BJJ Poll: Have You Ever Used Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a Real-life Self-Defense Situation?

May 16, 2009

Above all, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art designed for self-defense. How many of us have actually had to put our BJJ skills to use in such a situation? I am really interested to learn more about this.

And make sure you tell us your story in the comments section for this post. Was it a bar fight? A road rage incident? Were you acting in your own defense or protecting someone else? Was BJJ effective for you? Were there any charges pressed? Feel free to also leave us a quick voicemail about your experience by calling 877-247-4662 and we may include it in an upcoming episode of The FightWorks Podcast.

I do not know why I did not think of this before as a poll! Many thanks to Larry for the idea!

Written by Caleb · Filed Under BJJ, Polls 
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Comments

5 Responses to “BJJ Poll: Have You Ever Used Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in a Real-life Self-Defense Situation?”

  1. rowdy on May 16th, 2009 8:55 am

    I think you need an option that is something like, “Kinda. Knowing I had BJJ skills allowed me to be confident in a situation I was able to get out of without fighting.”

    That would be my choice. I have 3 very strong instances where knowing bjj helped me deal with situations where I was physically in danger but was able to talk my way out of it/control the situation.

  2. Ed on May 16th, 2009 9:04 am

    I can’t take that moral high road like Rowdy.
    I got in a fight with three people.
    One of them had started to rush me and take a swing. To defend myself, I punched him in the face, took his back and choked him out.
    His two friends tried to kick me in the head. But I kept rolling their friend over to use him as a shield until the cops got there.
    Afterwards, a hot Irish girl bought me a shot of whiskey to numb the pain.

  3. Joe on May 16th, 2009 7:56 pm

    In college I was attacked at a bar for glaring at a guy after we accidentally spilled our drinks on each other. I was only a white belt with about 6 months of training. It was an uphill battle but eventually I caught him in an armbar. I remember putting it on as hard as I could and being surprised that I couldn’t get his arm to bend past 180, like I expected it to. But he started howling when I kept cranking on it so I had a chance to get up and flee from his now vengeful friends who had let him to his own methods because I was so scrawny and until the very end it looked like he was going to win. Really, it was way more terrifying than exciting or fun, but I am glad it happened because it made me feel like I had earned my stripes, so to speak.

  4. Shannon Young on May 20th, 2009 7:04 pm

    I have been in 6 fights before jiu jitsu. I have been training very rigorusly for 9 months and I am an Relson Gracie blue belt. I feel like ju jitsu makes an indavidual less violent. Anyone who seriously practices a martial art has a strong aura of confidence and is dedicated in such a way that they dont put themselves in bad situations, like a bar.

  5. Joe on May 22nd, 2009 9:57 am

    I am pretty sure Relson has been to a bar. Congratulations on your blue belt though.

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