Also I'm not sure if you mean yaw yan or fma like escrima and baraw. Baraw is where I practiced empty hand vs knife. Yaw yan is like Muy Thai it's just striking.
Anyway best to avoid trouble all together. Street fights are rough and if some group of guys want to attack you and your girl you can guarantee they won't let you know first. You will have a block, rock, brick, bat, pipe whatever they have slammed into the back of your head and then they will circle and stomp you. You will be very lucky if you get a chance to defend yourself. But if you do, take it and be glad you trained. For protection of yourself and others stay aware and mobile.
John gave you good advice.
The best way to protect yourself is to avoid situations where you're likely to be attacked.
Now this isn't always possible, but it's the basis of smart self defense. Next, don't go looking for fights. If someone says something, let it go. Only if you have no other option should you fight.
Believe me, I've have more than my fair share of situations that could have turned ugly. And only one where I had to use my skills to defend myself. Thankfully it ended fast and the guy wound up in jail.
The best thing for you is to learn that on the streets people don't fight. They try and hurt each other. So the goal isn't to "beat" the other guy, but to end the situation. That means either getting away, or taking them down.
Taking someone down then opens you to legal issues and that can be a can of worms. In my case, I had witnesses so it was easy for the police and the DA to do the right things. Without them it could have been ugly for me.
So get past this Krav Maga or whatever will make you a badass. And learn some real self defense. Find a good teacher and do both yourself, your girlfriend and everyone else a favor.
You are being delusional. I know you have some image in your head of you and your girlfriend being in a bar and some douchebag makes a pass at her and you swoop in to save the day. Or you are in a dark part of town and a couple of thugs try to rob you. You kick their @sses, your girlfriend runs into your arms and as you walk away a car explodes behind you.
Dude, that is not going to happen. You are exactly the type of person who should and should not take martial arts. You shouldn't because you will go to class and learn how to fight, if you end up in a good school because frankly a lot of krav maga places suck, and you will be more than eager to prove yourself and "protect" your girlfriend. But you should take it so that the guys there can beat some sense into you and bring you back to planet Earth.
As I already said a lot of Krav Maga places are crap, also known as Krap Maga. Yaw-yan I have never heard of and I very much doubt there are many places across the globe that train that. It is less about the style and more about the quality of the instruction and the way you train. So look around and see what is available to you and go and try it out. But you need to get this notion of protecting your girlfriend out of your head.
Yaw-Yan is basically Filipino Muay Thai. It's a realistic fighting system if you have a Yaw-Yan school near you. Krav Maga will have more "thoeretical situations" to train for than actual sparring, but you do get to spar somewhat in Krav Maga. I think you should take Yaw-Yan and get good at it first, then maybe take Krav Maga later.
Yaw yan would be more common in the Philippines. Most krav maga schools aren't that great
Which in this two greatest at Hand-to-Hand, Knife fighting, Guns etc. Sparring, multiple attackers, realistic real world situations? And Specially not only for my own protection but also to protect someone, my girlfriend. so that I can and I will defend, protect, fight etc. for her. If something goes wrong
