Assume for a moment that you were to enter a fight (lets look at both "sparring" and "t4e s7r33t" seperatly) and there was to be no grappling. For the purpose of my question (I want to discuss these two in particular)

Which style of fighting would you consider to be most effective when it is strictly standing up? Meaning, if there were to be no grappling, which (inside/outside) do you find to be most effective? Give me your opionins on both the sparring aspect of it and the "real" aspect of it. ie. real life.

It is my opinion that outside fighting would be the best in a real life situation baring there will be no grappling. I feel that with distence you have more time to execute powerful attacks (and no, i dont mean kung fooey spinning roundkicks) I just mean that it seems to me while inside you can only get good powerfull uppercuts and bodyshots, whereas in outside fighting you can perform a kick (if you would) and you have more options for controled strikes with more power. Also with inside fighting the chance exsists to be grabbed and or tossed around (for smaller guys vs larger opponents. Another disadvantage I find with inside fighting is the lack of vision you would have. I personally would like to be able to view my suroundings and be aware of other potential threats or obsticles. Not that Im saying you cant be aware while inside, just the degree of awarness would be lessened.

In sparring I would say it depends on the style/type of sparring done, and also that it wouldnt really matter seeing as most homo mcdojos dont spar anyway. But for the sake of real sparring (which i feel would include grappling) I would say that in the situation I presented (inside/outside w/no grapp) I would think outside would be best again, simply because there would be no grappling and then you could feel free to use your kung fooey to try and look cool, or if sparring to acually train in this way , then to work endurence.

I dont want this to turn into a battle of styles or anything like that, just honest opinions of what other martial artists feel works best in both aspects of fighting.

inside, knees, elbows, headbutts. good night, and i'll leave your teeth right here on the ground.

in yoshukai karate, we have point sparring (sucks), semi- knockdown and full contact. It seems that when we point spar we tend to stay to the outside but during semi and full we get inside. It probably depends on the guys fighting. I'm bigger than most karateka I train with so I go inside because I can throw elbows, and knees better with more speed and power when I'm there but I end up taking a few licks too, oh well. In the real world I'd probably do the same thing just so that I can try to get a hold of an elbow or a wrist but that would be my aikido kicking in. But for the sake of just throwing strikes I'd like to get real close and just pound relentlessly as fast as I could because from what I've seen, that seems to work pretty good versus taking your time.

it's good to mix it up. stay on the outside until you can time your opponent, then look for an opening to come in and do some work, then get back outside again preferably at an angle.

Inside, outside, there's very little difference. With good training, anything you can do inside, you can do outside, and vice versa. I mean, you can uppercut/body shot someone from outside, and kick from the inside. And if you're smart, you can monitor your surrondings from the inside as well.

On a side note, I prefer inside, it gives me more area to work with(both right and left sides of my opponent, as opposed to only one side when you're outside)

Originally posted by Jenfucius
it's good to mix it up. stay on the outside until you can time your opponent, then look for an opening to come in and do some work, then get back outside again preferably at an angle.


no, if i throw a punch to get inside and you don't do something quick i am going to keep throwing till you are a bloody mess, or my arm falls off.

hell with backing out.

the author of this thread specified standup fighting only with no grappling, ass.

I don't think he's talking about grappling, I think he's just talking about wailing away and not backing off. It's a very "irimi" way of fighting which I also tend to do but I think that's just because that's what I was taught in aikido. We don't really ever back off in aikido so it really taints my striking style

Originally posted by Jenfucius
the author of this thread specified standup fighting only with no grappling, ass.


way to totally misread "throwing", dick.

I dont believe in backing up per say anyway, but I do understand the idea of "backing out" in order to execute different attacks or what not. I dont agree that you have as much visual awarness on the inside, but thats just me. But I cant argue the effectivness of a good elbow/knee from inside. Someone mentioned being able to fight both ways no matter what - I think a knee or an uppercut or even an elbow would be far more readable from the outside then on the inside. All good points though, thanks for the input. I think maybe situation would play a strong role in how I would fight generaly, just wanted to see others perspectives on it.

Inside/Outside it really doesn't matter. You need to be proficient at both (and grappling). One of the common things you hear a lot of schools teach is 'controlling the distance' in a fight. This is fine in theory, but in practice this is incredibly difficult because the other person you're fighting has just as much say in what distance you're fighting as you do. If they grab onto you then it's an inside fighting game, if they don't then you can keep outside if you think you're stronger than they are. It really depends on who you're fighting. If you're fighting a good boxer you really should try to get in close and clinch because fighting the outside game with him will get you in trouble unless you can outbox. Likewise you may want to stay outside of a pure brawler and pick your shots. In any case it really is just so unpredictible that saying one way of fighting is better than another really doesn't apply. You need to practice both (and grappling).

I agree. This was just an example where grappling would not be an issue (for whatever reason) I have seen guys who grapple not go for takedowns in fights, So i wondered if there was a preferece or if was truly better to stay up. I would personally rather learn grappling as a supplement to my striking regeme. MMA > one or the other in my opinion.

stand-up stuff I like:

boxing
muay thai
JKD (depending on the teacher)

this is a stupid thread. you might as well ask what fighting style is best if I have my left arm tied behind my back and we're fight on broken glass? The answer is who cares, it willnever happen. I would say that a good fighting style has a combination of inside and outside techniques. Something like..........um..........7 star Praying mantis :D.

Originally posted by Te No Kage!
We don't really ever back off in aikido so it really taints my striking style

that's because you don't spar in aikido. try that against someone who throws more than one slow, wide punch at a time.

Originally posted by kismasher
way to totally misread "throwing", dick.

that doesn't even make sense, cock-gobbler!