[WhoIsDaffy]

the best martial art eh?

hmm lets wade into this one.

first up all of them are good. as they "should" all up your fitness and teach you in some way to "think" and fight at the same time.

however it should be noted that the "best" and by that i mean most deadly arts are shadowy and you will have a hard time finding someone to teach you
(i.e. southern-mantis or the Russian "System")
these martial arts do however contain several "death blows"

the isreali Krav-Maga is similar to "the system" however you will find it easier to find schools for it (I learnt a bit from a couple of SF comando's and must admit the "suicide-vest bomber take down" is the most effective ive ever seen,

however again worth understanding that if you learn any true "deep" style, the ultimate power of that style may well remain hidden to you.
(i've met a few people who did Krav-Maga but never learnt the take downs i did)

a good all rounder that is fairly accessible, again a "deep" style but very effective even if you never learn its true secrets (and you wont)
Sholain, just pop down to your local temple and get stuck in,
classes are en mass and taught largely in chinese.

but its up to you.
first you need to decide soft style or hard style
in terms of soft, i would recomend wing chun or mantis if you can get it.
hard style,
mui thai, kung fu (Monkey) kung fu (Tiger - what Karate is based on)

id personally skip,
tai kwon do - looks flash - is pants
Judo - doesnt look flash - is pants
aikedo - far too defensive - not enough "multi-strike combo" manouvers.
(you will never hear an aikedo guy say "one at a time or three at once, makes no odds to me you %$#$&'$,C'MON THEN!!)

there are a few other weak ones out there but those are the ones that spring to mind.

ninjitsu quite good, even though through its own code it is now almost entirely defunct.