After pounding sand with feet and body and doing a fair amount of knifework this past weekend, I feel the need to point out yet again that if you are in close proximity of someone who a) has a knife b) has a clue about how to use it and c) wants to use it on you, you are in dire peril.
Let me rephrase that: Deeeep shiiiit ....
You are in huge trouble if you are barehanded; slightly less so if you have a knife of your own and have some ability with it. Once you are close and blades flash? Bad. Bad.
There are several sayings amongst knife fighters that address this, but one I heard this weekend sums it up: When two knife experts fight, the winner is the one who dies second ...
Can you say, "Pyrrhic victory?"
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI do think it is possible for a trained person to demolish an untrained or uncommitted person with a knife. Most people who brandish them don't really want to stab you, there is another motive there or they'd just do it... the only flashing of blades would happen in the brown and squishy darkness of your small intestine.
But against a trained person, you'd just be screwed.
Love these silat posts, keep it up man.
Even a person with no training waving a knife is dangerous, though I agree, enough practice and you could be the guy who walks away.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't think so, give a kid a marks-a-lot pen and offer him five bucks for each mark he makes on you.
Against a guy who has some skill and will use it? Barehanded? You could still survive, maybe even win -- but you'll be spending some quality time in the ER getting stitched up at the very least.
Problem is, you aren't going to know which it is you face until maybe too late. We're taught to not show the knife until we use it -- no fancy waving and twirls to wow an attacker into backing down. If that doesn't work, then he knows you are armed.
He should feel the knife before he sees it.
I've done the pen test with a mostly untrained person and a TKD guy. With the TKD guy I was able to close and unbalance him and put in the elbow before he could cut me. His woodenness (which he perceives as strength) allowed me to paksao his front arm and knock his whole body off balance.
ReplyDeleteThe untrained guy was able to get marks on the back of one of my forearm before I wrapped it and got him. But he does much better now, he's able to cut me down consistently.
I don't get why people don't know about or believe this stuff. I think there is a deepseated fear of attacks, especially knifers, and there is a need to believe in the pleasant fuzzy bill of goods that we're sold from the mainstream MA establishment.
Good point -- lot of MA folks seem to think that when somebody holds a knife, all his other tools disappear. They tend to forget that if somebody is focused entirely on the blade, the other hand can be put to good use -- like a pak sao, or other clear.
ReplyDeleteOr a hit, or a grab.
But that was my original thought -- that against somebody who knows what he's doing? You have a real problem. He isn't just going to wave the knife, he's going to wave his offhand, head, feet, knees, elbows ...
Even if it's just the knife arm, if he knows what he's doing you have a problem. How are you supposed to control that knife arm?
ReplyDeleteThe human arm is an amazing thing. So dextrous... and so vulnerable to cutting.
Why don't people get it?
I think that's simple: You don't know anything about martial arts, you join a class, the teacher tells you this is what you do if somebody comes at you with a knife and he shows you an X-block for an overhead stab that nobody is ever going to use.
ReplyDeleteHow are you going to know any different?
Same thing with pure stand-up fighters who think they can just thump a grappler coming in for a shoot with their killer punch and that will be that. They've never tried it, but they are sure it will work.
What it takes is something more realistic. An aggressive attacker with a marks-a-lot pen who doesn't do a simple thrust and then leave his arm out there frozen for you to grab is a good start to see how well your knife defense will really work.
Look at the Piper guys and their go-bugfuck ice pick stuff. Try to X-block that stuff ...