Why no multiple opponents?

[LEGION]

I was hanging out with some of my friends from high school this past weekend that i haven't seen in a while. We were talkling about some old school stuff and the subject of fights came up. During the course of our discussion we talked about 3 seperate events where someone we knew prevailed over multiple attackers in a fight. One guy beat down two brothers that he fought, another guy took on two guys in the locker room and came out on top , and the third guy, a pretty good boxer, was at a party and got all coked up and was jumped by three guys while he was leaving. He went to town on all of them.
With the exception of the coked up boxer, these guys had no formal fight training and were able to take on more than one opponent at a time. So if instances like this happen, why does everyone say that multiple opponents can't be done, especially traditional martial artists who try to justify not learning an effective fighting style?

[SweepEm]

"why does everyone say that multiple opponents can't be done, especially traditional martial artists who try to justify not learning an effective fighting style?"

Hey, in a street fight, are you going to say 3 on 1 isn't fair and so 2 guys sit on the sidelines?

If you get into a fight, especially when they are going to hurt, maim or kill you, you have no choice right?

Your scenarios are flawed in that you are trying represent the whole street fight situations with just 3 instances/sitauations.

Just who is saying that it cannot be done?

What if it is you and 3 wusses? Do you think you can take on 2-3 wusses?

If guys have no formal training, they still might be able to bitch slap 2 other guys into submission.

Many guys will think that there is saftey in numbers and will feel braver to try to nail a guy that is alone. Even if these 3 guys had no formal training, they still might have been good athletes. Now take your average Poindexter geek and see if he can take on even one ten year old tom boy, let alone 3 ten year old tom boys.

[JaredExtreme]

Well, I think that in a scenario where you're being attacked by multiple people, adrenaline plays a larger role than in a fight against one person. For instance, a lot of one-on-one fights happen at schools/bars/parties ie social places where you know the fight is pretty much for Pride. Sure, there's adrenaline, but when you're being attacked by a gang, there's much more FEAR. You're just gunna go balls out and do anything. There's no way you're going to be able to do any combos or anything that is remotely technical when you have 3 doods rushing ya. A multiple attacker situation changes everything and there's no art (that I know of) that can predict/counter how 3 different people are going to attack you. You just have to FIGHT TO LIVE then LIVE TO FIGHT. hehe

[Maxximus]

Actually most traditionalists will not dismiss the possibility of fighting multiple attackers. When the jiu jitsu craze got started and many people began preaching that kung fu, karate and TKD were useless against the superior art of Bjj, many traditionalists responded by saying that since Bjj is based mainly on grappling an opponent on the ground, it would be useless against multiple attackers (the theory being that once you got tangled up on the ground with one guy, his buddies would gather around and stomp your face in). While this might be true to a certain extent, I don't know what the traditionalists are complaining about since the way they train isn't usually good to even beat ONE guy, let alone two or three.

As for the issue of multiple attackers, it's definitely possible but I think it is dependent on a lot of factors as well. For one thing, obviously size matters. If I got attacked by two skinny, unathletic wimps who hit like f@gs I'd be pretty comfident that I could smack both of them around and then feel pretty good about myself afterwards. But then what if they were instead big, strong, belligerently drunk linebackers? Hell, in that case I'd have enough trouble with ONE of them. I can think of several examples of multiple attacker fights and they all reflect different circumstances. In high school there was a guy who was noted in school for being a tough brawler (which probably means that he got into two fights where a lot of other students could see it and won both times and then everyone started spreading rumors about what a harda$$ he was). He apparently pi$$ed someone off because one day two guys marched straight up to him and one guy just socked him in the face and then they grabbed him and slammed him into a wall, threw him down and pounded him bad. But I also had this one friend...a pretty big Filipino guy who seemed tough although he didn't usually get into any fights really. He had some beef with a Korean kid, and the Koreans at my high school were pretty rebellious and usually stuck together. So one day three Koreans jump him in the locker room as he was going down to lift some weights. And he ends up thrashing ALL of them! I found it pretty funny since one of those guys used to run his mouth about how good he was at some martial arts. But my friend was a big strong guy and at least two of the guys that jumped him were pretty small. Two guys once jumped my brother on the street as well and he beat them up. I don't know how big they were, but my brother is a short tempered Marine and it seems like he's been streetfighting since the 8th grade.

[Mad Dog]

Usually, if someone prevails over multiple opponents, it's because they are very good, the multiples are great, big, fat LOOSERS, or some mix of those two elements. It doesn't hurt to have a little luck, also.

[Shimora]

"why does everyone say that multiple opponents can't be done, especially traditional martial artists who try to justify not learning an effective fighting style?"


Anyone who says this is nothing but a fools fool.
I have regularly beat down multiple attackers in my line of work. Its really no big deal especially if the attackers are untrained.

[Tape Lord]

Shimora is correct.

Tape Lord

[JaredExtreme]

"I have regularly beat down multiple attackers in my line of work."

I didn't know stars in the homosexual adult film industry were in so much danger Shimora. I thought you just had to watch out for those hampsters!

[TracyKarate]

My instructor was once jumped by two men in a hotel lobby. The end result was one of them running off and the other was left with a few broken ribs.

[Monkey Magic]

I think Mad Dog sums it up quite well. I can't imagine anyone beating me and a couple of friends. A group of guys that lets one guy kick their asses must be a bunch of donkeys.