Fighting in the Streets
“that wont work in the street’
do you really know what street fights are like??
A LOOK IN SIMONS MIND
Fighting in the Streets
When I was 16 I did some very stupid things. Police the courts and the Justice system ensued, all plans and dreams came crashing down on me. I spent the next almost 20 years involved with the underbelly of New Zealand – crime, gangs, drugs and jail.
I have been clean and sober for as long as I was in the scene and I credit the martial arts for saving my life, not just the physical confrontations, but it gave me the discipline, drive and skills to break that lifestyle and cycle.
I worked the door in pubs, clubs and parties.
I have seen violence that I wish I hadn’t. Been a part of things I regret deeply.
So whether you like it or not, believe me or not – meh – this was my life and saying it in a public forum is never just ‘easy’.
But I have been around hardcore violence, and this is the way I see Fighting in the Streets.
Some of the Real Issues of Street Fighting
People seem to make street violence into some huge aspirational goal of martial arts.
People talk like they are the street fight king….”that wont work on the street, what I teach will work on the street” – that’s the internet, and its full of it.
There are things that will make you safer!!, but remember, there are trained people out there with pistol, taser, pepper spray and baton who still struggle with Fighting in the Streets.
You know what works on the street??? Everything and nothing – of course, it TOTALLY depends on the situation.
Some random human may throw the stupidest weirdest randomest punch and sleep someone.
A skilled fighter may throw 20 punches and not hit with one.
If someone clubs you from behind, or stabs you in the back on a crowded dance floor, your martial technique has no meaning.
If someone invites you outside into the carpark for a fight you can never be sure you are fighting one person.
The mental side is grossly underestimated.
Are they a trained fighter?
Untrained people don’t fight like trained people.
Untrained DOES NOT mean unexperienced with brawling.
An absolute rage attack from someone can upset a ‘martial artists’ calculated coolness.
Martial artists can get too used to the violence in a dojo or gym setting, a violent encounter with emotion and shock, with adrenaline involved!!!. different beast.
Fight, flight or freeze kicking in (BAR).
The best ‘street fighters’/brawlers initiate the violence. Half way through a conversation they will punch someone or they just turn on you and launch into you for the slightest provocation.
Some people like to fight. Some people get insanely angry. Some peoples tempers are so short that they throw down at the drop of a hat.
Bullies most often pick fights they think they can win or they stack the odds in their favour with weapons or friends.
What on earth makes you think you are going to fight someone in your weight class with a similar skill level?
Most good street fighters are not good people, don’t expect a fair fight.
Untrained Fighters
Untrained fighters do random things.
Punches will come from anywhere and there will be punches in bunches.
Big looping punches dominate.
Head shots are most common.
Mostly men.
Mostly young.
Mostly drunk
None of these are hard fast rules because there are exceptions to everything in the street.
(half way through writing this this video popped up on my fb feed [does fb know when I’m writing an article]. He says very similar thing to what I am talking about untrained fighters )
Trained Fighters
Someone that goes into a boxing style stance or Muay Thai stance are a different beast.
Now skill, aggression and technique make a difference – I hope your dojo sparing has been adequate.
In some ways martial sparing can make you too relaxed for the aggression of street attack.
Sparing distance isn’t brawling distance.
Many antisocial people or gang members train martial arts these days.
Martial artists can be clean and honorable – street fights hardly ever are.
Kicks now become an issue.
“Everyone has 2 arms and 2 legs, weapons are the same and vulnerabilities are similar”, (this was always the coaches advice when we were going to play a team that was much better than us hahaha).
Advice
You NEED to match rage with controlled aggression.
Get your hands up.
Put your chin down.
Cover your head, but don’t look at the ground.
Don’t give them space to hit you. I always advise to close distance (in a fist fight). This is hard because your rational mind says back away from a psycho, but that is just giving them space to swing.
Prepare your mind for being hit. In a fight you will probably get hit, if you have been doing hard sparing it might not be worse than that, but sometimes people get shattered/stunned by getting punched in the face hard.
Keep your eyes on them but don’t lock eyes, you miss other things when you develop tunnel vision.
Go Forward
This is one of the hardest things to do if you are not used to fighting.
You need to cut down distance so those big looping shots don’t get you.
Kicks are nullified but knees and elbows are now a tool.
Try to control balance.
Control an arm.
Learn short range power. This is a thing not enough martial artists practice.
Keep hitting. Don’t rely on one power shot.
Strike hard, fast and keep going till threat is past.
Trained Fighter
The rules are very similar as above except cutting that distance to them gets trickier.
Don’t get caught in their game, that is the game THEY are good at.
Timing, distancing and balance are always key.
Real Karate Combatives
Mostly old school martial arts have been taught all arse about face, or just totally wrong.
Stand in a deep stance – NO. You need mobility
Hand at hip – NO. Your hand is drawn back toward your hip because you are pulling and rotating their arm, this clears a path to their head to hit them and helps control balance (and it doesn’t usually make it all the way back to your waist).
USE both hands. In traditional martial arts, push pull, up down or your hand across your body are hand positions in close combat, teaching you to clear the hands to strike towards the head.
If your hand is across your body and you are striking over it, it usually signifies that you have a grip on them, you are stepping away from their lone power hand and you are hitting over your grip towards their head/neck.
Long stepping power punches are far to slow for an attack when some one is trying to punch your head off your shoulders in a flurry of punches.
The techniques are there in Karate, but you MUST understand the distancing….how close do you have to be to use shuto uke if the side of hand/forearm is across the side of their neck? I’ll give you a hint – fucking close.
The Tekki or Naihanchi kata!! How close do you have to be for those strikes to hit?
Karate isnt a long distance art, even though it has been taught that way and competition karate is done like that.
It is close quarter battle – just like a REAL fight.
In fact most traditional arts are CQB, but we don’t have ‘masters’ around anymore to say “this could all be performed in a phone booth”.
I wish more people understood this. I really need to make some videos.
BAR – Body Alarm Reaction
With Fighting in the Streets you will experience various forms of BAR – body alarm reaction.
This is the fight, flight or freeze response when your body dumps a load of adrenaline into your body.
BAR can have the following effects –
- Fine motor skill go out – gross motor is what you should concentrate on.
- Tunnel vision
- Auditory exclusion
- Perceptual narrowing
- Auto pilot
- Heart rate increase
- Blood pressure increase
- Temporal anomalies – slow time or fast time
- Cognitive dissonance
Very similar actions happen to your body in a car accident.
One of the only ways to break from the FEAR which can freeze you, is action – doing something.
Conclusions
Fighting in the Streets is messy. It will virtually never go ‘to plan’…don’t plan just DO.
-“plans are nothing – but planning is very important” (unknown)
You may be hit. Get your head around this.
Chin down.
Hands between you and opponent.
If possible make angles.
Eyes on body movement not eyes. Shoulders is easiest to pick movement.
If you need to fight so don’t be another victim…fight. Serious life saving controlled aggression is best.
Give yourself a key word or a permission to do violence and go.
Cognitive abilities will take a hit, but the adrenal response will also dull the pain of being hit.
Go Forward. It seems counterintuitive to go into the danger zone of a fight but you need to be able to strike them or lay your hands on them to control them.
There is no such thing as a dirty street fight. A kick in the balls or a headbutt will happen in street altercations.
Don’t be shy to cover your head – as long as its an active guard. If you cover from strikes – go actively forward, but protect your head its the engine that drives the vehicle of your body. Don’t just cover and get battered, debilitating strikes may still get through.
Weapons and multiple opponents will be an issue in some cases. Hard to give advice about weapons with out giving any hint of technique…but at least get a barrier, chair, rubbish bin, anything.
Street fights are not neat and tidy, there are no referees.
I cant make you safe in a street fight but YOU may be able to.
So if the chances to deescalate has gone and the wait for sucker punches is over YOU MUST ACT.
Just do it.
Cheers for reading.
Simon
