A year spent studying at a McDojo is better than a year spent wishing you had a Krav Maga or BJJ school to attend.
I disagree whole heartedly for two main reasons. Well perhaps they are two sides of the same coin
You are learning bad habits. In my experience some of the people who have the hardest time learning to box or do Muay thai in my experience are people who spent significant time in a Mcdojo style like TKD. If you train for a year with your hands on your waist that gets ingrained. It is muscle memory. Unlearning it is MUCH harder than simply learning to do it right in the first place. This is based on roughly a decades worth of observation in various gyms. Second you are learning crap that simply doesn't work and worse yet is likely to get you very hurt in a bad situation. My biggest problem with McDojo's is not that the style is ineffective. People can do what ever they get enjoyment out of. Rather, it is the false sense of security they give people.
Your buddy's first problem was fighting more than one person it seems,
Wouldn't it be nice if we always knew just what we were getting into before it happen. We don't. In this case he did not start it, he KOed guy one with a punch nailed a double leg on guy two and guy three who he didn't account for (you get sucker punched you aren't likely to know exactly how many guys are potential involved) got him with the soccer kick while he was breaking guy #2's arm). By the way this guy has been in a fair number of street fights. He hangs out with Bas, and Gilbert Yvel. If there are mma guys who know a thing or two about being in a street fight is them (and Ryan Gracie before he got killed, and Lee Murray before he landed in jail, he was also stabbed, thats what happens when you get into too many fights ). I have also seen this guy walk away from some guys who were begging for it so its not like he is a dick out looking to start stuff.
I think your points about grappling have merit. My experiences with street fighting and grappling have taught me two things. 1) You can usually smoke someone fast on the ground with basic control of position and with strikes and/or submissions. 2) If they have a friend you are likely to get stomped bad when you hit the ground. I can think of several incidents of this happening with people who have much better than average, let along basic grappling skills.
I firmly believe taking an either or approach to striking/grappling is begging for trouble. Fernado Vargas got choked out in a club by a BJJ blue belt. A former member of the lions Den got stomped in a club by a group of Polynesians after successfully applying a toe hold to one of them. You need to have the skills to deal with what comes your way because as I eluded to earlier you cannot always avoid it or dictate the situation you find yourself in.
I'm talking bout the average Joe who wants to improve himself in the real world not necessarily compete.
I understand what you are saying. The thing is without some real work you are not really going to be able to fight very well. It is like anything else there are not magic short cuts. It takes work to be proficient its that simple. Sure you can learn a move or two and I suppose it is better than nothing but it is a very very far cry from being adequately prepared.
I suggested basic grappling cuz its quick and easy to learn the basics, if an individual wishes to advance in training, sure go for it. If they find out it's not their bag of tea then maybe they just dabble in it.
Maybe, maybe not. In my experience some people seem to have more of an aptitude for one than the other sometimes. I actually think people can get decently proficient at MT more quickly than grappling. Yeah, you can learn a guillotine, an arm bar, and a rear naked in an afternoon. well, you can learn what they are and the basic idea of how they are executed. Being able to do them when it counts takes much more work. Nailing them on someone who knows nothing is fairly easy. Nailing them on someone strong and athletic who is hell bent on pounding your face in takes much more skill. Nailing them on someone who is wise to what you are trying takes a great deal of skill.
You are right though that if you have some basic striking skills you can light up the guy throwing haymakers. If you have some basic sub skills choking out a rowdy drunk is very easy. The choke also hold the advantage of not really hurting the guy. I have done just that before. It is a lot easier to walk away without worrying about being in big trouble than if I break the guys jaw and knock his teeth out.
One on one fight grappling is great. If the guy has a friend you don't know about you might be in serious trouble. I saw a fight where two guys get into a verbal exchange. As it turns physical guy one tackles guy two and gets the full mount and starts unloading punches. He is in one of the most dominant positions one can achieve. Guy #3 calmly stands up on the other side of the room, calmly walks over and when he is 10' behind them sprints up kicks guy #1 in the back of the head like he was kicking down a door. Guy one hits the floor KOed badly. Guy two being pissed about being beat up about gives him a kick in the face for good measure. I have seen guys get beat up by multiple guys standing as well. The difference is that standing you have a better chance of seeing them coming and a better chance of being able to run away which might be your best bet. I have also seen a person confronted w/ multiple attackers drop one with a single punch and in the process cause the guys buddies to re-evaluate their desire to fight.
In sum I firmly believe you need both skills sets if you are remotely serious about learning how to fight. While grappling can be very effective I would rather be on my feet in a street altercation for a variety of reasons some of which I have eluded to here. I certainly want to have some ground skills in case I am denied that option.
San Francisco had a boxing gym run by Mu Thai guys. They are very much for real.
Fairtex is in San Fransisco and although guys like Bunkerd have left they still have a very good gym with good trainers.