Very true - even blue belts in BJJ are savage killers compared to similarly-ranked adherents in other arts, TMA or not, much less the average drunk bully in a bar.
Yet a lot of the same life lessons are passed on through the right, uh, professor.
TMA aren't just sports, they call themselves martial arts. Emphasis on martial, relating to war. You would expect something calling itself a martial art be useful in a fight, but MMA is much more effective in self defense than TMA because they focus on actual combat in the ring instead of showy but unproven katas.
TBF, MMA has rules that don't apply to bar fights, and knowing how to use a firearm fits closer a martial art that would let you survive on a modern battlefield. Or practicing squad tactics on an airsoft field. Perhaps TMA weapons training would qualify as a martial art in the days before firearms when armies fought with sword and spear, but it shouldn't continue calling itself anything to do with martial in this day and age. Historical dance or reenactment maybe, along the lines of renaissance fair and civil war battle reenactors.
