This video demonstrates the reality of just how hard it is defend yourself against a knife attack.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Fighting with Knives
After Judo class once, another student was asking my sensei about fighting off an attacker with a knife. My sensei, who also teaches edged weapons fighting, flatly said that he would rather be attacked with a long sword than with a small knife. With a sword, he said, the range of motion is limited and if you know what you are doing you can move inside your attacker's striking radius making it difficult for the sword to be effective. Not so with a knife. He did a couple of demonstrations and then said something I'll never forget, "If you fight a person with a knife, you are gonna bleed. The only real question is if you are gonna live."
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Yep, if that doesn't pucker your butt, don't know what will.
ReplyDeleteKnives are nasty-scary and trigger an emotional response-burst - your WHOLE body is the target. You have to make and keep distance from a knife. The best is to get the hell out of there.
ReplyDeleteVery good video. That about says it.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind fighting someone with a knife...from a distance...with my gun.
ReplyDeleteeiaftinfo - yeah, pretty sobering
ReplyDeleteNotClauswitz - How to Win a Knife Fight: RUN!
A Girl - Let me know what you turn up if you continue looking into that guy.
MSgt B - From a distance is how I like all my fights.
A lot of it depends on who is wielding the knife. I had some jerk come at me years ago, but he didn't know how to use it properly. At the end of about a four second flurry, I was unscratched, but he ended up with a blown knee joint and a concussion.
ReplyDeleteWas that training on your part or sheer stupidity on his?
DeleteTwo things.
ReplyDeleteIf they display a knife first and you can break contact.. do so unless you have a nice S&W Centennial in your hand, in which case do what you need to do with that roscoe.
If you cannot break contact, attack first. Fast low side kicks if enough distance, if not be skilled enough at punching and grappling to get in and finish it fast. If there are environmental weapons like chairs, books, rocks, etc.. use them. Even pepper spray, in foam versions, can be used to disorientate your opponent before you strike.
The worst thing to do is wait for them to strike you first. Especially if they are very mobile.
Good advice. I especially like the idea of pepper spray. I like the idea of responding with a knife even better, but here in the Old Dominion we have some pretty sucky knife laws.
DeleteHis biggest problem is that he was concentrating too much on cutting me, and not enough on winning the fight, if you know what I mean. Too many people with a weapon put all their focus into their weapon, and forget that they have another arm and a couple of feet to use, also. He probably would have done better if he hadn't had the knife.
ReplyDeleteWhen he tried to move in, I took out his knee joint (it bent backwards), and as he fell I knocked the knife away and slammed a knee into his head. Since he was unconscious, I assumed a concussion.
I had no formal training at the time (I was 17), but I did have some informal training from an ex-sargeant in the ROK army. He had worked with the US troops training LRRPs and others (he wouldn't say who) in hand-to-hand combat. He didn't practice a standard style, it more resembled Krav Maga (it was also very aggressive and not always defensive, so it was more for combat than defense) than anything I've seen since, and he liked knives and sticks a lot.
I met him in college, and I helped him with chem class and he taught me some stuff.
Looks like your ROK buddy taught you something very useful.
Delete