My 3 main arts, in order of when I started training in them, are Ving Tsun and FMA, muay Thai as well as training in judo as a kid.

One day, while out running, I got attacked by 4 guys (partly my own fault for adhering to a routine) who were armed with common weapons, a claw hammer and a bashed up baseball bat. I got hit across the nose with the bat as I ran but luckily, I had good training. My training worked (actually, I only used FMA) and I’m here typing this post. If I used MMA, I’d be dead now. MMA people go on about most fights ending on the ground. Well, those stats don’t take in trained fighters (I’ve seen boxers lay out multiple opponents in my bouncer days) and MAs today are not willing to put in the time to take things slowly and develop attributes, such as good balance.

I have a brown belt in judo (TMA), however when I watch BJJ video’s I rarely see something (beside leg bars) that I haven’t seen before during ne-waza training. In fact people seem to forget that BJJ is derived from an old judo style called Kosen Judo which in its turn is derived from Japanese jujutsu which in its turn is derived from old samurai arts and so on. Wrestling and Boxing even go back to the ancient Greek, you can’t get any more traditional than that.

I agree that context is everything, and since context changes all the time so do martial arts. MMA is just that, an attempt to adapt very old Western and Eastern arts to a modern sports-oriented context, and as such it definitely has its value but it is not the alpha and omega of martial arts either. The best art is the one you like most.

As far as self-defense goes, neither MMA nor TMA can guarantee your survival, these situations are violent and chaotic and the outcome is always impredicable. The best strategy, no matter which art you do, is always 1. avoidance (run away, talk your way out of it) and 2. if you have no other choise than to fight, stick to what you do best and try to stay alive.

It’s OK if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly fine. That said, I feel you’re picking and choosing parts of what I wrote when it suits your arguments. Please also read the other parts of this series, they’ll give you a bit more context on what I wrote.

Just a few things:
<<Grappling is more effective at finishing fights , especially with choke holds.<<
I think you're wrong. All the times Chuck Liddell or Wanderlei Silva knocked people out with punches and kicks was no less effective than grappling. If you check their fight records, you'll see they accumulated KOs with striking, not with grappling. And there are a lot more fighters who do the same thing. Some prefer grappling, some excel at striking, some can do it all. The one isn't better than the other.

<<Another counter to your point is that all the stuff you tma’s “can” do in a fight; groin kick, strike the eyes, strike the throat, we can do as well.<<
The point isn't if you can do these things, the point is if you make them an integral part of your training or not. If you train MMA for competition (which is what this post was about ) then you don’t train in that stuff because it isn’t allowed in the Octagon. What you will be ingraining in your training is all the techniques that are legal. You’ll train real hard so you can do them without thinking, at an instinctual level. That excludes training all those fouls at the same level: you can’t have those reactions kick in when you compete or you get tossed out. So those techniques won’t be ingrained. Well, if you don’t ingrain them, how will they come out correctly in a SD context. By magic? Or do you think you don’t need to train those things and can do them easily? IMHO, you need to train what you want to use so I think you’re stuck there.

<< One thing we’ll do as well is slam you into the concrete and after you realize your collar bone broke from the impact you get to be choked unconscious. Concrete is the perfect place to grapple. <<
An throws never get reversed right? It absolutely never happens in the UFC that a fighter doing a throw ends up at the bottom anyway? I think not. So the one breaking his collar bone on the concrete could very well be you…

<<It’s about gaining dominant position. Not every grappler is going to pull guard, lay and pray for a submission.<<
If that's what you think I wrote, you missed my point entirely.

<< I was shocked, SHOCKED you had the gaul to repeat the “the street is covered in glass” myth. Sidewalks and parking lots are not littered with glass, syringes , and weapons for you to pickup at will. Its a myth TMA’s makeup to fool the public into thinking they know what they are talking about. <<
Please re-read that part. I said no such thing, you're deliberately exaggerating. I listed a number of contexts where grappling is not the best solution, that's all. I did not say every street was littered with potential hazards. I said some are. I say so because I’ve fought in them and used what was on the floor to end fights or turn them to my favor. Friends and students of mine have done the same thing. So I know for a fact that you’re wrong if you say streets are always the sterile environment you claim them to be.

<< The same analogy would be to say “hey guys, bow and arrows worked fine 2000 years ago. Let’s use them against tanks.” Absurd. <<
The absurdity is you taking something I didn't write, put the words in my mouth and then claim I'm absurd. I repeat, please read the entire series.

<< Modern fights ( with rare exceptions) are one on one. If you watch videos of fights you’ll see that even the crowd watching will enforce this ethos on those who are fighting. <<
I humbly submit you have only seen fights in one social circle of society. In many, many places, the crowd joins in the fun as soon as the fighters hit the floor or if the wrong one is winning. Case in point.
One of my best friends (a very good grappler) was ground and pounding the crap out of the guy who jumped him. Last he remembered, he was beating the crap out of the guy from a mount position. And then he wakes up in an ambulance. Turns out the guy’s buddy kicked a field goal with my friend’s head while he had his back to him.
These are not isolated incidents, I can list many, many more.

<<TMA’s primarily practice punching/kicking and know only a few wrist holds and throws (all practiced seldomly in a live situation). Suffice to say tma’s don’t know how to take it easy on someone. <<
You seem to have a very limited knowledge of what TMAs actually do if this is what you think.

<<Here’s the truth. If an attacker has a knife you had better run. Period. If you try to take it away you will be stabbed.<<
The only problem is that those who use knives for actual killing/maiming attacks won't show you the knife before they strike. You won't get a chance to run if it's a committed attack meant to take you out. IOW, chances are good you won't know a knife is involved until it's being used upon you.
And nobody but you mentioned taking away the knife…

<< There are FEW times if any that one person can take on and take out two to three people. That is fact. The only answer TMA’s have is that such and such art was “designed to fight against multiple opponents.” Bull. The only sure way to take out a gang of men intent to do you harm is with a weapon. <<
Your assumption is that you have to "take out" multiple opponents. Nobody but you is claiming that. The goal is not to fight them but to get away from them, which is vastly different.

<<But you made the same old and tired arguements that have been disproven dozens of times. I will agree its all about context. <<
I'd say the same thing about you. You twist my words out of context, put others I didn't write into my mouth and cherry-pick arguments. I don't agree with that.
Here's the thing: you can't say you agree with me that it's all about context and then disagree when I point out how the context applies. That just doesn't make any sense.

<If you can’t beat mma guys and grapplers with the rules, what makes you think you can beat us when we don’t have to play by them either?<
First, you seem to think I'm claiming TMA practitioners can never be beaten. I never wrote that. Second, I train with MMA fighters all the time. They come to my school for additional training in their stand-up game as well as stand-up grappling. It's always a lot of fun and the respect is mutual.
Third: In case you missed it, here's what I wrote:

it’s not MMA vs. TMAs. That’s like arguing if a hammer is better than a screwdriver. They’re both tools and have their limits/uses.

Fourth, you seem to assume I don’t train in grappling, ground fighting or MMA. All of that is wrong.

As I said, please read the follow up articles for more information. I think you’re missing the bigger picture. Also, you might get something out of this interview with Mark Mireles, who teaches MMA at Big John McCarthy’s gym. You don’t have to believe me, that’s fine. But if you think an MMA specialist and decorated LEO is full of it when he says MMA isn’t the same as SD or the street, then I guess nothing can convince you otherwise and further argument is futile.

All this said, I do appreciate you taking the time to write your comment. I don’t agree with you, but that’s not a problem. You write from your perspective, I write from mine. We both live in different places and societies, dealing with different problems. I’m comfortable with my training and I’m guessing you are with yours. In the end, that’s all that counts and let’s hope and pray neither of us ever has to face the grim reaper again.