True Fights

[Tainan Mantis]

Someone inquired of Sun Bin,
"What does it mean to understand the way?"
He replied,
"Having foreknowledgeof victory and defeat before going into battle is what is called knowing the way.
Knowing the reason for victory and defeat after having engaged the enemy...
for this reason he understands the enemy."

Part of the recent Ma Wang Duei discoveries of pre-christian era military texts.

In the spirit of the ancient master strategist Sun Bin I open this thread for fighters to write past fighting experiences.

[Tainan Mantis]

A teacher of the internal arts wanted to cross hands with me. The following are the important aspects which I was able to use very successfully.

We. face off right stance
I. attack with a rigid right.
He. intercepts with a right.

I. use left hand to seal his right elbow and I throw a right hook.
He. left block.

I. Use my right hand to pull his block down and punch him in the chest.
He. having been hit breaks away and raises his fists.

I. repeat the scenario a few times until my right chest punch can no longer strike his chest, because he...
He. won't allow me to pull his left hand down.

I. immediately slide my left sealing hand into a punch to his other chest.

Notes:
Punches, especially for me need more power.
I used all my weight and power on these punches which he absorbed well. Better than I if the tables had been turned I think.

[EarthDragon]

Tainan,
I dont neccesarily have a fighting experience documented so well as you have done but I do have certain aspects and rules of fighting that I try to adhere to when I am in a confrontation.

1.while attacking the left , defend with the right and visa versa

2. attack high to open the low area and visa versa

3. all actions are neither defensive nor offensive

4.always change the stepping pattern

5. act dont think

6. in action thier is stillness, in stillness thier is action

7.attack and defend with the long hand and then destroy opponent with the close hand

8. one block one punch

[Losttrak]

Sun Tzu said the last possible option is seige a city. It is better to defeat your enemy psychologically and make him surrender. For instance:


When I was 19, I was a very shy kid and this "cool dewd" at work always made fun of me for it. I was a martial arts practitioner so I would have settled for a fight but I was such an easy target he never escalated it to that point. I was never the sort to hit first at that time in my life. SooOo pretty much my live was hell for a long time. Then his hot fiancee started working with us... We took an instant liking to each other. So in retaliation, I railed her like it was a conjugal visit and naturally he found out. From that point on, his abuse never really bothered me too much. =D

[Oso]

I'll get back to you a week from saturday...

I have a single, full-contact match lined up under the US Koushou rules.

we'll see...

[Tainan Mantis]

ED,
Your list of guidelines matches my thoughts.
Except number 8 maybe, but I may have misunderstood.
My block and punch are almost the same thing, so if the opponents punch is slow or weak, my block is a punch to him.

Losttrack,
You may be interested in the new Ma Wang Duei discoveries.

100 or so years after Sunzi seiging a city became a much better option.
That is because of the advent of seige machinery to overcome city walls.
Thus the walls got bigger and granaries improved, while the machinery for overcoming the walls also improved.

Oso,
Make us proud.
I thought there was an age limit of 35 on that though.
I know some traditionalists disagree, but I still think this is a good way to test yourself.

Outside fights are usually shorter, while a match fight is almost always well matched opponents who have to keep going even if they are too tired to fight.

Good test of
-aggressiveness
-stamina
-brute punching power

[Oso]

I thought there was an age limit of 35 on that though.

I lied about my age to get in.



seriously though...no one has brought that up. They just wanted to know overall experience in number of years and weight/size.

I'll be ****ed if I get there and I can't fight.

*edit*
it's just a demo fight, no tourney. a little odd, I know.

just looked again, there are only two fights scheduled after the rest of the tourney is pretty much done with and the other fighters are two sifus who I'm pretty sure are over 35.

One thing I've noticed about over here in the states is you don't see too many teachers stepping into the ring.

[HouZiPiGu]

Occasionally I start telling my friends about some fight I was in and then halfway through, I realize it wasn't a fight I was in, but a fight I saw in a Steven Seagal movie. Man....I gotta stop drinking so much.

[EarthDragon]

Tainan,
I was reffering to being attacked blocking the attack and then hitting so hard in a vital spot or a knockout that the confrontation is ended and my opponent cannot continue.

To me that is the most effecient strategy in matial arts. I have only been able to do that once when I was younger and it was in front of a crowd and it felt great for my ego at the time ( now of course I try not to have one) that's the buddist in me LOL but anyways I was not comparing attacking and defending since they are one in the same see #3.

But in my opinon the highest level of fighting it to be so efficient that you need not spend time on attacking, defending , countering and redirecting, when all that is needed is to end the confrontaion with minimal effort.......... hence one block one punch

[flem]

tainan,
do you remember the story of your tampa sifu in the bar and the biker dude... thats kungfu
btw, i was wanting to ask you, are there as many whack jobs attracked to kung fu in taiwan and china as there are here. the martial arts in america, as you may or may not remember, seem to be a melting pot for the... desturbed!?

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by EarthDragon
Tainan,
I was reffering to being attacked blocking the attack and then hitting so hard in a vital spot or a knockout that the confrontation is ended and my opponent cannot continue.

To me that is the most effecient strategy in matial arts. I have only been able to do that once when I was younger and it was in front of a crowd and it felt great for my ego at the time ( now of course I try not to have one) that's the buddist in me LOL but anyways I was not comparing attacking and defending since they are one in the same see #3.

But in my opinon the highest level of fighting it to be so efficient that you need not spend time on attacking, defending , countering and redirecting, when all that is needed is to end the confrontaion with minimal effort.......... hence one block one punch

that seems more of the ideal than the reality though...

[EarthDragon]

Seven star,
yes that's in a perfect world scenerio. That's why I said the highest level of fighting. Something we all wish to eventually achive someday

[Mr.Binx]

Originally posted by EarthDragon
...being attacked blocking the attack and then hitting so hard in a vital spot or a knockout that the confrontation is ended and my opponent cannot continue. To me that is the most effecient strategy in matial arts...

I have dropped sparring partners on more than one occasion, though not often, with the very first attack thrown. More often than not it involved a solid strike to the solar plexus (with heel, knee, knuckle, or elbow) or a grazing strike to the groin (with toe, knee, or ridge-hand). I have only successfully dropped an opponent on the first strike in two instances with strikes to the face.
I haven't been in full-contact sparring for well over five years or so, but more often than not I would throw a shot to one of those three locations and then, if deflected, throw second shot to whichever of the other two areas is the least guarded. The solar plexus shot has, by far, been the most successful for me personally as an aggressor. The groin hit comes in at a close second. Although last on my personal list of effectiveness, the face shot did have the most instantaneous effect in stopping the fight. The groin and solar plexus shots required me to step back and just avoid my opponent for roughly 2-3 seconds before the pain or lack of oxygen would catch up with them. The face hit had the yucky side-effect of causing excessive bleeding on both ocassions though, which ruined the idea of anymore sparring with that same partner for the day.
At the time, my greatest flaw was lack of stamina and inability to escape from a grapple while in an unbalanced position. The opportunities and weaknesses changed radically with each individual faced. I see a big flaw in my old tactics, as they were all linear. The ability to keep these tactics and work around that flaw is the second most important thing that caught my eye after watching a single 2 hour class of tanglang. I began training there a week later.

[Tainan Mantis]

One punch and it is over, in my fantasy.
It has happened twice in my life that I recall(not counting unskilled opponents).
But it helps all the more to have a lot of power in the strike.
I imagine I could end fights with one punch all the time if my fist was the pound per square inch equal of a bucking bronco's back kick.


Flem,
I don't know the story. I think that happened after I came to taiwan.
Can you tell it?

[Oso]

ok, I do have a 'one strike, it's over' story...

summer 1982...been doing hung gar for about 4 months...

I was at a pool at the apartment complex where my teacher lived.

we had just worked out and were chillin' at the pool.

btw, I'm between my 9th and 10th grade year at high school.

so, this guy intentionally jumped on my while I was in the pool.

I get hammered in the back by both his feet and go under.

as I get out he and his buddies are laughing it up as I walk towards them.

the guy that jumped on me puts his hands up in a boxer's pose of sorts and starts towards me.

I front kick him straight in the solar plexus and he goes down.

everyone is surprised and shocked, not the least of which is me.

everyone kinda just leaves the pool.

fighting is over rated.