sive grappling training.


Self-defense Vs. Fighting The first step to understanding


groundfighting on the street is to ac- cept that there’s a huge difference between self-defense and “getting in a fight.” In a true self-defense situa- tion, you have been unjustly attacked. Your goals are therefore to minimize injury to you, disable your attacker and escape to safety. Conversely, “getting in a fight”


often happens when you allow a hos- tile situation to escalate. Eventually, both parties allow egos to overpower their brains and they resort to physi- cal violence. This situation — a form of mutual combat — is often more likely to end up on the ground than a real self-defense scenario. Why? Be- cause an attacker on the street who is smart, experienced, or both, will not follow you to the ground once he’s put you there. He’ll stay upright to stomp and kick you unconscious to make it easier to take what he wants.


Mats Vs. Concrete Another critically important as-


pect of real-world groundfighting, is knowing once you take a fight off the mat and onto concrete, the danger of suffering serious injury increases tremendously. Techniques like sin- gle- and double-leg takedowns sport grapplers use to start a contest can easily become lethal force when ap- plied on concrete. If an attacker is attempting these tactics on you, you must realize the danger and respond appropriately. Predictably, if you are a skilled grappler, you also need to assess your arsenal of


techniques,


and know which ones can turn dead- ly when applied on a hard surface. Some popular systems of sport


jujitsu emphasize ground techniques that involve a lot of kneeling pos- tures. Once again, this approach works great on the mat, but translates very poorly to the street. If you fight the way you train (the way it usu- ally works), your reflexive response to work from your knees could spell disaster on concrete, destroying both your kneecaps and your ability to ef- fectively escape.


No Tap-outs Many self-defense instructors use


WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM


Don’t let your sport-grappling training cause you to ignore easy, open targets. Here “passing the guard” is accomplished the easy way.


the saying “You can’t tap out on the street” to motivate their students to train harder and more realistically. While this statement is certainly true, it’s wise to think a little deeper about the real meaning. In simple terms, don’t expect any


mercy from an attacker on the street. Nothing you do — short of disabling him — will make him stop hurting you. That not only makes sense, but also has a profound impact on your ability to apply ground skills. If you are a sport grappler, you may be very skilled at submission techniques that generate enough pain to get your op- ponent to tap. In a sport context that tap equals a “win,” so you let go, shake hands and keep training. On the street, however, techniques that only cause short-term pain aren’t good enough because, ultimately, you


have to let go of an attacker who isn’t inclined to play by the rules. Your “win” probably just incited him to fight harder and dirtier. If you practice submission grap-


pling and consider it a viable part of your self-defense arsenal, make sure you focus on techniques that have the potential to cause serious, debilitat- ing damage. That way you can use them to actually disable an attacker and create the opportunity to escape. Similarly, pain-compliance submis- sions, which will not cause enough physical damage to take an attacker out of the fight, should be used to cre- ate an opening for hard hits that actu- ally break important body parts.


Awareness And Mobility Any time you go to the ground


and tie up with a single opponent, 31


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