From a BJJ black belt: Why jiu-jitsu is not suitable for street self-defense

Written by Florent Luccioni.
Florent Luccioni is an important member of the French Jiu-Jitsu community. He and his twin brother Jean Claude are both BJJ Black belts under Francisco Nonato and run Arte Suave Jiu-Jitsu academy in Montpellier, France. He has been training BJJ for 15 years and has spent years training in Brazil. Luccioni also teaches Jiu-Jitsu and self defense to the French Police.

There are many posts on internet forums and advertisements of BJJ academy websites, which present our martial art/sport as an effective martial art for self defense and against a street aggression, even as the “most effective martial art” .
On the other hand, many other experts Self Defense see taking the fight to the ground as a big mistake in a street fight…
As an experienced Jiu-Jitsu instructor, I would be expected to practise the first theory, in order, perhaps, to see my number of students increase. Or maybe, I might look at reality without defending my dogma…
So, is Jiu-Jitsu truly an effective martial art in an urban context? Is it even the most effective, as some claim??

Read the article here:

http://www.bjjee.com/articles/bjj-black-belts-point-of-view-why-jiu-jitsu-is-not-suitable-for-street-fighting/

Perhaps the greatest component of fighting that few consider is the body's response to sympathetic nervous system arousal. As a person becomes more aroused, fine motor skill becomes diminished, to the point where (at over 180 beats per minute) many people can only breathe, pump blood and vacate their bowels. So, why do self defence systems teach complicated joint locking or technical throwing or precise pressure point strikes when, in all likelihood, a person will not be able to perform those techniques under huge stress?

Don't believe the stories you hear - judo is ultimately about Kyuzo Mifune going to a bar
And kicking ass using all the karate he learned in his spare time away
From the mat.

Whoops, did I say Mifune?   I meant to say Helio Gracie taking someone down with multiple broken bones. In his Play Boy interview it's explained in detail.

Which proves the effectiveness of the art. At long last.  

Here is an advertisement for the Carlson Gracie Academy. The techniques they show feature a lot of self-defense. I wish my school included this type of BJJ, especially as my Professor trained there in the 1980s. We do need a better set of mats, though.