In this FightingArts.com article, W.R. Mann provides "Advice on surviving an edged weapon attack." His position is that some, "instructors who teach knife self-defenses to the general public don’t understand how knife attacks really occur."
A common mistake, for example, is to emphasize (or practice mostly) stick work, erroneously believing that developing stick skills will automatically transfer to unarmed defense against the knife.
The problem with this approach is that the vast majority of edged weapon
attacks are sudden and without warning. In these situations victims have their hands so full just trying to avoid being stabbed, they have little time to pull out a weapon (even if they have one). In most cases the victim will be stabbed and perhaps not know it until afterwards. How is stick work relevant here?
There are some Filipino styles that do emphasize knife work, but mainly in an offensive capacity. They seem to delude themselves into believing that they will always be ready for any event. The reality is that bad things usually happen when you’re the least prepared for them. And for the most part, these styles don’t even teach any practical unarmed skills against a live blade.
That is not to say that I don’t practice knife-fighting (knife against knife). But I don’t do it to the exclusion of defensive knife work. I am also honest enough to realize that my chances are minimal when faced with an attacker armed with a knife. I also realize that I may not have a knife on me at all times, and even if I do have one, the chance that I can draw it in time against a determined attacker is not favorable.
So if the odds are stacked so heavily against you in the first place, why should you learn knife-defenses at all? For “knife awareness.” If you practice a program that includes a counter-knife component, you may be able to survive a knife attack, and that’s the point isn’t it? You probably won’t wipe the floor with your attacker, but it would be good to survive the assault.
Read the rest.
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