By Damian Ross of The Self Defense Company

It first started long ago when some unkown combat aficionado first posed the question: "Which is BETTER, boxing or wrestling’ ?"

Since that time comparisons of combat skills and methods have become common place: Boxing vs. Wrestling, Grappling vs. Striking, Jujutsu vs. Boxing OR Wrestling, Karate vs. Judo, Karate vs. Boxing, Swahili Toe Fighting vs. Peruvian Nostril Boxing, ad infinitum. AD NAUSEUM!

The latest "Battle of BS" centers around: Reality Martial Arts versus (you can fill in the blank).

This is total nonsense! Actually the entire "debate" over what is BETTER than whatever is ridiculous and a complete waste of time, especially for those who consider time a precious commodity. However, arguing the merits of so-called reality self defense or "combatives" in regards to comparison fighting skills is absolutely BASELESS and denotes a true lack of understanding in what "combatives" is really all about(and maybe life in general as well).

Personally I don’t like the term COMBATIVES. But I also fully realize that it is the undeniable human nature to label things. Without labels who would we hate, who would we kill, how could we stereotype, what basis would there be for religious, ethnic or racial bigotry? So in order for the world to work as it does, labels are a foregone conclusion. When labels become a tool or device for divisiveness and enmity we really fall into a trap that should be avoided at all costs.

The root problem here is the very same fundamental problem that is the wellspring for most, if not all of mankind’s ills: The EGO. The absolute need for self-validation at all cost. Anyone who engenders all or most of their feelings of self-worth and validation from their training alone (or even in major part) needs to immediately cancel their registration at all forthcoming seminars on the latest evolution of NHB fighting from the mount or the latest innovations in submission "whatever" imported directly from the planet Venus (or perhaps more accurately Uranus) AND SEEK PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING! QUICKLY!

Let’s try this simple experiment: Go into your kitchen draw and find the BEST steak knife with the sharpest, keenest edge. Now place it on the counter or breakfast table. Next, find the best fork with the sharpest pointiest tines and lay that right next to the steak knife.

Step back and let the fun begin! We’ll settle this once and for all time the universal query of which is better: The sharp steak knife or the pointy fork!

After a few minutes, seems nothing is really happening here does it? Well, that’s the exact problem with debating "technique", or "system", or "method" or "style". It’s all an exercise in futility without the all important factor of the persons involved. It is NOT the "TECHNIQUE" IT’S THE MAN (or woman-PC ALERT)! Until human hands pick up the knife and the fork nothing will ever happen! The method doesn’t work for the man. THE MAN who MAKES the METHOD WORK!

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