Dear Friend:

Glad you're back -- because I've got even MORE fight myths for you. No.. I'm not obsessed with myths, but this is a necessary part of "stripping you down to build you back up".

To clarify my point, let me tell you a little story.

When the Americans took over the building of the Panama Canal from the French, they did something that shocked many people around the world -- they STOPPED all construction.

That's right. Because people who were working the canal were dying by the thousands from Malaria. So the U.S. first cleared the jungle, set up clean and comfortable worker housing, and made every effort to first clear away the mosquitoes. Only after that was acheived did the Americans start work on the canal.

It's the same here. I'm simply clearing the jungle and tiding up some things so that we can start teaching you how to fight and win with a clean slate.

So here we go... onto Fight Myth #10:

10. Bullies Are Social Deviants and Cowards: On the contrary, recent studies suggest that the majority of bullies are often socially popular and often considered “successful” in life. They typically are NOT outcasts, but in reality are often confident and popular. Over the course of a year, statistics show that 14% of boys have been a victim of bully threat or attack. I suspect the true percentage is much higher since there’s a good number that won’t raise their hand and gladly volunteer this information. “Oh yes... I’ve been humiliated. That’s me.”

You get the picture. This 14% represents boys who admitted being a victim.

Bullies get much satisfaction by hurting and humiliating people who don’t accept their dominance. They WILL fight when challenged – so giving someone advice to “stand up to a bully” will almost certainly mean a physical fight. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stand up to a bully, but it’s good to know what you’re in for. In other words – never bluff with a bully. If you stand up, you better be ready to fight. And bullies usually have some fight experience.

11. Diplomacy Works Best – It’s a nice thought, but unfortunately your adversary is rarely a reasonable person. First let me cover the three types of opponents you’ll face and what motivates them – then maybe you’ll understand where diplomacy will work – and where it won’t.
12.Your friends will back you up. Ha! I’m sad to say this is not true. We’d all like to believe our buddies will back us up, but research shows that they’re more likely to pick their noses than pick a fight. In fact, crowd behavior studies show that the more friends and bystanders are hanging around, the less likely it is that you’ll get help in a fight.

The technical term for this is “dilution of responsibility”, but I think they should change that name to something less technical like: “I thought someone else would take care of it”.

Now, on the other hand, if you have just ONE friend and no crowd of bystanders, you actually may get some help. But the facts have shown over and over that individuals inside a crowd are less likely to act.

A “gang” mentality is different. They will back each other up because it’s part of their “job”.

13. Ignore them and they’ll go away: This is a common tactic, especially with women who feel they’re being followed. They simply put on the blinders and hope for the best. “Oh goodness, I hope that bad man goes away”. Bad tactic. Don’t ignore a predator you suspect is “scoping” you. Believe it or not, your best bet is to let him know that you ARE aware of him.

Look at him directly. Watch him. Let him know you’re aware of his presence. Once a predator suspects you know his real intentions, it strips away much of the motivation to attack since the element of surprise has been taken away – and surprise is one of the predator’s most powerful tools. He knows he can’t surprise you, and now you’re perceived as less of an easy mark.

Of course eyeballing a bully will have the opposite effect and will probably result in the “what are YOU looking at?” response. So this tactic is to be used when you suspect a predator.

14. Police are there to protect you: Now with all due respect to law enforcement, they are not your personal body guards. They can’t be. Here are three reasons we have cops.

Most people are shocked to discover that the police do not have the ability (nor the legal obligation) to protect individuals. Existing by the simpleton motto of “let the cops handle it” is a risky way to live. The harsh reality is that YOU are responsible for your own protection -- and for that of your loved ones – not the cops.

15. All You Need Is One (Or Two) Fighting Techniques – This is a common theory that has some truth to it. But I want to dispel the foolish notion that knowing less is better than knowing more. This just isn’t true. Because following this kind of logic would indicate that, for example, you’d be better off using an uneducated bag-lady as your investment broker than a guy with a Master’s Degree in Finance. I’d put my money on the Master’s degree – but that’s just me.

Well, the same is true with fighting techniques. You’re better off knowing more than less, as it gives you the flexibility of using multiple methods to attack specific targets. Remember... one of the most crucial keys to fighting and winning is proper target acquisition. In other words, you’ll be far more effective with a crudely executed, but accurate, kick to your opponent’s nut-sack than you’d be with a really pretty roundhouse kick that missed the mark.

Okay... maybe it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but I’m not. Stay with me here.

Because the reason that many “store front” martial artists and “dojo educated” fighters LOSE against an experienced street fighter is that, in the heat of battle, they are trying to use and remember specific MOVES (typically complex fine motor skill techniques) rather than targeting. They should be viewing their opponent as a group of vulnerable targets, and then take advantage of the most exposed targets as quickly as possible by any means necessary (something called Target Awareness).

Many make the huge mistake of thinking about technique before target. They display their “swooning crane” technique and a couple seconds later, the experienced streetfighter has them demonstrating the “unconscious crane” technique.

On the other hand, a completely inexperienced fighter will typically have 1 or 2 moves. They are:

C’mon... you can do better than that. In fact, I’ve got over 70 titles that’ll quickly show you tons of moves and sneaky “dirty trick” attacks. Your adversary won’t know what hit him.

Because, after countless interviews with some of the most dangerous fighters on the planet, I discovered that ALL these fighters were very quick to see open targets, (or to make them open), then utilize any one of an arsenal of techniques to attack those open targets. Having more fighting tools simply allows a fighter to more quickly exploit “open” targets.

So it comes down to this.

You must have more than 1-2 techniques. You want at least a few dozen ways to attack your adversary’s targets...

You need to have at least a handful of techniques for each of the “four ranges” of fighting, including:

16. All Military Fight Systems Can Be Trusted. Let me tell you a “dirty little secret” about some military combat systems being sold today. Recently there’s been a rash of “experts” who’ve “trained” the military in their secret system.

Here’s the scoop. They’ve offered a few military guys some free training in their system. That’s it. Free seminars or workshops to military personnel is almost always a marketing ploy and a “resume building” exercise. They can now turn around and advertise that their system is used by “military experts”. Keep your eyes open for this nonsense. Just because someone trained military people does NOT make it special.

Another thing, most soldiers will admit that much of the hand to hand stuff is absolutely worthless to them because 100% of their job is to fight at a distance using hi-tech weaponry -- NOT hand-to-hand systems.

This is exactly why I’ve personally sought out special military units that indeed depend heavily on hand-to-hand fighting.

And believe me, these guys exist. I even got some of them to talk. They sneak around behind enemy lines quietly “taking care of business” without firing weapons and drawing a bunch of attention to themselves. Real live bad-asses that’d make Rambo look like a pussy.

17. Sport Fighting Is Just Like Personal Combat. Many think that a trained boxer, cage fighter, Mixed Martial Artist, or Kickboxer is the same as being a trained street fighter. Not true. Let me ask... who do YOU think would win a spontaneous street fight -- a champion MMA fighter or some ex-con street-brawler raised in the toughest area of east LA?

I’d put my money on the ex-con. Because as brutal as it may appear, an MMA fight really IS different than a street fight.

First, a pay-per-view “cage” fight (also called a mixed-martial-arts or MMA fight) is about making money for the promoters. They can’t allow every fight to be over within 3-8 seconds. They’d lose their audience -- and advertisers -- fast. So, in an MMA fight there’s no quick “fight ending” moves allowed -- which is what a street fight is ALL about.

Also, promoters have got to take some effort to protect the fighters. They wouldn’t be “sanctioned” for long with a continuous stream of dead bodies being hauled out of the ring.

So, here’s 16 moves that are outlawed in most sanctioned MMA fights -- but used in most street fights:

“I dislike death; however there are some things I dislike more than death. Therefore, there are times when I will not avoid danger.”

–Mencius

Okay, like I said, maybe there are some exceptions to this in “World Wrestling” situations. I mean they DO use folding chairs and multiple attackers while the ref “isn’t looking”.

But seriously... what wins a “match-fight” is strength, size, speed, endurance, and skill. In “personal combat” or street fighting, it’s the use of deception, distraction, disruption and destruction (the four Ds) that wins.

Think about this. When Mike Tyson went to prison – they separated him from the general prison population for his own protection. Why? I mean bad-ass Mike Tyson was the most feared Heavy Weight boxer at the time – what did he have to worry about? Well, even Tyson knew that the fight rules in prison were different than in the ring. In fact, just like on the streets, there are NO rules. Anything goes, and you’ve got to be resourceful to survive.

Now granted, some skinny little con would have little chance at beating Tyson in the ring under existing boxing rules. But a sport fighter who doesn’t understand the big “Four Ds” is at a serious disadvantage in any street fight. This is why size, strength, and endurance are not huge factors in a street fight – it’s about your skills in the Four Ds.

Sure feels good to get some of that off my chest.

In my next installment I won't be covering anything more about myths -- but instead I’ll get into some real meat and potatoes on what WINS a street fight.

Keep your eyes open for that – it’ll be coming your way soon. See you then.

 

Til next time...

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Bob Pierce
    Head Honcho, TRS/FightFast

“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”

— George Washington

P.S. If you carry hand-gun, chances are you don’t know how to use your gun properly in a real life-or-death confrontation.
In fact, if you're spending all your training time at the range shooting paper targets then you're overlooking one of the most crucial secrets to winning an actual armed conflict. That's why this message is so important to you.

Handgun combat secrets here!