[bigato]

>The weakness to BJJ is that if there's more than one person, things can get hairy for you, and the training doesn't focus on this much (or at all in most places I think).

If there is more than one person, things are going to get hairy anyway. Although some boxing/muay thai could help to some extent.

[r_smart]

Agreed, but coiling yourself around someone and rolling on the ground is a terrible position to be in when that someone has friends. The reality of most street fights is it's just drunk people being idiots. That usually means friends are around.

[bigato]

I'd say that not having 360 degree vision is a terrible shortcoming when your opponent has friends anyway. But also, bjj does not happen only on the ground, specially if you are talking about drunk people being idiots. Do not underestimate the power of a takedown to the cement, for example.

[r_smart]

> I'd say that not having 360 degree vision is a terrible shortcoming

Well now you're just being silly :)

>Do not underestimate the power of a takedown to the cement

I'm aware. I practiced Aikido for 10 years and BJJ for a year. BJJ doesn't really practice throwing with power, rather, it's usually a setup to disabling through grappling techniques. While I would readily admit Aikido is less martially effective overall (fairly tied to the traditional attacks & style of Japanese martial arts, which are often not practical), something that is explicitly trained for is fighting multiple opponents, throwing people into other people and throwing with power.

[bigato]

>> I'd say that not having 360 degree vision is a terrible shortcoming

> Well now you're just being silly :)

Well, I just meant that dealing with more than one opponent is a problem in BJJ as much as it is a problem in any other fighting style. It's not worse in BJJ because it has grappling and ground techniques. If you are exclusively a boxing fighter, for example, having people attack you from behind is also a big deal.

[r_smart]

I would argue that it is worse. If you are on someone's back, in a rear naked choke your entire body is set to controlling the person you're choking and you are defenseless against other attacks. Not just attacks from behind; you can be looking right at the second person and be in the position of having to decide whether to let the choke go to cover yourself or to stay committed to the choke. Worse, since the person you're choking has their hands free, you usually need to bury your face to keep them from doing things like gouging your eyes out, meaning you limit your vision. This obviously gets worse if you've pulled somebody into the guard.

Additionally, if someone is coming from behind, your ability to react is much faster if you're not wrapped around somebody else, giving you a better chance of protecting yourself.

*edit to add eye gouging into the equation.