Strikes in Jiu-Jitsu

I have had extensive training in Fu Jow Pai kung fu, and also put in time with the BJJ...my question for discussion is...why do so many people look to classify BJJ as a strikeless art? similarly to japanese JJ it definitely includes basic strikes and blocks as taught in the dojo where I trained, and as taught by Royler and Renzo in their book. i think people put too much emphasis on the sportative aspects and thus...forget that BJJ was created with winning fights in mind.

BJJ does contain some strikes and blocks, but the main emphasis is to close the distance, and take the fight to the floor.

But as always, you'll need a bit of backup incase it's difficult to get in close and get the takedown.

And again only for one on one situations. You dont want to be taking someone to the ground and working your magic from gaurd if all his mates are standing around ready to jump on you.

Absolutely...you dont want to be grappling with a guy even if he has only one friend who will help him. but by the same token...BJJ does have some very effective standup self defense which can be used to deal with different forms of street attack

Rob...in the TJJ that u learned did they teach you to strike while drawing the other hand to the hip like in traditional striking arts? thats one of hte biggest gripes Ive had with the traditional arts ive studied...practicing like that leaves you open to a knockout

For demonstrations yeah, but i see what ya mean, ya never do it during sparring, bit of an oddity that one.

that was a big one from me coming from striking back ground they kept telling me i was punching wrong or standing wrong (especially when i hit them!) ;-)

"how you train is how you react/fight"...with this being the case i dont want to train myself to chamber my fist then all of the sudden in the street remember to protect my jaw, thats why boxing and muay thai have become the prevalent striking arts in MMA... they have adapted to contain what works and drop what does not.

I tend to have a boxing stance even in tae kwon do tournaments. In closed point fighting I get my ass kicked because of it, but I slaughter the same guys who beat me in open point tournaments

point tournaments are the biggest pile of crap ever..