Q&A Responses: Making Contact

Here’s what to do when a real fight breaks out.

Mateusz specifically mentioned sparring – which is a far cry from a “real fight”. The truth is, if you’re preparing for a sparring session, you’re operating under a set of rules that would not otherwise be in place in a real violent encounter.

For instance, I once had a friendly encounter with a JuJitsu player, and as you might expect, the encounter went to the ground. Once on the ground, I secured his head and proceeded to slowly gouge his eye out with my thumb. He yelled for me to stop, and of course, I did. I was trying to make a point to him. All his training was focused on his matches, and he was surprised and panicked by my eye gouge. We are, by the way, still friends to this day. Sigh…JuJitsu guys, don’t take offense, I’m quite sure there are many might warrior JuJitsu pratictioners out there. Instead, pay attention to the lesson.

So, to Mateusz, I’d offer the following advice: (1) Train under stress, (2) train “real fighting” skill sets in an environment where being wrong costs you something (but not everything), (3) slowly build to full speed, and (4) find ways to integrate skills (i.e. punch defenses mixed with takedown defenses).

If you are going to spar, limit yourself to one punch or kick, and allow your partner to do whatever he/she wants, that’ll build your skill set. For instance, only allow yourself to jab. Before you know it, you’ll have an awesome jab that lands in all kinds of situations. Then move on to the right straight, and so on. You’ll build solid skills at the expense of your pride – a great trade, given pride is not an asset.

To start, try a drill I call “angry dog.” Try the drill, and you’ll understand the name. Check out the video below; go slow, build skill not pride.

Kravology Q&A Angry Dog from Kravology on Vimeo.