What do you feel your skill level is at?

[dan downard]

Not what belt you hold.But where you think you are as far as real skills in a real fight.
Do you feel you could hold your own against a larger/stronger opponant?
Do you think you could dominate and stay on top?
Or do you think you would be rolling for awhile looking for a submission?
Could you end it quickly?
Or would you be struggling to get what you can?




The big question.
Are you able to snap into an agressive frame of mind,or are you going to get your arse handed to you while you are (warming up)?

Be honest with yourself.

[Ronin]

dan:

The truth is, the older I get, the more ready I feel for a real-life confrontation (if that's what you're describing).

When I was younger I was perhaps a little quicker, but totally unprepared mentally or technically for a determined attacker.

Now, I am bigger, stronger, more skilled, and meaner. I also know my limitations, and wouldn't be stupid enough to take on multiple attackers or guys with weapons.

Also, if Pit Dog is right about gameness determining the outcome of most fights, I shouldn't have much problem. I feel ready, if it should come to that.

[Tony10]

Not too long ago I had a drunken frat boy being loud and obnoxious in my otherwise quiet bar and he was asked nicely to tone it down. Twice. Seeing that nobody gets a third warning, I approached him and said it was time to leave now. All of a sudden he's Mr. In the Dark, saying what?! what?! WTF did I do? When it became clear that I wasn't going to let him stay, his beer muscles then appeared.

"I ain't going f***ing nowhere!" he said.

I asked him what he thought the end result was going to be--did he think he was going to somehow fight his way into remaining at the bar? He got more agitated and broke away from the group of buds who were sort of semi-restraining him, squaring off against me and puffing his chest. Then came the challenge:

"Do you think you can take me, mother******?!" he says, issuing the stock challenge, "Do YOU think you can TAKE me?!"

So I told him, honestly: "In increasingly small doses."

That's where I'm at right now.

(He left).

[Lacrymosa]

With the risk of sounding silly,

I'm of the opinion that I could seriously injure an attacker if given the opportunity. The trouble is, I haven't really been given such an opportunity in awhile.

In full-contact training/sparring, I've been habitually agressive. With my steadily advancing age revealing some grayness around my temple, however, I've also noticed that I have a better "feel" for when to go to the defensive.

In a street fight, I staunchly believe that a foe exclusively confronts a victim that he believes he can beat. That being said, what fights I HAVE been in, I've been the underdog in size. Contrary to what he perceives, I'm a bit faster than I appear.

I'm not so certain that one could "win" a streetfight (none of my skirmishes have been pleasant by any definition of the word), but I have survived a few.

At this point in my life, I feel well-prepared for such an eventuality.

[duchman]

well in a real fight i'm very confident.
When somebody wants to fight me i walk a away, but dont tuch me!

i always keep the fight standing, but in my last street/school yard fight.i threw(Osotogari) a far bigger oponent on the ground and kicked him in the face.I almost got me suspendid at school

[What's inside a girl?]

I think I could get the upper hand against an untrained apponent, even a big one. In the past three years I have only got into one serious fight, it occurred at a nightclub when a drunk guy kept intentionally pushing me around on the dance floor. I pushed him back a couple of times, at which point we faced off. He was a big guy, about 6' 3" 220. He threw a wild punch which glanced my right cheek bone. On the follow-through he had turned sideways, so I bear hugged him. He then tried to reach down and grab my legs for some reason. This gave me his neck and I choked the hell out of him. I locked the choke and cranked it hard until I felt him fall back and lean on me. His buddy made it clear that he did not want to get involved, and kind of indicated that his friend was a nutjob. At this point I let the pressure go on the choke and he wobbled to his feet- looking like a ghost. The blood was completely drained from his face and he had a big red welt around his neck where my jacket sleeve had grazed the skin. He wasn't interested in fighting anymore. The funny thing is he even asked me to show him the choke. I didn't trust the guy so I got the hell out while the going was good.

[Smokey_D]

This is an interesting question. I've always felt that a Black Belt can reasonably defend him/herself against one unarmed person of approximate size and gender to oneself.

BJJ, I think goes well beyond that definition due to time actually put in to get a BB--10+ years. I also thought that it takes between 3-5 of good stand up and grappling to be a "Black Belt", in other words, to be able to defend oneself based on the above definition.

With that said, I believe that I can defend myself in a street fight. I have never been in one--I've successfully avoided two or three which I think is in the spirit of the martial arts.

Especially as I get older, I realize how I could really hurt someone who is untrained (and unarmed). When I was younger I was mentally unprepared for a fight. Now I think I would be able to control myself and think clearly during a fight.

So without sounding like a He-Man or egotistical I think that I would win an unarmed attack against most people.

[Maxximus]

here's my dilemma...

In terms of skill level alone, i know that I'm not bad. i have quick footwork, good distance and timing awareness, and I get lots of compliments for my hand speed, punching power and thai kicking. In terms of grappling ability, I have to admit that my submissions are more or less below the standard, but I am good enough on the ground to be able to get position or ground and pound.

But here's the problem...technique is one thing, but actual confrontation is something else. I have no qualms about fighting if i have to. I'm the type of guy who is pretty level headed and calm but can get really pissed off in a second if i have to. The problem is that I am a midget in a world of giants! I stand at a mere 5'8" and weigh in at a mere 155-160 lbs. Now I don't doubt my ability to take on someone my size or slightly bigger, but let's face it...the guys who will be talking sh!t and looking for fights on the street are always the big monsters. You don't see guys my size starting fights unless they have a serious death wish. So although my technique is good, I seriously have doubts about whether or not its good enough to bring down a big belligerent a'hole twice my size and strength. If it ever came down to that, rest assured I wouldn't be holding anything back. I'd be throwing groin kicks and biu jees and moving around like crazy! but I'm not naive. I know that its easier said than done. Once i learn kali, maybe I'll be able to pick up a makeshift weapon and know how to use it. but until then, I really don't know what my chances are.

Does anyone else have the same dilemma here? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

[Ryu (non-working password]

Maximus, I'm about the same height as you but about 30 pounds heavier. But don't worry, to be honest it is the little guy with the napolean complex that seems to start stuff often. Big guys don't have much to prove, but yes there are the ones that fight as well.

I've been in squirmishes and fights. I had to fight two guys at once during a hazing, which I won. I "controlled" a skinnier opponent who took it upon himself to fight me because he lost a challenge, but didn't really hurt him. Only let him know he wasn't going anywhere...
I had numerous fights in high school before BJJ and judo. Some won, some lost.
I was usually on top most of the time in my BJJ dojo days, and almost all complimented that I had "unnatural" strength.
I tapped a pro-NHB fighter at one point in the school (though it was luck mostly)
And I seem to have good abilities in suplexes, ura nage, and the ability to hold people down in osaekomiwaza, and ground and pound with headbutts and elbows. And I carry a knife.

Do I think I can defend myself against an attacker?
If I did, I wouldn't be doing all this.
I am not worried about the guys I can beat. I am worried about the guy I can't. The huge guy who just doesn't fall, who sprawls out of my double leg, who I can't lift, or keep on the ground, or whose one punch just KO's me before I have a chance to do anything.
I am obsessed with the guy who can kill me. And I'm sure there are lots. So in a way I am training for a "fight that may never happen."
So no. People say I'm good, and I have had numerous compliments on my feats of strength, but I don't think so.
I worry about my weaknesses. My punching could be better, I could have a better guard, etc.
The only thing I can bet on for sure, is that I am so obsessed with all I have done, that I won't give up. Fighting Spirit may not save me, but at least I have that.

Sorry for the dire post

But with all that said, I don't worry about getting into fights. It's not worth my time.

Ryu

[Mr. Miyagi]

I feel very confident with my takedowns for the street because most guys wouldn't expect you to shoot in and most guys don't train and have a terrible base. I also think I could pull of a flying armbar or triangle pretty quickly against someone who didn't know what I was doing and I think against one person that would be pretty safe. But I like standing kimura or standing mataleo the best, especially the standing kimura and I've tried this on friends that were surprised as they ended up with one hand behind their back helpless.
Against more than one guy I don't feel confident at all. I might throw a couple flurries of punches or low kick and try to run.

[Maxximus]

Ryu...

MAN, that was inspirational!!!

[Underdog]

One on one, I fear no one.

That's not bragging, it's just that the way I behave normally, I didn't give a clue of my skill (whatever I may have..) so most of the time I can give the sucker punch (most of the times the sucker elbow..). If I give hints of what I can do, normally two things happens:

a)The other guy back off (if he's not good)

b) The other guy is good and we square off trying to clam things down without losing our faces (between two real fighter there normally no hurry to receive punishment, once you have assessed that will be a tough fight, you are not eager to walk into it).

If there's more than one guy I REALLY fear no one; in that case two things will happen:

a)they are not armed. I'm yes. They will be my bitches.All.

b)they are armed. But I'm really trained. The chances that I wil encounterr someone trained in firearms like me it's almost nonexistant. I know the good guys in state almost entirely.

There will be ever the unpredictable, but that would be doom, and I wouldn't do nothing against.

[dan downard]

Exellent bunch of replies.
I am small 5' 7" 140 lbs.So I think I have the same doubts when it comes to a very large and powerful person.
I have no doubt that I can dominate most anyone my own size.And most big guys.But the guys you see around that are just buildings of solid mass.Not fat.I mean their arms are as big as my legs and legs as big as my chest who stand over 6 foot.I have been hurt badly by a couple of guys like that.I think I could survive an all out assault from someone that size.But not two.For that situation.We are able to out run them.

[McLeod]

Well, interesting question I think we all ask ourselves every time we watch a NHb fight or step ont the mat...

Honestly, I don't like to think about an actual FIGHT... not some drunk guy at a bar, or some frat boy, or a trained or untrained guy at football game on a Friday night....
I'm talking a FIGHt..one or two guys coming at me in the dark parking lot with knives, bars, wanting nothing more than to knock me out, take my car and money, clothes, break my skull, leave me for dead... a real FIGHt..the kind that if you did lose, you might not wake up the same ever again.

That is what I think about..
I know I can handle the average guy, big, small, even trained most likely..I've been training a long time now in various stuff. And if I didn't "win", it would'nt be because I could'nt have..

but honestly, I'm not sure about the other... it's a totally different scenerio.. a different mind set, a different world. Where one wrong move and the other guy could plunge that blade into your kidney.

I sincerely hope, that no matter how many "real" bar fights and what not I get into, I never face a "true" threat.. for the sake of them, myself, and families involved.

[Bau13]

nice posts guys...Underdog..you are like the baddest ass on this planet I swear...hehe

Anyways as for me..I've always had this attitude. Ever since I was a kid I have always felt that NO_ONE could beat me in a real fight. I just really feel that when it comes down to it..I'll destroy anyone who tries to hurt me...Dont bash me for this guys but its just this feeling that I have......

against any untrained guy..I will win.

And like Don Underdog Corleone(hehehe) says...

As for facing a trained guy....I dont think trained guys get into fights all that much and when we do face trouble we try hard to walk away from it..

Anyways I've never been in a fight and I hope it stays that way...