The
Ultimate Guide
To Fighting and Winning
By Dr. Russ Horine, President, Fight-Fast Direct, Inc.
Part 3
Dear Friend:
Glad you're back -- because I've got even MORE fight myths for
you. Now I don't want to give you the impression that
I'm obsessed with myths, or that fight-myths is what
this fight-course all that this is about, because it's
not.
To clarify my point, let me tell you a little story.
When the Americans took over the building of the Panama Canal
from the French, they did something that shocked many
people around the world -- they STOPPED all construction.
That's right. Because people who were working the canal were
dying by the thousands from Malaria. So the U.S. first
cleared the jungle, set up clean and comfortable worker
housing, and made every effort to first clear away the
mosquitoes. Only after that was acheived did the Americans
start work on the canal.
It's the same here. I'm simply clearing the jungle and tiding
up some things so that we can start teaching you how
to fight and win with a clean slate.
So here we go... onto Fight Myth #10:
10.
Bullies Are Social Deviants and Cowards:
On the contrary, recent studies suggest that the majority
of bullies are often socially popular
and often considered “successful” in life. They
typically are NOT outcasts, but in reality are often
confident and popular. Over the course of a year, statistics
show that 14% of boys have been a victim of bully threat
or attack. I suspect the true percentage is much higher
since there’s a good number that won’t raise their hand
and gladly volunteer this information. “Oh yes… I’ve
been humiliated. That’s me.”
You
get the picture. This 14% represents boys who admitted
being a victim.
Bullies
get much satisfaction by hurting and humiliating people
who don’t accept their dominance. They WILL fight when
challenged – so giving someone advice to “stand up to a bully” will almost certainly
mean a physical fight. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up to a bully, but it’s good to know what you’re in
for. In other words – never bluff with a bully. If you
stand up, you better be ready to fight. And bullies
usually have some fight experience.
11.
Diplomacy Works Best – It’s a nice thought,
but unfortunately your adversary is rarely a reasonable
person. First let me cover the three types of opponents
you’ll face and what motivates them – then maybe you’ll
understand where diplomacy will work – and where it
won’t.
a.
The Bully – We covered this a bit already,
but his primary motivation is to dominate you and prove
that he’s the “top-dog”. In other words, bullies pick
fights to either protect or improve their “perceived”
social standing. Submitting to a bully’s wishes can get you out of a fight, but if you’re
in a position where you need to demonstrate your own authority (a cop, a firefighter, a soldier leading men in combat,
etc), simply submitting to a bully may not be a good
option for you.
b.
The Predator – This is someone who’s not
necessarily looking for a fight, he’s looking for something
you’ve got. You have money… a car… a woman… something…
and he wants it. Or perhaps you’re caught up in the
random violence of a gang “initiation”. Stats show that
once you’re targeted by this guy, you won’t be able
to “reason” your way out of a fight. You’ve got two
choices: 1.) give him what he wants, or… 2.) fight.
If it’s your wallet, throw it one way and run the other.
If it’s your wife or girlfriend he wants… well… I suspect
you’ll want to fight. And I’ll cover some specifics
on that topic in a bit. The predator is the least likely
to be drawn into “diplomacy”.
c.
The “Emotionally Hijacked” – Also known
as a “badger”. This is the guy who explodes in anger
because you cut him off in traffic… dinged his car…
slighted him in front of his girlfriend… or told him
he couldn’t drink your last beer. It’s likely that more
than one person has suggested that he take on “anger
management” counseling (which he got angry about), as
his behavior often runs to extremes. The good news is
that the badger is one character who responds well to
specific “reasoning” methods. I cover those techniques
in great detail in my book.
12.
Your friends will back you up. Ha! I’m sad to say this is not true. We’d
all like to believe our buddies will back us up, but
research shows that they’re more likely to pick their
noses than pick a fight. In fact, crowd behavior studies
show that the more friends and bystanders are hanging
around, the less
likely it is that you’ll get help in a fight.
The
technical term for this is “dilution
of responsibility”, but I think they should change
that name to something less technical like: “I
thought someone else would take care of it”.
Now,
on the other hand, if you have just ONE friend and no
crowd of bystanders, you actually may get some help.
But the facts have shown over and over that individuals
inside a crowd are less likely to act.
A
“gang” mentality is different. They will back each other
up because it’s part of their “job”.
13.
Ignore them and they’ll go away: This
is a common tactic, especially with women who feel they’re
being followed. They simply put on the blinders and
hope for the best. “Oh goodness, I hope that bad man
goes away”. Bad tactic. Don’t ignore a predator you
suspect is “scoping” you. Believe it or not, your best
bet is to let him know that you ARE aware of him.
Look
at him directly. Watch him. Let him know you’re aware
of his presence. Once a predator suspects you know his
real intentions, it strips away much of the motivation
to attack since the element of surprise has been taken
away – and surprise is one of the predator’s most powerful
tools. He knows he can’t surprise you, and now you’re
perceived as less of an easy mark.
Of
course eyeballing a bully will have the opposite effect
and will probably result in the “what
are YOU looking at?” response. So this tactic is
to be used when you suspect a predator.
14.
Police are there to protect you: Now with
all due respect to law enforcement, they are not your personal body guards. They can’t be. Here are three reasons
we have cops.
a.
Deterrence – This is their main purpose. They patrol the streets and
convince less-than-stellar citizens that criminal activity
is a bad idea -- not because it’s wrong, but because
they might get caught. Deterrence depends on people’s
reluctance to take a chance. It’s like the store owner
(and this is a true story) who kept getting robbed and
ripped off, so he placed an obvious cardboard cutout
of police officer in a highly visible part of his store.
It completely eliminated the robberies and dramatically
reduced shoplifting. It worked not because anyone was
afraid of a cardboard cutout, but because it placed
a seed of doubt in the mind of the potential criminal.
b.
Mop up – Okay… this sounds lousy, but
much of a cop’s time is spent traveling to crime scenes,
talking with victims, writing up reports and “mopping
up” the blood. Now this has almost nothing to do with preventing crimes, except
for the fact that good police work can eventually lead
to getting specific criminals off the streets.
c.
Apprehension – Here’s where cops earn
their paycheck. It takes guts to put your ass on the
line and hunt down a dangerous criminal. Most of us
avoid this kind of confrontation, but cops purposely
put themselves into it. In reality the mop-up and apprehension
are both just another form of deterrence. The idea that
a cop will investigate and try to catch them is a powerful
reason many people don’t get involved in crime.
Most
people are shocked to discover that the police do not
have the ability (nor the
legal obligation) to protect individuals. Existing by
the simpleton motto of “let
the cops handle it” is a risky way to live. The
harsh reality is that YOU are responsible for your own
protection -- and for that of your loved ones – not
the cops.
15.
All You Need Is One (Or Two) Fighting Techniques
– This is a common theory that has some truth to
it. But I want to dispel the foolish notion that knowing
less is better
than knowing more. This
just isn’t true. Because following this kind of
logic would indicate that, for example, you’d be better
off using an uneducated bag-lady as your investment
broker than a guy with a Master’s Degree in Finance. I’d put my money on the Master’s degree – but
that’s just me.
Well,
the same is true with fighting techniques. You’re better
off knowing more
than less, as it gives you the flexibility of using
multiple methods to attack specific targets. Remember… one of the most crucial keys
to fighting and winning is proper target
acquisition. In other words, you’ll be far more
effective with a crudely executed, but accurate, kick
to your opponent’s nut-sack than you’d be with a really
pretty roundhouse kick that missed the mark.
Okay…
maybe it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but I’m
not. Stay with me here.
Because
the reason that many “store front” martial artists and
“dojo educated” fighters LOSE against an experienced
street fighter is that, in the heat of battle, they
are trying to use and remember specific MOVES (typically
complex fine motor skill techniques) rather than targeting.
They should be viewing their opponent as a group of
vulnerable targets, and then
take advantage of the most exposed targets as quickly
as possible by any means necessary (something called Target
Awareness).
Many
make the huge mistake of thinking about technique before
target. They display their “swooning crane” technique
and a couple seconds later, the experienced streetfighter has them demonstrating the “unconscious crane”
technique.
On
the other hand, a completely inexperienced fighter will
typically have 1 or 2 moves. They are:
a.
Right hand “haymaker”
b.
Left hand “haymaker”
C’mon…
you can do better than that.
In fact, I’ve got over 70 titles that’ll quickly show
you tons of moves and sneaky “dirty trick” attacks.
Your adversary won’t know what hit him.
Because,
after countless interviews with some of the most dangerous
fighters on the planet, I discovered that ALL these
fighters were very quick to see open targets, (or to
make them open), then utilize any one of an arsenal
of techniques to attack those open targets. Having
more fighting tools simply allows a fighter to more
quickly exploit “open” targets.
So it comes down to this.
a.
You must have more than 1-2 techniques. You
want at least a few dozen ways to attack your adversary’s
targets…
b.
You need to have at least a handful of techniques for
each of the “four ranges” of fighting, including:
a.
Long Range –
pick up on 3 good long kicks. Like I said, we’ve got
an arsenal of kicks to choose from – use the ones that
fits you best.
b.
Medium range
– choose 3 good punches and short kicks and learn the
ear slap, eye jab, and the palm in the face. These simple
techniques can (and often do) end the fight in a couple
of seconds, but you should never
count on it. For instance, I’ve personally seen
a fight where the guys’ eyeball was hanging from his
head and he still
kept fighting. Drugs, alcohol, and just plain insanity
can mean that you’ll have to keep going to end it. (This
brings up another important point… you NEVER want to
stand back and “evaluate” how the fight’s going).
c.
Close Range –
This is where you’ll be able to end it. There are a
lot of vicious and devastating techniques I can show
you in this range, including specialized knees shots,
wicked elbow strikes, and fight-ending headbutts.
Experienced fighters typically use special tactics to
get in close, and then use one of these brutal techniques
to end it. It’s lights out, game over.
d.
Grappling
– Yes, I said that research shows that most fights don’t
go to the ground unless you’re in a “contain, control,
comply” mode. But it does happen, so you need to have some aces up your sleeve. We’ve got
a number of excellent ground fighting dvds.
16.
All Military Fight Systems Can Be Trusted.
Let me tell you a “dirty little secret” about some military
combat systems being sold today. Recently there’s been
a rash of “experts” who’ve “trained” the military in
their secret system.
Here’s the scoop. They’ve offered a few
military guys some free training in their system. That’s it. Free seminars or workshops to military
personnel is almost always a marketing ploy and
a “resume building” exercise. They can now turn around and advertise
that their system is used by “military experts”. Keep
your eyes open for this nonsense. Just because someone
trained military people does NOT make it special.
Another
thing, most soldiers will admit that much of the hand
to hand stuff is absolutely worthless to them because 100% of their
job is to fight at a distance using hi-tech weaponry
-- NOT hand-to-hand systems.
This
is exactly why I’ve personally sought out special
military units that indeed depend heavily on hand-to-hand
fighting.
And believe me, these guys exist. I even
got some of them to talk. They sneak around behind enemy
lines quietly “taking care of business” without firing
weapons and drawing a bunch of attention to themselves.
Real live bad-asses that’d make Rambo look like a pussy.
17.
Sport Fighting Is Just Like Personal Combat.
Many think that a trained boxer, cage fighter, Mixed
Martial Artist, or kickboxer is the same as being a trained street fighter.
Not true. Let me ask… who do YOU think would win a spontaneous
street fight -- a champion
MMA fighter or some
ex-con street-brawler raised in the toughest area of east LA?
I’d put my money on the ex-con. Because as brutal as it may appear, an MMA fight really IS different
than a street fight.
First,
a pay-per-view “cage” fight (also called a mixed-martial-arts
or MMA fight) is about making money for the promoters.
They can’t allow
every fight to be over within 3-8 seconds. They’d lose
their audience -- and advertisers -- fast.
So, in an MMA fight there’s no quick “fight ending”
moves allowed -- which is what a street fight is ALL
about.
Also,
promoters have got to take some effort to protect
the fighters. They wouldn’t be “sanctioned” for
long with a continuous stream of dead bodies being hauled
out of the ring.
So, here’s 16 moves
that are outlawed in most sanctioned MMA fights
-- but used in most street fights:
a.
Eye gouging.
b.
Groin strikes (the ever popular “sack-attack”)
c.
Throat strikes (which can easily be lethal).
d.
Grabbing the trachea
e.
Biting (alright… Tyson DID try
this once).
f.
Clawing, twisting, or pinching the flesh.
g.
Stomping, kneeing or kicking a grounded opponent.
h.
Strikes to spine or back of head (also easily lethal).
i.
Striking downward, using the point of the elbow.
j.
Head butt (think of a “bowling ball in the face”).
k.
Hair pulling.
l.
Kicking the kidney with the heel.
m.
Grabbing the clavicle
n.
Small joint manipulations (such as fingers)
o.
Weapons and improvised weapons.
p.
Multiple attackers (except in WWF).
---------------
“I dislike death; however there are some things
I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times
when I will not avoid danger.”
– Mencius
----------------
Okay,
like I said, maybe there are some exceptions to this
in “World Wrestling” situations. I mean they DO use
folding chairs and multiple attackers while the ref
“isn’t looking”.
But
seriously… what wins a “match-fight”
is strength, size, speed, endurance, and skill. In “personal
combat” or street fighting, it’s the use of deception, distraction, disruption and destruction
(the four Ds) that wins.
Think about this. When Mike Tyson went
to prison – they separated him from the general prison
population for his own protection. Why? I mean bad-ass
Mike Tyson was the most feared Heavy Weight boxer at
the time – what did he have to worry about? Well, even
Tyson knew that the fight rules in prison were different
than in the ring. In fact, just like on the streets,
there are NO rules. Anything goes, and you’ve got to
be resourceful to survive.
Now
granted, some skinny little con would have little chance
at beating Tyson in the ring under existing boxing rules.
But a sport fighter who doesn’t understand the big “Four
Ds” is at a serious disadvantage in any street fight.
This is why size, strength, and endurance are not
huge factors in a street fight – it’s about your
skills in the Four Ds.
Sure feels
good to get some of that off my chest.
In my next
installment I won't be covering anything more about
myths -- but instead I’ll get into some real meat and
potatoes on what WINS a street fight.
Keep your
eyes open for that – it’ll be coming your way soon.
See you then.
Regards,
Dr.
Russ Horine
Prez,
Fight-Fast, Inc.
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving
peace.”
-- George
Washington
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