Only with actual fighting experience you will fear no man

Over the years I have seen a lot of guys get their ass kicked regardless of experience in the ring, dojo, training and even real world street fighting… One of the most memorable ass kicking’s I ever witnessed was back in the day at a house party in the Middle East [house parties within the Expat community are pretty common in the Middle East].

Like all fights this one ended up starting when one guy from our group and a guy from another group ended up trading words over something stupid and a fight followed. The fight itself was not really that much of a surprise [Booze + Security Contractors in their 20’s + confined space = Fight sooner or later].

It was the fact that my boy was ex-military and a pretty experienced competition fighter and he didn’t last 3 seconds before we had to drag this little British dude off of his pummeled face.

So why did he lose?

I saw the reason about one second before the fight started.

Fear.

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Its all fun and games until you get your ass beat

So there I was balled up on the ground bleeding like a stuck pig and getting repeatedly kicked in the head. The last thing I remember thinking before getting knocked out was “how the fuck did this little guy kick my ass? – I didn’t even get a single punch in, how embarrassing”

A little while later, I woke up in my buddy’s car on the way to the hospital feeling like I was hit by a rhino. I had a tooth knocked out, 2 cracked ribs, broken nose and a gash above my eye that has left a scar to this day.

Even better was the fact I didn’t have health insurance at the time, so I spent the next 8 months hustling EP jobs to pay off 7 grand in medical bills. I also looked so bad the following two weeks that kids would point at me like I was some sort of sideshow freak.

So how the hell did I – a highly experienced H2H fighter and trained PSD Agent who had been in tons of fights get pounded on by a dude that was half my size?

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Good night

“90% of all fights end up on the ground”

~ MMA Practitioners

“90% of all fights end up on the ground because 90% of people don’t know how to properly punch someone so they end the fight on their feet”

~ My Boxing Coach

Since the dawn of time, when man first beat another man’s ass into the ground no other fighting technique has been studied and analyzed to near level of perfection that boxing has. Sure there are many other great Martial Arts out there, but none have been scientifically refined into the pure brutality that Boxing is.

I am by no means saying a boxer can beat any other martial artist’s ass on the street 100% of the time, such internet arguments [“MMA is better than Kali”] are gay. I am simply pointing out the substantial advantages of boxing from the point of view of someone that has been in, or witnessed a substantial amount of H2H fights in a non sport environment.

And really when it comes down to it, no matter how skilled you are in any martial art – in a real fight [be it with firearms or fists], as in all warrior skills, victory will come down to the individual warrior having the heart and killer instinct to stand victorious over his adversaries.

Now let’s jump right into some of the reasons why Boxing is the best fighting style [in my opinion]:

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Wow – your dojo must be proud of you

I was having lunch at the chow hall with some of my boys the other day when one of the new guys sat down and joined us. As usual with all new guys we made fun of him for a little while then interrogated him about his background listening carefully for any BS.

Anyway the kid ended up being a good dude that took it all in stride and yapped about his background and hobbies. As with most guys in this line of work the subject of past/current Martial Arts training will eventually come up. Well this dude mentioned that he had been training in some sort of Kung Fu since he was a kid.

Well that opened the flood gates of “Kung Fu is worthless on the streets” to the inevitable “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the best Martial Art in the entire galaxy” to my response of “Who gives a shit, you guys sound like a bunch of nerds arguing about Star Wars VS Star Trek”, then Laughter…

The above (and my rant below) is why I haven’t stepped a foot in a dojo in over 10 years, all of the childish chest thumping about this Martial Art VS that Martial Art is gay. Back in the day when I first started training in Martial Arts it was about learning something that was new and challenging (and cool) that people had been teaching for centuries.

It didn’t matter if Ninjawondo was suitable for a street fight in South Central LA or would get you laid in a bar – it was about the process of learning and mastering something to the point of near perfection. It was almost (without sounding like a hippie) a spiritual experience, and exactly what I needed as an undisciplined young man.

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Heads up beoch!

I got an email from a buddy of mine that I have known since way-way back in the day, about a fight he got in my old stomping grounds back in D.C. I met this dude at a martial arts class (that our parents were making us take) when I was like 13 and somehow over the years we have managed to keep in touch, one of my Old School boys.

Anyway, he was telling me about this fight he jumped into when one of his buddies was getting his ass stomped like a mo-fo by a steroided up douchebag outside of an Applebee’s. The reason behind the fight was a long-ass boring story that’s not even remotely interesting at all, let’s just say his buddy had been having problems with this guy for years – over a girl of course.

The fight started off pretty mundane, just two idiots trading fists in a parking lot over some broad. And besides his friend getting his ass handed to him, it was just a normal fight until the big dude kept pounding his buddy way after the fight should have been over.

So he started yelling at the big guy “ok dude, he has had enough, just walk away man, you won” – gorilla boy wasn’t even paying attention to him so he kept beating his buddy’s near unconscious body into the pavement.

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That might leave a mark

I bought this DVD a few years ago after watching the movie “The Hunted”, it had the greatest knife fighting scenes that I have ever watched in a Hollywood movie. I was fascinated by the way Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro moved while knife fighting – it was almost hypnotizing.

From the movie commentary I found out that Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro were taught knife fighting by Tom Kier and Rafael Kayanan, 2 Sayoc Kali instructors from Sayoc Global, LLC.

Sayoc Kali is a specific type of Filipino martial arts that focuses on knife fighting and is a part of the Sayoc Fighting System that includes fighting with the sword, stick, tomahawk, karambit and whip.

After going over the Sayoc Kali 90’s era website I decided to pick up the Sayoc Karambit DVD. I have been a fan of the karambit ever since I started traveling to Indonesia on a regular basis, I also own several karambit’s but I had never learned how to properly use one.

I am not the biggest fan of learning fighting skills by video but I do think knife fighting is one of the few skills that can be somewhat picked by using video as a training tool. And considering that I spend so much time working and traveling overseas watching videos is one of the only ways I can check out or learn new skills.

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Two female Israeli soldiers training in Krav Maga
(keep your mind out of the gutter!)

It is an understatement that mixed martial arts has dominated the conversation where martial arts are concerned over the past five years.

Schools have been popping up everywhere emphasizing instruction in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Thai Boxing, and Boxing, the most notable arts making up most the arsenal used by mixed martial arts practitioners and fighters.

But UFC, Strikeforce, and Bellator contracts are few and far between.  For most people, the primary aim of martial arts training remains the ability to defend one’s self.

MMA training sometimes misses the mark when we get down to where the rubber meets the road martial arts wise:  neutralizing a threatening situation effectively, then getting the hell out of Dodge!

Enter Krav Maga.

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I’m blinddddd!!!

Throwing sand (or anything else) in someone’s face may seem like a comical H2H move but it is an effective technique that I have employed on many occasions. Using an object thrown in a persons face to distract them for a follow-up offensive strike has been a documented fighting move as far back as 1898 in England (Bartitsu).

It is an involuntary reaction to close your eyes and shield your face when something is thrown towards or in your face. Some folks will recover faster than others, but generally speaking it will give you a quick moment to exploit where your opponent will be distracted.

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The sucker punch has no political affiliation

The Sucker Punch surely has to be one of the oldest H2H fighting moves, I can just imagine a cave man pointing over the shoulder of another cave man and yelling “Tyrannosaurus Rex” then clocking him over the head with a club.

Out of all the H2H fighting techniques this is also one of my favorites and most used, it is also funny and makes me laugh every time I use it. Now you may be thinking “no way I would fall for that” – Ha! I can pretty much guarantee that you will, it is an uncontrollable reaction to look when someone yells and points over your shoulder.

You may not totally turn around, but you will surely take a peek, and that’s when I kick you in the nuts 48 times.

How to Properly Sucker Punch Someone:

- Get close enough to strike your adversary, but not too close
- Think of something to say (see list below) like “Godzilla”
- Suddenly point over your adversaries shoulder and scream it
- Punch him in the face
- Kick him in the balls
- Kick him in the balls
- Kick him in the balls

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