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Martial Arts and Self-Defense Blog by Wim Demeere | Techniques, Books, Podcasts

5th and washington street fight

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Here’s the infamous “5th and washington street fight” that’s been making the rounds on the Internet. Props to Clint for pointing it out.  Take a look first and then I’ll discuss it a bit:

https://youtu.be/gea-o7IRsi4

As you can see, Mr. 5th-W makes all sorts of mistakes. Let’s line them up:

  1. He gives his back and walks away from the boxer to take his shirt off. He could have been sucker-punched right there.
  2. He does the typical chest-out-chin-forward-hands-low huffing and puffing of inexperienced fighters. The boxer has nothing but available targets; he could have picked his shots at random and they’d all have landed.
  3. He gets stuck in a predictable pattern in his footwork: step forward-step back, step forward-step back. Makes it super easy for the boxer to get his timing right to throw the jab-cross combination.
  4. When the boxer puts up his guard, he’s so stuck in his play of intimidation that he walks right into that jab. It’s not like he couldn’t see the boxer was getting ready to strike; his fists were clearly up and in a fighting stance.

For those who might think a chorus of “Hail the conquering hero” is in order, I’m going to have to disappoint you. The boxer does a lot of things right but he makes a few horrible mistakes too. First, let’s look at the good stuff:

  1. He stays calm under pressure. When Mr. 5th-W gets in his face, he keeps his cool.
  2. He waits for a good opportunity before he makes a move.
  3. Instead of puffing his chest like Mr. 5th-W, he takes a de-escalation stance and waits for his moment.
  4. He sets up his opponent well. He lets Mr. 5th-W step forward a few times and seems to spot the forward-backward footwork pattern. Then he tests the distance twice with a lead hand push, which tells him how to throw his jab. You saw the results; it worked just fine.
  5. His timing is perfect. The jab lands just as Mr. 5th-W steps forward.

 

But unfortunately, he also messes up big time and turns a self-defense situation into assault. Here’s what went wrong: [Read more…]

From the Octagon to the Street, Part 3

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It’s been a while since I wrote part two of From the Octagon to the Street and I hadn’t planned on writing another part. But I just saw a video video at Tactical Arnis that perfectly illustrates the points I’ve been making.

What’s it about? Dana White and a couple UFC fighters do some training at the Martial Arts Center of Excellence, including hand-to-hand combat with knives, sticks, rifles and other weapons.

 

The fun starts at 3min50 where they have to do a drill called “Last of the Mohicans”. Watch that one first and then read a few of my thoughts on it here below:

  • The instructor clearly said anything goes. They were allowed to do everything they wanted, including all the techniques that are fouls in the Octagon. This is a key issue, we’ll come back to it.
  • Every single one of them gets owned as soon as they make contact with the Marines. Now I know there’s some fancy editing to make it look cool but you clearly see every single UFC fighter would have died in a real fight.
  • The first one actually freezes when the first baton strike lands. Do you think he’s not familiar with adrenal stress after fighting many times in the UFC? And where was his takedown defense when the marine swept him with classic footsweep you see in all those stupid traditional martial arts but rarely in the Octagon?
  • Every UFC fighter who faced multiple opponents made terrible tactical choices: either they used no footwork at all, didn’t even try to keep the attackers lined up instead of letting them get to the flank and one of them even gave his back voluntarily (and promptly got stabbed in it)
  • When they were dumped on the floor, their defense sucked. Big time. Just look at what happens every time one of them is dropped on the ground and the sticks and rifles keep landing on their head.

 

Now I’m being a bit harsh on the UFC guys, I know, but I’m trying to emphasize a point so bear with me. Here are some more thoughts for you to consider: [Read more…]

Dan Inosanto and the Tueller drill

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I heard of this a long time ago but never saw the actual video. So I’m glad to finally see Dan Inosanto wielding a knife on police officers to illustrate the lessons from the Tueller drill. Props to TDA Training for the find.

A lot has been said about the Tueller drill already so I won’t rehash it all here. Just some thoughts:

  • If you’d like some more background, here’s an interview with Sergeant Dennis Tueller on his drill back then and his thoughts on it now:

  • I like what he said about movement, looking for cover, obstacles, etc. These are all concepts you consistently find in traditional martial arts that have kept their original knowledge. Nil novi sub sole, I guess.
  • When you look at Dan Inosanto in the clip, notice how he sticks his hand in his pocket to take out the knife. That should be your cue to act. Every time a hand goes out of sight or you can’t see what’s in it, you should expect it to either hold or go for a weapon.
  • A key issue many people seem to miss is that the Tueller Drill points out the importance of controlling the distance when you’re close and not only when you want to stay at 21 feet or more. Either you have to be far enough to react with a fight-stopping response (i.e. shoot the guy) or you have to be close enough to stop him from getting his knife out. It’s this being close part that people tend to overlook. There’s more to it than meets the eye but it can work very well. More on that another time.
  • Notice how smoothly Mr. Inosanto goes from rushing the LEO to recognizing the target as it opens up and slashing the officer’s exposed throat cleanly. Doing that as you’re sprinting forward at full speed is not as easy as he makes it look.
Dan Inosanto Tueller Drill
Dan Inosanto shows a police officer what a knife can do in under two seconds…

A lot of bullshit has been said about knives in general and the Tueller drill in particular. I usually don’t comment all that much because this is a topic that brings the keyboard warriors out of the woodwork. But it was cool to finally see this video with Dan Inosanto after having heard of it for so long.

Big kid gets bullied one too many times, Part Three

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Here’s a video interview with Casey Heynes, giving his part of the story of how he was bullied:

Some key points here:

  • The bullying had been going on for years.
  • His bully in the video, Richard Gale, had been targeting him for weeks already before the incident.
  • Casey didn’ t retaliate or fight back prior to this.

The question I want to ask all those “Violence never solves anything!” advocates is this:

How far should Casey have let things go before he was “justified” in fighting back?

Should he have let himself be bullied for years first? Check.

Should he have let it devolve to the point of physical violence? Check.

Should he have let it get to where they tie him up to induce psychological torture (if you haven’t been tied up against your will before as a child, shut up before you say something stupid…)? Check.

So what else should he have allowed to happen to him before you think he was justified in putting an end to the bullying?

The school, the parents or other children sure didn’t stop the bullies. So the only person who could do something was Casey himself. And he did. Which I applaud him for. It takes a lot of guts to finally fight back, especially if you’ve been victimized for years. Here’s hoping this incident and the wave of sympathy he’s getting now serves him as an important life lesson: nobody will stand up for you if you don’t stand up for yourself first.

A quick note to the ‘violence is always wrong.” crowd: my question was rhetorical, no need to respond. You wouldn’t understand anyway.

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Big kid gets bullied one too many times, Part Two

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Here’s an update on the post I did on the big kid getting bullied. Turns out the video went viral and the news got interested:

First of, kuddos to the bully’s mother for saying her boy did wrong and deserved what he got. As a parent, this is real hard because your children are your blood. It’s hard to see the bad in them. So the mom deserves credit for saying so. She may have been doing her best to raise her children well and as all parents know, it’s not as easy as it may look from the outside. Sometimes, you fail even though you did everything you could.

She says he’s being punished dis-proportionally now because the video is all over the web, that her boy is only a child. I understand that’s how she feels but disagree. Here’s why: [Read more…]

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