MMA, BJJ, Muay Thai, Karate, Judo, Krav Maga, etc.

5 comments

  1. I don’t know the statistics, but I’d guess Judo leads by a good margin (at least it was like that in the 90s), followed by traditional Boxing, Kung Fu and Karate, then BJJ, MMA, Wen-Do and Muay Thai, then Krav Maga, Aikido and more exotic stuff. But that’s merely a guess.

    Edit: took a quick Google detour, at first glance it seems to be (by club membership):

    1. Karate
    2. Judo
    3. Boxing
    4. Catching
    5. Taekwondo, Muay Thai and MMA
    6. Capoeira
    7. Tai Chi (ah, well)
    8. Krav Maga

    I wasn’t too far off, imo, for someone who has no connection to the sports 😀

  2. I have honestly never really heard of anyone doing “self defence class”. I’ve heard of people doing “combat sports”. But it seems usually the reasoning is more “i want to do some sports and this sounds like a cool one” and not “i am scared so i need to learn how to defend myself”.

    I’ve known a few guys who did MMA or Muay Thai when they were teenagers or early twenties. And i know one girl now who does boxing (or kickboxing?) i think. And thats about it.

    Also i do some occasional shooting classes and know some other people who do (obviously because i meet them there, not because its super common). But again defense isnt the main consideration there.

  3. By club membership of the Swedish Sports Confederation (Riksidrottsförbundet):

    Sport | Members
    —|—:
    Boxing | 40 477
    Taekwondo | 36 232
    Wrestling | 25 655
    Karate | 25 023
    Judo | 21 261
    Fencing | 7 226

    The “Budo and Martial arts association” has 106 752 members in with 27 sub associations, and according to a Fighter mag article from 2017, the sub associations with the most members are (approx):

    Sport | Members
    —|—:
    Muay Thai | 8400
    Jujutsu | 8350
    BJJ | 4600
    Aikido | 3900
    Kyokushin | 3700
    Kickboxning | 3300
    MMA | 2200
    Wushu | 2500
    Submission Wrestling | 2300
    Capoeira | 1050
    Shootfighting | 680
    Krav Maga | 570
    Kendo | 520

    Sources:

    * (2017) https://www.fightermag.se/2017/01/27/svensk-kampsport-siffror/
    * (2022) https://www.rf.se/forskning-och-statistik/statistik/idrottsrorelsen-i-siffror

  4. I guess the most popular self-defense classes are those offered by organisations for public safety / crime prevention / victim protection, geared at specific demographics: teenage girls, domestic violence survivors, healthcare workers, public service workers, etc.

    E. g. we had a “confidence-building and self-defense” workshop in high school as a part of PE class, my spouse is a doctor and has a half-day of “risk assessment and deescalation training” once a year. These include learning the moves to fight off an assaulter, but it’s not the main focus.

    Everything on your list is usually classified as “Kampfsport”, literal translation “combat sport”, not self-defense classes.

  5. Karate probably, but people don’t do it because of self defence, more for doing physical exercise and to stay fit. Also it’s very popular among children, I’m yet to find someone who didn’t do it when they were little

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