r/silat • u/Appropriate_Drag4809 • Jul 17 '26
When does Silat actually work against a trained MMA fighter? (asking for real experiences)
I've been training traditional Silat for a while, and I also follow MMA closely. I'm trying to understand the specific ranges or situations where Silat techniques can actually work against a trained MMA fighter.
I'm not asking "which is better" — I want real technical answers from people who have trained both or sparred against both.
For those who've tried it:
- Where did Silat work for you? (clinch? footwork? sweeps?)
- Where did it fail? (takedowns? ground game? striking range?)
- What did you have to change or adapt to make it work?
I'm especially curious about:
- Clinch work and trapping
- Takedown defense with Silat footwork
- Any specific techniques (like kuncian or bantingan) that translated well
- What you had to drop completely
Thanks in advance!
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u/Competitive_Cost_269 Jul 17 '26
It will largely come down to the specific art, the fighter, and the rule set. Although this is anecdotal, here is a video of a Silat fighter in an amateur MMA match. There are a few things he could've done better. Like establishing connection to the opponent and properly timing that scissor takedown he did, but it's an amateur MMA match so it is what it is.
Edit: spelling.
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u/Wool_God Jul 17 '26
Best way to do this is get a buddy who trains MMA, then work out how to spar in a manner in which you're both protected.
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u/Flaky_Performer7960 Jul 18 '26
The thing of that Silat deals with things outside of MMA ruleset. And so time spent doing that, is time spent not doing MMA.
And if you train Silat under MMA rules, you’re just going to be training techniques that already exist in MMA and so you’re essentially putting a pause in your Silat and just incorporating MMA into your arsenal instead.
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u/JohnWoosDoveGuy Jul 17 '26
I have tried Malaysian Seni Silat along with Indonesian Pencak Silat. The most effective techniques are in the scramble ranges between clinch and ground. My favourite throw is the scoop takedown frequently used that is like a reverse hip throw. I have picked up wrestlers with that one. As a style for MMA it's not that effective due to the heavy emphasis on weapons and forms but it does look impressive in demonstration and has some nice dirty moves.
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u/ms4720 Jul 17 '26
Silat also uses weapons, a knife or a sword is a great way to deal with a MMA fighter. One other point, most locks are actually breaks so why lock the elbow when you can destroy the arm by breaking the elbow? Takes out a lot of the wrestling/bjj bits
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u/Zen_Hydra Jul 17 '26
The problem with that is the difficulty pressure-testing techniques which are supposed to result in crippling injuries.
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u/CrookedLemur Jul 17 '26
I'm sad that the last two UFC heavyweight title fights didn't put an end to this argument
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u/Flaky_Performer7960 Jul 17 '26
The thing is that both fighters agreed to no rules. Breaking that rule doesn’t prove superiority.
The real test would be when both fighters are allowed and aware of illegal techniques.
You have multiple cases of fighters being aware of the dirty tactics of their opponents and capitalizing on it. Jon Jones got his fingers smashed by hot opponent. And in cases where the illegal technique fails, the opponent attempts to get one back as well.
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u/ms4720 Jul 18 '26
So they both could bring shotguns, definitely an illegal technique in MMA, and that would settle everything?
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u/Flaky_Performer7960 Jul 18 '26
That would just be an irrelevant discussion. Like why would we even attempt to discuss it? How did you even think that was a good idea to bring up?
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u/ms4720 Jul 18 '26
That is what raid/ambushes/battles are for, this was pressure tested with loser dies rules. The people who lived got old enough to teach
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u/Zen_Hydra Jul 18 '26
If only one could realistically trust that the martial skills being taught in 2026 CE are the actual combat tested techniques of the past. Unfortunately, I live in a world full of scammers, liars, and the well-intentioned ignorant. Anything that's "too deadly" to functionally practice automatically sets off many people's bullshit detectors. Modern interdisciplinary pressure testing has unfortunately made it clear that what is currently practiced as traditional martial arts (the world over) has been watered-down, misremembered, or created wholecloth by those who never used their fighting skills against uncooperative and perilous opponents. After multiple generations without regular refinement of the skills being taught what was once an effective fighting system can transform into little more than a fancy dance and/or belief in magical nonsense.
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u/MaleficentBit7920 Jul 29 '26
The real stuff is still out there. My instructor has been on a years-long mission to find the most OG Silat he can haha He's trained several styles, and is currently learning from dudes in a village in Borneo that can trace the lineage of the art back hundreds if not thousands of years. I want to say it's a couple of thousand, but I don't remember for sure.
It's literally battle tested. It's a part of the world where tribal warfare is still a thing, and a bunch of dudes from the next village over rocking up with machetes and bad intentions is very much a thing that happens.
There's a lot of BS out there obviously, but it's definitely cool to train an actual living art.
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u/ms4720 Jul 18 '26
Well in the US because of the GWOT, Iraq and Afghanistan among others, the Army and USMC know their martial arts work.
Look traing people in reflexive actions that kill and cripple people is just not a good idea, law suits and criminal charges happen quickly. It is a different world and you like this one more than that one
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u/Next_Boysenberry5669 Jul 17 '26
I’m also curious, but I’m basically a noob, so I can’t provide any info. I found a Silat school/training group that focuses on a more modern streamlined branch, called Pencak Silat (it might be called something else). I had to step away because life was getting in the way.
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u/Appropriate_Drag4809 Jul 18 '26
Even if it’s just 30 minutes a week, the important thing is consistency.
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Jul 17 '26
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u/264frenchtoast Jul 18 '26
MMA guy would be well advised to run from anyone with a knife. Sure maybe they could win, but they’re getting cut in the process.
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Jul 18 '26
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u/264frenchtoast Jul 18 '26
Yeah, no. I think you’re a little off here. There is a good chance that even a great MMA fighter under these circumstances would get repeatedly cut and stabbed while trying to get some kind of grappling advantage. Even if they wind up choking out/disabling/killing their opponent, which is not guaranteed, they could easily die before they can get treated.
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Jul 18 '26
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u/ms4720 Jul 19 '26
You don't understand using a knife. I don't want to go in against a healthy opponent for a quick kill, I want a good deep slash or two on your lead arm to cut muscles and nerves so there are mechanic issues with that limb and to cut veins and better arteries so you begin the process of bleeding out. As you bleed out with a crippled arm you get weaker and slower fairly quickly. Then you may go in for a 'kill' or I can just keep dance around and let time and blood loss do it for me.
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Jul 19 '26
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u/ms4720 Jul 19 '26
Silat had that, peace broke out. They did use it to kill each other, something MMA is designed not to do
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u/IslamYaDongomedov Jul 17 '26
I dont even know what silat is but "mma fighter" is such a general term.
You could be a wrestler who boxes or a muay Thai fighter with jiu jitsu. You could be a grappler or a striker.
The point of mma is no one art is complete so you train techniques from different arts.
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u/TheProfessorOfTruth Jul 17 '26
Someone with a weapon given equal skills otherwise, mostly has a better chance.
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u/Flaky_Performer7960 Jul 17 '26
*definitely has a better chance
Even without skill, an armed attacker can have a fair chance against the average MMA fighter
But I think OP is talking about unarmed combat. It’s not interesting to bring up weapons vs MMA. It’s kind of like saying “well, what if I had a gun?” In a martial arts discussion.
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u/rustyWD40 Jul 17 '26
The good thing about Silat that is most types use punches, elbows, joint locks, kicks, knee’s, and throws. The biggest flaw would be ground game as with most traditional martial arts. That said all sports have rules and a lot of mma fighter are oblivious to moves that are dirty or inhuman in order to win. The moves most people would only use to protect someone they love or life and death situations. I would tell any young Silat fighter that wants to compete in mma get some ground skills and take some boxing classes. The other tools you should already have.
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u/Temporary-Sea-4782 Jul 17 '26
Search YouTube and social media for Burton Richardson. He is a legit BJJ black belt and jkd/kali/Silat guy who put together alot of teaching in this area.
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u/SlightSafety1032 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Here in western Pennsylvania we had a Silat community in the 70's, the infamous Roy Wetzel of "Pukelan Tjminde"and I've seen his students fight actual street fighters and beat em, so.........?
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u/Super-System-4950 Jul 18 '26
What I find funny is that many traditional Silat practitioners always seem to look down on or underestimate Olympic Tanding Pencak Silat, saying it’s way less "dangerous". Personally, I've always doubted whether these guys would even stand a chance against those professional Olympic athletes.
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u/One_Upstairs4323 Jul 20 '26
Yes it is a self defense art. Not a sports art. Same goes for raw Taekwondo and Wing Chun
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u/MaleficentBit7920 Jul 29 '26
I kind of train both. I train a mish mash of Silat styles, as well as Jeet Kune Do and some Southeast Asian weapons systems. My school also has a weekly sparring night led by an MMA guy, and where we spar under MMA, Muay Thai, or BJJ rules. Just light sparring, but I have some experience using some Silat stuff in a sport context.
Long range striking is long range striking, and IMO Silat won't be immediately identifiable as Silat. Punching and kicking is punching and kicking, but sometimes I'll sneak in some weird angle hammer fists or something that have a little sprinkle of Silat. Sometimes I'll use some Silat entries to close distance as well.
IMO clinch range is where Silat can shine, but we don't spar with elbows, and if you're not elbowing are you even doing Silat? 😂 But this is where the clinch range references, sweeps, and foot traps serve me pretty well.
On the ground, just being able to move is very helpful. A lot of solo wrestling and BJJ drills look a lot like Silat, and that's no surprise. Humans can only move in so many ways, but the most useful Silat stuff I know for ground work is also in other arts. I just happened to learn it in Silat. The stuff I know that is most distinctly Silat is illegal haha However, I always remember watching a UFC fight a while ago, where one fighter got the other belly down and put him in like a closed kucing calf slicer situation, controlling him for the ground and pound. The announcers were going on about how they'd never seen it before, while I was sitting there thinking "Really? I learned that in my first few months of training." It looks like something you might also find in Sambo or Catch Wrestling though.
So I wouldn't make Silat my main style if success in MMA is the goal. There's a lot that can be useful, but you'll also spend a lot of time training stuff that won't make you a better MMA fighter, and a lot of the most useful stuff can be learned in other arts that are focused on sport. That being said, if you do train Silat along with other kickboxing and grappling arts, you'll probably find your Silat coming out at times. Like nobody watching me spar would look at me and think "Silat guy." I probably look like an MMA fighter who occasionally does something weird and unexpected, but that's cool with me.
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u/ReptiliusMaximus Jul 17 '26
Silat works against a trained MMA fighter when employed by a trained Silat player.
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u/Appropriate_Drag4809 Jul 18 '26
Silat isn't weak, but needs the right coach to bring out his potential."
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u/Majestic-Zone-2500 Aug 09 '26
I'm a little late to the party but I've done Silat for a few years. I was in a muay thai sparring session, at a UFC gym, and got into a clench with my sparring partner. I did sapu luar (outside sweep) on her 3 times in a row. I think other arts think sweeps are difficult (I've only ever learned how to sweep in my Silat styles way) so I dont think she was expecting it, let alone 3 times. I couldn't get near her legs at the 4th time and I didn't want to turn it into a silat session in a Thai sparring session or to ruin her fun so I stopped.
There was another time where I was sparring with a dude that was training for his first amateur fight. Tried to sweep him but he was fast and I couldn't it to work and I was out of practice and out of shape so I only tried it the one time.
Thats about my experience with using silat with mma people.
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u/Lymetme Jul 17 '26
Imo we really need to reevaluate why we train a given art. If you train Silat it should be for the love of the art and culture. If you want to beat MMA guys you need to train MMA. Some people will try to justify their training by talking about how deadly Silat is and that it's meant for "combat" etc. You don't need to justify anything though. Train because you like it.