It is different when it is for real. Fighting, that is. In many cases the altercation is sudden and abrupt without time for any sort of prep. Mostly, street fights occur either due to a verbal altercation that degenerates or due to a targeted assault, potentially from ambush. Some “ambush” assaults are executed by a sly, nonchalant frontal approach while others are “sneak” attacks from the side or behind.
Altercations and situations that lead to fisticuffs can be the result of barroom posturing, intoxication, road rage, gang activity, mental infirmity, or simple robbery. They can also happen for no reason at all.
There are statistics that indicate that the ‘winner’ of many a street fight is determined in the first three to six seconds or thereabouts. It is noteworthy that street fights start out close and then get closer. These assaults typically start at “hands range” as the hands are favored in nearly all assaults not involving some sort of weapon. All it takes is one solid impact to the jaw to put the lights out.
Hands are favored by seasoned street brawlers and reality-based martial artists because kicks require space and space isn’t always conveniently available. Unless you’re Tony Jaa or Jackie Chan, kicks are slower than hands, more cumbersome to execute and easier to detect as they’re inbound than a fast hand strike. Kicks are more difficult to quickly retract, and they also require uncompromised balance. Having your balance compromised while executing a kick typically results in a severe vulnerability on the part of the kicker. Additionally, kicks above the knee run the risk of being caught—obviously very bad juju in a street fight.
The first combatant to successfully land a solid punch to a vital spot (jaw, for example) is normally the victor. This could include the first to land a solid groin shot, too. It is pretty much that simple—the first disabling, knockout or dazing blow will win the day. Mostly. Not always. But mostly.
Given most fights begin at punching range, if the outcome hasn’t been determined by a telling blow within that initial 3 to 6 seconds, the range probably will have closed, in most cases, to grappling range. It is a normal human reaction—a natural inclination—to grab onto an opponent to both exert control and to stymie punches; it is safe to say that is precisely what both combatants will assuredly do in most cases. A bigger, stronger participant may shake his opponent like a rag doll. Once the altercation has closed to grappling range and the fighters are clinched up, it is highly likely that the fight will shortly wind up on the ground, intentionally or otherwise.
The above comments are generalities borne out by statistics. Can things happen differently? Of course. Absolutely nothing is carved in stone when it comes to street fights. For example, a competent Wing Chun artist or boxer might end the fight in the first second or two before it ever gets to grappling range. So might a lucky punch from an untrained fighter. A Northern Shaolin practitioner might land a solid kick before the range closes and disable the attacker. A Southern Shaolin fighter adept at clinch range fighting might prevent the fight going to the ground. A Shuai Jiao wrestler might toss his/her opponent to the ground intentionally. A halfway competent grappler can drop out of your line of sight, duck under your punches and slam into your legs faster than you may think possible. Given it is unlikely you will know the fighting competency of your opponent(s) on the street, it is hard to say just how a street altercation may play out.
Fights between untrained combatants that go to the ground typically favor (a) the stronger person or (b) whoever winds up on top, which oftentimes will be the stronger person who is able to muscle their way more easily to the top position. A trained Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter obviously would be able to fight from the bottom position—or any position—and skilled wrestlers, as well as Shuai Jiao fighters, can adapt to pretty much any body configuration or contortion they may find themselves in. That said, when both combatants are untrained, it generally goes to the stronger or to whoever ended up on top when the fight first went to the ground. That can also apply to trained stand-up strikers who are lacking in clinch range and ground skills.
Regardless of how it happened, when one of the combatants gains the top position, particularly against an opponent lacking ground skills, a rain of punches typically follows—the “ground and pound” made famous by the UFC. If the guy on top gets into a solid mount so that your movement is restricted and begins dropping concussive blows down onto your face and head, you are in extreme peril.
Please note that most experts (experienced fighters) agree that intentionally going to the ground on the street is a decidedly bad idea irrespective of whether you are a skilled grappler with highly evolved ground skills. You increase vulnerability if you are on the ground. If your assailant wasn’t operating alone, a third party can soccer kick your head with relative ease while you’re tied up on the ground.
Sometimes one or both parties trip over something and unintentionally fall. There is a significant probability of that happening. As much as standup fighters may hate to face it, when two combatants are slamming around in confined and cluttered environments such as a barroom, winding up on the floor is a likely outcome. That holds true if the altercation is in your living room, too.
It should be noted that, once the belligerents are wrestling around on the ground, should an assailant have a free hand, that person can access a weapon from their clothing—a knife or a firearm—which will drastically change the equation for the other fighter, given the likelihood of a miss with a blade or gun at grappling range is nil.
If we were to sketch the anatomy of a street fight, we would see that they start at close range, quickly proceed to get closer in range, sometimes are finished by a solid blow within the first few seconds and oftentimes wind up on the ground. That solid blow might come from a windmill punch as one fighter wades into his opponent in a “swimming” action with arms “windmilling,” something commonly seen in street fights involving untrained combatants. Don’t scoff at the head down windmill puncher—if you get caught by one of those, it may well be lights out.
On an intellectual level, the majority of martial artists know that street fights bear little resemblance to the fights portrayed in the movies or to sparring matches with safety rules. In real altercations, jump spinning kicks, fancy joint lockups and graceful throws are seldom successfully employed. Unlike in the movies, hard blows to the face and head aren’t just shrugged off. Smaller, lighter, older combatants don’t effortlessly fling musclebound opponents around like rag dolls while profiling for the cameras.
Real fights are fast, ugly, totally unchoreographed and incredibly brutal. Noses get smashed, teeth are dislodged, jaws and cheekbones shattered. Blood may be gushing from a splattered nose. Fear or a groin shot may add vomiting to the list of horrors.
Those who like to state that size and strength don’t matter are, quite frankly, fools. Size and strength most assuredly do matter. Most likely your assailant will be younger than you, which means they will probably have a strength and endurance advantage. Keep in mind also that brute force and violence of action can be very difficult to overcome. “Crude” techniques such as the old fashioned, school yard “football-style” tackle is a time-tested means of bulldozing someone to the ground. If your assailant weighs in at 230 pounds and has a full head of steam, you’re likely to be bowled over. Simple physics. If you are unskilled on the ground, life just got a whole lot worse for you. The side headlock remains a favorite in street brawls. If you are up against a bigger, stronger assailant, getting caught in one won’t be funny. Once locked in, those “crude” headlocks are hard to get out of.
Before we proceed further with this cheery line of thought, lets define “untrained.” Untrained fighters can include martial artists who haven’t trained for real world street altercations. Yes, you read that right. Martial artists can sometimes be woefully unprepared for the heavy hand of reality. To fit the definition of “trained” in the context of street fights, a person must have specifically trained reality fighting methodologies on a regular basis. Not forms or demonstrative exhibition, not tournament fighting, not ring fighting and not even the vaunted Octagon. MMA fighters are, amongst martial artists in general, typically superb in all ranges and would easily have the striking and grappling tools necessary to prevail in most engagements, especially against a single opponent. Whether they would be prepared for a sudden street attack is likely based on the individual and the circumstances. Not training specifically for street-style attacks heavily weighs the circumstances against you. Bottom line: If you aren’t an elite fighter and your martial practice does not address common street self-defense scenarios, then you are essentially untrained when it comes to the realities of street combat.
I know, I know. Thirty years in martial arts and that magazine guy has the nerve to call you untrained. Look at it like this: If a hot air balloon pilot was placed in the cockpit of an Airbus A380, would you say that that person was trained or untrained? The balloon pilot is certainly trained in a facet of aviation, but definitely not qualified to fly the A380 airliner. It is the same with street fighting. A person can have decades of martial arts practice but not have the requisite skill sets for reality fighting. That sucks but is nonetheless true. We’re mostly talking mental preparation and scenario recognition here, as anyone who consistently trains will have the technical aspects of punching and kicking (or grappling) down pat.
Going into a street fight without the proper skills makes as much sense as going up against a main battle tank with a machete. That doesn’t mean that the machete is a useless weapon; it just wasn’t designed to take on a tank. Along those very same lines, forms training and tournament play won’t prepare you for all out combat against a back-alley thug, a home invader, or a terrorist.
For The Heavy Hand of Reality Part 2, stay tuned to KungFuMagazine.com
