eyrie

It is far more relevant than you can possibly realize...

As others have already noted, Aikido is no more or less brutal or devastating than any other martial art. I don't want to take the discussion down this track because the fundamental issue with your question is the inherent differences between 2 incompatible training methods and a situation where someone is really trying to hurt you.

Firstly, Aikido waza is primarily a learning/training method - just as kata is to karate. The purpose of which is to change the way you move and respond, as well as being a mnemonic template of sorts, for knowledge transmission.

Sparring is a training/practice method - primarily for the purposes of exploration of such concepts, as ma-ai, timing, and more importantly, suki (yours and theirs), in a dynamic format. This is no different to point sparring (non/semi/full contact), except for differences in rules and the rationale for having those rules.

It is the presence of rules, points and scoring (which implies winners and losers), which make sparring/submission grappling/wrestling, and other similar pursuits, a sport adaptation of simulated combat. In aikido waza, the implied winner and loser is an arbitrary distinction - strictly for teaching and learning purposes.

However, it is an entirely different proposition, when faced with a situation where someone is really trying to hurt you - there are no rules, no points, no winners and losers, in self-defence. You do what you need to do to evade, escape or worse come to worse, defend yourself. I'm not talking about NHB/Octagon "rules" here. I'm talking about the real possibility that you may end up dead, or worse yet, in a vegetative comatose state from having your head kicked in. And if you're talking about "fighting" then someone is going to get hurt... and that someone might well be you.

The point is, waza is not sparring, sparring is not fighting, and fighting is not self-defence. Aikido is not about winning and losing. It's not about point scoring and it's certainly not about squaring-off and fighting toe-to-toe. The difference is, in a life or death situation, you'd want to avoid any sort of conflict at all costs, and extricate yourself at the earliest possible convenience, or if all else fails, end the conflict as quickly as possible. Fighting toe-to-toe, hoping to apply a standing or ground submission is a foolhardy proposition.

Learning is one thing. Training is another. Practice is bringing it together. Application is what you do when you need to.

Can Aikido be a deadly and effective martial art? You betcha.... but so can anything else that you have learnt, trained in, practiced and know how and when to apply.

Does that make it clearer?