A lot of JKD folks such as Paul Vunak seem to swear by the straight blast. I've seen it used before in a street fight in Hawaii, where MMA is extremely popular. It was a smaller guy (though in excellent shape, and clearly a martial artist by his response), and he did a straight blast to a much bigger guy. Like most real fights, it went to the ground, but the smaller guy clearly knew BJJ as well and he seemed to take it to the ground on purpose... the bigger guy was on top, but the smaller guy immediately had him in full guard with the legs and then he was able to leverage him, turn him around on his back and straighten his body. It looked like he was going to do some sort of submission, but the fight was stopped by other people.
But the blast really stunned the guy and he nearly fell over before it was taken to the ground. He walked away with a bloody face, and the smaller guy had no visible damage. He didn't do a complete centerline blast, but got some face strikes in too.
Good stuff. The smaller guy was totally dominant and the blast was completely effective against a much larger opponent. It allowed him to do what it's intended for: throw him off balance, stun and take control.