I've only been in 1 fight outside of the ring. It went like this.

Drunk guy spouting shit at my buddy and I at a local bar (I was the DD that night). He Pushes me. I shrug it off. He pushes me again. On the rebound, -Jab-uppercut-lead hook- This was a 'leave me the hell alone' combo... not a full power 'lay out the guy i outweigh by 50lbs' combo... He hits the ground, scrambles, and shoots a tackling double-leg. I sprawled, spun around him, stood up and kicked him full, hard, and square in the ass. He stands up, walks over to his drink, slams it, and leaves.

Martial arts?–– nah. I just used boxing and wrestling... it's all anyone ever really -needs- for a fight. Anyone who takes a fight to the ground is a dumbass–– you don't know if your Gegner has buddies or not... and getting your grape stomped by his friends while you try to armbar him is not how i'd want to go out...

I am , or was , a 3rd dan in TKD - 20 straight years of training , from 17 to 37( , after that just random informal " fight club " backyard training groups ) . I trained 2 years in Muay Thai , am a passable boxer , and don't mind getting hit.

I used to work for a guy , tough guy , mental case , ego problems , & childhood AAU Judo competitor. Eventually he flipped over some nonsensical trivial shit and went looking for me , found me , called me out eventually attacked me.

Skipping all the boring shit : So he winds up to punch me , and in slow motion I think : " He's not that stupid is he ? I am going to totally fuck him up if he tries to box with me ... Okay , he's changing his mind - I bet he goes for the big hip throw ..."

And he did , and I went with it , and caught his neck on the way over , we both went down together with him on top and me with a solid choke on his neck. I squeezed and in a few seconds his eyes rolled and he went limp. I pushed him off of me , a minute later he got up , yelled for a while and drove away.

20 plus years training for the big kung fu movie fight and I choke him out instead. ..... WTF? .... Whatever , I had fun in the gym during those years.

Nothing ever goes as planned.

I agree with both of you guys. You don't want to be rolling on the ground any longer than you have to lest you get blind sided by his buddies. Boxing has its flaws too though. Skulls and teeth are a lot harder than the weak little bones in your hand. Plus sometimes there is just not enough room to square up with the guy or he's already inside you punches when the fight starts. That is why I think everybody should get a little experience with Judo or even some basic throwing tequniques (not that Judo is perfect either, I just think it should have a place in everyone's street fight/SD arsenal.)

only once so far in a "street" fight, several times working crowd control at beer tents.
the one on the street the guy actually tried to come at me with a double hand throat grab, with my lead hand I spun him around so he was facing away from me, then looped my arm around his neck so he was facing away bent over backwards with me holding his neck in kind of a headlock. He did hit me once, I felt the hit but no pain, security was near by and interceded at that point, so i just let go of him and let him drop.
(BTW my training is primarily Okinawa Te Karate, with Aikido, Jujitsu, some Kenpo, and Shotokan Karate.)

The ones whilst working crowd control were very minor, mainly just holding people back.

Not trying to start an argument, but the "issues with groundfighting" you mention also apply to stand up fighting. You can get sucker punched from behind while standing just as easy as you can get kicked while on the ground. Also, in my experience the trained grappler is almost always in the top position when fighting for real. Just my experience.

My training in Bujinkan has saved my life. About a year ago while I was walking home and took a ahortcut, 2 guys approached me, the one closest to me pulled a knife on me and demanded that I surrender my cellphone and wallet to him. As he stuck the knife forward at me, I moved out of line, struck the knife hand sending it flying, then followed up with a shuto strike to his neck and a quick takedown by striking his leg and using the force from that and my hand on his neck to throw him to the ground, then I stomp kicked the other in the groin, sending him to the ground, and I took off running in the other direction. All this time I was carrying a Smith & Wesson folding knife, thankfully I never had to use it. Times like theses remind me to always keep a good awareness of my surroundings and to carry myself with confidence.

Stand Up striking vs. grappling/groundfighting against multiple opponents is a sucker's bet IMO. Both are liable to land you in the hospital and the best self defense is to get out of the situation and walk away if at all possible. Unless you are a world class martial artist and your opponents are complete idiots or slobbering drunk, you stand little chance of escaping a confrontation like that unscathed.

I was in an altercation about 2 months ago where a trio of 18 year old idiots confronted a neighbor of mine, a 67 yr. old disabled vietnam vet, while he was in my yard visiting with me. Needless to say, I wasn't going to let them put a beat-down on him. I'm 6'4", 210lb and 34 years old, and pretty athletic (ex swimmer, hockey, and basketball player). I tried to diffuse the situation to no avail. One of the idiots shoved my neighbor and the fists started flying. All 3 went after my neighbor immediately so I grabbed the largest of the 3 and quickly took his back, took him to the ground and sunk in an arm triangle. Fortunately for my neighbor, the 2nd kid saw me on his buddy choking him out and came over and tried (inneffectively) to pull me off of him. I had the first kid asleep really quickly, scrambled up and turned to take down the 2nd, but he just backed away not wanting to take a shot. I didn't get to see what happened with my neighbor and the 3rd kid as both had worn themselves out swinging and were backing up from each other when I finally turned back to them. My neighbors eye was pretty busted up and he ended up having to have a few stitches to close it, but all things considered, it could have been a lot worse. I'm glad that the 2nd kid wasn't smart enough to actually try to hit or kick me off his buddy and was just pulling on my shirt. As a side note, fighting in a hooded sweatshirt is a recipe for disaster and I'm lucky I came away unscathed. Anyway, all is well that ends well I suppose. I know my biggest fear during the fight was that my concealed carry pistol was on me at the time and I was very keenly aware that it could have fallen out during the scuffle. I remember worrying about that during the fight. Fortunately it didn't come out and I don't think anyone there ever knew I had it on me.

I never kept track of incidents, but I have been in a riot, had a murder attack me, and lots more, Walk a tier and see what happens. All I use are simple stuff, but stacked in a pattern. MY system off Juijitsu is a overlay, you learn it and put in what you know.

If i don't know them, and/or there may be more than one, i'll deflect his first couple blows (basically a reflex anyway) and then jack his grapes up to his throat with a kick/knee, or maybe a strike to the throat/neck if the opportunity presents itself... I'm not gonna screw around if i don't have to...
(i DO have some self control though, so i'm not gonna punch him in the trachea and collapse his windpipe... maybe...)

Also, don't get into a ground match with a CCW on your belt if you have a choice...

ETA: The guy on the right is my dad (in 1981), he instructed and competed for several years, and won the Battle of Atlanta 3 times.
I was his sparring partner later in life...

Just like Joe Corley

yeaaa, he lost the fumanchu a long time ago, along with most of his hair
regular stache now

Nothing thats lasted long enough to really be considered anything.

But like a few here I love to choke!



ETA: Im sure my son knows more than me now any way.
He tests for green soon and I am nervous as hell.