Quote:
Originally Posted by Ghost  oh man we had this program in the uk about crime in philly, they followed the police there and interviewed loads of gang members that were hanging out on street corners.
it looked nuts, it was like a warzone, wht the hell is going on. |
Those are the kinds of situations that RBSD are supposed to equip a man to deal with. Many people think that shoving matches and the occasional drunken fist fight at a local bar where most everybody knows each other is real and intense violence.
The footage you saw is probably mild, because cameramen usually aren't willing to stick around filming when the real sh!t hits the fan. Gangs are usually the worst kind of violence because there doesn't have to be a reason for violence to abruptly manifest itself. There doesn't have to be specific targets. There doesn't have to be enemy. The reason why police have such a hard time dealing with gangs is because often times there is no method to their madness, and therefore they are hard to predict and profiling methods aren't as effective as they usually would be.
Its almost as bad in any area where you'll find gangs and drugs, which is just about any place. Drugs are all over the world. Even rich yuppies are getting high. The difference is that they don't usually have to get violent because they can flip the bill for their own habit. Those who can't mostly turn to crime(robbery, theft). If you think you're going to wrestle or thai-box with a man with a knife then you are crazy. If you think you're going to wrestle or thai-box a man with a knife and his 2 friends who are also involved, then you're suicidal.
Combat since the beginning of time has always been a method of winning or surviving. Since then combat was refined into art-forms where the goal was always to win as fast as possible with doing as little as possible. Weapons are the fastest way to win or lose, and friends just stack the odds. Seems that gangs and muggers understand this simple concept and that's why they are so effective when they attack. Weapons and numbers is an easy enough formula.
Then you have the guys that refine TMA/RBSD into sport arts. The guys who do this and accept that what they do is for competition are fine. There are however the breed that like to pretend that by giving and taking some shots in a ring equates to street violence. They lull themselves into believing that by rolling on the BJJ mat they will encounter the same level of violence and intent found during a mugging.
The reason I posted this article was so that some of you could see how a real mugging unfolds. Muggings usually ends up MUCH worse than this one did, but this man just happened to have some ability and wasn't a typical victim. Typical meaning either one who let's it happen to him, or one who thinks that because he's won some competitions that his ring fighting approach will be enough once a man with a blade has already closed the distance.
In the instance of this story, the defender didn't even get a chance to see the knife coming. What would a muay thai boxer have done once he was stabbed other than begin launching kicks and knees? Was the fact that the MT boxer got stabbed going to grant him one hit KO power and enable him to then begin knocking all of the assailants out? Once you've been stabbed you've literally got minutes before its possible that the lights go out. How are you, using muay thai, going to free up enough opportunity to call for help? Are you going to thai box while talking on your cell phone?
In situations like this one, you don't have three minute rounds to play around. You don't have room to shuffle. And once you are hurt, what are you going to do? I'm interested in knowing what those who think that sparring and muay thai are real RBSD would then do. What would you do in those crucial seconds?
Clinch and begin kneeing?
Throw a barrage of punches?
Throw low leg kicks?
Some of you might will say that you're aware of the "hole in your game" that Muay Thai creates and will name some FMA to say you'll "round out" that way. Most of you don't even realize that the majority of FMA's teach fancy flourishes and classical forms for tradition's sake. Most FMA won't teach you how to deal with full on aggression like the kind found in this situation. The majority teach by dueling, or trading aggression back and forth like in fencing. There are some FMA schools that have modernized training to address urban combat, but the majority adhere to tradition and dueling.
So while you think you're "rounding out" your skills by crosstraining, all you're doing is learning to compete from a different range.
I'm sure there are some here who still think he would have been fine using BJJ.