The Best Martial Arts Styles for Street Fighting

Ground Fighting Vs Striking

There are thousands of martial arts styles in the world, but the most popular ones have made it as far as they have because they hold elements of combat significant to tradition and power.

Taekwondo

This is currently the most practiced martial art in the world, the national sport of South Korea. Taekwondo is the bread and butter of striking. It is essential in building speed and strength through conditioning, and exceptional in increasing flexibility. It is not hard to learn, but very tough to master enough to make it practical in a real life fight. The basis of Taekwondo is kicking, and more specifically, high kicking.

High kicking is never recommended (above the midsection of the opponent) in a street fight. Only the most experienced and conditioned fighters can pull off these kinds of kicks to make it effective - and it's rare enough for the simple word of advice: just don't attempt it. Taekwondo teaches a lot of kicking to the chest and midsection though, which you can get away with. The midsection is a good place to kick because a broken rib can end the fight by itself.

A favorite of this art is the roundhouse kick. It is extremely powerful compared to a punch. Your legs exert more than twice the force of your arms, and when combined with speed, footwork, pivoting, and hip motion, this kick can easily damage break ribs, damage internal organs, and knock the lights out of people. When aimed at the head (extremely rare because the higher the target, the tougher), it can cause concussions and even death.

The secret to delivering the perfect roundhouse kick is not simply the strength of the leg muscles. It is the torque generated through the pivoting of the back foot, twisting of the hips and shoulders, and a whipcrack snap of the shin upon contact - all this must happen at the same time. It must be a harmony of collaboration, a result of different powers. The legs are only extensions of the body, and no muscle can work alone.

The time it takes to perfect the roundhouse kick can be minimal, it's all about technique. Without technique, speed and strength do not reign supreme.

Muay Thai