Opinion on multiple attackers

[yama-nagare]

Just wondering what everybodies opinion is on BJJ and it's effectiveness against multiple attackers?

[Gene Williams]

Hi, I do not practice BJJ, but there is grappling in our applications and in the jujutsu we practice. I have watched the Gracie tapes and the fights that Royce was in on T.V. It appears to me, and this is from a karate perspective, that most of what is shown and practiced is for one on one combat. Obviously if you are facing multiple attackers it does not seem wise to go to the ground with one of them, unless you immediately get him in a potentially fatal or maiming position and appeal to his friends' fellow feeling, i.e., "If you want your friend to keep his eyes (arm, neck,balls, etc.)you'll back off." I have seen a tape of the Gracie's teaching standing techniques,
but it was not as dynamic as their ground work and not as impressive as the aikijutsu I have seen. That being said, Royce, Rorion, and the other Gracies have a strong warrior spirit and can probably handle themselves against multiple opponents, too, it is just that it does not appear that they systematically teach those techniques. Please correct me if I am wrong. Gene

[Ed Beneville]

Gene Williams is correct.

Groundfighting is not a good option against multiple attackers. Better options are running and/or weapons.

[yama-nagare]

I expected to hear those replies, it's good to make sure that I'm not the only one that thinks that the Gracie stuff is not made for multiple attackers.

Thanks for your replies..

[Mike Williams]

No, it's not made for multiple attackers, but then few things are.

Where BJJ excels (in my very limited experience) is in its strategies for controlling the ground. So if you do end up down there in a disadvantageous position, you can easily reverse, gain dominance and hoof it out of there.

BJJ isn't about pulling guard and setting up armbars. Let's face it, all other grappling styles teach you some cool newaza submissions - what BJJ offers are the strategies to allow you to gain positional dominance. Once you establish that, your options become far more varied.

Put it this way, if I ended up on the ground in a multiple attacker (nightmare!) scenario, I would much rather have studied BJJ than not.

Cheers,

Mike

[Tim Cartmell]

Very well put Mike.

I'd like to add that going to the ground as a first choice in a street fight (whether against one or more attackers) is not advocated in BJJ. Although there is, of course, a great amount of technical crossover between mat/ring BJJ and street self-defense BJJ, the stratagies of application are not the same.