CaptainMarvelous said:
Internet keeps eating my posts, so gonna have to be a summarised version.
-You have a point, but it depends on context
-When MMA goes to the ground, they don't just grab a limb and hold, they normally try and control the opponent's movements and then lay into them
Well, the MMA has rules, lots of rules, from Yahoo! Answers,
1. Butting with the head.
2. Eye gouging of any kind.
3. Biting.
4. Hair pulling.
5. Fish hooking.
6. Groin attacks of any kind.
7. Putting a finger into any orifice or into any cut or laceration on an opponent.
8. Small joint manipulation.
(Heh!)
9. Striking to the spine or the back of the head.
10. Striking downward using the point of the elbow.
(no elbow strikes?)
11. Throat strikes of any kind, including, without limitation, grabbing the trachea.
12. Clawing, pinching or twisting the flesh.
13. Grabbing the clavicle.
14. Kicking the head of a grounded opponent.
15. Kneeing the head of a grounded opponent.
16. Stomping a grounded opponent.
17. Kicking to the kidney with the heel.
18. Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck.
19. Throwing an opponent out of the ring or fenced area.
20. Holding the shorts or gloves of an opponent.
21. Spitting at an opponent.
22. Engaging in an unsportsmanlike conduct that causes an injury to an opponent.
23. Holding the ropes or the fence.
24. Using abusive language in the ring or fenced area.
25. Attacking an opponent on or during the break.
26. Attacking an opponent who is under the care of the referee.
27. Attacking an opponent after the bell has sounded the end of the period of unarmed combat.
28. Flagrantly disregarding the instructions of the referee.
29. Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.
30. Interference by the corner.
31. Throwing in the towel during competition.
and those might not apply in an alley (what can I say, people sometimes panic in a fight and at that point anything goes) and definitely doesn't apply on the battlefield.
-If there is sharp stuff on the ground, the guy who can do holds/grapples can use them too
This is why they don't want you to go to the ground!!! Other than the hazard of injuring yourself by landing on a sharp piece of rock. You can't see what your opponent is doing. You DO NOT want to DIE when you fight someone!
-It's hard to attack exposed areas if the opponent knows you're going for them
Oh come now, it's not as if grappling is 100% either. Your guard won't be 100% and when you attempt to grab you will be partially dropping your guard. As you are trying to grab him, if he manages to nail you in the temple with an elbow or knee you in the balls. You more or less have already lost.
In general, whoever gets the first "hard strike", will most likely be the one to win. It's hard to fight back when you are in a delirious amount of pain - assuming you aren't dead (or in the process of dying). Most people can't recover quickly enough from a kick to the balls, hard strike to the shins, or hell even a blow to the nose or stomach before their opponent sock in a few more hits putting them in even more pain (or killing them) - on the battlefield, there is no referee to call a timeout. Also you definitely aren't going to recover from an eye gouge.
If I'm right the US military actually had a debate in the early days of CQC development about whether to make it a priority to ground the opponent or not. Their conclusion was no. It's simpler and quicker to just beat your opponent to death with strikes. If he falls to the ground in the process, all the better, feel free to take advantage of it.
How CQC doctrine has changed since WWII though, I don't know. Might have to ask someone who is in the military.
-If you knock your opponent down, you don't go down to them in MMA you smack them while you're standing up so they can't escape
-If you tackle them, i.e. you're both now on the ground, it's better to hit them from the ground than it is to just stand back up because they likely will too
Again, you have a point, it's just you're arguing a different scenario
So you are partly in agreement with me. Don't grapple, don't go to the ground, if you can help it.