I Need to Learn how to Fight

No way I'm getting a gun or moving. I severely doubt that any weapons will be used on me. Maybe if someone tried jumping me again and I humiliated them, but definitely not now. I found out they should be leaving town within 2 months, and maybe a bit sooner, since they aren't from around here. With a little luck I can ride it out and avoid running into them.

Dude cmon- give it up for us (me)... What the hell did you do to these guys, who are they, and why do they wanna kick your ass so bad? Im really curious now.

Nothing...just some assholes who wanted to exert some dominance over me, and I'm too sick of being pushed to stand for it. Kid sucker punched me in the balls from out of nowhere while I was talking to some chick, so I threw him on the ground a few times. Everything just escalated from there, and that's all there was to it. If it were a little more meaningful I might have the motivation to hunt kids down, but it's not. As far as I'm concerned if I don't get along with someone then that should be that. Even if I'm way better at fighting, these kids are borderline retarded and have nothing to lose. My mind is my future and I don't want to risk it on something as trivial as this.

spinner2 said:

Nothing...just some assholes who wanted to exert some dominance over me, and I'm too sick of being pushed to stand for it. Kid sucker punched me in the balls from out of nowhere while I was talking to some chick, so I threw him on the ground a few times. Everything just escalated from there, and that's all there was to it. If it were a little more meaningful I might have the motivation to hunt kids down, but it's not. As far as I'm concerned if I don't get along with someone then that should be that. Even if I'm way better at fighting, these kids are borderline retarded and have nothing to lose. My mind is my future and I don't want to risk it on something as trivial as this.

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Damn, that's a bitch move. Sucker punch IN THE BALLS, wow. I guess some people really have no respect.

Yeah, I heard Krav Maga is really good. There aren't any around my location so I can't go, but I bought a book and seen a thing about it on the disocovery channel. And those bastards know how to fight.

spinner, I'm glad to hear you talking some sence. It's best to avoid the potential situation if possible. It sounds like you are dealing with a group and that means trouble. I know some times unfortunately it is impossible to avoid but try your best.

I had a friend that was killed a few years ago at a house party. My friend liked fighting and would instigate many fights. This time it escalated out of control and the fight went from one on one to him being beaten to death by a baseball bat by a group of attackers.

I've seen some horrible stuff happen in fights and hope I am never in another.

I've been stabbed, knocked out cold against a light pole for 10 minutes while having my face beaten in so badly my grandparents could hardly recognize me. I've been jumped by 4 guys while fighting one of there friends, after I smashed him over the head with a bar stool.

I know of 3 cases of people dying from broken blood vessels in the brain from one punch fights.

This is all stuff that could happen to anyone, including the toughest MMA fighters out there. Street fighting is violence, you are literally fighting for you life. And what happens if you hit the guy and he falls over backwards hitting the back of his head of the bumper of a car and dies. It happened in my town of 6000 people. Do you want to go up on manslaughter or murder chargers.

Sure these are all remote possibilites but they are realities. I don't know you from shit but I'm just passing on some of lifes lessons I've learned along my journey.

spinner2 said:

Nothing...just some assholes who wanted to exert some dominance over me, and I'm too sick of being pushed to stand for it. Kid sucker punched me in the balls from out of nowhere while I was talking to some chick, so I threw him on the ground a few times. Everything just escalated from there, and that's all there was to it. If it were a little more meaningful I might have the motivation to hunt kids down, but it's not. As far as I'm concerned if I don't get along with someone then that should be that. Even if I'm way better at fighting, these kids are borderline retarded and have nothing to lose. My mind is my future and I don't want to risk it on something as trivial as this.

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Spinner this is an interesting thread and something that interests me personally. The problem with young men is they have these feelings inside them and society provides no channel for there natural aggression. The truth is these kids are terrified of being the victim of other people like them so they figure they will mask this fear by putting on the tough guy act in hope that others like them will see a fearless hard man who they wouldn't want to mess with. This is in 99% of cases is the same old story, intimidation is a very effective weapon and these people think well I am scared of him because he displays any number of the following characteristics; aggressive manner, fearless, shaved head, physically big and imposing, has beaten people up (usually some poor skinny kid that had no chance and did nothing wrong) so if I do the same I will not be the poor skinny kid but the one doing it. So they take the initiative which is where your story comes in. The dominance they tried to exert over you comes from how dis empowered they feel and it is no coincidence that you got the better of this kid.
It's a difficult situation because as you say they have nothing to lose however you must give them a chance. I would suggest approaching the kid who sucker punched you in a non confrontational way. When you speak to him say something like "I don't know why you punched me but I was pissed off at the time and that's why I threw you to the ground, as far as I am concerned that's the end of it and I don't want any more trouble" and attempt to shake his hand as a final gesture. I know this sounds a bit idealistic but you have to give people a chance and he may jump at the opportunity to take this way out of the situation as he may not want it any more than you do deep down inside. So initially try and appeal to his better nature (believe it or not most people do have one somewhere inside of them)and put thoughts of revenge out of your head, there is a saying when you go looking for revenge make sure you dig 2 graves. Now I am not that naive to believe that this works every time as if he is a really nasty piece of work and not just misguided and he believes that you are an easy target he may not want peace. So the next step is to get help, now what I am going to say here is will probably go against the grain for a lot of people but it is the truth. If there really is no one you can turn to then the police could be your last resort. You have a right to live without fear of violence and intimidation however the people that do this have created this code to protect there bullying ways, because they are bully's and cowards they fear the authorities so have invented this bullshit code which only suits there needs that if you snitch or grass you are the lowest form of life. Once you can see past this and realise this is only because of how scared they really are swallow your pride and get help.
Ok so that is the course of action I would suggest for you but I fully acknowledge that there are times in your life that you need to fight. I will attempt to give you the benefit of my experience for what it is worth. I am a professional boxer who has done martial arts in the past and was head doorman at a notorious nightclub full of drunken soldiers and gypsies who liked nothing better than a good punch up on a Saturday night. So although I am no Royce Gracie I have some experience. So if you find yourself in a position where there is no choice but to fight this is what I would recommend: As for fighting systems any system where it is full contact i.e. boxing, kick boxing, MMA is the best option, the only way you get good at something is by doing it and although they do not fully recreate a streetfight situation they are the closest you will get. The hotter the fire the stronger the technique will be forged. I know you don't want to lose brain cells as you put it but you have to box for years and years and have hundreds of fights before you become punch drunk. You really don't have to worry about it affecting your mental performance. I wouldn't advise anyone who was serious about learning to fight to go to non-contact martial arts classes. I have the greatest respect for the martial arts but they are so diluted now due to them being taught mainly for health and recreation benefits. For example the Karate taught at your local dojo will be very different from the Karate developed in Okinawa years ago when there techniques were forged in combat and if it didn't work they rarely got the chance to correct it. The same is true of Kung Fu systems there is no comparison to what we see today in local schools to the Kung Fu of the Shaolin monks centuries ago. To summarise a good streetfighter I think the best assets are boxing due to the range that fights normally start at, low kicks and leg sweeps excellent for a opponent advancing at you from a distance and grappling including arm bars, locks, choke holds, biting and gouging. Remember it is no holds barred and we had a saying when I was working on the door that it is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six so don't hold back. There is so much more I want to say but can't remember as my kids are now bugging me to come and play with them but I wish you the best of luck in your situation and remember you do your best to avoid trouble but when it finds you be ready to fight with everything you have, good luck mate.

Bro, i've been involved in some form of martial arts my whole life... my dad felt that a man should always be able to defend himself so he encouraged me to take up any martial art that i wanted. I started with boxing and Tae Kwon Do, then moved to Shotokan, kenpo, kali/JKD, muay thai, and finally BJJ from Royce Gracie. I was/am very fortunate that SoCal has such a HUGE and diverse martial arts community. I have many friend that train in just about every art.

My personal opinion is that the fastest track to self-defense is boxing. It won't make you a MMA fighter or a Bruce Lee overnight but it will allow you to develop basic skill is a matter of weeks.

As far as arts like Krav Maga goes... they offer very real and practical techniques but i'm seeing that Krav Maga practioners have a certain cockiness about them. They feel that their way is the best.... trust me when i say that THERE IS NO BEST WAY. Techniques performed against static attacks only serves to give you a false sense of confidence and will get you hurt in a real confromtation, especially if/when weapons are involved. In the 80's and early 90's, Kung Fu San Soo had a very similar attitude as Krav Maga does today. They felt that their techniques were so brutal and effective that they couldn't train and full speed and power or risk killing each other... what a croc!! What they failed to grasp is that real fighting is more than just doing a technique... my $.02

Very wise words sikkdog and bigjim

FYI, I'm not a Krav Maga practitioner. I wish I had the time for martial arts. < I recommend it to people who are scared for their saftey because it dosen't necessarily require the athleticism of other martial arts, does not rely on perfect form, and stresses ending conflict as quickly as possible. I think this is what makes it most suited for the *average* person.

I hear ya Bruticus... i have nothing against systems like Krav Maga, i was just voicing a concern that people need to keep in mind about the martial arts and self-defense in general. There is no easy way to self defense... how you react in a stress situation like a fight or an attack will greatly depend on how you train. The more realistic and brutal the training, the better prepared you will be. From what i've seem of systems like Krav Maga is that they train against static attacks... this is a good way to learn basic movements but is an extremely poor way of training someone to defend agains real-world attacks since nothing in the real world is static.

In the mid 90's, i had a friend that used to teach rape prevention/defense classes where i used to assist... most of the time, the classes were held at a local college campus. What we did was teach women very basic movements and put them in extremely stressful real-world attack situations where we would take them down and forced them to fight their way out. We yelled at them and threatened them and would not relent until they either broke down or fought their way free. We put them in a cruciable and in situations where they felt their lives were in danger and taught them that they had to reach inside themselves to release their inner beast if they expected to survive. Most of them cried their eyes out during class but always asked to try again. Each of the women we trained started out scared and a little frail but left the class a very strong and confident woman. This is what it takes to train the average joe to become self-reliant. Anything less i a dis-service... Suffice to say that at the end of every class, EVERY woman left with nothing but praise and lots of hugs and kisses...

sikdogg said:

In the mid 90's, i had a friend that used to teach rape prevention/defense classes where i used to assist... most of the time, the classes were held at a local college campus. What we did was teach women very basic movements and put them in extremely stressful real-world attack situations where we would take them down and forced them to fight their way out. We yelled at them and threatened them and would not relent until they either broke down or fought their way free. We put them in a cruciable and in situations where they felt their lives were in danger and taught them that they had to reach inside themselves to release their inner beast if they expected to survive. Most of them cried their eyes out during class but always asked to try again. Each of the women we trained started out scared and a little frail but left the class a very strong and confident woman. This is what it takes to train the average joe to become self-reliant. Anything less i a dis-service... Suffice to say that at the end of every class, EVERY woman left with nothing but praise and lots of hugs and kisses...

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I understand what your are saying here. Stand up and fight for yourself. I was incarcerated for a period of time. After the processing I was assigned a cell with 3 other guys. They (3) were Black, 6'+ and well over 200# each. Myself,(white) I was only 5'8" 125#, weak and frail by comparsion. When the lights went out that first night, they attempted to rape me... oh well. It was a fight or flight situation and I had no where to fly away, so scared for my Ass (no pun intended) I fought them off all night. I broke one guys nose, torn off another guy's ear and the 3rd I think I blinded him in one eye. They did a number on me too, but I walked out of that cell the next morning beat up sore, three less cell-mates and luckily nothing broken. They thought I was an easy mark but the rest of serving my sentence I had respect because I didn't get punk'd by 'em. Word got around the jail house what happen and the little guys would ask what I did. Simple, fight til you can't move anymore, then get up again and fight some more. Otherwords... just keep going at 'em no matter what (THE INNER BEAST). Mind you, the only fight I ever had was 15 years before that night when I was 10.

sikdogg said:

I hear ya Bruticus... i have nothing against systems like Krav Maga, i was just voicing a concern that people need to keep in mind about the martial arts and self-defense in general. There is no easy way to self defense... how you react in a stress situation like a fight or an attack will greatly depend on how you train. The more realistic and brutal the training, the better prepared you will be. From what i've seem of systems like Krav Maga is that they train against static attacks... this is a good way to learn basic movements but is an extremely poor way of training someone to defend agains real-world attacks since nothing in the real world is static.

In the mid 90's, i had a friend that used to teach rape prevention/defense classes where i used to assist... most of the time, the classes were held at a local college campus. What we did was teach women very basic movements and put them in extremely stressful real-world attack situations where we would take them down and forced them to fight their way out. We yelled at them and threatened them and would not relent until they either broke down or fought their way free. We put them in a cruciable and in situations where they felt their lives were in danger and taught them that they had to reach inside themselves to release their inner beast if they expected to survive. Most of them cried their eyes out during class but always asked to try again. Each of the women we trained started out scared and a little frail but left the class a very strong and confident woman. This is what it takes to train the average joe to become self-reliant. Anything less i a dis-service... Suffice to say that at the end of every class, EVERY woman left with nothing but praise and lots of hugs and kisses...

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I totally agree with what you are saying I just wish more people would realise this. Bruce lee in his Tao of Jeet Kune Do talks about how set patterns and Katas are useless and only serve to solidify what was once fluid which is why he upset so many traditional martial artists but it needed to be said. To learn to fight you have to make your training as realistic as possible. I may be biased towards boxing but it provides an excellent staring point in terms of footwork, balance, timing and punching power. Although it is not a complete fighting system and you will come unstuck if you fight someone who is well trained in low kicking, takedowns and grappling but the chances are those kind of guys who are good at that are not the ones who are going to be hassling you. Well done for your classes sikdog I think the message is slowly sinking in that realism is the key.

Look mate, i know i'm going against the grain here ( often i am ) but i would like to say this to you:

There is no fight you can win. Whenever a fight starts, all those millions of years of Human evolution go down the drain and we become no more than animals. I feel you dawg, i respect your will to overpower these duchebags but hey...what will you have acomplished when you do put them down?

I say, get wiser than them, get smarter than them, use your brain and oversmart them. Forget weapons and shit cause that will land you in a prison cell quicker than you can say JELQ man. You are young, your whole life in right in front of you and no scumbag is worth risking that. Now i'm not saying run from the fight here, just don't go after it mate. Change friends and social circles if you have to but always remember this my friend, a loaded gun was made for 2 things only, killing or reverting back to you tenfold.

I have fought all my life, 24 years of martial arts on my back and still i never fight. I am not a lesser man if i choose not to break some dude's jaw just cause he is being an ass. He has to live with himself and that i all the justice i need get it ?

I have done Kung-fu choy-lee-fat southern style 16 years, aikido 6 years, savate 4 years, judo 1 year, Muay-thay 8 years, capoeira 4 years and dabbled with a few others... All that gave me was a cool calm way of being and self-control ( beside many injuries of course ).

If these dudes are after you then find the reason and turn it against them. Use your inteligence over brutality.

Sorry if this is not what you wanted to hear but violence is not the answer. Brain power is.

Peace

Mike

8InchMIKE you are correct in your statement...use your inteligence over brutality. The martial arts is about discipline/control of one's self.

Chinese proverb, "A resourceful man knows to avoid a disadvantageous situation close at hand. " and one of the best strategems by China's military leader Sun Zi, "Running away is the best."

8InchMIKE is saying be smart and don't get yourself backed in a corner where the only escape is to fight your way out.

He who lives to run away today, lives to run away another day.

8InchMIKE, i totally agree with you that walking away is always the best practice but sometimes you don't always have that option. With your background, you have developed a sense of confidence to say "whatever bro..." and walk away knowing that if push came to shove you will most likely be able to handle yourself. Some people want that same level of confidence to not care or be worried when confronted. The only way to get that level of confidence is to not be afraid to get in a fight. The irony is that in order to get the confidence to not be afraid to get into fights it to learn how to fight...

sikdogg said:

8InchMIKE, i totally agree with you that walking away is always the best practice but sometimes you don't always have that option. With your background, you have developed a sense of confidence to say "whatever bro..." and walk away knowing that if push came to shove you will most likely be able to handle yourself. Some people want that same level of confidence to not care or be worried when confronted. The only way to get that level of confidence is to not be afraid to get in a fight. The irony is that in order to get the confidence to not be afraid to get into fights it to learn how to fight...

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Ohh dawg i also agree with you of course and that is why i strongly recomend all dudes and dudettes to learn some form or other of martial arts. The only catch to this situation on hand is that he has no time to spend years learning enough to a degree where he would be confident walking in dark corners.

If one does get trapped in a dark corner with no chance to escape then i say give it all you got to survive and everything goes at a moment like that. What i'm trying to say here is: DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET TRAPPenis EnlargementD IN ANY WAY.

Peace

Mike

sikdogg said:

8InchMIKE, i totally agree with you that walking away is always the best practice but sometimes you don't always have that option. With your background, you have developed a sense of confidence to say "whatever bro..." and walk away knowing that if push came to shove you will most likely be able to handle yourself. Some people want that same level of confidence to not care or be worried when confronted. The only way to get that level of confidence is to not be afraid to get in a fight. The irony is that in order to get the confidence to not be afraid to get into fights it to learn how to fight...

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You hit the nail on the head there mate you have to go down that path yourself and you can't learn from anyone elses experiences. Like you say sometimes you have no option.

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