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Permalink Reply by Dr. Remedios Sy on February 5, 2012 at 1:27am

Point taken. That is why I professed that it DEPENDS on the individual who is holding a bladed weapon. In analogy, if a child is holding a knife, can we not disarm that child? Or say, a woman who is holding the same to scare off an attacker? There is no such thing as a superior martial art. Only a superior individual. Thanks for your comment. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Mataw Guro David Battaglia on February 5, 2012 at 8:34am

I think MMA has gone to some practitioners heads. Last summer I co-promoted an amateur Muay Thai competition. The host gym is an MMA gym, and supplied one-half of the opposition. I supplied most of the other half. They were competitors from a strictly Muay Thai gym. I warned my co-promoters they needed to better prepare. Instead, the attitude I got was, we're MMA fighters, we can handle anything. Let's just say the outcome for the MMA fighters was not pretty.

Recently I watched an African man protesting in Africa. He was unarmed and defiant. When the police tried to arrest him, he resisted. Out came the night sticks. This man must have been cracked with atleast ten full power blows, and never flinched. Sadly, an officer drew his gun and shot him in the chest. After being shot he continued to fight. The officer shot him again, he went down, but was helped back up. He began protesting again, and walking around. Another man put his arm around him, and a picture was taken. In his face you could see the protestor's shortness of breath. He collapsed after the picture was taken, and died. He wasn't a violent man, just a civil disobediant. IMO, there was no need to shoot him.

Us FMA's like to believe our stick blows will drop a man like a rock. It's likely most of the time they will. Same is true of those who rely on firearms. However, with the time it took for that man to become incapacitated, he could have returned fire, or swung a machete.

This whole tragedy saddens me. However, it's a reminder of how hard it can be to overcome a dedicated and violent (not in case above) attacker.

Even the MMA fighter who unknowingly faced the knife, kept his mind in the fight to prevail. We see the price he paid. Fortunate for him the knife wasn't as deeply slashed across his abdomen, instead of his hand.

I like what Peyton Quinn has to say about any hand movement toward yourself. Always treat that movement as if the hand is holding a knife.

Maestro Guro Dave

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Permalink Reply by Mani Adams on March 15, 2012 at 7:42pm

This sounds like the amputeed gladiator in Monty Python's Holy Grail. I've faced knives twice. Just hit the guy while being aware of the blade. You're martial artists. You're (meant to be) faster than the guy and focused on vunerable, easy targets.

IMHO, if one is taught to knock people our with punches etc. that's not combat. Too many can take a good shot to the jaw. Not too many can take shots to the eyes, neck and throat.

Just looking at Youtube and other sites, there's too much fear and too many tricks being taught/shown off. It's this simple; a guy pulls a knife, kill him. Even an accidental cut to the throat can kill you. This is not hand-to-hand where a mistiming means you wake up the next day with a black eye, this is knife awareness, you may not have a next day. 

As someone said earlier, awareness is everything. I've done a few FMA styles but my favourite one is very, very basic and teaches 2 assumptions in a fight:

1: Even if you cannot see a weapons, assume the guy is armed.

2: He has friends ready to help. 

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