do you know what type of traditional martial art that is combat effective today?

They are all effective if trained the way they should - as war/combat arts. Over the years comprimises have been made and the combat effectiveness of many schools have been diluted.

This brings up the "it's not the art, it's the fighter". If everyone trained to actually fight this wouldn't be so pronounced. But they just want the next belt, or they want to get in shape, or they want a spiritual awakening, etc. These are all side effects of combat training, not the goal. So train to become a better warrior and everything else will follow naturally.

Latest and scientific? Seriously, what about the human body and anatomy has changed in the last thousand years to make fighting against it any different? Military H2H use the traditional styles. There are only so many ways to how to strike and to where, and the body is only capable of being moved and manipulated in so many ways. If you looked at it all in a wide enough range, all martial arts would look virtually identical. Where the traditional arts change route is in training and conditioning, not how the application is applied. It's not about tradition or science. It's about what's effective and has proved effective for so many years. There's only fact, which yes, is essentially science, or used to be anyway, not theories. Neither is better. Trying to pit styles or concept against each other is a round about way to guessing which is better. It takes a person to train in them, and the purpose for each person varies. Trying to compare styles is pointless and a waste of time.

Kali, Escrima, Silat, and Aikido are all very useful and taught to Special Forces troops. These are traditional and they're also very effective. Krav Maga and Jeet Kune Do are both relatively new, but both were designed to be useful in real-life situations. I agree with you about tournament/demonstration fighting. Most of the time it is like watching little kids slapping each other around. They were covered in pads from head to toe, and they could only hit their opponent in certain areas.

A lot of this has to do with country of origin. In China it's some sort of Kung Fu style. In Korea Hapkido is the primary self defense for military and law enforcement. In Israel it's Krav Maga because they are in a constant state of conflict. In Japan it's some form of jujutsu. I could go on and on, but the point is that it is different every where. I was a Kenpo student for over 3 yrs from 1990 to 1993. When I started in Law enforcement I quickly learned that style of Kenpo was not functional for the needs of my job. Example being no ground fighting what so ever and very little in control holds. Also training in point fighting is not a good habit to train in when your dealing with real life situations. I then started training Hapkido and still do to this day because that's what works for me in my line of work. When it comes to personal safety whether it be a cop or soldier or joe average citizen living in a rough neighbor hood they will train in what works for them.

Simple answer to your question is all of them if trained correctly. Most Traditional Arts are trained for self defense, not street fighting. A street fight is a conflict of ego's that 99.9% of the time can be avoided, while the other .1% falls into the self defense catagory. Self defense is where all other options have failed, or there is a suprise attack. The only goal in self defense is survival, pure and simple.

On the streets in a self defense situation there are no rules to follow or a ref to stand you up or stop the fight because of a cut, or a low blow. Too many people base what works on what happens in the ring. Yes MMA will help you defend yourself, no question, but so will any good Martial art if trained correctly. Yes we do groin shots, eye gouges, fish hooks, strikes with the point of the elbow, biting(not my first choice), clawing, whatever works. Most of these will not end a fight but they can provide openings for finishing moves.

The style I train is Isshin-Ryu Karate. We have low kicks, in fact none of our basic kicks go above the waste. We practise body conditioning, and if you've ever done Okinawin Karate conditioning you know it is intense. We have joint locks, throws, and chokes. We train to fight in a clinch. We do not train "sport" karate. We learn to fight with and against knives, bats, and other weapons.

The main problem with Traditional Arts for the ring is that it takes a long time to get good at them. It is designed this way so that your instructor has achance to see your charicter before teaching you anything but the most basic motion. MMA is designed to teach somebody to fight in the shortest time possible. Thaty is the main differance. traditional styles look to build acomplete person, while MMA's main goal is to build fighters, not to say that MMA will not build good people, that is just not it's main goal. Most traditional people after awhile do not feel the need to fight, in the ring or on the street, because they have nothing to prove, and don't need their ego stroked.

I will not fight for ego, money, belts, etc. The only reason i will fight is to protect myself, a loved one, or somebody unable to protect themselves, period. But when I fight I can do so very effectivly, and I know I will survive. To the BJJ answer: BJJ is probably the best style for ground fighting, but the saying that most fights end up on the ground is a myth crated by the Gracie's to premote their style. Some fights do end up there, so you need some knowledge on the ground, but only some of them are where both people are able to still fight. Many are where someone is out, and the guy climbs on to keep beating them, or both guys trip and fall. Also BJJ does not address weapons or multiple attackers. THE NAME OF THE GAME IN COMBAT OR SELF DEFENSE IS SURVIVAL, NOT WINNING OR LOSING.

Kung Fu San Soo

Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung Ga San Shao Wu Shu

fighting in the MMA arena and doing well, fighting in the streets and doing well, fought in full contact and doing well, great for self defense. You just have to Love it.

Grand Master Lo Sifu Jimi H. Woo was more than a kind person.

I've seen a master "slap" someone once and knock the attacker out instantly. The technique was called the "wave" technique.

MMA is not fighting. Go put someone in your guard while his buddies kick you head into a bloody red jello.

Yes, "the poke you in the eye thing" is exactly it. You don't even get the fact that everything that is forbidden in MMA is dangerous and therefore effective. Eye gouge, fish hook, ear pulls, hair pulls, groin kicks, groin slaps--you haven't shown enough respect to deserve more info--they work against grapplers and have been forbidden because they are dangerous and favor the punchers.

Hey bro, why waste time on martiall aret. Carry a gun just go to the point.

I got u Punk, follow Dirty Harry

that's usually because people in traditional don't often use their arts for anything but self-defense.

Any art is effective if applied properly.

jujitsu is about the most effective real life fighting style because most fights go to the ground.