As someone immersed in martial arts and combat sports, I can honestly say this; it depends. I know that seems like a cop-out, so bear with me here. There are at least two versions of Krav Maga. There’s the version that I can vouch for, and then there appears to be a wacky version of Krav Maga, full of unrealistic moves that look more like something out of Hollywood.
Krav Maga Version 1 (The Effective Version)
The Krav Maga I trained in (at a school affiliated with Krav Maga Worldwide) is absolutely legit. Anyone who’s trained in MMA would feel at home with the strikes being taught and understand that these are meant for self-defense instead of competition. And no, I’m not going to give you the whole “MMA is designed for competition, style X is meant for real life” spiel. The people who say this either don’t know what they’re talking about or are trying to sell you on something. The LAST person you want to fight on the street is a well-trained MMA fighter.
What I AM saying is that not everyone has time to put in the hours and years to become a menacing MMA fighter. And the good news is, you don’t have to be one to effectively defend yourself from the vast majority of assailants. Krav Maga (Version 1) gives everyday people (“casuals” as MMA snobs call them) a system they can quickly grasp and use it to defend themselves in everyday situations.
So, as someone who already had years of MMA/Boxing, I recognized that we were training to use more hammer fists and fewer traditional punches because breaking your hand is very easy when you’re not wearing gloves. We were training kicks to the gonads because there’s no “rule” on the street against it. We were training from a starting position where your assailant is behind you or off to the side, in addition to training for frontal assaults. In competition, your opponent is throwing crisp jabs and feints to feel you out; on the streets, there is a 99% chance that it’s some idiot throwing looping haymakers, thinking they’ll knock you out with one hit. Krav Maga (Version 1) quickly and efficiently prepares you more for the latter.
Aside from these nuances, the training was very MMA/kickboxing-ish (pad work, heavy bag training, etc).
By the way, for the more boxing/MMA types (full disclosure, so am I) who might think hammer fists/palm strikes are a joke, I learned the hard way (in my mid-20’s) that they aren’t. As a knucklehead who used to get into bar/street fights, I broke my hand in a fight. I stopped hitting the heavy bag at my gym and an older man who I was friendly with asked me why I stopped hitting the heavy bag, and I explained my situation.
Apparently he was a Kenpo black belt and took me to the heavy bag and spent some time showing me how to train on the heavy bag with hammer/back fists and palm strikes. He explained to me that my knuckles were like bird bones compared to the human skull, and that’s why I broke my hand. Since then I’ve always included hammer/back fists and palm strikes in my training and classes.
Here is an “MMA” fight between a Krav Maga practitioner and a boxer. It’s clear that the KM practitioner’s superior knowledge of kicks gives him the edge.
Krav Maga Version 2 (The Bullshido Version)
I don’t know if this “Krav Maga” is widely taught in Krav Maga schools or if these are just “video courses,” but any time you see a self-defense system that requires a very “compliant” attacker, this should be a red flag. For example, an “attacker” who stays in place while the “guru” lands 25 punches while walking a full half circle around the stationary assailant, or a wrist grab and twist that require you to manipulate the assailant’s wrist into a compromising position and assumes the assailant doesn’t pull his arm back, or if they present a groin strike as a “fighter ender” (it CAN be, but the chances are nowhere near as high as the ‘groin-strike gurus’ pretend) as opposed to a useful arrow in your quiver, run for the hills. No matter what the “style” is called, it’s nonsense. It’s utter “Bullshido.”
In Closing
In summary, I suppose this is why accreditations exist. The Krav Maga schools I attended were both part of “Krav Maga Worldwide.” I can’t speak to any other Krav Maga schools out there. What I can say is that any legitimate self-defense system will have a large overlap with combat sports (MMA, boxing, and if there’s groundwork, wrestling/BJJ) but with nuances meant to adjust for a potentially life-threatening situation and where there are no gloves involved.