More effective in an actual fight or more effective in a fight with rules?

It depends what style it is. I mean, bujinkan taijutsu is all about joint-locks, powerful strikes to weak points etc. Theres pressure points everywhere... Plenty on the front of the body, the back, the neck/shoulder area, legs, head, arms. It doesn't matter if you learn a martial arts that incorporates many different styles... As soon as a punch is thrown, one strike to the cluster of nerves near the armpit and its all over.

I bet Shaolin-style Wushu could match up against MMA. Drunken Boxing, Ninjutsu (Masaaki Hatsumi's style of ninjutsu, not the shit kind), Jeet Kune Do... The list goes on. And what about K1? The people who reign are usually fighters that train in Muay Thai as well as other martial arts, and end up with a mixed style.

Anyway it doesn't matter what style, what matters is the fighter. It doesn't matter what style you use, what matters is how skilled you are in that style and how much will you have to win. Didn't your teacher tell you that? The reason MMA is more effective at the elite level is obvious... The more moves you have, the more skilled you are, the better you can react to various situations. However, if you just start out learning MMA that advantage is lost. Its the same as learning one style, because you progress by learning techniques, those techniques are just from different styles.

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