Top 10 Martial Arts in the World

Welcome all Martial artists, practitioners,fighters and fans. You must have heard of Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, MMA as the greatest martial arts of all time and may be practicing too, but what if I talk about the martial arts that are meant not to break boards, but peoples, bones and heads. Yes, you read right, I'm talking about deadliest martial arts in the world. Let's start our journey to the deadliest martial arts of all time.

   10. Jeet Kune Do(JKD) :

Jeet Kune Do is the hybrid philosophy of martial arts influenced by the philosophy and experiences of the great martial artist of all time Bruce Lee. This form of martial arts was founded in 1967 referred as "non-classical" by founder Bruce Lee. Lee insisted that martial arts techniques should be synced with the real combat situations to increase effectiveness. 

   Bruce emphasized that every situation, in fighting or in everyday life, is varied. To get victory, it is essential not to be rigid , but to be fluid and adapt any situation. He compared it with being like water.  "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend." 

 JKD students train in  four ranges of combat:  Kicking, Punching, Trapping, Grappling.

Bruce Lee practicing Jeet Kune Do

   9. Silat :

Silat is the word collectively used for indigenous martial arts from South East Asia that are now Indonesia, Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. They tend to focus on strikes, joint manipulation, weaponry, and combination of these all. It is included in many Competitions including Southeast Asian Games and other region wide sports. Practitioners of Silat are called pesilat.  

   Silat roughly means "Skill of fighting". Silat emphasizes on low, quick kicks, primarily because of the likelihood the practitioner will be confronting an opponent with a bladed weapon. A Silat practitioner will normally be skilled with knife, stick, sword, staff, spear, rope, chain, whip and projectile weapons.

Silat

8. Eskrima :

Eskrima also known as Arnis and Kali, is a traditional martial arts originated in Philippines in 1610 and now national sports of Philippines, mainly focuses on knifes, sticks, bladed weapons and bare hands to beat the opponent. The students of Arnis start their training by learning to fight with weapons, and advances to empty hand techniques when the stick and knife techniques are sufficiently mastered.They begin training with two weapons, either a pack of sticks or a stick and a wooden knife. These styles emphasizes on keeping both hands full and never moving them in the same direction.

Eskrima

7.  Vale Tudo :

Vale Tudo is an unarmed, full contact martial arts with focus on hybrid martial arts became popular in Brazil during 1920s. Originated with addition of various techniques inherited from Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Sambo, MMA, Judo, Boxing, Karate, Jeet Kune Do, Capoeira and various other martial arts. Being violent and Bloody nature of this sports Vale Tudo is banned in many countries. Today, Vale Tudo events are still taking place in great numbers around Brazil. However, because of bloody nature these underground combat sports are causing controversies in media.

Vale Tudo

6. Muay Thai :

Muay Thai is the martial arts known as "The art of eight limbs" as it focuses on combined use of Punches, Kicks, Elbows and Knees. Muay Thai was originated in Thailand and became famous when Muay Thai practitioners defeated notable practitioners of other martial arts.
   The major techniques used in Muay Thai are Punching (Chok), Elbow (Sok), Kicking (Teh), Knee (Ti Khao), Foot-thrust (Teep), Clinch and neck-wrestling (Chap kho).
   Muay Thai heavily focuses on body Conditioning. Muay Thai is specifically designed to promote level of fitness and toughness required for ring competition.

Muay Thai

5. Kapu Ku'ialua :

Kapu Ku'ialua or referred as Lua, is an ancient Hawaiian martial arts based on bone breaking, throws, joint locks, pressure point manipulation, strikes, usage of various weapons, battlefield strategy and firearms.
   As per the Black belt magazine, Koa warrior group are credited as the creator of kapu Ku'ialua. Only those associated with royal families, professional warriors, guardsmen were taught Ku'ialua. During time of warfare, commoners were also instructed in the basic movements and function of martial arts. The old warriors coat themselves with coconut oil in order to slip away and avoid being grappled in battle.

Kapu Ku'ialua

4. Rough and Tumble (Gouging) :

Rough and Tumble or Gouging was a form of fighting in rural portions of United States, mainly in 18th and 19th century. It was often characterized by the objective of gouging out an opponent's eye and also included other brutally disfiguring techniques including biting, and typically took place in order to settle disputes. Ears, noses, lips, fingers and other sensitive parts could be disfigured in these Rough and Tumble fights.
   Gouging nowadays is also taught to girls and children for self defense but restricted to use it in extreme situations only.

Rough and Tumble (Gouging)

3. Ninjutsu :

Ninjutsu is the strategy and tactics of  unconventional warfare , guerrilla warfare, art of stealth, camouflage , and sabotage, developed in the ancient times for espionage and now practiced as Martial arts. Ninjutsu is one of the deadliest Martial arts in the world because of it's eighteen disciplines some of them are: Horsemanship, Stick and staff techniques, tactics, espionage, escaping and concealment, sword techniques, chain sickle techniques, spiritual refinement, stealth infiltration, throwing weapons techniques, spear techniques, unarmed combat etc.
   This martial art was used in serious conflicts and to kill the opponent. They use bladed weapons, blowdarts with poisons.

Ninjutsu

   

2. LINE :

LINE is a close quarter hybrid martial arts system, originated in USA, used by the United States Marine Corps and US Army Special Forces. It was developed by retired combat-arms Marine Ron Donvito.
   Officially LINE means Linear Infighting Neural Override Engagement. This system was designed to be used in specific and tight combat-oriented conditions. The techniques can be executed effectively in low-light or impaired visibility conditions like smoke or gas. This was executable wearing full combat gear. Proper execution of techniques must lead in death of opponent. All LINE techniques are relatively simple and tested in poor visibility conditions. Instructors of LINE were required to qualify periodically to teach LINE throughout their career. They were required to teach exact same techniques and use exact same phrases and methods. Such standard maintain effectiveness in hand to hand combat for all marines. In 2001, it was discontinued by US Marine Corps and replaced with MCMAP that is as effective as LINE.

LINE Picture Source: Marines Flickr

 

1. Krav Maga :

    Krav Maga is military fighting system developed in Israel from combination of techniques from Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, Aikido and Karate. Krav Maga is known for its focus on real world situations and its extreme efficiency. Krav Maga has been used by the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Security Forces, Special forces unit and regular infantry units.
   Krav Maga emphasizes in aggregation, simultaneous defense and offensive maneuvers. This martial arts encourages students to avoid physical confrontation, if this is not possible than to finish a fight as quickly and aggressively as possible. Attack are targeted at most vulnerable parts of the body, some can cause permanent loss or even death to the opponent.
   Students learn to defend against all variety of attacks and counter in the quick and efficient ways. Idea of Krav Maga includes: Simultaneous attack and defense, developing physical aggression, attacking preemptively, Targeting vulnerable parts of opponents such as eyes, neck, throat, face, solar plexus, ribs, fingers, liver.

Picture Source: Combat Krav Maga