heart, willingness, and élan to name a few—but what they all allude to is fighting spirit, the will to win, or, in some cases, sheer desperation.
The adage that, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” may be a bit trite, but it is true. A skilled fighter can be beaten by a drunk brawler who just keeps throwing haymakers; a determined assailant can be driven off by a small, weak person who refuses to give up.
That said, will power alone does not guarantee success. Rather, it makes it possible. Without that will to struggle on and keep fighting, to risk taking painful blows or possibly being seriously hurt, it is not possible to defeat any but the most feeble opponent. Lack of will, or fighting spirit, can rob a fighter of a win in another way too; they may be unwilling to do what is necessary to complete the victory.
Someone who is winning has less at stake than their opponent. For example, a fighter who has a dominant position and is struggling to apply a submission, or an assailant who is hoping to deliver a beating, has less incentive to keep going in the face of determined resistance than their disadvantaged opponent. The aggressor in a street assault has the choice of being able to break off any time they like. The defender often does not have this luxury. Likewise, someone trying to resist a submission does not have the option just to let go, but a fighter who is trying to apply one does.
Many factors combine to create an effective fighter, but high on the list is a combination of good coaching and hours spent on the mat, learning what works and struggling through when everything goes wrong.
If the defender is struggling hard and causing pain, he may cause an insufficiently determined opponent to back off. A given amount of pain may be entirely ignored when a fighter’s attention is focused on getting a choke off his throat, because there is a more urgent concern. However, it requires rather more determination to accept the same amount of pain when it is less necessary. A fighter who chooses to relinquish his submission attempt loses little if he retains a dominant position. He is still winning, so may choose to find a different avenue of attack if the present one is costing him too much.
This factor is equally important to sporting and self-defense fighters. On the street, an assailant may decide that you are too much trouble. In the ring, it is sometimes possible to get out of a desperate situation by making the price tag for finishing you off a bit too high. Conversely, it is possible to lose a fight because you were not willing to accept the price of finishing it. An effective fighter weighs up the costs and the potential gains of his options—usually in a split second—and acts accordingly. He is willing to pay an affordable price to obtain a submission, but will not expose himself to the risk of unnecessary damage.
This ability to make rational decisions mid-fight is another hallmark of the effective fighter. It is possible to win by blindly bulling through, a method that works well enough for many aggressive drunks. However, a skilled fighter can exploit an opponent who over-commits to the attack, and a tough one can often win simply by surviving long enough for the attacker to tire himself out with his constant assault.
It is essential to have the mental strength to deal with setbacks and the patience to get the opponent under control, even while he’s hurting you. Then you can start working to improve your position, which might be a long and painful process.
A more rational opponent chooses his moment and makes the most of his opportunities with appropriate techniques. If a given avenue of attack is not working, he switches to another. He may set up a chosen attack by doing something else, for example throwing punches at the head to draw the opponent’s attention upwards before launching a low takedown. If he spots that his opponent has a habit of doing a certain thing, he will find a way to exploit it.
The will to fight and win, and the ability to think quickly even under the stress of combat, can be summed up as the ability to function in the fight environment. Without this, there is a tendency to either fold up under pressure or to resort to blind, repetitive attacks, which may not be the best option under the circumstances. A fighter who can function effectively in combat can make the most of the tools at his disposal—but he still needs to have some.
Everyone has some combat “tools” of course. Kicking, screaming, biting, and scratching can be enough to deter or drive off an attacker, and an instinctive haymaker punch can drop him in his tracks. However, better tools are more effective. It goes without saying that well set up takedowns, properly executed punches that deliver maximum force and submissions applied from a strong position are far more likely to succeed than desperate flailing.
It is better to have a small selection of “tools,” i.e. techniques, that are simple and easy to use, and to practice them until they can be delivered effectively under various circumstances, than to collect dozens of complex and impressive techniques that may or may not be much use. There is nothing wrong with knowing a dozen clever variations on the guillotine choke, but it is more important to have a basic, vanilla-flavor version that can be quickly applied when the opportunity arises.
Vast technical knowledge is an advantage of course, but application is far more important. The choke you apply may not be the best possible version but once it is on the opponent has to deal with it. That benefits you more than trying for a technically impressive variant and perhaps failing to achieve anything at all.
There are other advantages that a fighter can have. These include a superior understanding of tactics, better fitness, and of course size and strength. However, none of it matters if the fighter fails at the first hurdle—the ability to function in a fight environment. Adequate training will provide skills and improved fitness, probably along with a reasonable understanding of tactics. Good training, on the other hand, will tie it all together into a highly effective package and enable the fighter to keep his head under pressure. This in turn enables him to make best use of the advantages he possesses.
In summary, what makes a fighter effective is the possession of workable techniques and the physical ability to use them, the fitness to keep fighting long enough to win, and sufficient familiarity with what might happen to choose a suitable response to any given situation, all tied together by the ability to keep evaluating the situation and formulating strategy accordingly. Driven by a strong will to win, this package is formidable indeed.
It is, however, a package, and must be developed as one. Simply improving fitness or developing technical skill in isolation may not be enough. An understanding of tactics is only valid if the fighter is able to think rationally in combat and make use of his knowledge; otherwise it will only be useful for figuring out why defeat occurred. The goal that should underpin all forms of training is the creation of an effective fighter rather than the development of a single asset or technique.
No amount of fighting skills are worth anything unless you are willing to use them to harm someone. Some people find that harder than others, so an important part of your training is to build that willingness to fight and win.
CHAPTER 2
Functioning in the
Fight Environment
The Fight Environment
The “fight environment” is a term used to refer to the various factors surrounding a physical confrontation. These factors are partly physical, partly psychological, and party environmental. An understanding of the fight environment is necessary for any serious attempt at preparation, and helps avoid unnecessarily
