Most rankings of "best martial arts for self-defense" are written by people who don't coach. They list what looks tough on the internet instead of what works at eleven at night on a side street. Here's the version I'd give you, ordered by how much real-world capability you actually get back per hour of training.
1. Krav Maga
The reason it tops the list isn't romance about Israeli special forces. It's the design. Krav Maga assumes you're outnumbered, in a hurry, untrained for most of your life, and probably scared. So the techniques are built around that, not around impressing a judge in a tournament. Beginners get useable responses in weeks rather than years.
Where it falls short is pure striking depth and ground work. You solve that by adding modules, which is what a real system does.
2. Boxing
Boxing is the unromantic answer. Footwork, head movement, distance management, and a jab that ends a lot of conversations early. The defensive skill is almost more valuable than the offence, because most fights are decided by who saw the first shot coming.
3. Muay Thai
Better striking than boxing on paper. Eight limbs, the clinch, world-class conditioning. The reason it sits behind boxing here is that the learning curve is steeper, and most people are not putting in the years it takes to extract the real value of elbows and clinch work.
4. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Important. Most fights end on the ground eventually, and someone trained will dominate someone who isn't. BJJ is fourth and not first because the most dangerous moment in a self-defense situation is usually standing, not grappling, and pulling guard in a car park is a terrible plan.
5. MMA
The complete sport. World-class athletes, great training. It sits lower for self-defense for one reason. The assumption of one opponent, gloves, and a referee shapes the whole skill set. Strip that away and you're more dangerous than untrained, less prepared than someone who's actually trained for chaos.
6. Wrestling
Underrated. Takedown control alone is worth a lot, especially against someone untrained. It's just less directly available as adult beginners in Dubai than the rest of this list.
7. Karate, Taekwondo and other traditional arts
Genuinely useful if you find one of the rare schools that pressure-test. Most don't. The traditional curriculum can take years to feel useful in a real situation. If you love them, train them. If you came here for capability fast, train them after the list above.
The trap most people fall into
They pick one of these and stay there forever. The serious answer is to train a system that combines the strengths above with the parts none of them teach on their own. Weapons defense. Multiple attackers. Awareness. Escape. That's what we do at DKing Combat System in Al Quoz, coached by DKing Saad. Krav Maga as the backbone, striking and ground integrated, scenario work that nothing on this list, on its own, really covers.
You don't need to spend five years on the wrong one to find out which one you should have picked.