6 Reasons Why Judo Is Effective In Real Life

Judo is viewed by some as a defensive point fighting sport with restrictive rules on both grips and takedowns. Whilst it may be true that sport judo is somewhat suffocated by its ruleset, the same can be said for many martial arts. Judo does however offer devastating takedowns which can be very effective in real life.

The sport of Judo does rely heavily on stances, grips, and knowing how to game the rules. For example, if you are launched into the air, it is almost always correct to try and land on your side or your front to stop an ippon. In a real fight, it may not be best to do this if you are skilled in fighting off your back.

The same can be said from another perspective. Sport judo is always stopped when an ippon is scored. In real life, especially if you were fighting on sand or grass. There would be at least a reasonable chance that even if you score an ippon, this is not the end of the fight. If you allow your opponent to stand back up, you may be in exactly the same situation if they were not hurt by the initial fall.

Effectiveness in MMA

Judo is not really used too much in modern-day MMA competition. The reasoning for this is that wrestling is generally a much safer way to get your opponent to the floor and stay in a dominant position.

If we look at sport judo, you will often see an ippon scored, followed by the person who got thrown ending up in the top position. Obviously, this is not acceptable from MMA, as you will now have scored an ippon which is worthless, and will now be punched in the head.

With all that being said, judo can be used in MMA to great effect, especially from the clinch. Perhaps the best-known fighter for both judo standup and groundwork is Ronda Rousey. Although currently retired from MMA, Rousey was 12-0 at one point in her career with 9 armbar finishes after a variety of judo throws to get on the ground.

Khabib Nurmagomedov is a fighter known best for his wrestling abilities. However, he like many other top level MMA fighters is a true mixed martial artist and can be seen pulling off a Harai Goshi against another seasoned grappler Rafael Dos Anos.

This is proof that judo is used at the highest levels of MMA and is very effective. Whilst it will never likely be “plan A”, it certainly offers a great back up and can get you out of a lot of uncomfortable situations.

Ground skills against untrained opponents

Another reason why judo is effective in real life are the ground skills against untrained opponents. If BJJ has taught us anything in the past 20-30 years, it is that there are a LOT of people who have no idea what to do on the floor. If you’re a skilled judoka then there will be a very good chance you can make the fight go to the floor with a variety of throws in your arsenal.

Once on the floor, if you have a good kesa-gatame or any other kind of pin, the chances are you won’t even need a submission. It is hard enough to know about groundwork and get out of a good judoka’s pin, let alone if you don’t know what you’re doing. Almost anyone who has had several years of experience training judo would be able to hold an untrained opponent to the floor and not give them a single chance to get back up. This makes the fight very safe for yourself and puts you in a minimal risk situation.

Balance, Agility & Timing

Balance, agility, timing, and many other skills are things you will pick up without even knowing. If you are training judo 3 times per week for a few years, you will naturally become more athletic. Even though you are training techniques of how to throw, fall and submit people correctly, these skills are a by-product of what you are learning.

This also has crossover with other sports. If we think of perhaps some of the most grueling and physical disciplines on the body, we think of a sport such as gymnastics. Gymnasts are well known for their intense conditioning and supreme strength. If we had a gymnast train judo compared with an average person who sits in an office 9-5 with no regular exercise. It’s clear to see who would come out on top.

Even though you will not realize these skills as you can’t see day-to-day improvements. That does not mean that they aren’t there. These skills will increase over time and are obviously extremely valuable for real-life situations.

Can defeat boxers who don’t know how to grapple

Yet another nice thing about judo is that it can defeat very high-quality strikers. Mike Tyson recently said that if he had fought Royce Gracie in his prime then he would have lost. This is because if you don’t know how to grapple, it doesn’t really matter how good your striking is. If you are completely ignorant about grappling (which most people are) then you will have no idea how to defend throws or takedowns.

Of course, your risk of getting knocked out against a boxer is much greater than if you were to fight against an average man. Although if the boxer gets too close and does not manage their distance correctly, it may only take a split second before they are on their back.

To summarise, you actually stand a good chance of winning a real-life fight against a dangerous opponent. If you didn’t know any judo then your chance would be near 0%. It’s difficult to speculate what your chance would be against a high-level boxer, although it would certainly be above 0%.

Teaches you how to land safely

Breakfalls are a key part of beginners judo. Without learning how to fall properly, you are putting your body (mostly your arms and shoulders) in danger.

For those who haven’t trained judo before. When you are being thrown high into the air, the natural thing to do is to put your arm to the ground. If you’re coming downwards with great momentum, this is pretty much the worst possible thing you can do. Your weight + your momentum + gravity is really a lot of impact upon an elbow or shoulder joint.

Therefore it is essential you know how to breakfall. If someone wrestled you to the floor in a real-life situation, or even if they somehow threw you with a judo technique. You at least know how to fall properly and protect your body against hard impact.

Effectiveness on hard surfaces

One of the main strengths of judo in real life is that the floors in the western world are not soft like a dojo mat. A lot of modern-day city streets are completely paved over and were not designed for people to fight on.

This means that there is a great danger of landing on the floor, it could potentially be catastrophic in terms of either a knockout or a throw. Whilst it would be unusual for someone to die from landing on concrete, it certainly hurts a lot. You may find yourself with broken ribs at the very least if you were thrown into the air by a judoka and then landed on solid concrete.

Limitations

Multiple opponents or weapons

This is a bit of a silly criticism and often gets leveled at various martial arts. For example “your judo wouldn’t stop a bullet”. Correct, of course it wouldn’t. It also wouldn’t stop 3 men who wanted to attack you with knives.

Judo obviously has limitations and is best suited to a 1v1 combat. Any more people than this and it is pretty useless, given that the person who you are not focusing on can simply punch you in the head repeatedly.

Other trained fighters (managing distance)

You may also find yourself in trouble if you were against a well-trained boxer or taekwondo specialist. This is because if they know what they are doing, they will be able to keep you at a set distance where you cannot attack them, but they cannot attack you.

The idea of keeping an opponent at distance is a very simple concept but harder to pull off. Whilst you can do it most of the time, you simply cannot do it ALL of the time. You may only get one or two chances for an entry to a judo throw, so you would definitely need to take this chance.

However, if your opponent is extremely highly skilled at a striking martial art, it would be incredibly difficult to find any sort of entry into a throw.

The curriculum is not set for real life

The final problem with judo is the restrictive ruleset. In judo, you are not allowed to grab the legs of the opponent, in real life you are. This rules out a lot of very standard takedowns such as single and double legs.

These rules hurt you in two scenarios.

Firstly you will likely not see or take any good opportunities for a single leg takedown. This is not good since judoka are generally much better on the floor compared to an untrained opponent. Therefore due to the restrictive rules of judo, you will likely miss any good openings and instead wait for a throwing opportunity, which may or may not come along.

Secondly, your defense will be lacking against these said takedowns. Judoka do not often spar with wrestlers since they are different sports. A wrestler can keep a judoka at a safe distance and shoot for their legs. Training only judo will limit your knowledge in positioning and defending such takedowns, therefore you would be at a disadvantage against anyone who knows how to wrestle.