With the popularity of Mixed Martial Arts rising, people have raised debates as to whether MMA skills are effective in the streets. Barring absolutely no rules applied in the streets, can an MMA fighter beat a street fighter?
There are a lot of arguments surrounding the claims as to how street fighters will fare against MMA fighters. One reason is that they already have actual street experience and have better awareness in these situations.
Subsequently, street fighters can use cheap shots in sensitive areas of the body like eyes, groin, and back of the head. Whereas an MMA fighter innately will not since it's illegal in competition.
MMA fighters have grown and trained upon to follow the rules, and it could become their disadvantage at street fights. However, they can actually use that to their upper hand, rather than it being their demise.
Explaining all of the points and cases that anyone can give to either MMA fighter and street fighter definitely won't fit into a single paragraph, hence in the following sections we will be discussing them each.
So, can an MMA fighter beat a street fighter? All of your questions will be answered if you keep on reading this article!
Can an MMA Fighter Beat a Street Fighter?
Considering the experience and rigorous training, it is easy to expect that an MMA fighter will beat a street fighter. It would be foolish for a street fighter to realistically believe that he can have a shot against a trained fighter.
However, you also have to take into account the situation the fight has happened in. No one is immune to sucker punches. Hitting an unaware MMA fighter unexpectedly, might just be the way for a street fighter to emerge victorious.
In relation, a street fighter could also make the fight dirty and use deadly weapons such as knives. While an MMA fighter can do a dismount, the chances would be slim and the street fighter will most probably be on the upper hand.
Actually, an MMA fighter is capable of anything a street fighter can do. And they can even do it better and more efficiently. Hence, street fighters don't really have any edge over trained MMA fighters, unless they are also trained or if they resort to dirty tactics.
Are MMA Fighters Allowed to Participate in Street Fights?
In legal terms, street fighting can easily fall under obstruction of peace, which is a common law offense.
Professional MMA fighters who participate in street fighting can get the unfavorable end between both parties if ever lawsuits are filed because they can be given elevated charges due to the fact that they are trained and skilled in fighting.
Especially if an MMA fighter instigated the fight, it can be an assault case. You may have heard about MMA fighters or Boxers having their hands or feet "registered" deadly weapon. While this isn't legally true, it's somewhat true.
MMA fighters are undoubtedly physically stronger than an average man. Their punches and kicks are powerful to the extent that they can cause serious injuries, or in worse case scenarios, murder.
Lastly, knowing MMA fighters capabilities, additional penalties of law can surely be given to them if they were in a fight which they could avoid easily. Self-defense would be another argument which can substantiate the involvement in a street fight.
To put it straight, whether you are a professional fighter or just an ordinary citizen, street fighting is ILLEGAL.
How to Beat an MMA Fighter in a Street Fight?
It is a reality that anything is possible. That means, there will always be a chance that a street fighter will beat a trained MMA fighter. Actually, street fighters posses more threats and dangers, as this video below explains.
The nature, tactics, and abilities of an average untrained street fighter is different and may come as unorthodox to the fundamentals an MMA fighter has grown upon. The ordinary person usually will react differently to attacks so they can be tricky to deal with.
Also, there will always be a strength in numbers. Fighting when alone will always be dangerous because most street fighters won't respect a one-on-one fight and will most probably jump at you at your back.
Can a Flyweight MMA Fighter Beat Two Average Fighters in a Fight?
Flyweights are fighters who generally fight at around 116 to 125lb (53 to 57kg) and are on average 5'5 in height. It is safe to say that compared to an average human, flyweights are much smaller.
Supposing a fight between a trained flyweight MMA fighter and two average street fighters, the outcome would all depend on how the fight actually materialize. MMA fighter beat a street fighter one-on-one but would have hard time against more.
There will be a lot of variables in the fight but it all boils down to situational awareness. If the two average fighters don't attack intelligently, the flyweight MMA fighter will definitely see through everything and wisely attack while defending.
You can see in the video below a one vs two MMA match. As you can see, two smaller guys are intelligently attacking and gets to angles where the bigger guy can't see them all at once. The fight results in a win for the two smaller guys.
Street Fighters Who Became MMA Stars
As pointed out earlier, a street fighter can't really go toe-to-toe against MMA fighters unless they also have training background. With that being said, there are a few selection of street fighters that became world renowned MMA stars.
While it has been discussed in this article that MMA fighters have the edge against street fighters, the following have proved that their ruthlessness and ferocity is enough to have success in professional MMA competition.
Kimbo Slice
Kevin Ferguson, most famously known as "Kimbo Slice" might just be the one who started it all for street fighting. He had immense fame and acquired a status as the "King of the Web Brawlers" after his street fighting and backyard brawling videos surfaced the internet.
As seen in the street fight videos, Kimbo Slice was dealing out heavy punishment to his opponents, making some of them give-up. Short after he became known, he began training MMA and fought professionally.
Kimbo Slice went to sign with the UFC and participated in "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show. He finished his career with 5 wins against 2 losses and 1 no-contest. Although he didn't have that much of a career, he was a feared fighter in all of MMA.
Jorge Masvidal
Jorge Masvidal's street fighting to fame story is somewhat tied to that of Kimbo Slice. His most infamous street video was that when he made backyard beatdown of Ray Slice, another street fighter who was Kimbo's protege at the time.
What made Masvidal successful is because he spent time practicing karate, boxing, and a little bit of wrestling. From there, he found his way into MMA and became a force to be reckoned with.
"Gamebred" produced countless highlights including the UFC record of the fastest KO ever. He also had a couple UFC title shots. Although he never did become champion, the PPV and viewership numbers proved that he is an absolute star.
Jorge Masvidal might just be the most famous street fighter ever, considering his success in terms of popularity and attention in the MMA world.
Eddie Alvarez
Eddie Alvarez is surely the most successful street fighter of all time. He was the first man to win titles in both of the two of the major MMA promotions, UFC and Bellator. His MMA track record is undeniably worthy of being in the hall of fame.
Alvarez' moniker "The Underground King" lives well up to his name. Long before Alvarez competed professionally in MMA (2003), he has already experienced more than hundreds of fights in the streets of Philadelphia.
Much of Eddie Alvarez' success was due to his utilization of different martial arts. Eddie was an intelligent brawler, proving how good he was as a street fighter. At this time of writing, Alvarez boasts a successful record of 30 wins, and only 8 losses.
Which Martial Art is Best for Street Fights?
Take note that the following will not always apply to every street fight situation. Practically in street fights, your opponent's allies will most likely jump on you and help beating you down.
When facing these type of situations, it is best to avoid and stay out of a fight. No matter how good of a fighter you are, chances are, you'll get overwhelmed by the number of opponents and get jumped at.
Most street fights take place starting on the feet, and most likely eventually ending up on the ground. Due to this, it is important to focus on the main bases of Mixed Martial Arts since it best translates in real street fight situations.
Striking Martial Arts
Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai will train you how to be efficient with your strikes, while dealing the maximum amount of power you can generate. It will also teach you to pick your punches and at the same time how to defend yourself.
Average street fighters have no basic skills and tend to swing their punches in expectations of knocking someone out. Trained fighters can utilize these and create counter attacks to sensitive areas where they're not expecting to get hit at.
A decent MMA fighter can definitely pick a street fighter apart and humiliate and embarrass them on the feet!
Grappling/Wrestling Martial Arts
If you've watched videos of the average street fight, you've probably seen them ending up on the ground because both men fighting tend to grab each other and attempt to trip them in a way.
This is the reason why I believe wrestling and grappling is an important base to get a knowledge of, to fare better in street altercations. Also, if you at least know some ground work, you won't feel uncomfortable whenever the street fight goes to the ground.
Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo are effective when it comes to subduing and rendering an opponent immobile. It's also best for preventing yourself from receiving more damage.
How Long Can The Average Person Fight?
A big misconception that an average untrained person usually thinks is that he can fight for a long period of time. In reality, street fights usually just lasts within a minute.
For obvious reasons, this is due to the fact that an average person doesn't know how to fight intelligently. It's actually predictable and anticlimactic how most street fights would go.
Commonly, street fights starts off having a heated argument, and then when it escalates, the persons involved usually swing at each other in hopes of landing that fight ending punch.
However, as they are untrained, they lack the accuracy and the proper punching technique. Grabbing a hold happens very often, and next is they fall to the ground. The pacing of street fights happens so that they get tired and exhausted so quickly.
Are Police Officers Good Fighters?
In the academy or officer training, the police are usually trained with defensive tactics. Since their sworn duty is to protect citizens, they undergo through seminars and lessons on how to deal with physical hazards. and dangerous situations.
Basic self defense martial arts such as Krav Maga, Jiu-Jitsu, and Boxing are common for them. But although police officers know basic self defense, they are not fully trained in martial arts. They can't be counted as good fighters but instead are trained to subdue threats safely and lawfully.
However, it doesn't apply to all. There will always be police officers who doesn't know how to fight, like in this video above. Two police had the man kneeling but ended up having a hard time restraining the man. A good fighter would have easily handled the situation.
Trained Female MMA Fighter vs Untrained Man: Who Wins?
Can a trained female MMA fighter beat an average untrained man? the answer is definitely YES.
Trained female MMA fighters are not average women who can easily get overpowered by the average man. Well, there's an exception if the man is more than 200lbs and the female MMA fighter is a mere atomweight who weighs less than 115lbs.
Nevertheless, a female MMA fighter, as the same as a male MMA fighter, undergo through thousands of hours of training. The amount of repetitions of certain techniques and moves will make anyone a master of their craft.
Training is so important and it is often getting underestimated and looked down. An average untrained human sucks at fighting but with just a couple sessions of training, they'll be percentages better in terms of fighting since they'll know the basics.
That alone is a big edge for a trained female MMA fighter. They'll pack the stronger punch, the better fight IQ, and most importantly, the conditioning and physical abilities to fight.
Final Thoughts
MMA fighter can beat street fighters. Actually, in almost all of the time, they destroy them.
In honest reality, a well-trained MMA fighter is far more skilled and stronger. MMA fighters would absolutely destroy a street fighter, especially if the street fighter has no prior background of combat fighting.
Evidently, no matter how much street fighting experience one has, it won't ever suffice the superiority of an MMA fighter's fundamentals, technique, and tactics. Their combat skills are levels above because of the years of harsh training they have endured and made effort with.
Mixed Martial Artists go through an immense amount of training and have developed skills and techniques that make them superior in fighting. Whether with rules or not, street fighters do not have any significant edge over MMA fighters.
Mixed Martial Arts training makes anyone a better fighting. An untrained street fighter will always lose to a trained mixed martial artist.
On the whole, it is best to stay away from trouble and any physical altercations. Violence should not be promoted and the best self-defense is still not further escalating altercations.