I'll toss this out here as my own last $0.02 USD to this wonderful thread here.
My
personal opinion is that
any martial art taught by
competent individuals who focus on
application will benefit anyone. The main key word here is application.
Something I caught and laughed a bit about was
Vuk's earlier comment about TaeKwonDo. As much as I try not to be, I also am somewhat biased against TKD due to my observation that most places that teach that are belt factories that pump out nth degree black belts in a year or two, and give black belts to 6 year old kids that can barely walk. Around here where I live, the biggest belt factories are indeed TKD places. The key here is that these places will teach you how to do your forms (katas, whatever) perfectly, throw really nice flashy kicks to the head, break bricks with your face, and all other kinds of useless crap that won't do you a whit of good on the street. The thing they do NOT teach is how to apply techniques in real world situations, and how to improvise as needed when things don't go how you want them to (the so called "OH SH" factor). It's this false sense of self confidence that lands people in the hospital or worse when someone finally does pull a knife on them and demand their cash, and they charge head first into the fray because hot damn they KNOW how to handle someone with a knife! just please stab at me this way exactly so I can pull off this disarm. Again the bottom line here is application, real application, not "this punch is used to hit someone in the face" nonsense.
Also, there is no such thing as a "superior" martial art, however there certainly are superior martial artists. Every system has it's strengths and weaknesses, one of the key points to becoming a good fighter is recognizing what you can and can't do within your system, training, and personal skill. Anyone who takes their training seriously will recognize this at some point.

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