Multiple Attacker Nightmare

Ever faced multiple attackers? I've cover what I 'd do as an attacker in a previous post, but how do you handle it? I've received some training in it over the last thirty years (yes, I'm old!), but never had to do it, thank God.

Check out this useful Defend University article by Brad Parker on "Styles, Attributes and Strategies for Successful Self-Defense" versus multiple attackers, called "Facing Multiple Attackers?" It's an excellent compilation of recommendations from some very qualified individuals and Parker himself on what actually happens in multiple assailant attacks, what styles lend themselved to proficieny in defending it, and what skills and attributes you should have to be successful. Excerpts:

This jibes with other articles I've read:

Studies show that assaults are more likely to escalate into homicides when there are multiple attackers, particularly when the attackers are juveniles.

...it is possible for a single person to defeat multiple attackers. I have seen a video of Royler Gracie avoiding and evading two of the largest L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputies present in a seminar. These two brutes could not control Gracie and it was obvious that they would not have been able to keep him in one place long enough to assault him. Similarly, I have a video tape of a single suspect virtually destroying two Texas State Troopers. To make matters worse, the two officers are both hitting the suspect with expandable batons and the suspect ends up flooring both officers with punches.
Evidently, in these situations, the two combatants were not equal in the skill or strength of the single combatant.
So how do you train to become so skillful that you can reasonably expect to defeat multiple opponents? Is there a style that most advantageous to study? What are the best strategies and techniques?

Specific tips (from Loren Christensen):

1. You must think quickly and anticipate the attackers’ moves.
2. Think in terms of striking targets that either stun or are potentially lethal. Consider striking the temple, throat, mastoid, spine, solar plexus, kidneys, groin, and knees. These targets maximize the effectiveness of your blows, thus conserving your strength and energy.
3. You must control your breathing to keep your anxiety in check and your energy level high.
4. Move fluidly with grace and balance.
5. Power can be increased by adding leverage, speed of delivery, and mass.
6. If you are fighting with your hands, be careful not to injure them.

From Geoff Thompson:

“I have probably been involved in more than 100 fights where the numbers were against me,” he says. “I won because I was first to initiate the physical attack.”Thompson also fears getting flanked by opponents. “Part of the attacker’s ritual is the pincer movement. One attacker, usually the one facing and threatening you, will deploy your attention while the others attack from your blind side.”
Thompson’s training is traditional karate, boxing and judo. He usually advocates knock out blows.
“If you feel an attack is imminent, attack first. This is the most critical factor in such a scenario,” he says.
“My own preemptive strike would be a right cross/hook to the jaw preceded by some kind of mentally disarming verbal communication, hopefully neutralizing the first person,” says Thompson. “Then I would attack with headbutts, punches, or kicks to the remaining antagonists, depending upon my distance from them.”

Much, much more. Worth reading!

P.S. If you have had to fight more than one opponent simultaneously, please email or post a comment on what happened, and your thought on the original article. Thanks!