aikido for seld defense

Who is O sensi? Ueshiba IMO.

I'm not a fan of Aikido as a self defense art. But my buddy who is a brown belt in Yoshinkan used to be a bouncer and worked security. He's a small Chinese guy around 5'4". KO'ed a guy while bouncing with a shihonage.

Another friend of mine took out some US soldier in a bar in Japan. But I think on average most aikidoka won't be able to use what they learn in a fight. And those who are good won't be able to take out a well trained fighter or a good street fighter.

My buddy from japan did say that the footwork is really useful, especially against multiple attackers. He said if you're good you can be very evasive and run away.

I have to say kkm is right for 2 reasons;

1- gun = way better for self defense, not fighting, but self defense

2- aikido sucks for fighting and self defense

The "scary" thing about aikido is that Ueshiba has all kinds of mystical stories that persist about him. For example, I've read stories about him "willing" bullets not to hit him - matrix style - and such. Could it be that Ueshiba was really the first bullshidoka? Perhaps.

I've also heard quotes from people who claimed that Ueshiba was 10 times the martial artist that Jigoro Kano was, and that aikido used to be sincerely bad ass.

IMO, it all comes down to who is using the art. If it's some pony-tailed fat guy, then the art is useles. However, if you were to take a legit bad ass, Mayhem for example, and teach him aikido - and have him practice the shit out of it - he would be able to pull that stuff off in a fight, even against multiple attackers.

I agree with what someone else said about training in something else first and then moving on to aikido. You'll have more confidence, be more used to the adrenaline dump and have something to fall back on in case your aikido techs fail if you know you have that "functional" primary art (Judo, Muy Thai, etc.).

Those backup arts might make it easier to create the positions for applying the aikido techs too.

The founder of aikido was a pretty good fighter before creating the art right? Why don't his followers follow in his footsteps?

Here's the way I see it... I try to wrist lock a guy standing, it fails, so I clinch, elbow him in the face and dump him with a hip throw. As he gets on all 4's to try to stand up, I get my hooks in, flatten him out and transition to some kind of aikido-style pin... in the end it's just another set of tricks that you try to integrate into your overall game. The more kinds of tricks you have, the more options are available to you.

Yes for self defense. Something is better than nothing and depends on the school.

No if u think ur gonna pick a fight with someone that has ANY experience with any type of fightart...

I have a 2nd dan in aikido. I put 14 yrs in lol... I quit along time ago.

combat ki IMO