Brad Freeman's Favorite Martial Artists If I Ever Got in a Fight

Since I’m also into martial arts, self-defense, and combat sports on top of your regular 5 major sports, if I was ever in a life threatening situation where self-defense was required, here are the people I would take with me to watch my back during a fight.

1. Bruce Lee (Wing Chun Kung Fu/Jeet Kune Do)

2. Muhammad Ali (speed stance Western Boxing)

3. Royce Gracie (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

4. Dan Severn (Judo/Sambo/Greco-Roman Wrestling)

5. Chuck Norris (Karate/Judo/Taekwondo/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu)

6. Ken Shamrock (Shoot Fighting)

*Bruce Lee, while not only being great on-screen, developed a fighting system for self-defense as well. Not to mention, he’s my favorite action/martial arts actor. Ali is my favorite boxer, by the way.

*Back in the nineties, when the Ultimate Fighting Championship was truly full contact, no holds barred except eye gouging, biting, and shots to the groin via a gentlemen’s agreement. The fights pitted 2 combatants of totally different styles, in tournament format, to answer the age-old question, which style is best. Royce Gracie/Dan Severn/Ken Shamrock’s matches against each other during the 1^st 5 to 10 events were utterly legendary in the martial arts community. Not going to lie, I go back and watch those fights periodically.

Now, as of January 2001 when Dana White took over, UFC is way different. It’s more cleaned up. Fighters mix different styles together to cancel out each singular art’s weaknesses. And mix them together for the strengths of each art for a given situation. Hence, the term mixed martial arts coming into a regular part of American vernacular. Also, it now has rounds, weight classes, and championship belts for each weight class, much like boxing, and more extensive rules centered around grappling, for the safety of the fighters, so the sport could more easily get sanctioning by the state athletic commissions.