The Asian martial arts first burst upon the American scene when tales of amazing feats by "little Asian guys" were brought back by U.S. troops stationed overseas after World War II. Interestingly enough, the first styles to take hold in America were the grappling arts of judo and jiujutsu. They were quickly followed by various other systems from far off places like China, Korea, Okinawa and Japan. For decades, striking arts dominated the American scene-until recently, when grappling returned to the forefront.

The possibility of an attacker having a friend who is waiting to jump into the fray always exists on the street", Richard Ryan says, "but it is seldom taken into account in the dojo. When weapons become part of ground fighting, a conflict can turn deadly in a heartbeat. Because it is so easy to lose sight of an opponent's hands (1), he can access a weapon without the other person's knowledge (2).

Grappling techniques have dominated the media for more than eight years. It's rare to open a martial arts magazine and not see one or two grappling articles. Grappling videos have flooded the market, with new ones appearing all the time. Martial artists who never even considered grappling now seek out instruction wherever they can.

Grappling is everywhere, but is it really so effective that it should take precedence over other aspects of self-defense? The answer depends upon why you took up the martial arts in the first place. If you study the arts for their own sake, grappling can be fun and challenging. If you study for the exercise or as a form of physical culture, grappling can give you an incredible workout. However, if your goal is combat, a realistic perspective of grappling is critical.

In and of itself, grappling is not the "ultimate fighting technique" that some people make it out to be. No single method is. It would be foolish to send a soldier to war with just one skill. He wouldn't last very long. In fact, he would soon be overwhelmed, outgunned or outmaneuvered by the many other techniques and tactics that make up real fighting. The same applies to grappling skills. Smart fighters are well-rounded fighters who view grappling as just one of many possibilities within the spectrum of combat.

Regardless of what many grappling instructors claim, size and strength do influence a person's grappling ability, says Richard Ryan (left).

Another important reality is that regardless of what you may have been told, size and strength do dramatically influence grappling ability. Unless you are phenomenally skilled, there are few other endeavors in which size and strength play such a predominant role. Big grapplers usually beat little grapplers. If you are a smaller, lighter or weaker fighter, you should not put all your eggs in the grappling basket. Instead, you should spend your time learning grappling defenses and perfecting your ability to surgically strike an attacker who attempts to grapple with you. On the other hand, if you are big and strong, offensive grappling skills can give you a huge advantage over lesser mortals. The essential point is that no method of attack — except perhaps striking — should take precedence over any other. In addition, a fighting system must ultimately be tailored to you, not the other way around.

Three Categories

Grappling skills fall into three distinct categories, each with its own focus and goals. The first is ground defense. It encompasses techniques and tactics designed to stop an attacker from taking you to the ground. Ground defense includes striking, shielding, counter-grappling and evasion techniques, the purpose of which is to create and maintain a separation between you and your opponent.

The second category is ground survival. These are techniques designed to fight back once you find yourself on the ground. The goal of using them is to be able to return to an upright fighting position as soon as possible.

The third category is ground fighting, or the purposeful control and manipulation of another person on the ground. Ground fighting is the most complex of the three categories, and it requires the greatest amount of training to use successfully in the real world.

Richard Ryan teaches that a minimalist approach to grappling is best for the street. To Illustrate, Ryan (left) faces his opponent (1). When close contact seems inevitable, Ryan slips in his left hand to control the opponent's head (2). He then keeps his target in striking range while he unleashes as many punches as he deems necessary (3).

Three Scenarios

The three types of grappling manifest themselves in three different scenarios. The first scenario consists of a grappling situation in which you and your opponent remain standing as you fight. Like the clinch in boxing or the tie-up in wrestling, this situation may include various locks, joint breaks, strangulations and manipulations in which both of you remain on your feet until one of you gets the upper hand or changes tactics. In Dynamic Combat, this scenario includes quick grabs of the neck, hair, clothing or limbs to secure the opponent for a collision with an incoming strike.

The second scenario is an encounter in which you remain upright while your opponent goes to the ground. This spatial relationship offers numerous advantages: You are in a position of mobility and control while your opponent must fight from a position of liability-if he can fight back at all. That allows you the luxury of engaging and disengaging at will if the opponent suddenly produces a weapon or mounts a successful counterattack. It also allows you to look around and deal with a second adversary if one is present.

The third scenario, in which you and he go to the ground accidentally or on purpose, is the least favorable. Although going to the ground with an opponent is all the rage today, in the real world it carries a series of potentially lethal ramifications. If you don't crack your head or kneecap on the pavement or sustain an injury from something else in the environment, you will at least lose mobility and the ability to disengage. You have to be on your feet to retreat.

However, that's not necessarily the most dangerous problem. On the ground, your perception of your opponent and environment are severely limited. During the body-to-body contact that takes place during the execution of most ground-fighting techniques, you often completely lose sight of one or both of your opponent's hands. Those hands could easily access a knife or gun and use it before you knew what happened. To better appreciate the ease with which that can happen, bring a rubber knife to your next ground-fighting session and see what happens. The outcome will change your perspective on all those great submission techniques you know.

Rules and Realities of Street Grappling

Preventing body-to-body contact is the best way to keep someone from taking you down. To illustrate, Richard Ryan (right) faces an aggressive opponent while maintaining a loaded position to generate force instantly (1). The opponent rushes forward and attempts to tackle Ryan, and Ryan hits his face with a straight-arm technique to keep him at striking distance (2). He follows up with a left cross to the throat (3).

Strike, don't grapple. My first rule of grappling is to avoid grappling - unless, of course, you have no other choice or it offers and obvious tactical advantage. No matter how skilled you are, grappling is still a more complex skill set than basic striking; and complex skills sets lend themselves to complex problems. If you do employ grappling, do so as a means to supplement your striking attack. In Dynamic Combat, the rule is to strike first and use other methods of attack if you need to. I wouldn't grapple on the street unless I was sure it would give me a distinct advantage or I found it necessary for my survival.

Assess you environment. Whenever you come into physical contact with an opponent, you dramatically increase the possibility that both of you will end upon the ground. Therefore, when deciding to grapple with an opponent, fake your environment into consideration. A plethora of takedowns, throws and grappling and balance techniques work well on the soft mats of the dojo, but only a handful work in the real world of concrete, rocks, cars and furniture. Environment can dictate or negate a technique.

Always take into account where you are in your choice of action. If you must grapple and find yourself tin the ground, try to finish it quickly and get back on your feet. In a serious fight, don't grapple to control or suppress, grapple to get a positional advantage for striking. The best street-grappling techniques are those- that keep you on your feet while your opponent is on-the ground beneath, you or on his way there.

Expect the unexpected. In a street fight against a stranger in a strange environment, you can predict neither actions nor events. You have to be prepared for the unexpected, unless your opponent is naked; assume he has a hidden weapon. If he appears to be alone, expect his friend to appear out of nowhere and help him. No matter how skilled you may be Murphy's Law can still kill you.

Why People Go Down

You can end up on the ground as a result of a strike, push, tackle or slip. However, the easiest way for someone to take you down is to make body-to-body contact. That is because such contact creates a "unified mass'" making it easy for one person to manipulate the other person's balance. If you go down, chances are he will, too. If two boats are tied together in a storm and one sinks, the other sinks with it.

In a vicious street fight, the ground is the last place you want to be. If you find yourself there, you are in grave danger. The longer you remain there, the higher the potential is for you to be injured or killed. On the ground, you lose the ability to disengage, generate serious power and utilize options other than ground fighting.

Preventing body-to-body contact is the surest way to keep someone from taking you down. It keeps him from creating a unified mass and allows you some room to defend and strike back Avoiding dose contact requires the proper use of body mechanics, as well as the ability to generate barriers and strike with leverage-oriented force.

Realities of the Takedown

If you have ever been taken down hard, you know the advantages of a sudden attack to your balance. Being slammed into the ground can be disorienting for even the most seasoned fighter. If executed with speed and surprise, it opens a clear window of opportunity for a decisive finish. You can perform even the most brutal takedown on a mat without fear of seriously injuring your partner, but try doing that on the street or in a room full of furniture and your opponent may end up with a shattered kneecap, a broken wrist or worse.

In Dynamic Combat, grappling is just one of eight ways of attack and defense. It is considered highly tactical, meaning that it is usually deployed only when there is a specific reason to do so. The best use for it is to control an opponent who poses a limited threat or to finish an opponent after you have taken control of the situation. When grappling is taught in Dynamic Combat, it is usually "book ended" by direct striking attacks. In other words, students are taught how to use strikes before initiating a grappling technique and how to follow up with strikes once they've gained control. Pure submission techniques are used only when the opportunity presents itself as a clear and distinct advantage or to control a person who poses a lesser threat, such as someone who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Against a dangerous opponent, it is much better to take your opponent to the ground while you remain standing over him to control and strike. Real-world grappling must be short, sweet and overwhelming. It should be viewed as a tactical supplement to striking. Unless you are a consummate grappler, have complete control of your environment and are sure you're facing a single, unarmed opponent, do not go to the ground and grapple.

About the author: Richard Ryan is the founder of Dynamic Combat™ and the designer of the Tactical Defense Training™ system for law enforcement. He has more than 30 years of experience in martial arts, combative firearms and weapons training. For more information, call (800) 945-4387.

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