Best Martial Arts for Self-Defense Ranked - Boxing

Is Boxing the best Martial Art for self-defence? I asked 3 fighting experts, Natan Levy (UFC), Jeff Chan (MMAShredded) and Icy Mike (hard2hurt) to find out!

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Welcome to the Martial Arts Journey YouTube channel!

My name is Rokas. I'm a Lithuanian guy who trained Aikido for 14 years, 7 of them running a professional Aikido Dojo until eventually I realized that Aikido does not live up to what it promises.

Lead by this realization I decided to make a daring step to close my Aikido Dojo and move to Portland, Oregon for six months to start training MMA at the famous Straight Blast Gym Headquarters under head coach Matt Thornton.

After six months intensive training I had my first amateur MMA fight after which I moved back to Lithuania. During all of this time I am documenting my experience through my YouTube channel called "Martial Arts Journey".

Now I am slowly setting up plans to continue training MMA under quality guidance and getting ready for my next MMA fight as I further document and share my journey and discoveries.

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Check the video "Aikido vs MMA" which started this whole Martial Arts Journey:

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[devonavery]

I agree with their statement. Most altercations are gonna start 1 of 2 ways. Someone's gonna try to punch you or someone's gonna try to grab you. Boxing is great when dealing with someone trying to punch you, but it's severely lacking when it comes to takedown defense.

[General_Jist]

An average boxer will smoke anyone who doesn't train, it only gets risky when fighting someone from another discipline but let's be real most legit fighters aren't getting into random Street fights

[sigiligus]

Minmax self defence by focusing exclusively on boxing and wrestling. The odds that you’re going to be attacked by someone who uses serious kicking skills is almost nonexistent.

[AnAstronautsLoveLet]

Boxing is more than enough to drop normal dudes out there with ease. I get that if a boxer runs into a mma fighter, muay thai fighter, or even BJJ specialist, the boxer might be at disadvantage of being one dimensional. But I have never seen a street fight where both are trained fighters, most of them are just average people with no training experiences.

[thejodyjourney]

Boxing is great, if you want to beat the opponent up. But, you gotta add grappling for more de-escalation options.

[MichaelJohnson-bijp]

“Every fight wants to turn into an MMA fight fight”. So true

[shalevsaada]

To be a complete fighter boxing is a fundamental and probably the most important fundamental to be a good striker

[AD]

Unlike competitions, in a real fight there's a lot more pulling, pushing and grabbing while throwing haymakers in the middle so it's very necessary to know some grappling like elementary judo or sambo even if you don't learn jui-jutsu. Last thing you want in a street fight is to be on the ground. Oh and elbows and knees are the most effective in fights like this. Normally untrained people try to rush in, close the distance and punch you but if you can get in a clinch, its very effective at ending fights

[muriloravelar]

Boxing is B+.
Most of attacks will be wild punches.
Kicking is dificut in jeans.
Ground fighting is complicated on concrete.
Sometimes the space is limited, but you can find a punch.
Add some kick checking and takedown defense and you are done.

[Matador]

Boxing and wrestling the ultimate combo

[michele]

The best combination of martial arts for self defense is one that uses strikes and one that uses grappling. So boxing is 100% a viable one to learn

[winwinmilieudefensie]

The head movement and faints you learn as a boxer are an very underrated skill and also the timing of your opponent and clocking the distance etc .. those are some very useful fundamentals

[rohitchaoji]

Boxing trains you to take hits like nothing else except Muay Thai. Although boxing gyms also tend to attract nutcases who spar hard almost every session. Every person I've met who seriously trained in boxing was very tough but also a bit crazy. Probably makes them more ready for self defense compared to someone who trains martial arts as a hobby, but that can be said of anyone who takes their martial training seriously. I'd say if we're talking of singular, pure martial arts without mixing it up, judo is one of the best for self defense, since it involves throws from an upright standing position and manipulation of clothing. Also, every judoka ranked First Kyu or above that I have sparred with was built like a marble statue with inhuman grip strength.

[cherrybomb]

As someone who does muay Thai boxers give you the hardest time when they come in with that background

[SSSMOR.]

90 percent of people you fight are going to box you with fist only in a fight so that makes it A+ train in what you're gonna see in real life wrestling/grappling is A+ also there both important

[bloodoftheunicorns]

Boxing is one of the only martial arts that we have video proof of them fighting 3 v 1 and winning, it’s S tier.

[Cavouku]

Boxing is most valuable for its training mindset, for certain. The techniques are sound, but if you're ungloved you don't want to punch like a boxer too often. It'll work, but you're liable to injure your hand frequently fighting like that ungloved. Worth it to save your life, obviously, but if you can apply a boxer's training mindset to a more varied system I'd say you should.

[ramonvelasquez]

I agree with them. When someone notices you are stronger or know how to hit, they will usually go for the legs or turn it into a grappling match. Therefore, I would say both skill groups are equally important.

[LegacyFable]

Love boxing I think it creates bad habits for MMA or self defense but I think boxing and wrestling are perfect martial art to start with for beginners

[sxyli]

one thing that’s very underrated in a street fight (which you should never get into) is the head movement that’s required to box the average person will be gassed after like 30 seconds being able to dodge those haymakers they will throw is all you really need