A gun.
While firearms are extremely effective, there are situations where you need to get physical without escalating to a point where your opponent or otherwise will also pull out a gun. That and escalating to a federal crime is not always the move to make.
Sorry, but you don’t deescalate a dangerous situation with a martial art. Real life isn’t a movie. You deescalate through conversation.Yet, some people are committed to a violent resolution, and in that case, there are no magic words, or chi, or anything else that will deescalate. You need to be ready to draw your weapon and kill, because they are. If that is not the case, then you don’t need a martial art anyway. Even Marx carried a pistol because he understood that.
I never said anything about de-escalation because this thread isn’t about de-escalation. Also no, most times the average person gets into a fight it is not to the death. That’s just plain incorrect. I’ve been mugged and beaten enough to know that if I pulled out a gun or a knife I would have lost a lot more than money or dignity.
I’d say Judo and Jiu-jitsu. Things where you can use your opponent’s weight and momentum against them.
Moreover, an arm bar will end any fight.
The best Martial Art is whichever one you would enjoy doing the most on a regular basis.
At the end of the day, it’s mostly going to be about exercise and not being a badass or even self-defense. The best thing you can do when faced with danger is to get out of that situation. Most martial arts will not help you a great deal except keep you calm and rational. If someone has a gun, there is no way to remove the chance it will go off, even with a disarm (and that is unsafe for everyone around you). If someone has a knife, there’s almost certainly going to be blood no matter how good you are—although you might not feel it until the adrenaline and blood loss kick in. And that’s without getting into, even if you win the hypothetical fight, knowing what constitutes legal self-defense before, during, and after the fight to ensure you were within those bounds. These aren’t an “always” thing, but most of the time what you get out of MAs is more on the mundane side. Get into a martial arts because it’s something you enjoy, you want the exercise, becoming more comfortable in your body and how it moves, and you want to improve your discipline. And learning how to break fall—that will help you more than anything else because falling can happen anywhere, not just in a fight.
Personally, I do HEMA (Historical martial arts; primarily sword fighting) and traditional archery, because those are what I enjoy and their relevant to a lot of the illustrations and creative endeavors I do. I’ve dabbled in others MAs and there are fun techniques, but I keep coming back to those practiced in the past (mainly European but will reach into as many regions as I can get my hands on) when it comes to my time and money…even if that means having to workshop how they may have worked in their historical context (because for some of them, we just don’t know). Just have realistic expectations with what you choose.
Systema
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/347769?scrollToComments=true
There very few good videos that explain what Systema is about, and if you do not understand it, it seems as if they are doing some weird movements. Basically, the idea behind Systema is to comprehend biomechanics and apply them to combat in order to utilise as less strength as possible. In Systema you strip the aesthetical dances of old martial arts, there are no fixed postures and it is designed in such a way that even a person (obviously it is not a guarantee) that is in physical, environmental or in a health disadvantage can win a fight.
