All language subtitles for Tate on Fighting

A lot of people ask me fighting questions, and fair enough, I don't fight anymore.

I did retire from fight sports very young.

I'm 31 years of age.

I started kickboxing when I was 17. I was world champion at 23.

I became four times world champion.

I retired from fighting at 28.

I then came back to the ring, and I got a really bad poke in the eye,

which is a very annoying way to end a career at the age of 30.

So there shouldn't have been no contest. They're saying I lost. Whatever, whatever.

And I'm still considering fighting again.

So people ask me a lot of fight questions. I was an exceptionally good fighter.

Fighting is a very difficult thing to learn because you have to reprogram your basic instincts.

The human instinct to how to fight is incorrect.

You lift your head up and you swing with your hands down to get power,

and everything you do instinctually is completely wrong.

So it's very difficult to reprogram your instincts on something, especially in fighting,

because fighting happens very quickly. It's very savage. It's very fast.

But when people do say to me, "How do I learn to fight?" I say, "Well, a few things."

One, you don't just learn to fight. It's not like, "I don't care about something."

It's not learning how to fucking flip a coin. It's something you have to train constantly.

And the second you stop training, your reactions slow down X amount.

Secondly, to be able to fight effectively, you also have to be strong. You also have to be fit.

There's a whole bunch of other things you have to do.

Getting strong and fit, fine. To be a fighter, you have to get strong and fit, plus learn a bunch of shit.

So it's not easy.

But people often say to me, "Well, what martial arts lawyer?" And I'm going to answer that question.

If you want to learn to fight, be a boxer.

This is coming from a kickboxer. I'm a kickboxer, and even I know that as amazing as my kicks are,

they're pretty much useless in most cases of the street.

I mean, in a club, I can't really kick. If I have jeans on, I can't really kick.

If I slip on grass, it's a big, big mistake.

I probably wouldn't kick in a street fight. It's happened one or two times to the groin.

But in general, I don't kick. I use my hands and I win effectively.

Boxing is the best for this reason.

People always come at me with, "What about wrestling or BJJ?"

Newsflash, BJJ is fucking useless outside of the cage.

And when I say this, a whole bunch of Brazilian jiu-jitsu players get triggered.

I start going, "Oh, you've never messed with a BJJ guy."

Actually wrong. If you look at my career, I've been in the cage six times.

I broke my hand in two of those fights. That's why I stopped cage fighting and continued with kickboxing.

I fought Luke Barnett, who's in the UFC.

I've won by knockout many times in the cage.

So I understand Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I train Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and I fought against Brazilian jiu-jitsu professionally.

But I'm telling you, for the street, for self-defense, do not waste your time with BJJ or wrestling.

And here's why.

The number one rule of the street is do not go to the ground.

You don't know if your opponent has a weapon like a knife.

You don't know if he has a friend who's going to come along and kick you in the face.

You don't know if police are going to turn up.

You don't know if all of his friends are going to be running around the corner.

You need to be on your feet at all times ready to run to preserve your life.

Rolling around on the floor with some guy is not a good idea, for the reasons I've named plus more.

Secondly, a lot of these BJJ moves are ineffective against the rules of the street.

Yeah, a triangle choke works in the cage, but it ain't going to work if someone can bite their fucking balls off.

An arm bar ain't going to work if they're taking a chunk out of your fucking skin.

And these other things aren't going to work if they pick up a rock and smash you around the head with it.

You try a triangle choke a dude when he can pick you up and slam you on concrete.

Not an octagon. When he body slams your head on concrete, you tell me how you're going to get away with that triangle choke without taking damage yourself.

It's bullshit. All of it's ineffective on the street.

And the most important thing, and this is the most crazy thing of it all.

When's the last time you've ever seen a fair fight on the street? Ever.

I've been in my fair share of street fights. I live in Eastern Europe. I live in a dangerous place. I'm in the 60 countries.

I'm telling you, I've never seen a fair fight.

Every time I was in a fight I was against multiple opponents.

As a striker, as a combatant who can strike, I can deal with multiple opponents.

Let me tell you something. You can get the best BJJ player in the world.

If he's fighting two guys, he's going to lose.

Because as soon as he tries to grab one up, the other guy is going to jump on his fucking face.

So who cares how good you are at fucking this kind of choke, that kind of choke.

You're going to get fucking grounded and pounded or head stomped and beaten up.

Rules of street fights. Stay on your feet.

Use your hands and be ready to go from attacking to running from your life at the drop of a hat.

This is the advice I give you. If you want to learn to fight in the street, box.

Do not fuck around with BJJ or wrestling with this.

Let me tell you something. It's a waste of fucking time.

Anyone who thinks I'm wrong, I'll challenge you to the following.

You and one of your friends come along and try and fight me.

And I'll just use what I know and we'll see how the fight goes down.

I'm guaranteeing you you're going to take some shots. I might take some shots. I don't know who you are.

But either way, I'll be on my feet. I'll be moving. You're going to get hit in the face.

Any BJJ guy in the world, no matter how good you are, you come and fight me and my brother at the same time.

And I guarantee you're going to get an ass kicking.

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