The
Ultimate Guide
To Fighting and Winning
By Dr. Russ Horine, President, Fight-Fast Direct, Inc.
Part 15
PRINCIPLES
OF A FIGHT
A seasoned streetfighter
placed in a ring with an experienced MMA fighter will
lose the “match fight” – because the fight comes down
to conditioning, training, and following the rules.
On the other hand, an experienced streetfighter
in his element will often win because the fight now
comes down to:
1.
Surprise (deception and distraction) –
a well placed attack can easily defeat conditioning
and training. A well trained ground-fighter hasn’t trained
for a vicious eye-gouge.
2.
Overwhelm (disruption) – forward blitz
that gets him peddling backwards.
3.
Violence of Action
(destruction) – using high
damage potential strikes at high
value targets.
This hasn’t changed since fighting
was invented. As I mentioned earlier, once your work
is done, you’ll want to get out of the area as quickly
as possible. Don’t wait for him to recover … don’t wait
for his buddies to show up… and don’t wait for emotionally
“jacked up” bystanders to attack you. Do what you gotta
do, then leave
the area as quickly
as possible.
Let’s further flush out this formula
for prevailing in a fight. There’s
six in the formula… but just knowing the first two will
put you far ahead of the game.
1.
Combat Awareness
– This is knowing when
a fight is imminent. It’s a skill that few beginners
seem to possess as the average guy doesn’t get in a
lot of fights. It’s common to simply “deny” the obvious
danger and ignore the flashing red signals your own
intuition is sending out to you. If the fight is imminent
this kind of denial can place you in a bad spot. Avoid
this blinding denial so you can make “total commitment”
to flight or fight. The key to combat awareness is to
recognize (and not suppress) your own intuition telling
you that a fight is imminent. The most powerful tool
in your fight arsenal is your BRAIN – listen to it.
Keep your head up, eyes open, and always aware of what’s
going on around you.
2.
Preemptive Attack
(Hit First) -- This is
HUGE. As any military commander will tell you, the element
of surprise can often be the most important tool. It
has allowed small bands of fighters to wipe out entrenched
armies (remember Pearl Harbor…
or D-day?). Okay… what do armies have to do with you?
Well – whether you’re fighting in an army or in a back
alley – one principle is the same -- the human factor.
The military machines are
simply tools – the fighting is between people. Surprising
your opponent by attacking first is the great equalizer
for a weaker opponent and can often mean a quick victory.
You can use deception, distraction, or just immediate
action to get the job done. Decisiveness is the key
here as your objective is to “strategically end the
threat”. Notice I didn’t say that your goal is to “beat
someone up”. Your goal is to END the fight – not participate
in it.
Unfortunately there’s often a strong emotional
desire to “teach him a lesson”, and it’s a nice thought,
but goes against your primary goal – to end the threat.
Avoid the romantic idea that you will endure a long
battle to emerge the victorious gladiator wiping a drop
of blood from the corner of your mouth while swooning
women throw roses at your feet.
Simply remove the threat and get the hell out.
3.
Sustained continued
attack – This means fighting without pause – a forward
pressure blitz. Now the word “blitz” did not originate
from the NFL. No. It comes from the German word “blitzkrieg”
and it accounts for the wild success that the Nazis
had early on in the war. Essentially the fighting style
consists of concentrating your forces on a small vulnerable
area then attacking all out without stopping. As a result
of the blitz, the Germans were easily able to punch
a hole in the enemy’s lines, then
defeat their divided forces.
Of course it’s unlikely
you’ll be fighting armies of men, but the concept is
the same. Concentrate your efforts at your opponent’s
weakest areas – then stay with it. Don’t stop until
the job is done.
As I’ve already mentioned -- rookies tend to
stop and admire their work – they commit the sin of
“stop and assess”.
Big mistake. Keep the pressure on until you END the fight
or escape. Don’t stop and let him regain his composure.
4.
Target Awareness
– I’ve already covered this pretty well – but here’s
some more. This is a way of overcoming (not “reducing”,
or “ignoring”, or “managing”) your fear by focusing
on exposed targets. This gives you the kind of positive
mental traction to constructively engage your thoughts.
Bomber
pilots flying through heavy flak for example talk about
being able to overcome their fear of death by simply
focusing on the mission and the target. And when asked
about a certain courageous act, combat soldiers often
later recount that they were simply “trying to get the
job done”, and were not trying to be heroic. This is
“external focus”.
As I mentioned, if you
can simply look at your opponent as a series of multiple
targets, it will keep you from “freezing” and losing focus.
Ignore the insults and mad doggin’
and keep your attention on open targets. If you’re not
skilled with an arsenal of fight techniques, then just
use any means necessary to attack the most vulnerable
targets (remember… the face is rarely an open target).
In one of the “underground”
fight videos I viewed in my research a fighter used
a simple hammer blow to the side of the neck to end
the fight instantly. His technique and skill wasn’t
pretty and I doubt you’d see Steven Segal performing
this in his next Hollywood movie
– but the fighter was clearly focused on a target and
used any means at his disposal to attack that target
– and because of this he won.
After reviewing countless videos, most real street
fights look like a haphazard tangle of flailing arms
– with fighters leaving multiple targets exposed. Kicking
– which can be one of the most effective techniques
– is rarely used (until someone falls to the ground).
I’m not going to get into specific techniques – that’s
where the Fight-Fast instructional packages come in
-- but target awareness is the key. Do not spend your
precious seconds trying to remember that karate chop
focus, attempting to manage your fear, or any other
“inward” focus. You need to place your focus outward.
Til next time…
Regards,
Dr. Russ Horine
Fight-Fast, Inc.
“I have never advocated war
except as a means to peace.”
– Ulysses S. Grant
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