Best Martial Arts for street fighting.

Most ancient martial arts were not designed for any individual in particular to prove their skill and machoizm. Most martial arts have a history behind them therefore very cultural. Practitioners of martial arts at a decent level respect this culture and keep everything they have learned within the premises of the school or facility.

However some people would like to take their skills elsewhere for self defense reasons. Most martial arts can be adopted for street fighting but all have there strengths and weakness, which is why people may choose a martial which they feel can protect them in most situations.

Some martial arts can prove effective in real life situations after minimal training, where as other take much longer time to master before any practical application.

1. Karate - A good all around martial art with equal attack and defense. Pad and bag work can be used to develop power for practical use. Not very flexible in movement, very fixed positions can be predictable to an opponent.

2. Taekwondo - A martial art focusing mainly on kicks. Good if you can knock out an opponent at a distance with a single kick, but if it comes to a dual kicks can be very impractical for a street fight.

3. Aikido - A passive martial art, countering and using your opponents attacks to obtain submission holds and throws. A very very effective martial art on the street but only once you have training to a higher level. It could take 4-5 years to be at a standard to use in real life.

4. Kung-fu - Although there are numerous styles of Kung-fu, the style which is most frequently seen in old movies is the "Wing Chun" style. Wing Chun is an extremely close quarters fighting style were the fighters rarely move from one fixed position. Attacks are mainly hand strikes in rapid progression with very little power in most cases. No matter how many years of studying, this type of kung fu is very impractical for street fighting unless you are highly skilled.