Self Defense Doesn’t come from Sports

[Anonymous]

Log onto ANY reality self defense forum and you will see the sports vs. reality argument.

Let’s just suffice to say that it’s been beaten to DEATH. But the point that most everyone misses is the most simple.

First, tough fighters are tough fighters and a knock out in the ring is as good as a knock out in the street any day and twice on Sunday. The issue isn’t the fighter its the system. If you are going to train specifically for close quarters combat then there is a specific fundamental reason sports for self defense (wrestling, bjj, judo, boxing, mma) are vulnerable.

Sports were derived from close combat. They are limited and at the end of the day, designed for safety (no one getting killed) They were derived from close quarters combat and had to be changed drastically. Judo is an interpretation of Judo with it’s own design and purpose. Everything else after that followed suit and the rest is history.

Techniques were taken from combat and modified so people wouldn’t kill each other. Tactics changed completely when rules and venues were introduced.

The problem is that fundamentally these systems are vulnerable when they are “reintroduced into the wild.” Most system simply adapt sport techniques to the street. They add gouges and tears to help fill in the gaps but they still tactically fall short.

Sport techniques require skill, depend on timing, creating openings and are based on attack and counter principles.

These fundamental differences do not translate at all into the real world. A sense of urgency and the affects of adrenaline will not allow you to perform any of the above techniques. Hey, if you’ve spent years boxing, wrestling or MMA, you will only use 3 or 4 techniques GUARANTEED!!!!

Hopefully you will get the drop on someone and maybe they will not have a clue how to handle his business, personally I could be teaching MMA as self defense – I’m sure qualified. The fact is I don’t because it’s not the answer we are looking for.

[Damian (Instructor)]

Could we go more into what’s missing from these sports to being more functional on the street?

Is it just the removed techniques that were more dangerous or was there more involved?

Thanks.

[Damian (Instructor)]

The techniques are the easy part. What is missing is what you don’t see, the tactics.

Consider that you’re adrenalin in the real world does some strange things: from tunnel vision to literally blacking out. In sport you know the time and the place, most importantly that the guy across the ring has no intention of killing you. There is a pretty good chance you won’t get stabbed and his friends won’t jump in. That being said:

Urgency.
self defense conflicts must be ended as quickly as possible. In sport we have time to feel out opponent out, take you’re time and look for an opening. In self defense you really don’t have time to jockey for position, and use subtle moves to create openings. One mistake and it is very hard to recover.

Sports are technique and counter oriented.
In the context of sports you can provide counter techniques. As your level of experience increases, you will be able to react accordingly. Self defense only allows you to counter with position and distance and a handful of techniques, NOT the attack specific defense found in all of the self defense world. Self defense requires you to apply only a handful of techniques and tactics to any situation. These techniques demand that they must be gross motor skills, large movements that take advantage of your burst of energy and allow you focus that into your target.

Complex response to violent assaults don’t work, while in the ring, they are completely plausible and can be trained in that complex. This is why the right self defense training doesn’t take years, only weeks and months for the average person.

Sports are only symbolic of of combat. As the sport develops we get farther away. Of course a punch is a punch and a kick is a kick but if you want to train for self defense, do you want to spend your time learning an armbar (which we spent an hour and a half working on Saturday). Or do you want to learn 2 techniques that when combined with the right tactics you could do proficiently in a few days?

[Author]

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