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Originally Posted by Dan_The_Man  Love it! Great thread.
I do have to say here, what would anyone do? Maybe 3 (plus knives) vs 1 is too much of an extreme situation. I don't mean that it never happens but I agree with what Garland says, wouldn't luck play such a huge factor in a situation like this? The deciding factor even?
How would you equip yourself for a 3+ (with knives) vs 1 situation? I’m genuinely interested to know. Is RBSD enough? |
How is it too much of an extreme situation when it happened? Did you notice that this is a newspaper report?
How can I explain to you what I would do against three armed men? It would require me to speculate like Garland did throughout his entire post. Asking me that is like asking me to tell you a bed time story. I don't participate in that kind of conjecture.
If I saw it coming, I would have many more options like running, talking them down or a preemptive attack once I was sure it was going to happen.
However, if they just swarmed me and I had to defend myself like it happened in this story, I would fall back on my training. That's all ANYONE could do. Any who tells you that they would do this and then do that is a clown who subscribes to fiction. The man in this story didn't have time to think. All he could do is react based upon the years he spent drilling the RBSD concepts and movement into his being. Luck, or rather probability plays a role in life period, but solid training stacks the odds in your favor because you are prepared. Was it luck when the man drew his weapon? Was it luck when it closed the distance and wounded the stabber? Was it luck that once the other mugger saw all this happen, he still could not prevent the victim from wounding him as well? The only luck that occurred in that situation was when the last mugger saw both of his friends fall he was lucky enough to get away before it was his turn. That and the bad luck the bystander had when he ran in without identifying himself.
The story speaks for itself, Dan_The_Man. And the reason I'm being confronted by Garland's doubt and hostility is because the Billy Blanks of the world know that what they have invested their time in, which is basically muay thai and BJJ, wouldn't give them a fighting chance to save their own ass in a situation that wasn't a fair fight. Hey .. they rock in the ring, there's no doubt ... but they roll over in the street. No doubt there either.
You're only as good as your own training, and if you've spent years learning how to surfboard to accomplish your real goal of swimming the English Channel, then don't be surprised if you find yourself in Davey Jones' triangle choke.
You don't train to compete when your goal is to get out of there alive.
Competing only seems as formidable as it does because both participants have agreed upon a set of rules and understand that they have several rounds to get the job done. But if you know anything about street altercations, few if any last longer than a minute, whether weapons are involved or not. Weight classes play a huge role, because when you see NHB competition like the original UFC's
without weight classes, the matches were violent and fast paced. That was the only way the smaller guys could win, and that dynamic is no different in the streets.
The exception to that statement would be the Gracie mentality, where 20 of your entourage members make a circle and let you and one other person fight until one can't fight anymore. That is not street fighting. That's a group of guys making rules in the streets because of their sheer numbers to do so. One man with a gun could change that dynamic quickly despite there being 20 Gracies ready to fight with him.
In a world whose major exposure to MA has been kickboxing, judo, karate, BJJ and MMA, I'm not surprised that you seem disbelieving that there are systems tailor made for dealing specifically with street violence. How can you believe in something you've only seen on Youtube and other videos?
And even in those short clips, do you really think you're seeing an accurate representation of a system? You'll see lots of sensationalism when it comes to arts like tae kwon do(high and flying kicks), muay thai(flying knees, and low kicks whose impact makes loud thuds ), FMA(fancy stick and machete flourishes and dancing), kung fu(wushu type acrobatics), BJJ(flying arm bars and sacrifice throws that land you in the mount), and many, many more.
Those are highlights that don't focus on how seldom you actually get to use those maneuvers outside of sparring. They show "
eye candy" so that you will believe that an art is capable of doing something that it clearly isn't known for doing. In this case, ending an armed confrontation with three men.
Would you feel comfortable using muay thai against a man with a knife?
Would you feel comfortable using a shoot in order to use BJJ against a man with a knife?
Would you feel comfortable using the fancy flourishes you learn in escrima class against a man who has three friends? Keep in mind this incident took place in the winter in NYC, which means that they all have on thick winter coats ... and your first strike better be your best strike or it could be your last strike.
If you've been practicing muay thai, BJJ and FMA as three different systems to be able to say that you are "well rounded", you are most likely going to choke if you found yourself being mugged because in the traditional sport settings that those three are taught there are no street tactics. There are no street concepts. There is no fear management. There is no emphasis placed on survival. The lessons, content and concepts that segregate RBSD from sports don't exist in those gyms.
You'll be stuck turning up the intensity of your sport combat, which simply means that you'll throw more kicks and more punches. You'll begin throwing them as hard as you can in hopes of landing a big shot. It means that you'll do exactly what you've been training to do in the manner that you've trained. Sport concepts are to pace yourself, control the distance and look for openings, but even those go out the door once your ass is bleeding and you've got to do something quick.
Its ashamed that young practitioners get their ideas about the street on YouTube and magazines.
That's not so much about you, Dan_The_Man, as it is just an observation about young practitioners on this and many other sites. Some of them here aren't so young either.
Go look into what you and I have been discussing privately and after much practice you'll begin to see that one thing is very much not the other.