Stand-up VS. Ground Control

Striking VS. Grappling, K.O. VS. Submission or Muay Thai VS. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu - The dichotomy of two schools of fighting, which personally I think are the most applicable, has been of interest to me for a long time so I thought I'd write about it a lil.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Apart from the fact that it looks like two gay men having fun on the ground, there is no question BJJ is a form of fighting that works out there on the streets. The fighting style has been developed in the favour of smaller-sized fighters, who lose out to their opponent in size. In fact, Helio Gracie was just a lil Brazilian guy, when he adapted the art from traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu.

A triangle/armbar submission (Minotauro VS. Coleman)

Legend has it that traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu was developed for Samurais so when(if) they lose their swords, they could fight bare hands. Back then, it wasn't so much of the armbars and the rear naked chokes but fish-hooking (using fingers to tear mouth), and eye gouging. Then when it was brought over to Brazil, the art was developed through the violence that was going on on the streets of Rio by the world renown Gracie family. To be fair, one flaw I can see of BJJ is it probably only works best for a one on one fight. I can't imagine how one would be able to take on more than an opponent at a time, working on the ground.

Here: BJJ VS. Sumo, is a very good example of how BJJ can be used effectively by someone who is much much smaller in size than his/her opponent (BJJ fighter: the famous Royce Gracie).

Muay Thai

Needless to say, Muay Thai is a very high impact fighting style. If you cannot take your opponent to the ground and submit, Muay Thai is the way to go. Born in Thailand, 'มวยไทย' was originally developed for military purposes in the ancient times. Similar to Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai was invented so Thai soldiers were given the ability to engage in unarmed combats.

The fighting discipline can be said to be one of the most "down to earth" ways of fighting, putting to use fists, elbows, knees, forearms, feet and most importantly, shins. Muay Thai allows fighters to develop solid body parts, as not only does the fighting style emphasise striking down of the opponent, the fighter him/herself, must also be able to withstand the striking from the opponent.

Two of my favourite Muay Thai fighters: Masato and Buakaw

As for the flaw, if a pure Muay Thai fighter gets taken down, he/she would be in trouble. Muay Thai does need you to create an appropriate striking distance between you and your opponent. If you ended up on the ground with a BJJ fighter, you'd better try to get both of you back on feet and start chopping down the tree.

Here's a clip of a K-1 fight: Muay Thai VS. Boxing, with one of my favourite Muay Thai fighters, Masato, fighting a Japanese boxer. A very interesting and entertaining fight.

The things I really like about these two styles of fighing is the simplicity and the practicality. While Muay Thai utilises all the weapons mother nature has given you, BJJ lets you dominate your opponent on the ground, where most of the action is likely to take place if real fight was to break out. Other than all that has been mentioned, practicing both or either one of these two styles guarantees to get you fit as F***. Fo sho...

My ideal opponent (left)