While the grappling in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu may not be as glamorous as the high flying kicks or one punch KO’s of other martial arts, it represents an unavoidable reality that you need to accept if you want to truly be able to fight and defend yourself. The flashy moves fall away in the heat of a real fight and the winner is rarely decided by a spectacular karate chop or Steve Seagal-style wristlock. In the real world, the victor is usually whoever is able to protect themselves while gaining control of the situation and subduing their adversary.

Through decades of practice and refinement, the Gracie family evolved the strategies and combat theories of BJJ by deriving them from these observations:

• In a fight between two people, the smaller, lighter person is usually at a disadvantage against a larger, stronger opponent.
• When overwhelmed with blows and unable to effectively hit back, it’s a natural instinct to grab and tackle the opponent to try to stop the strikes.
• Even if neither person intends to go to the ground, it’s common for them to lose their balance, trip and fall down.
• Once downed, the untrained find it difficult to free themselves and safely stand, so the fight continues on the ground.
• The ability to punch and kick can be reduced while tangled up on the ground, which may work to one’s advantage or disadvantage.
• Whichever person is able to gain a dominant position on the ground has an advantage in finishing the fight or forcing surrender.

Boxing, kickboxing and martial arts like kung fu, karate and taekwondo inadvertently acknowledge the inevitability of grappling by having rules that ban it and stop the fight to allow a fighter to safely get back to his feet. What would happen if no one stepped in and separated them?

The genius of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was to take two of the biggest problems people have while fighting—the inability to stay out of the grappling range and not knowing what to do once there—and turning them into its greatest strengths.

By engaging the opponent and taking them down, the BJJ practitioner can minimize the danger of punches and kicks. Taking the opponent down forces the them into a situation that is unfamiliar. And armed with a superior knowledge of grappling, the BJJ practitioner is able to use techniques to exert maximum leverage and control as he obtains a dominant position from which to deliver devastating blows or fight-ending submission holds like chokes and armlocks.

This isn’t to say that no other martial arts have their own merit. There are a proper ways to throw (and defend) punches, kicks and strikes and there are systems that teach it well. But failing to give grappling and ground fighting serious attention, they are jeopardizing their ability to perform what they are good at. A skilled stand-up fighter owes it to himself to learn grappling and ground fighting, if just to know how to survive it and escape back to his feet where he’s truly dangerous.