Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Multiple attackers: again, don't grapple!

Sam was off that day, but you'll see here why we say don't grapple versus multiple attackers (see here, here, video here, and here). This is a long clip, and you'll notice that each time, Sam engages the attackers and they hang on. There was a brief pause as Sam and Daniel took out one of the walls, but other than that it's a good illustration. COMMENTS WELCOME.



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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Grappling against multiple opponents is a bad idea, anyone with an ounce of common sense and some martial arts experience will tell you that. However I don't agree with the commenter who states you shouldn't even hold on to someone: in some situations you'll have no choice (small spaces, he grabs you...) and if you control him and if you're able to rotate him while delivering knees and stomps to the knee you can use him as a shield against his buddy. The same goes for a come-along hold (assuming you're proficient enough), it even has the added advantage of forcing the others to back off (putting the lock on will make him cry out in pain and you should make it clear you'll break his arm or neck unless they back off). This is an advanced strategy and it shouldn't be the first option but if you're good enough you can pull it off.

I do agree with the notion of constant movement: you don't want to be a sitting duck and this is exactly what grappling will lead to. The main weapons that should be employed in this type of situations are eyejabs and kicks to the knee: take out his eyesight and/or his mobility and you'll effectively take him out of the fight. This means one less opponent to fight and maybe the others will back off deciding it's not worth getting seriously hurt even if they would win. If they manage to get close knock them out with elbows or knees in the clinch: as long as you control his neck you can rotate him and put him between you and a second opponent. Take out his knee, circle and you'll be ready to either run or take on someone else. Whatever you do be ruthless and realize that if you don't do everything you can to stop them (including killing or maiming) you could very well end up dead or in a wheelchair. It's a well documented fact that humans in groups act far more savagly than as individuals, similar to packs of enraged street-dogs.

Good video.

Zara