Judo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu are both grappling-based fighting styles that are widely popular around the world. Arguably, these are the two most famous grappling martial arts due to their popularity in the Olympics and the Rise of organizations like the UFC. Judo and BJJ are similar in the sense that the fights will clinch with opponents, work for takedowns, and submit their competition. In this article, we will take a further look at Judo vs Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Judo vs Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: What is the Better Martial Art?
This may seem like a silly question to ask but if you are looking to get into martial arts and start your journey, it is valid. Many people in the community of martial arts will go online and give you a million reasons why their martial art is the best or why other martial arts would not work in a “real-world situation”.
We are not here to spew out nonsense like this.
The best martial art to choose is usually one that fits your budget and where you are in your journey. We have done kickboxing and practice BJJ regularly at this point and we firmly believe that BJJ is far superior to anything we have seen.
Good martial arts are street tested and proven over time and nothing to date can really hold a candle to what Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been able to do. We are not the only person who holds this line of thinking and are joined by the likes of Joe Rogan in our opinion.
But, if you are serious about training it is always good to take on multiple disciplines because each one has something to offer… except karate, don’t do karate.
Judo vs Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu For Self Defense
One of the main reasons people get into martial arts, to begin with, is that they want to have some form of self-defense training under their belt. It is common for people that join the community to start for this reason.
Judo For Self Defense
Clearly, the focuses of the two martial arts are completely different. Judoka like many BJJ practitioners trains in multiple martial arts to hone their skills. Being that Judo is an Olympic sport it should not go unnoticed that Judo is much more widely practiced than Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (for now).
Judokas’ main objective when competing against someone is to get them on their back with a flashy, unpredictable takedown or throw. The goal is to unsettle your opponent rather than overcome them.
In Judo, you are in the standing position almost all the time unless you find yourself losing the match in which case you are on your back. Judo is a good way to work on your stand-up game (without adding striking to the mix) and teaches its practitioners how to get someone off-balance and to the ground effectively. For this reason, many believe it is a solid choice when it comes to using martial arts for self-defense purposes.
The likelihood that you find yourself in any kind of altercation is very slim to begin with but looking deeper it may be safe to say that Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the better of the two for a situation that needs to be handled, let’s examine further.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for Self-Defense
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a grappling-based martial art that mainly focuses on joint locks and ground control over an opponent. Many critics of the sport say that BJJ lacks in its ability to teach its practitioners how to properly strike and lacks in teaching takedowns.
While some of the criticism is valid, we believe these claims are mostly hearsay in today’s world. Most Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu schools teach their students’ wrestling techniques and many who take on the sport, to begin with trained wrestling at some point in their life.
Many situations that call for a breakup or break out of a fight end up on the ground and this is where Brazilian Jiu-jitsu really gets to shine vs Judo.
When you train Brazilain jiu-jitsu you are constantly getting live looks in the form of sparring of someone who is actively resisting you and trying to advance themselves in a position that makes you submit.
While your stand-up game could be lacking a bit if you have never thrown a punch in your life (not many people can attest to this) Brazilian jiu-jitsu has proven to be the most effective martial art.
Can You Learn Judo and BJJ at the Same Time?
Yes, doing Judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu is advantageous in many ways.
Both martial arts are centered around the same thing: grappling and controlling your opponent.
If you are proficient in both takedowns and having your way while on the ground it is hard to not look at yourself as a tough opponent in competition settings. Be warned though, training multiple martial arts does require commitment and possibly a full-time training schedule.
The Benefits of Cross-Training
If your goal is to get into MMA, cross-training is the most important thing you can do.
What martial art you choose to pursue is 100% up to you but our guess is that you will be training BJJ and maybe good enough in Judo. Every fighter at the highest levels knows and is close to being high-level BJJ, it is a must-know martial art for a fighter in the UFC.
Martial arts has already been proven to get you into excellent shape so cross-training only puts you into a smaller category of humans that can do extraordinary things. If you decide to go down this path it is of utmost importance that you take care of your body because it will take a beating from gym to gym.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Judo are two of the most popular grappling-based martial arts that people will take on in their journey. We believe that having the confidence from training in martial arts is something that many more people are waking up to the idea of. Every day we are seeing more people enter the transformative world of martial arts and love seeing discipline grow to what almost seemed destined.
