Clinch Crisis

From my perspective as a martial arts consumer advocate, one of the biggest problems in martial arts instruction today is what I call the "Clinch Crisis." There are two parts to the Clinch Crisis:

1. For self defense purposes (and injury prevention purposes,) it is best to train to remain standing when you trip or throw someone, because when you are attacked on the street the attacker is likely to have an accomplice near by. 
2. For self defense purposes (and ergonomic purposes,) it is best to train to get up from the ground when you are ground fighting.

These are two sides of the same coin, because if you train to avoid going to the ground then you aren't training to escape from the ground, and vice versa. The one art that attempts to do both is called Combat Glima (Viking Wrestling) and it is missing a lot of self defense aspects you would expect to see in other martial arts:

And that's the best case scenario. "But doesn't Judo cover standing throws rather extensively?" ONLY IN THEIR KATA. Most of the time in sparring, and much more of the time in competition, they are going to the ground when they throw or trip, regardless of what Judo was like 30 years ago. Judo also doesn't cover clinch striking. Kudo, Combat Sambo and to a lesser degree MMA add significant clinch striking to Judo but are still slamming their full body weight down on their opponent in hopes of maximizing the effect of the throw, failing to stay on their feet for techniques designed for self defense.

Likewise Muay Thai doesn't cover sprawling against single and double leg takedowns, even though gets a lot right Judo does not, with lots of standing throws and trips and clinch striking. Beyond a lack of sprawling, Muay Thai's limited clinch time is a significant problem. 

And the two second clinch time is also where Sanda fails at this, though they are one of two arts that combine clinch striking with single and double leg take downs while trying to remain on their feet, unlike MMA and other Judo based combat sports. But what grappling options are there if the sport isn't historically rooted in Judo? American folkstyle wrestling has a very high emphasis on training escaping from the ground to their feet, even though they are generally unconcerned with staying standing while throwing or any sort of striking:

Maybe the best clinch option is Sumo, as they try not to go to the ground when they throw, and include head buts, palm strikes and forearm (think elbow) strikes in the clinch, and have unlimited clinch time. Best of luck to you if you want to go train Sumo casually for self defense purposes, because the closest you are going to get is full contact Tai Chi if you can even find that:

But the part of the clinch crisis is the effect this all has on the ground game. Again the only arts that are serious about getting back on their feet from the ground are Combat Glima and American Folkstyle Wrestling. The problem with both of these arts for self defense reasons is they train these escapes while facing absolutely zero threat of submissions, or far more importantly striking attacks. 

Escaping to the feet has become a more popular strategy that is now studied and practiced in MMA gyms. However this is not going to be emphasized to beginners over the striking, take down defense and basic submissions. Furthermore most casual self defense students do not have access to MMA training.

No one is teaching appropriate grappling for self defense to beginners when they walk in the door. Casual self defense students should not be expected to have to participate in a cage fight before learning the self defense appropriate grappling they showed up to learn in the first place. This lack of access to adequate self defense grappling for casual students is what I call the "Clinch Crisis."