with this is that the students can’t practice escaping. That said, as a way to isolate close-range skills it’s superb.
When you keep your sparring close there are a few things you will learn. One is that blocking becomes almost impossible. There simply isn’t the time or room to react. This is a really useful learning experience as it brings home the importance of being pre-emptive and proactive in the street.
Another characteristic of close-range fighting is that it becomes very important to keep both hands active. They should be either attacking the opponent or setting him up so he can be attacked (i.e. setting datums and removing obstructions).
Keeping the sparring close is a great way to learn about what is required for the street. So to make your sparring realistic it’s important to start close and stay close.
Don’t bring trained responses into the mix
One of the most important things for martial artists to appreciate is that when training for the street trained responses are not a factor. As martial artists we get trained to respond in certain ways to specific stimuli, i.e. when the opponent does motion A; you are trained to respond with motion B. When two martial artists meet these trained responses are invariably exploited: martial artist 1 will move in such a way that it looks to martial artist 2 as if he is attacking with motion A. Martial artist 2 counters with motion B, just as martial artist 1 hoped he would. By responding with motion B, martial artist 2 makes himself vulnerable to motion C; which was martial artists 1’s true intention. He attacked with motion A to illicit a response which would set things up for motion C.
In a street fight, you can’t use trained responses in the same way; hence you need to do your best to eliminate such practices from your street sparring.
Why trained responses fail
Trained responses aren’t relevant in the street for two key reasons:
Your opponent is highly unlikely to be trained in the same martial discipline as you are and hence won’t react as predicted. But what if he is a martial artist, I hear you cry.The street is so very different that even if your attacker is a trained martial artist he won’t fight like he does in the dojo or competitive environment. Street fights are far faster, more emotional, and more chaotic than martial bouts.
Observe two world-standard martial artists fight and count the average number of techniques thrown in a 15-second period. You’ll notice that most of the time is spent moving around and playing for position. The overall rate of exchange is actually pretty low. Certainly they are likely to be some blindingly fast exchanges, but they are often very short in duration. The ones that last that little bit longer are the ones when a combatant becomes injured or disorientated and the other moves in for a win.
However, a street fight is consistently frantic. It starts fast, stays fast and finishes fast. There is no time for trained responses. Indeed there is no time for responses of any sort.
In addition to being faster, a street fight is also more emotional. The intense nature of a street situation means that neither you nor your opponent will be best placed to process the information that exploiting trained responses demands. So in the unlikely event that you do meet another martial artist in a street situation, it still won’t be like a dojo or competitive situation.
A good illustration of this is the fight that broke out at the Tyson/Lewis press conference in the run-up to their long awaited bout. There we had the two best heavyweight boxers at the time, but when it kicked off for real the resulting exchange was nothing like a boxing match. It was a “street fight,” and was hence faster and more emotional.
Trained responses aren’t a part of a street fight and hence they shouldn’t be part of your street sparring. The difficulty of course is that you will be training with other martial artists so it initially takes some discipline not to engage in “game play.” The instant you do start trying to illicit trained responses, you’re no longer sparring realistically. In a real fight you need to keep things simple and direct. So practice keeping it simple and direct in your sparring.
Escape: Don’t stay and fight!
At the very beginning of this discussion we said that a fight is what happens when self-protection goes bad. Real fights are thoroughly unpleasant affairs that can have severe medical, emotional and legal consequences. If you therefore get the opportunity to stop fighting and run you should take it without hesitation. Many a wannabe tough guy will frown on the idea of fleeing a fight, but the smart and experienced people who have “been there” will always advise flight over fight. The true warrior doesn’t risk his life and liberty over his ego. He always does the smart thing.
Real life isn’t a kung fu movie
I recently received an email from a martial artist who a few days previously had been approached by two men armed with knives. He quickly assessed the situation and ran away. In his email he said that he was disappointed with himself because all he could think to do was run. He asked what martial techniques he could have applied in that situation. My advice was that he shouldn’t feel bad as he had dealt with the situation perfectly. His awareness was such that he had spotted the situation early enough to allow escape, and he had the presence of mind to act in what was undoubtedly the right way.
Fight two armed men and at best you’re going to have some pretty big medical bills. Because he had run away, he didn’t even get scratched. I’m certain that anyone who understands the street would advise nothing but running in that situation. Putting distance between yourself and a dangerous situation keeps you safe and ensures you’re able to spend your time on the fun things in life. So for your sparring to be street smart, you need to practice running away.
Fleeing is more than just running
Fleeing a fight is not as straight forward as just turning tail and running. If there is a sufficient gap between you and any would be assailant, you can do just that (again, this emphasizes the importance of awareness). However, if the assailant is close enough to strike you, or the situation has degenerated into a fight, you need confusion and distance. If you don’t have confusion and distance when you begin running, you will be giving the opponent your back. Bad things can occur when you do that.
If you have managed to incapacitate the opponent, even for a moment, then in that moment of confusion and disorientation you should flee. Because the opponent won’t be able to immediately react, you have the chance to generate sufficient distance to allow a successful escape. When a gap appears in the street, your self-protection training should have conditioned you to make it bigger. Much bigger! You should not be thinking of closing the gap and continuing the fight.
A great way to practice fleeing in training is to make part of your dojo a “safe zone.” Your aim is to reach this safe zone while your partner (or partners) prevents you from doing so. The full range of martial techniques are allowed, but if a gap is created (they rarely appear on their own) the aim is to extend it and make it to the safe zone.
Another good way to practice escaping is to have two people at either end of the dojo, while the person practicing fleeing is in the middle. The middle person will run towards the first person and they start sparring (using both grappling and striking). As soon as the fighting begins, the person who started in the middle must break contact and create a gap. He then runs to the other end and repeats the process. This drill is a great way to develop the skills needed to create a gap, and engrain the habit of running when you have the opportunity. It’s also one fantastic workout.
Running away is the smart and practical thing to do whenever
