight extremely dirty.If I have to fight gouge the eyes and kick to the knee break the leg If you arent prepaired to do this and strike first then run..Dont mess with old men..they tend to shoot ya !!

As ex-military, I can emphatically tell you that a system like Krav Maga would be the one to study.

I've trained in Muay Thai, and it is an effective combat system - but Krav Maga will teach you wrist locks, arm bars, disarming techniques etc.

Originally posted by marvinthemartian

Originally posted by yourmaker
finally my kind of thread!

as someone who practices martial arts I can safely say no one style is good enough. with the exception being..

JEET KUNE DO, but it takes the best of the martial arts and combines them into one style (no style)

you can keep any attacker at a perfect distance, they could never hit you if your face is always 1 centimetre away from their fist. it's an exact science and takes awhile to learn but it is extremely handy.

the counters you learn are incredible. the moment your attacker lunges at you, you can strike in their moment of attack at their moment of vulnerability.

you learn to act like water, when they attack you can detract and morph into a movement that allows you to strike, and when you strike you strike like a raging river, just flowing right into the movement.

theres no limitation in jeet kune do except which you place on yourself.

thats my personal opinion. but I can lead you towards more traditional arts.

Muy thai has it's advantages such as elbows and knees
wing chun with it's energetic kicks
taekwondo with it's high kicks and side

but really you can learn the best from each of those styles and create your own.

another interesting way to learn is to play mortal kombat/tekken/street fighter and study each characters style against each others. mortal kombat armageddon is the ultimate game for this. they have over 30+ styles and you can watch them interact with each other. it's really interesting, can take the best from each one and never really have a definable style that your opponent can defeat.

Grow up and stop quoteing bruce.Think for yourself, jkd is just his interpratation of wing chun,find a good wc teacher and you will get all of jkd except the stupid high kicks.

Why should I do that? No thanks.
and don't diss high kicks. if you know what you're doing then they are effective.

and please. DON'T ASSUME YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE TALKING TO.

Some great martial arts have been mentioned in this thread!
To the original poster...thanks for starting it.
However I have to say, the whole MMA thing...it just seems like an excuse for men who love other men to get nearly naked and lie on top of each other.
It never looks like there is any skill involved, these guys look like they spend too much time doing weights and taking care of their tan. They always show poor cardio fitness in the fights, and nine out of ten times it ends up with the guy on top trying to kiss the other guy on the bottom, while he for his part desperately tries to french kiss him.

Listen to the Kron-meister on this one:

The best style is one you create yourself

Standard Western Boxing works very well for stand up, throw in a bit of Muay Thai and your good to go in that respect. BJJ will teach you grappling and your ground game, Krav Maga style training will add the realistic element.

On top of the above, I'd recommend Wing Chun/JKD, Judo, Aikido, Ninjutsu and anything else you can get your hands on.

Basically, learn the traditional fight sets and their associated arts then add as much as you please. Become extremely proficient in the basics of stand up fighting, in-fighting, out-fighting and grappling/ground fighting, then once you have that mastered start incorporating different arts or their techniques into the mix.

There is no such thing as a "complete" fighter, someone will always beat you one way or another - There's an element of luck to every fight in my opinion i.e. who fires the first strike, who spots that the crap is about to hit the fan first, who is prepared to go that little bit longer or nastier etc

Learn the basics and learn them well, make sure you add variety into your training and always start a workout on something which you don't do very well. I've seen too many people practice what they are best at first in a training session because it makes them feel like they achieved, what's the point in nailing a heavy bag with your perfect straight right if you have a terrible left jab? Get me...?

Realistic training also is a must, I'm not saying try to kill your sparring partner but you have to incorporate role play to a degree, create scenarios and work them in the gym, ask your "opponent" to think of a realistic situation and then get cracking

HTH