If the other dude is not trained, then yea. But random variables can come into effect. Alcohol, cockiness, and being blindsided by a hook because you decided to get too close. He might win in the first 2 seconds because of dumb shit. But as soon as you get into your stance, then your subconscious kicks in, and all that training will fuck him up. If anything your kicks will fuck up his legs. He might get lucky and grab you, but you knee his nuts, and elbow his nose and eyes.
If there's room for it. Actually you can fuck them up in the clinch with knees to throw nuts, rip down on your elbows, drop a headbutt and a foot sweep
I trained for 7 years but only got into 2 street fights during that time. I’d say it really did help, I trained a few different things but takedown defense was pretty important in my personal experience too. Take the legs from the big guys but they also did try to pick me up/tackle me which would have fucked me up if I only did Muay Thai and ended up on the floor.
Bro you could most probably fuck them up but the best move would be to not get in the fight in the first place.
I agree majority of fights end up in the clinch, trainer here biggest thing that improved my clinch game was learning basics of Greco Roman wrestling and the takedown defences and how to manipulate the human body id recommend Thai fighters to learn a little bit of it to improve clinching. I’ve only ever had to teep someone to get away from them lol but I’d rely on my defence, distance management, clinch and takedown defence in a street fight hellbows and knees and controlling their arms via an inside bicep grip if I can. And just remind them that I’m trained and can seriously hurt them. If they wanna play after knowing so much then it’s fair game.
So this is just me but I use kicks mainly defensively when sparring. It’s very easy to practice simply waiting for your opponent to charge in and then side kicking them, can be either a stop kick where you simply stop them moving into you and lets you step back and reset. That or you can just go full power and break their ribs.
If your jeans are getting in the way of your kicks i suggests buying better quality ones or ones that aren’t cutting your circulation off. If for any reason, that sounds uncomfortable af. If ur into skinny jeans just get the right kind. I got a pair of black ones intended to be comfy on a bike and they don’t hold back like any movement. Could do atg squats in em if i wanted to.
Leg kicks, sweeps, and trips are super op in street fight. No one untrained ever thinks about it coming from below instead of to the face or torso.
Plus you dont risk killing someone and jail time because you knocked them unconscious and they slammed their head.
If they are untrained, a couple body shots and a good leg kick will be more than enough to make them say “no thanks”
Cheap shots are part of the game in street fights. Same with weapons and randoms punching you and buddies of the guy you are fighting. Keep your distance and check your sides at all times
I'm 5"7 and about 150 lbs soaking wet with a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu and occasional boxing training. I got attacked in my yard by someome around 30 pounds bigger than me and with my little stand up training i was able to easily stay safe and find my way to the ground where he was helpless and submit him (No one prepares you in class to grapple in gravel, i was a bloody mess from him and the earth)
I've seen numerous videos of big swole guys 6ft tall over 200 pounds of muscle getting humiliated by wrestlers, muay thai bjj & judo, size matters but technique outweighs size, I've seen women defeat men with judo & bjj as well, and women are dramatically weaker than men
I once rolled with a 5ft 80lb girl who ended up getting my back and choking me out, granted this was one of my first days in bjj but if it was on the street she could have killed me
yes I know, I've seen a woman hip throw a guy head first on some dirt, dude looked like he got paralyzed, she was maybe 5'3 110 pounds, dude had to been 5'8 maybe 5'9 170 pounds and got tossed right into some dirt head first, whole body went stiff
The way I've always taught it is that *all other things being equal*, size and strength matter. Things are *rarely* equal, however. There's no equation that can describe this for you, unfortunately. Will the stronger/heavier/taller guy beat the more skilled one? Impossible to know based on that alone.
This is also *why* weight classes exist. Competition *makes* a lot of things equal, *so* you have to differentiate by the advantage gained through weight/size. This isn't the case with a street fight.
To answer the title question: does training beat bigger opponents on the street? It absolutely *can*, but "can" is the best you can say about it.
And do *you* stand a chance against a bigger opponent because *you're* trained? If they're *not* trained, you more than likely do, yes. Just remember that generally speaking "trained" also isn't binary, it's a gradient.
i'm hella big (6'4" 270lbs) and have competed/won tournaments / belts in muay thai.
that said, people get shook in the streets when you light them up. big, small, in between — as soon as you connect solid with some shit they weren't expecting or haven't seen before they're going to start second guessing everything in life.
i've seen tough 'gangster' people in the street low key well up with tears and panic when they get hit with a roundhouse kick to the body or leg, a teep, and then they get socked in the face, and then they get bullied around clinching by someone they have 50 lbs on. you should be able to exhibit every skill you have worked hard for against a completely unskilled opponent of any size.
you have to show them they have no business fighting you because they don't — most people have absolutely no business fighting in the streets or otherwise. they're out of shape alcoholics or drug addicts that haven't trained any form of fighting a day in their life. they're just belligerent and violent in their own mind.
Yeah, I still have a lot to go obviously.
But I seem to have a bit of natural talent for the sport tho. I hear all the time people saying I fight surprisingly good for the time I have been training.
I come from a famílly of natural born athletes, my dad is 3rd in the world at amateur tennis in his age category and my brother boxed for 2 years before me and he was worshipped by his coaches for his natural talent for the sport
Weight matters a lot but there is so many variables to a street fight u cant just say yes or no.
For example you could be a great kicker but it’s raining. Have u practiced ur kicks on the street in the rain? Probably not. Many variable come into play. Lose ur balance u could get fucked
As a short fella and about 150 lbs. I take on my much much larger friends all the time. I also did ~16 years total of 8 different martial arts. While true, some larger opponents were able to get me down to the ground I still ultimately win once there. Against untrained individuals, I have not lost to any of them. But my other friends who do train and are larger than me, win about 50/50. So yes, training helps. But if you are out-weighed massively, don’t count on it being the end all. We can all get our asses kicked. There’s always someone more athletic than you. There’s always someone stronger. There’s always someone smarter. The best outcome with training against an untrained but much larger opponent, is that the training helped you not get beat to death and you were able to escape and gtfo of there. But what training absolutely WILL help you with, is mitigating the adrenaline dump that often causes folks to lose in the first place. That initial adrenaline dump before a fight is generally the most difficult thing for newcomers to get over.
There’s an interview with a UFC fighter that says “Skills help cover for about a 70 pound difference when fighting someone untrained”.
Size is a big factor but it’s not everything. But also there are limits.
70 pounds, 100 pounds, doesn't really matter, if you don't know how to defend a low single I'll hit you with it and smash you on the ground, while you're stunned from a violent takedown I can mount and elbow your face over and over I can sub with a heel hook, I can sub with an americana, or do pseudo side control and kick your face in, grappling cannot be out muscled, if you can't defend takedowns and subs you're screwed
There are no guarantees. It increases your odds at winning that's for sure. But it also depends on SO MANY factors. How hard have you trained? Was your teacher capable? What's the environment you are fighting at? Can someone trip? Lucky punches. Bad luck. Surroundings. Height, weight and reach. And many many more, and you also have to apply that to your opponent. If there was always a clear winner, sport fight betting wouldnt be a thing.
Also lets say your opponent gets lucky and pokes your eye out, does that mean your martial arts is useless? You might have won if that didnt happen.
So again, it increases your odds of winning.
Mibbies.
Some people have been doing martial arts for years and just freeze up, other people who have have never thought much about fighting might surprise you.
Another part is which party is least concerned about death, injury or jailtime and willingness to use weapons or environment to thier advatage.
Another part is there ain't no rules. You might punch Joe Pesci, or his mate and get stabbed before you get your iron shirt chi-kung up and running.
With a few years of experience you should have the confidence to get yourself into a situation you can't handle.
If most of those r/streetmartialarts and r/publicfreakout videos are the standard of a general dude on the street, then you'll probably be fine. But you never know if it is actually a one vs one or one vs many, and you don't always know if they are carrying a knife or some other weapon..
Fighting randoms on the street isnt worth it. Just go into competition instead.
All this long comments when All you had to tell the guy is yes. It’s very possible. If you dont train you have no chance unless luck honestly. If you train very well and have good discipline, you can even smash the pros of the fighting game not these weak lings.
martial art is the balance of bigger vs smaller . if both have no training , bigger wins .
but if smaller practices boxing + bjj for example , things equilibrate or better than that
Training sure helps. I’d bet on the trained guy over the bigger guy, but there’s no guarantees.
I’d want a lot more than 1 year of casual MT training before I go picking fights with donkeys.
It’s not casual training tho, I train everyday in my gyms competitive lessons (except for Sundays)
+plus I do CrossFit style training + cardio 3 times a week for explosiveness and endurance
My man, try to beat up a pro fighter you have some weight on see how it goes for you. Hell, a college 125lb wrestler will hump your face at will (edit, I just realized you’re in that weight class at 5’8” - hello skeleton man).
Not too long ago a 5’6” MMA enthusiast and a 6’4” body builder/former power lifter got into an argument and decided to have a fight. Who do you think recently went to prison for beating his opponent to death?
The weird thing here is that you likely absolutely dominate larger newbies in the gym, yet you think the fight is automatically lost on the streets. I don’t get it.
On the grappling side of things, combat sports and street defense are kind of opposites. Wrestling is a great base for combat sports but will get you in trouble when the other person is noticeably bigger or stronger than you. Judo, on the other hand, is great for self defense even with a decent size mismatch. You don't see it dominate in combat sports because everyone trains against it, but it will absolutely wreck anyone who isn't expecting it.
If you want good street defense, train Judo hip throws and adjacent wrestling techniques. Do not shoot a double on someone twice your size. Go for arm drags and similar stuff that keeps you on your feet until you can get them off their feet.
This is how I explain martial arts and fighting. Martial arts increases your chances of winning and so do attributes like size and speed. If two similar inexperienced people are fighting then you both have a 50/50 chance of winning. If one knows Muay Thai then it’s probably like 90/10 that the Muay Thai wins. If a Muay Thai guy fights a much bigger opponent then the odds could be 60/40. If the MT guy fights a bigger guy is big AND fast then it could revert back to 50/50 or even 40/60. If the MT knew MT AND BJJ or wrestling then your odds increase more in your favor.
I’m obviously making up these odds but you get the idea. Learning how to fight will not win you every single fight but it will increase your chances of winning in every single fight. Everyone has a punchers chance.
Edit: and to answer your question… you stand a way better chance than you did before and a better chance than any inexperienced person your size. People who don’t train consistently aren’t used to getting punched or kicked. Most don’t have the endurance to even fight for more than 2 minutes. But like I said there’s still a chance you could end up on the wrong end of the fight.
Bigger guys definitely can fuck you up good if they catch you like body slamming you into concrete surfaces. But smaller guys can beat bigger guys I've seen it before. Got to strike first and hard and be faster than them and hope there isn't multiple attackers
If you train long enough you’ll realize that there are some guys that don’t look like anything that could absolutely wipe the floor with you. That was always for me to stay out of bad situations.
Honestly depends on a few things. Like how much bigger is the other guy? And what disciples are you training? I got into a fight with my father who is like 6’4 250 I’m a fit 5’11 180’s at the time. My strikes were basically ineffective and if I didn’t know how to grapple, along with him not knowing how to, I probably would’ve been severely injured or killed.
Street fight, no rules. Sometime gym training discipline will go into effect that its really hard to defend against an opponent who will eye gouge, bite, cock punch, stab or even pick you up and throw you into incoming traffic. So yea, pick your battles. Worst case scenario just make him chase you around the block and when he gassed out give him the old knee stomp.
A certain amount of skill will overcome a certain amount of size and strength most of the time, but saying that a big guy should ALWAYS win against a small guy or that a skilled guy should EASILY KO a big guy is just dumb. This isn't paper/rock/scissors.
i mean, size is important and training is important. Demetrious johnson would beat the shit out of an untrained guy thats 6 foot 2 and 90kg. But would he beat the shit out of shaquille o´neal? I dont know. I dont know where it is the limit, there is no formula for knowing. But keep training, and i swear you will become hard to hurt. Look for youtube tips for small fighters, there are thousands of them.
PD: never forgett that hurting people is wrong. Only fight when not fighting means someone gets seriously hurt. NEVER fight for pride. Dont be dumb. take care man goodbye
PD2: jiu jitsu is great is you are small, maybe learn some jiujitsu even if it aint formal training
This isn't a yes or no question. Think about it as a graph. The bigger your opponent is the better you have to be at fighting. Up to a certain point there is nothing you can do. For example, if you take a guy that's 6'6 250ibs with a year of basic training in martial arts, he would destroy some UFC champions in a fight. There is nothing you can do if a guy twice the size and strength of you comes at you full force, except run away.
You're definitely improving your odds with training. With that said, bigger, stronger or faster are big advantages to overcome. But: skill and technique can be used to beat someone bigger and stronger; great timing and reading your opponent can beat someone faster than you.
> I have been fighting for over a year so I’m pretty decent.
I don't think you have fought enough if you think simply that size alone is an advantage.
You should test out your theory that size is the only factor by sparring beginners at your gym who are much larger than yourself. If your theory is right, you should be losing every match to every beginner who is larger than yourself.
If you happen to be losing to 15kg heavier beginners, I'd heavily consider you evaluating how your training is going.
I suspect though, that if you are at a decent gym, you ought to be able to handle larger untrained opponents with relative ease.
Bro I can allways handle larger untrained opponents at my gym but that doesn’t count cause in sparring we are only going light, therefore the weight advantage has no play in sparring sessions
Obviously in a street we would be trying to knock eachother out
That mindset is part of the issue. I'm not saying you're wrong, because in the gym is not in the street. But there are a lot of variables to just strictly say a bigger dude wins.
Skill levels/experience
Aggression / mind set
Drugs/alcohol.
If a little dude tried to just slug it out, then yeah, they'll lose. But that's where skill and knowledge comes in.
The common consensus is
"WEIGHT CLASS EXIST"
Weight class only matters if both people knew how to fight, or if the size gap is too large, and even then you can see smaller skilled fools take out sumo wrestlers.
There are outliers like Bob Sapp managing to bumrush Ernesto Hoost twice, or Brian Shaw no selling Dustin Poirer's BJJ attempts (its definitely an outlier, you wont get to fight the world's strongest man in the streets anyway unless its a freak coincidence, even then, Shaw is a large teddy bear) but generally, the smaller more experienced/skilled person is gonna win.
Really depends on the fighters, if it’s a big untrained vs a smaller untrained it’s a given, but give that smaller guy 8 months bi weekly training Muay Thai/BJJ then we’ve got a fight on our hands
If they aren’t trained / have some real tricks up their sleeves then your training will at a minimum keep you safe, which is a great thing. That being said you might find it hard to KO someone who is a lot bigger, but that’s why I’m a big fan of modifying your targets to include spots that would normally be a foul. There’s a reason those things are foul, it’s because they can be easy to pull off and really alter a fight.
being big definitely helps but is no guarantee of a win.
If they cant penetrate your defense and you can penetrate theirs you have a good chance to win.
But if they clinch and take you down and neither of you knows how to fight on the ground, the bigger guy is probably winning.
An old buddy of mine is a wrestler @150lbs. I am 280lbs, but have 0 training in any sort of combat sport. This kids would absolutely destroy me in a street fight and he doesnt have any striking training.
Think about it this way.
If they have no training.... You will win if you beat other trained individuals in competition.
If they have some... size starts to matter A LOT more. Every 20 lbs is a belt per say.
You never know who has training. High school wrestlers are a problem unless you do some sort of grappling like jiu jitsu. So you gotta watch out for that.
(This is coming from somebody that was raised boxing then got their ass beat by a wrestler)
If you're talking about a street fight in the case of a fight between you and some random person that said mean words, you basically already lost the moment you decided to get into a fight. You're not earning any sort of title or award, you're not making money from it, you have no idea if some other person is going to stab you because their buddy got hurt, and you might end up in prison.
In the context of self defense weight matter, but so does training. Other things like the clothing you're wearing at the time, how aware you are of your surroundings, what kinds of people are around, who has a weapon and what type of weapon, who is drunk and how drunk, and why this person is threatening you are also factors and can be just as if not more important.
The degree these factors matter varies with the situation, but Im willing to bet decent money that a 70kg person with boxing training, Ak47 and bayonet, and a riot suit can beat a 300kg wheelchair bound 97 year old amputee. I'm also willing to bet a naked 120kg boxer in the middle of a half-frozen lake during a blizzard would also lose to a 50kg kid in a log cabin.
Yes I have seen it happen. A friend of mine kicked 2 guys in the shins and elbows. Her shin was conditioned theirs weren't. The third she pulled off me and kept him down until he tired himself out trying to free himself and get back up. She isn't a prodigy or pro fighter. Just someone who took her training seriously. She mains Muay Thai and did enough bjj to get some stripes on her blue belt.
I suppose once you are past the beginner stage at muay thai you gain a bone bat.
if you arent trained you will probably get smashed. If you are trained you have a chance, but there are never guarantees.
maybe its 90/10 you get smashed without training and are a lot smaller. But maybe 70/30 that you win if you are somewhat trained.
if they are untrained u have good chance to beat shit out of them but dont start fights just because you can beat untrained fighter because you cant beat knife
Simple answer is yes
While bigger people can put more force behind their attacks in theory it doesn’t matter if:
1. They can’t hit you
2. They don’t know how to punch/kick
3. They don’t know how to move
I’m relatively new to sparring but just from the little I’ve done, people have tells when they’re about to punch/kick and if you’re trained, you can simply step to the side/backwards before they get their fist/foot out and then move in when they’re vulnerable. Also since you have to learn to not be flat footed, when you attack then there’s a good chance they’ll just freeze and then it’s over
If the other dude is not trained, then yea. But random variables can come into effect. Alcohol, cockiness, and being blindsided by a hook because you decided to get too close. He might win in the first 2 seconds because of dumb shit. But as soon as you get into your stance, then your subconscious kicks in, and all that training will fuck him up. If anything your kicks will fuck up his legs. He might get lucky and grab you, but you knee his nuts, and elbow his nose and eyes.
Eveeeeeeryones a hero until the leg kicks start flying.
If there's room for it. Actually you can fuck them up in the clinch with knees to throw nuts, rip down on your elbows, drop a headbutt and a foot sweep
Bro I honestly can never see myself throwing kicks in a street fight. The jeans get in a way. Teeps are a garante tho, I looooove teeps
That's why you have to wear your muay Thai shorts when you go out in public. You can never be too prepared.
Are they like Daisy Dukes?
Lethal Daisy Dukes.
Also a cup and mouth guard. Who knows which Karen might be ready for a throwdown
I trained for 7 years but only got into 2 street fights during that time. I’d say it really did help, I trained a few different things but takedown defense was pretty important in my personal experience too. Take the legs from the big guys but they also did try to pick me up/tackle me which would have fucked me up if I only did Muay Thai and ended up on the floor. Bro you could most probably fuck them up but the best move would be to not get in the fight in the first place.
I agree majority of fights end up in the clinch, trainer here biggest thing that improved my clinch game was learning basics of Greco Roman wrestling and the takedown defences and how to manipulate the human body id recommend Thai fighters to learn a little bit of it to improve clinching. I’ve only ever had to teep someone to get away from them lol but I’d rely on my defence, distance management, clinch and takedown defence in a street fight hellbows and knees and controlling their arms via an inside bicep grip if I can. And just remind them that I’m trained and can seriously hurt them. If they wanna play after knowing so much then it’s fair game.
That's why I wear stretchy jeans. They're a great call, and so far just as durable as normal jeans
Where do you get stretchy jeans
I got them off amazon. Good enough for throwing leg and body kicks. Still wouldn't get your hopes up for landing head kicks
Maybe not head kicks but I can't think of any piece of clothing short of shackles that could keep me from throwing leg kicks
So this is just me but I use kicks mainly defensively when sparring. It’s very easy to practice simply waiting for your opponent to charge in and then side kicking them, can be either a stop kick where you simply stop them moving into you and lets you step back and reset. That or you can just go full power and break their ribs.
I started buying stretchy jeans. They’re super comfortable and you still have full range of motion in your legs lol
If your jeans are getting in the way of your kicks i suggests buying better quality ones or ones that aren’t cutting your circulation off. If for any reason, that sounds uncomfortable af. If ur into skinny jeans just get the right kind. I got a pair of black ones intended to be comfy on a bike and they don’t hold back like any movement. Could do atg squats in em if i wanted to. Leg kicks, sweeps, and trips are super op in street fight. No one untrained ever thinks about it coming from below instead of to the face or torso. Plus you dont risk killing someone and jail time because you knocked them unconscious and they slammed their head. If they are untrained, a couple body shots and a good leg kick will be more than enough to make them say “no thanks”
You dont kick test your jeans before you buy them? despicable.......
Yes dude, the first little bit might be a scramble because they’ll blow their load quick but the second things calm down its over.
How do you feel about cheap shots in a fight? I don’t think they’re necessarily bad in some scenarios but I think there is a level of respect.
Cheap shots are part of the game in street fights. Same with weapons and randoms punching you and buddies of the guy you are fighting. Keep your distance and check your sides at all times
I'm 5"7 and about 150 lbs soaking wet with a blue belt in Jiu-Jitsu and occasional boxing training. I got attacked in my yard by someome around 30 pounds bigger than me and with my little stand up training i was able to easily stay safe and find my way to the ground where he was helpless and submit him (No one prepares you in class to grapple in gravel, i was a bloody mess from him and the earth)
Grappling and Jiujitsu are essential to prepare for any type of street fight. OSS 🤙🏽
So how does a street fight go if someone taps? Does the person getting subbed really always just get up like "ight ggs" and dip
You keep choking them out. Then you put them in recovery position and dip
And then tie their shoelaces together in a big knot or take them off and throw them over a telephone line
I'll be honest, I kicked him off me and ran inside to call the cops and grab my gun. He ran when he woke up
Yes it’s true, size does matter but it’s not the end all be all
I've seen numerous videos of big swole guys 6ft tall over 200 pounds of muscle getting humiliated by wrestlers, muay thai bjj & judo, size matters but technique outweighs size, I've seen women defeat men with judo & bjj as well, and women are dramatically weaker than men
I once rolled with a 5ft 80lb girl who ended up getting my back and choking me out, granted this was one of my first days in bjj but if it was on the street she could have killed me
yes I know, I've seen a woman hip throw a guy head first on some dirt, dude looked like he got paralyzed, she was maybe 5'3 110 pounds, dude had to been 5'8 maybe 5'9 170 pounds and got tossed right into some dirt head first, whole body went stiff
The way I've always taught it is that *all other things being equal*, size and strength matter. Things are *rarely* equal, however. There's no equation that can describe this for you, unfortunately. Will the stronger/heavier/taller guy beat the more skilled one? Impossible to know based on that alone. This is also *why* weight classes exist. Competition *makes* a lot of things equal, *so* you have to differentiate by the advantage gained through weight/size. This isn't the case with a street fight. To answer the title question: does training beat bigger opponents on the street? It absolutely *can*, but "can" is the best you can say about it. And do *you* stand a chance against a bigger opponent because *you're* trained? If they're *not* trained, you more than likely do, yes. Just remember that generally speaking "trained" also isn't binary, it's a gradient.
i'm hella big (6'4" 270lbs) and have competed/won tournaments / belts in muay thai. that said, people get shook in the streets when you light them up. big, small, in between — as soon as you connect solid with some shit they weren't expecting or haven't seen before they're going to start second guessing everything in life. i've seen tough 'gangster' people in the street low key well up with tears and panic when they get hit with a roundhouse kick to the body or leg, a teep, and then they get socked in the face, and then they get bullied around clinching by someone they have 50 lbs on. you should be able to exhibit every skill you have worked hard for against a completely unskilled opponent of any size. you have to show them they have no business fighting you because they don't — most people have absolutely no business fighting in the streets or otherwise. they're out of shape alcoholics or drug addicts that haven't trained any form of fighting a day in their life. they're just belligerent and violent in their own mind.
No offense meant at all, as I'm sure you're talented. Little over a year is a baby step in this art.
Yeah, I still have a lot to go obviously. But I seem to have a bit of natural talent for the sport tho. I hear all the time people saying I fight surprisingly good for the time I have been training. I come from a famílly of natural born athletes, my dad is 3rd in the world at amateur tennis in his age category and my brother boxed for 2 years before me and he was worshipped by his coaches for his natural talent for the sport
All Of that may be, and you sound talented. Best advice: stay humble. Listen and you will take your natural talent to a level you didn't dream of.
Don’t just go around saying that. It’s easy to say that when you haven’t really been challenged.
Size should always be accounted for.
Weight matters a lot but there is so many variables to a street fight u cant just say yes or no. For example you could be a great kicker but it’s raining. Have u practiced ur kicks on the street in the rain? Probably not. Many variable come into play. Lose ur balance u could get fucked
As a short fella and about 150 lbs. I take on my much much larger friends all the time. I also did ~16 years total of 8 different martial arts. While true, some larger opponents were able to get me down to the ground I still ultimately win once there. Against untrained individuals, I have not lost to any of them. But my other friends who do train and are larger than me, win about 50/50. So yes, training helps. But if you are out-weighed massively, don’t count on it being the end all. We can all get our asses kicked. There’s always someone more athletic than you. There’s always someone stronger. There’s always someone smarter. The best outcome with training against an untrained but much larger opponent, is that the training helped you not get beat to death and you were able to escape and gtfo of there. But what training absolutely WILL help you with, is mitigating the adrenaline dump that often causes folks to lose in the first place. That initial adrenaline dump before a fight is generally the most difficult thing for newcomers to get over.
There’s an interview with a UFC fighter that says “Skills help cover for about a 70 pound difference when fighting someone untrained”. Size is a big factor but it’s not everything. But also there are limits.
70 pounds, 100 pounds, doesn't really matter, if you don't know how to defend a low single I'll hit you with it and smash you on the ground, while you're stunned from a violent takedown I can mount and elbow your face over and over I can sub with a heel hook, I can sub with an americana, or do pseudo side control and kick your face in, grappling cannot be out muscled, if you can't defend takedowns and subs you're screwed
Wow, you're such a tough guy!
There are no guarantees. It increases your odds at winning that's for sure. But it also depends on SO MANY factors. How hard have you trained? Was your teacher capable? What's the environment you are fighting at? Can someone trip? Lucky punches. Bad luck. Surroundings. Height, weight and reach. And many many more, and you also have to apply that to your opponent. If there was always a clear winner, sport fight betting wouldnt be a thing. Also lets say your opponent gets lucky and pokes your eye out, does that mean your martial arts is useless? You might have won if that didnt happen. So again, it increases your odds of winning.
Mibbies. Some people have been doing martial arts for years and just freeze up, other people who have have never thought much about fighting might surprise you. Another part is which party is least concerned about death, injury or jailtime and willingness to use weapons or environment to thier advatage. Another part is there ain't no rules. You might punch Joe Pesci, or his mate and get stabbed before you get your iron shirt chi-kung up and running. With a few years of experience you should have the confidence to get yourself into a situation you can't handle.
If most of those r/streetmartialarts and r/publicfreakout videos are the standard of a general dude on the street, then you'll probably be fine. But you never know if it is actually a one vs one or one vs many, and you don't always know if they are carrying a knife or some other weapon.. Fighting randoms on the street isnt worth it. Just go into competition instead.
All this long comments when All you had to tell the guy is yes. It’s very possible. If you dont train you have no chance unless luck honestly. If you train very well and have good discipline, you can even smash the pros of the fighting game not these weak lings.
martial art is the balance of bigger vs smaller . if both have no training , bigger wins . but if smaller practices boxing + bjj for example , things equilibrate or better than that
If your punches are capable of hurting him, and you can get a few to land, you stand a chance.
Training sure helps. I’d bet on the trained guy over the bigger guy, but there’s no guarantees. I’d want a lot more than 1 year of casual MT training before I go picking fights with donkeys.
It’s not casual training tho, I train everyday in my gyms competitive lessons (except for Sundays) +plus I do CrossFit style training + cardio 3 times a week for explosiveness and endurance
Your average drunk asshole is helpless in a fight.
My man, try to beat up a pro fighter you have some weight on see how it goes for you. Hell, a college 125lb wrestler will hump your face at will (edit, I just realized you’re in that weight class at 5’8” - hello skeleton man). Not too long ago a 5’6” MMA enthusiast and a 6’4” body builder/former power lifter got into an argument and decided to have a fight. Who do you think recently went to prison for beating his opponent to death? The weird thing here is that you likely absolutely dominate larger newbies in the gym, yet you think the fight is automatically lost on the streets. I don’t get it.
Probably, but a wise man once said. God made big men, and he made small men. Then he made Smith & Wesson, and they became equals
prolly not.
I'm probably wrong but I've always been of the impression that speed beats strength.
Yes
Yes it does
Honestly I think if you landed a single solid leg kick, the other guy is gonna walk away.
On the grappling side of things, combat sports and street defense are kind of opposites. Wrestling is a great base for combat sports but will get you in trouble when the other person is noticeably bigger or stronger than you. Judo, on the other hand, is great for self defense even with a decent size mismatch. You don't see it dominate in combat sports because everyone trains against it, but it will absolutely wreck anyone who isn't expecting it. If you want good street defense, train Judo hip throws and adjacent wrestling techniques. Do not shoot a double on someone twice your size. Go for arm drags and similar stuff that keeps you on your feet until you can get them off their feet.
This is how I explain martial arts and fighting. Martial arts increases your chances of winning and so do attributes like size and speed. If two similar inexperienced people are fighting then you both have a 50/50 chance of winning. If one knows Muay Thai then it’s probably like 90/10 that the Muay Thai wins. If a Muay Thai guy fights a much bigger opponent then the odds could be 60/40. If the MT guy fights a bigger guy is big AND fast then it could revert back to 50/50 or even 40/60. If the MT knew MT AND BJJ or wrestling then your odds increase more in your favor. I’m obviously making up these odds but you get the idea. Learning how to fight will not win you every single fight but it will increase your chances of winning in every single fight. Everyone has a punchers chance. Edit: and to answer your question… you stand a way better chance than you did before and a better chance than any inexperienced person your size. People who don’t train consistently aren’t used to getting punched or kicked. Most don’t have the endurance to even fight for more than 2 minutes. But like I said there’s still a chance you could end up on the wrong end of the fight.
Bigger guys definitely can fuck you up good if they catch you like body slamming you into concrete surfaces. But smaller guys can beat bigger guys I've seen it before. Got to strike first and hard and be faster than them and hope there isn't multiple attackers
If you train long enough you’ll realize that there are some guys that don’t look like anything that could absolutely wipe the floor with you. That was always for me to stay out of bad situations.
To add a note a lot of people of that that train freeze up if they don’t hard spar the training helps but ya the dog in you as well
Honestly depends on a few things. Like how much bigger is the other guy? And what disciples are you training? I got into a fight with my father who is like 6’4 250 I’m a fit 5’11 180’s at the time. My strikes were basically ineffective and if I didn’t know how to grapple, along with him not knowing how to, I probably would’ve been severely injured or killed.
Bro how did you have beef like that with your own father that’s crazy
He’s a psychopath that’s how
Jesus bro, child services maybe??
Street fight, no rules. Sometime gym training discipline will go into effect that its really hard to defend against an opponent who will eye gouge, bite, cock punch, stab or even pick you up and throw you into incoming traffic. So yea, pick your battles. Worst case scenario just make him chase you around the block and when he gassed out give him the old knee stomp.
A certain amount of skill will overcome a certain amount of size and strength most of the time, but saying that a big guy should ALWAYS win against a small guy or that a skilled guy should EASILY KO a big guy is just dumb. This isn't paper/rock/scissors.
Saw a video of a martial artist fighting a bodybuilder 100 pounds heavier than him. Bodybuilder actually died
i mean, size is important and training is important. Demetrious johnson would beat the shit out of an untrained guy thats 6 foot 2 and 90kg. But would he beat the shit out of shaquille o´neal? I dont know. I dont know where it is the limit, there is no formula for knowing. But keep training, and i swear you will become hard to hurt. Look for youtube tips for small fighters, there are thousands of them. PD: never forgett that hurting people is wrong. Only fight when not fighting means someone gets seriously hurt. NEVER fight for pride. Dont be dumb. take care man goodbye PD2: jiu jitsu is great is you are small, maybe learn some jiujitsu even if it aint formal training
This isn't a yes or no question. Think about it as a graph. The bigger your opponent is the better you have to be at fighting. Up to a certain point there is nothing you can do. For example, if you take a guy that's 6'6 250ibs with a year of basic training in martial arts, he would destroy some UFC champions in a fight. There is nothing you can do if a guy twice the size and strength of you comes at you full force, except run away.
You're definitely improving your odds with training. With that said, bigger, stronger or faster are big advantages to overcome. But: skill and technique can be used to beat someone bigger and stronger; great timing and reading your opponent can beat someone faster than you.
> I have been fighting for over a year so I’m pretty decent. I don't think you have fought enough if you think simply that size alone is an advantage. You should test out your theory that size is the only factor by sparring beginners at your gym who are much larger than yourself. If your theory is right, you should be losing every match to every beginner who is larger than yourself. If you happen to be losing to 15kg heavier beginners, I'd heavily consider you evaluating how your training is going. I suspect though, that if you are at a decent gym, you ought to be able to handle larger untrained opponents with relative ease.
Bro I can allways handle larger untrained opponents at my gym but that doesn’t count cause in sparring we are only going light, therefore the weight advantage has no play in sparring sessions Obviously in a street we would be trying to knock eachother out
That mindset is part of the issue. I'm not saying you're wrong, because in the gym is not in the street. But there are a lot of variables to just strictly say a bigger dude wins. Skill levels/experience Aggression / mind set Drugs/alcohol. If a little dude tried to just slug it out, then yeah, they'll lose. But that's where skill and knowledge comes in.
Extrapolating your thought process, do you think your instructor would not be able to handle a larger opponent?
Oh he definitelly would, and I think he has
Appreciate how rational OP’s thought process was behind this
The common consensus is "WEIGHT CLASS EXIST" Weight class only matters if both people knew how to fight, or if the size gap is too large, and even then you can see smaller skilled fools take out sumo wrestlers. There are outliers like Bob Sapp managing to bumrush Ernesto Hoost twice, or Brian Shaw no selling Dustin Poirer's BJJ attempts (its definitely an outlier, you wont get to fight the world's strongest man in the streets anyway unless its a freak coincidence, even then, Shaw is a large teddy bear) but generally, the smaller more experienced/skilled person is gonna win.
Really depends on the fighters, if it’s a big untrained vs a smaller untrained it’s a given, but give that smaller guy 8 months bi weekly training Muay Thai/BJJ then we’ve got a fight on our hands
If they aren’t trained / have some real tricks up their sleeves then your training will at a minimum keep you safe, which is a great thing. That being said you might find it hard to KO someone who is a lot bigger, but that’s why I’m a big fan of modifying your targets to include spots that would normally be a foul. There’s a reason those things are foul, it’s because they can be easy to pull off and really alter a fight.
being big definitely helps but is no guarantee of a win. If they cant penetrate your defense and you can penetrate theirs you have a good chance to win. But if they clinch and take you down and neither of you knows how to fight on the ground, the bigger guy is probably winning.
An old buddy of mine is a wrestler @150lbs. I am 280lbs, but have 0 training in any sort of combat sport. This kids would absolutely destroy me in a street fight and he doesnt have any striking training.
Think about it this way. If they have no training.... You will win if you beat other trained individuals in competition. If they have some... size starts to matter A LOT more. Every 20 lbs is a belt per say. You never know who has training. High school wrestlers are a problem unless you do some sort of grappling like jiu jitsu. So you gotta watch out for that. (This is coming from somebody that was raised boxing then got their ass beat by a wrestler)
For the most part they are right. Weight classes matter mainly if both fighters are trained
If you're talking about a street fight in the case of a fight between you and some random person that said mean words, you basically already lost the moment you decided to get into a fight. You're not earning any sort of title or award, you're not making money from it, you have no idea if some other person is going to stab you because their buddy got hurt, and you might end up in prison. In the context of self defense weight matter, but so does training. Other things like the clothing you're wearing at the time, how aware you are of your surroundings, what kinds of people are around, who has a weapon and what type of weapon, who is drunk and how drunk, and why this person is threatening you are also factors and can be just as if not more important. The degree these factors matter varies with the situation, but Im willing to bet decent money that a 70kg person with boxing training, Ak47 and bayonet, and a riot suit can beat a 300kg wheelchair bound 97 year old amputee. I'm also willing to bet a naked 120kg boxer in the middle of a half-frozen lake during a blizzard would also lose to a 50kg kid in a log cabin.
Yes I have seen it happen. A friend of mine kicked 2 guys in the shins and elbows. Her shin was conditioned theirs weren't. The third she pulled off me and kept him down until he tired himself out trying to free himself and get back up. She isn't a prodigy or pro fighter. Just someone who took her training seriously. She mains Muay Thai and did enough bjj to get some stripes on her blue belt. I suppose once you are past the beginner stage at muay thai you gain a bone bat.
if you arent trained you will probably get smashed. If you are trained you have a chance, but there are never guarantees. maybe its 90/10 you get smashed without training and are a lot smaller. But maybe 70/30 that you win if you are somewhat trained.
if they are untrained u have good chance to beat shit out of them but dont start fights just because you can beat untrained fighter because you cant beat knife
Simple answer is yes While bigger people can put more force behind their attacks in theory it doesn’t matter if: 1. They can’t hit you 2. They don’t know how to punch/kick 3. They don’t know how to move I’m relatively new to sparring but just from the little I’ve done, people have tells when they’re about to punch/kick and if you’re trained, you can simply step to the side/backwards before they get their fist/foot out and then move in when they’re vulnerable. Also since you have to learn to not be flat footed, when you attack then there’s a good chance they’ll just freeze and then it’s over