Aikido, in my eyes, isn’t a martial art, but a religion. The spirituality most get out of it is amazing.

But for self-defense, this art is severely lacking. The fact that most practitioners have never been punched in the face on training and the compliant completely unrealistic training makes the style out of touch with reality. It’s mostly “believing” the techniques work. So again, it’s a religion.

I severely doubt many practitioners have ever experience the adrenaline rush you get in full-contact fighting and on the street, and if it happens most of their techniques will be forgotten.

I’m sorry for the aikido-fanboys, because many see their style as the ultimate MA for some reason, but I don’t see aikido working against anybody except if

a) the person has absolutely no clue how to fight whatsoever, but most of these guys will not attack you in the first place, unless drunk perhaps.

b) you get the first move, with the attacker not ready to react to an fighting technique(such as giving a hand and performing a quick wristcontrol movement). Could be compared against the 1-hit-knockout suckerpunch.

c) if you have a serious strength surplus on your opponent. But you’d probably win the brawl regardless of aikido that way anyway.

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