content: I am not a professional fighter, nor am I any kind of "self-defense expert".  That said, I've trained enough in martial arts to tell you for certain that you must practice. Study alone is not enough.  If all you have are shady McDojos, then what you need is a friend who is also into the learning, and something like the Gracie Combatives service- basically buying private recorded lessons that are very in-depth. But you will need a training partner in order to get anything really valuable from something like this- a master Judoka can demonstrate how to perfectly throw a man over your back 100 times... but until you actually attempt it yourself, you will never grasp the reality of the technique. In all the time I've spent training and watching fights- both sport and street fight videos- the most fundamental things I've realized are this:   Being aware of your surroundings to the point where you are borderline paranoid is more important than any punch, any grappling technique, any weapon even. As "good guys", we have a tremendous disadvantage- CRIMINALS WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE AND AMBUSH OVER US. Nobody ever expects "today I'm going to be mugged by a negro named Takwandrius". They think that only happens in movies, so they park their car at Whole Foods, pop their head phones in and start walking inside through the parking lot while staring at their phone's Twitter feed. Next thing they know, they're on the ground, and they see the shadowy figure of Takwandrius running away holding his wallet and phone, because Takwandrius just ran up and smashed our idiot protagonist in the back of the head with a brick.    GRAPPLING IS SUPREMELY IMPORTANT. Almost all fights that don't immediately end with a sucker punch or a punch that someone didn't see coming wind up with both combatants locked up, wrestling around. If you don't know what to do from here, and your opponent does, you are fucked. They will manipulate your body in ways you can't understand, negating any strength or size advantage you have over them. Even if you can punch really well, you can't use those punches if your opponent has you wrapped up with his head pinned against your chest while he's working to trip you. KNOWING HOW TO NOT BE GRABBED, HOW TO ESCAPE AFTER BEING GRABBED, AND HOW TO GRAB AND CONTROL AN AGGRESSIVE ATTACKER IS OF SUPREME IMPORTANCE IN COMBAT.    LEARN HOW TO PUNCH PROPERLY. Boxing fundamentals- how to slip, bob and weave, how to move your feet, where to keep your hands, how to move your hips, and so on. Unfortunately, you must spar in order to gain any true proficiency- you can master your jab on a heavy bag, with perfect technique... but then you come up against an opponent who parries it and socks you in the nose. If you've never been hit before, you are probably fucked from here- all the thought and effort you put into mastering that single technique suddenly becomes worthless after your nose is broken. You need to learn how to take a hit, how to move with it and see it coming, otherwise there is no telling how you will react if a scenario where you need to fight comes up.    Kicks aren't often used in street fights, because they are high risk-high reward techniques; yes, a good roundhouse kick to the head from a 180 lbs. man will probably put most men down. But if you miss, or your target lunges forward, you are now standing on one foot, totally stationary. You'll probably end up being thrown to the ground; this seems to be what happens in almost every street fight video where a guy attempts a high kick. That being said, low kicks can be devastating, especially if thrown by a practiced kicker. Most people can't handle a few hard kicks to the inside of their thigh, just above the knee- one or two hard ones right there will have most grown men hobbling around or on the ground. But kicking should not be a focus or concern for you if you still are lacking in important fundamentals like "how to clinch up without exposing yourself to an uppercut".   There's so much to go over, I could write 100 more paragraphs- but it would all just be info that you would not remember in a heat confrontation. YOU MUST TRAIN, THERE IS NO WAY AROUND THIS- THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BECOME PROFICIENT AT FIGHTING. In order to defend yourself well, you must put in the hours of simulation/sparring, and the guidance of professionals is necessary for most people.