Real Street Combat & Self-Defense vs Martial Arts & Sport Fighting Arts

By Roy Maia 

    While there is now little argument against the view that traditional Martial Arts and Sport Fighting Arts don’t work in real life-street situations. The strength of my argument lay in my background as long-term, committed martial arts practitioner and whilst I espouse certain strong beliefs, principles, concepts and tactics for real violent engagements, I do practice and teach a very high level, quality martial arts (Crafted 11 Karate World Champions and 8 Kick-Boxing World Champions, among many other national champions) and therefore I speak from within, not outside that community.
   However, I recognize and agree that a martial arts system or any other sport fighting art should be the basic foundation for a practical’ system of street defensive tactics, but not as a real street combat and self defense art. Why? Because VITAL Issues of Real Street Combat and Self Defense are not factored into Sport and Traditional Fighting Arts teachings, such as fear control, street defense and combat mindset, instinctive aggression, freeze factor, surprise reaction and survival instinct recovery, fight stress, anticipation, lack of street savvy, ability to recognise attacker intensions, decision-making, performance under stress, environment, situation resolve, presence of weapons, hormone responses, multiple opponents, and many others factors, and all conspire to make a traditional martial art and sport fighting arts often very, very flawed when faced with a real and violent attack.

Learn and Prosper;

        The Reality of Street Violence is Beyond Most People’s Imagination or Belief, Until... It Happens to Them.
   Too often when thinking about personal protection we focus on the defensive aspect. We talk about being ready to defend ourselves and those we love and we have a plan to defend our homes. I think this is a misconception that is going to get someone hurt or killed because when you are on the defense that means One Thing … Someone is doing something to you. Being on the defense means you are being attacked, you are covering, hiding, fortifying, or blocking, and, really, it is impossible to stop an attacker with defensive  actions.
  Think about it, realistically, there nothing defensive about striking, kicking or inflicting pain and damage on someone that is a threat and is trying to hurt or kill you. You want to be on the offence. When it comes time to protect yourself you want to bring the maximum amount of violence to bear as fast as possible and overwhelm your attacker. Reread that last sentence and ask yourself… is that the definition of defense? We need to talk about Self Protection Skills, Life Survival Skills, and Mindset, and we need to start now!
  While we should never discount a defense completely, the defense is what we establish to ensnare our opponent/attacker and slow him down to give us the initiative and use our offense to win the fight. When you are attacked initially, you may be surprised or startled and begin the fight in a defensive posture. You have to move from defense to offense as quickly as possible and be the one who dominates (mostly when weapons are involved)! You have to act with intent! When the fight is on and your life is at stake you have to act decisively. There is no time to assess and come up with a plan. This is the moment that the training and fighting skills you have (or don’t have) is going to kick in. There is only One Goal, be the one who walks away and take as little damage as possible during the altercation.
  Your intention is to use violence and inflict pain and damage upon the attacker. You have to do this, or you will become the Victim or a Statistic. You have to think about this now while you read this, rather than thinking about it when you are faced with a lethal threat.
  Violence is nothing more than a tool. Bad guys use it to intimidate, harm, rape, steal or kill. You use Violence to fight off the attack, protect yourself and the innocents with you. Using Violence is not a bad thing and you need to Reconcile Yourself that hurting someone, may be what Saves Your Life or Your Loved Ones. You have to establish your own rules of engagement now, so when it comes time to Fight to Prevent Serious Injury or Save Your Life … You FIGHT!