Olympic Tae Kwon Do has approximately the martial value of Olympic fencing, and should hardly be used as a good measure of the art.
IMO, it would be “Running With Pointy Sticks.” Of course, that’s only deadly in a personal sense. Just ask any Mom.
Deadliest martial art, as any honest master today will say, is the art of the gun.
I weigh in at 145 pounds and stand five foot nine.
People are funny, they assume that because a person is smaller they don’t pose the same threat as someone of equal or larger size. One of the first lessons I taught was that assumptions are very dangerous things and that the least dangerous looking people could often be the opposite.
My Sensei was like that… five foot six and about 155 pounds, with an ever present smile and an easygoing demeanor. You wouldn’t think he posed any kind of threat with those short legs and arms. I watched him fight in tournaments where he would almost casually drop his lead hand in the middle of the match… unitiated opponents would see this as an opportunity to strike when we knew this was just really the bait. What followed would usually be the opponent committing to strike and then waking up on the mat after having their head handed to them. What was impressive that the significant head protection and heavily padded gloves offered virtually no protection against perfect technique and the “victim” never saw what hit them. My sensei had unbelievable hand speed and could hit you more times than you count in the blink of an eye.
The coolest match (and one of the shortest) I ever saw on UFC was when the giant sumo wrestler went after the average sized karate guy. The wrestler jumped on the smaller guy and bore him to the floor. In the next instant the Sumo guy shot straight up clutching his face with both hands with blood spewing everywhere.
You see, the karate guy seemed to have excellent infighting techniques and as giant sumo guy came down on him he shattered sumo guys nose with a palm heel strike, using the larger man’s momentum to cause incredible damage.
I know grapplers and wrestlers have an advantage and in many cases have to take considerable damage before they ground their opponent. The Gracie brothers always seemed to focus on the legs and feet, knowing that the other end of their opponent was the one that would cause them untold grief.
I am a pacifist, not a masochist. There was a time I spent nearly every spare moment making sure no-one would make me into their personal punching bag.
And I have to go with capacitor… he who holds the gun is likely going to end up the winner. I can deal with pointy sticks, knives, pol cues, and chairs, but draw the line at guns.
OK, I’ll drag my happy butt into the discussion…
Arts I’ve studied (in reverse chronological order): Thai boxing, Escrima, Kali, JKD, Gracie Ju-Jitsu, Tai-chi and Aikido, large time gap, Judo, Karate, Kung-fu
The only 100% effective way I know how to kill someone (without a weapon) are 5 variations on a choke hold. Temple shots, etc. are supposed to work, but…maybe not. You ever done it? I’ve choked someone to unconciousness- it works. If I had held it for a few minutes more, they would have died.
Problem I have with ground fighting: I have NEVER, EVER, NEVER-EVER seen a fair fight in the past decade. (I have also not actually come to blows outside of the ring in that time either- it’s great being able to walk away and laugh in my old age, but still…) Every fight I have witnessed (and I was a bouncer at a bar for awhile) involved 2 or 3 guys on 1. Fights never seem to happen between only 2 guys. They generally end up with friends pulling the 2 apart at the last moment, or someone walking away. Fights happen when guys find their balls because they have a few friends and a few beers. Because of this, I would not want to go to the ground. I would want to hit, turn and run. (Preferably a Thai kick to the knee so that at least 1 is slowed down…)
But, that brings up the situational argument- it all depends on the situation. Which is why one should cross-train, because every situation is different, so you should be prepared for as many as possible. I’m not saying I won’t get into a fight with only 1 person, but I want to spend my time training on things that get me out of worse situations than someone bloodying my nose and screaming “Kicked yer ass man! Kicked yer ass!” in the middle of a pub.
Which brings me to the gun equation, as mentioned above…You ready for this? I have a concealed carry permit, but I would rather trust my Benchmade AFCK (fighting knife). Why? Because, in reality, you ain’t going to get into a Wild Wild West shootout. When was the last time you even read about that happening to anyone? True story, 4 weeks ago:
In Prague, because of the floods, the metro’s are out of service. This means that the Trams are the primary public transport system. This means that pickpockets are having a heyday because of the crowded situations. I was with some friends from out of town, and our group got split up by 6 feet on the tram. I noticed a pickpocket trying to get into my friend’s wife’s backpack. Stupidly I body-bumped him and told her to watch her stuff (I should have just tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to please stop- too many witnesses and his pride would not have gotten hurt). About 45 seconds later he posed like he had a weapon- you know, the reaching into his jacket and keeping his hand there while he turned to me and smiled maliciously. BAD move on his part for a number of reasons. The main one? He could have had a Desert Eagle .50 caliber hand-cannon in there, and he would have died. Why? Because I carry a razor sharp (yes, you can shave with it, I own 3 sharpening systems) Benchmade fighting knife and I’ve studied Kali. I also had the knife in my hand and ready the second I saw his hand going for his jacket. In the time he would have needed to pull a gun, aim and shoot, he would have had my knife in his throat, and my left hand on his arm keeping his weapon down. He was 1 second away from me slitting his throat, and he was acting cocky because he had a ‘weapon’ in his jacket.
My point? Nothing is perfect, shit happens in the weirdest and worst ways, and you should be prepared for anything, not just one thing. Do not carry a gun because you only want to protect yourself…shooting someone who attacks you with fists only enlarges your anus by Cell Block 5 while you’re incarcerated for second degree murder. (Granted, so does killing someone with a knife in the same situation…) Question: What happens when you are attacked by 3 guys with fists and you have a gun? Answer: you get your ass kicked like a narc at a bikers rally, or else you escalate the situation to second degree murder. Studying multiple arts so you can deal with standing, ground, weapons and especially multiple opponents is your best course of action. Learning a weapon that is always ready is also important- my knife is my most valuable tool; I carry and use it everyday, and it has given me the opportunity to protect my wife and friends a few times now, and it was never shown once. Think about real situations that you have seen and/or been in- what would help you the most?
When faced with a surprise weapon pointed at you when you are not prepared, what do you do? Whatever they say. Gun, knife, club- whatever, repeat after me “Shit!, no problems man, here is my wallet, here are my keys- that little red BMW over there is mine, goodbye!” then turn and run. Replacing your wallet, keys, car and money is so much easier if you are not in the hospital.
Using your brain is the most important thing you can do. The second is being strong enough to walk away. And yes, I have walked away from situations which ‘everyone’ thought was going to come to blows…Which martial art you study is only a last ditch effort; if it comes to that, you have erred somewhere leading up to that confrontation 9 times out of 10. Therefore, in my book, knowing the ‘Deadliest MArtial Art’ will only help you 10% of the time.
Boy, this sure was longer than I expected, sorry 'bout that!
-Tcat
Look like you’re having a seizure.
Either they will laugh at you and run away, call the ambulance and get you jacked out of trouble or kick your head solidly into your ass.
Pray it ain’t the third option.
I really hate to hijack this thread, but at the time of posting, this thread is directly below “Marital Aids - which one is the favorite?” on the list.
When it comes to martial arts, I don’t know a whole lot, except for some basics of long sword and dagger technique. I also know the correct way to knife fight. All this is kind of scary, especially since I don’t carry a knife around, and especially not with the intention to get into knife fights with it. Knife fights REALLY suck.
The most dangerous weapon you possess is my brain. It can get you out of many situations.
Real life situation:
I am standing at the top of the rail station waiting for the train. A really big drunk guy (RBDG) walks up to me and looks down the stairs that lead to the platform.
A group of young Asian teens start coming up the stairs and at this point RBDG nudges me and mumbles, “Let’s kick those fucking gooks asses”. I ignore him and he says this again and appears to be getting into a really pissed off mood. I think that he’s serious about fighting these kids and if I refuse he will want to take out his frustrations on little old me.
So I turn to him and speaking as one who is deaf, I signed “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you”.
He stared a second, said “fuck it” and then wandered to to the other side of the platform where he soon boarded his train. It’s a good thing his dislike for Asians didn’t also apply to the handicapped or it would have been ugly. I would have needed to ram his head up his ass and then I would have missed my train and the Lola would worry… you get it… 
A couple standing on the platform a few feet from where this exchange took place were staring at me so I turned to them and told them…
I’m not really deaf".
After laughing our asses off the guy said that was the coolest way he’d seen someone avoid a fight.
Xavier - I like the idea of faking a seizure… I’ve seen enough that I could probably do a great impression.
It’s actually one of the defensive tactics we teach at work… doing something completely unexpected and out of the ordinary will often make people forget they wanted to kick your ass.
Can I use this as a sig?
Wanna hear about the time I kissed a guy trying to start a fight with me?
-Tcat
The art of snipering.
Followed by the art of automatic shot gunnery.
Bruce didnt doge bullets very well did he?
It has to be Mexican Judo I think.
Judo no I got a knife. Judo no I got a gun
In my experience watching numerous fights, training under some not-too-terrible (;)) people, and reading a bunch of theory-type stuff:
Depends entirely on the situation, what you’re using (yeah, the OP qualified it with only hands/feet, but still), etc. There are several ways in most martial arts to kill someone very quickly and painlessly, and a number of ways in many others to kill slowly and agonizingly.
Perhaps this is too philosophical an answer for the person who wants to know what to study to be most effective up-close, but the best martial art is the one with which one’s body agrees with the most. The form of Jeet June Do, for example, that Bruce Lee taught Kareem Abdul-Jabbar focuses mainly on kicks and uses the legs/feet to keep the opponent as far away as possible. Bruce Lee’s form of it used his insane speed and his close body structure. If I were to study Jeet Kune Do (the essence of it, anyway, not someone teaching me “what works for them”, which is what Bruce shied away from when he realied the flaw in the teaching), I’d probably stay closer to Bruce’s form than Kareem’s. My legs aren’t that long:)