Why we do not offer Krav Maga anymore?

At Monarchy MMA we stopped believing in the Self-Defense certification system based on choreography & demos.

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We used to have a Krav Maga (KM)/Self-Defense (SD) Program, but we have stopped because we discovered the hard way, that if a Krav Maga certified instructor has no previous strong foundation in a competitive combat sport martial arts, they would get easily dismantled by our beginner students with only 2 years experience.

We were fortunate that our past SD/KM coaches had a very strong foundation and competitive experiences in Muay Thai. That resulted in them showing a high level of dominance during sparring sessions in the gyms.

The following Joe Rogan video addresses the issue:

As we continued developing our KM program, we started getting more aware of the different levels of certification from what was supposed to be a legitimate certification program from supposed reputable KM federations.

Certifications courses were given on our premises and we were shocked at how the process took place. Students were getting certified for punches that failed the basic principles of a punch – balance, distance, and proper technique on how to develop power into a proper punch. Moreover, these skills were performed on non-resisting partners. Putting into context, these same level of skills developed would have been awarded with absolutely NOTHING in any form of martial arts.

This is exactly what is addressed in this article from BJJEE which compares a demo technique to a real fight of one of the most acclaimed self-defense instructors out there.

“Nothing in his self-defense system translated in this fight. Maestro displayed terrible takedown, grappling, striking, and kicking skills. This is one of the worst MMA performances ever seen, especially coming from someone with his level of expertise in combat.”

 It is an issue that is getting more awareness with people coming forward on mainstream podcasts, various articles, and raw street fight footage to back their claims.

Also, UFC 1 to UFC 3 did put an end to a lot of these systems, but few still had a line of argument that there were still few rules in the first UFCs which would be exploited by their system in a street no-rules fight.

But in today’s world, with cameras, CCTVs & smartphones, we are yet to see a street self-defense situation caught on camera – involving these famous loopholes of combat sports which are eye-gouging, knees to the groin, and sudden attacks to the throat.

We have yet to discover such videos, while an endless amount of videos that have circulated online demonstrates the effectiveness of people being entangled in street fights who had some level of combat sports such as boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, wrestling, MMA, Sambo, Judo.

The effectiveness of martial arts was perfectly portrayed in this movie based on a true story. 15:17 to Paris, directed by Clint Eastwood, tells the story of a US Army civilian who trained basic BJJ.

Despite him still being a white belt, he was able to perform a double leg takedown on a heavily-armed gunman/ terrorist in a train – one of the best examples of how BJJ can work in real-life situations.

The other line of argument from these sort of self-defense systems mentioned in the previous Joe Rogan video is that a whole different set of skills would be needed to perform in the streets and that the situations in the gym are much more relaxed and “free”.

We strongly disagree with that statement but believe that the skill sets would remain the same, with only the tactics being different, as mentioned in this podcast video with Georges St-Pierre.

Lately, awareness also comes in funnier forms through viral social media memes, and acting.

The main players are Master Ken who has his own Instagram account and YouTube channel, but also themed accounts like McDojoLifeStyle that compiles videos of the funniest and most inefficient self-defense martial arts.

Monarchy MMA Krav Maga (Self-Defense) Meme

Then, there are also random memes as you’ll see below, which give a bit to laugh at in the midst of this madness.

Monarchy MMA Krav Maga (Self-Defense) Meme
Monarchy MMA Krav Maga (Self-Defense) Meme
Monarchy MMA Krav Maga (Self-Defense) Meme

Despite this last meme, do note that we do acknowledge that some form of karate and also tae kwon do can give a good base to transit to kickboxing or Muay Thai, but the stance, lack of guard, and protection to the face will probably get you hurt in a street fight.

Furthermore, with the rise of combat sports organizations like the UFC or regional One Championship, more KM instructor are feeling the pressure of adding some live/controlled resisting sparring in their course, so their course starts looking like a botched MMA course, ground fighting BJJ session, or even a kickboxing Muay Thai session, led by an inexperienced instructor in that field.

Would you go to such a course led by someone who never had any on-ground experience? It would be almost like paying to go to class led by a clueless student.

Sounds crazy? But we do have a former BJJ 3 stripes white belt student who provides “ground self-defense” classes a street away from one of our branches which is basically a clueless BJJ No-Gi class.

There are many more in town, so we do suggest all people interested in martial arts to do the same kind of research as if they were looking for a lawyer, surgeon, or university.

Google the name to find third-party sources on that individual who will be teaching you such as competition videos, records, and so on.

We will wrap this up with what initiated the position we took against these kinds of fake martial arts by writing this article.

We knew before that combat sports were by far more effective than demo-based self-defense systems, but it is the safety concern acknowledgment that one running away from a potential streetfight is actually safer than attempting to defend himself against a potential threat with those fake techniques.

Thinking that you do not know something is in fact safer than thinking you know when you don’t.

As described by well known MMA Coach Eric Uresk:

“I’m not knocking self defense. I believe most people should have some basic understanding of how to defend themselves.

The average “self defense” pre choregraphed stuff I see taught commonly will have zero effectiveness if the practitionner isn’t regularly engaging in live or semi live circumstances.

Not only is live training crucial for muscle memory but getting the central nervous system familiar with physical struggle is imperative. Why? If we don’t get familiar with the feelings of combat, we will panic, we will feel helpless and succumb to the assailants.

Now imagine the opposite. Imagine being comfortable amidst the chaos? Being able to make the best decisions possible to leave the situation safe? I believe BJJ may be the fastest and most efficient route to competency in self defense, maybe in as little as 6 months for some.

Self defense is not a weekend course. It is something that must be taken seriously if one wishes to gain adequacy. Otherwise you can be fooling yourself and the only thing more dangerous than being underprepared to defend yourself is being confident you can when you can’t.”

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