kidswarrior
Senior Master
Well, lots of good ideas already, but I'll just add my limited perspective. Seems to me in my geographical area (L.A. sprawl) there are two types of potential attackers:
1) The Road/'roid rage bully, who thinks his BJJ or MMA or TMA or Boxing studio time+Adrenaline=Overwhelming attack. And he may be right if I'm not ready for him to come out fast and furious (assuming I'm dumb enough to let my ego dictate that I stop the car/face off in the first place!).
2) The street/prison Veterano who in his twenties has more experience surviving dangerous situations than I ever hope to. This guy lives by his wits, plays dirty, and has done this many times before (as many fellow posters have said here).
In either case, I try to check my ego first. Lots of rage goes away if I don't respond in kind. If violence is unavoidable, need to control my adrenaline dump in order to maintain calm and confidence. Doing those things give me a good chance (given my training and background--also said by many here)--but no one wins every fight (any undefeated pro fighters?), and one loss on the street can mean I lose my life and my wife is left hurting financially, or I'm maimed or disabled. Even a win can mean litigation or even prosecution. And all this 'winning' is assuming I'm prepared for him and his friends (BIG 'if'), and no weapons pop out (second BIG 'if').
Kinda rambled here, but this is not meant to 'talk' over anyone else's post, but to be anecdotal from my own experience.
~ kidswarrior
1) The Road/'roid rage bully, who thinks his BJJ or MMA or TMA or Boxing studio time+Adrenaline=Overwhelming attack. And he may be right if I'm not ready for him to come out fast and furious (assuming I'm dumb enough to let my ego dictate that I stop the car/face off in the first place!).
2) The street/prison Veterano who in his twenties has more experience surviving dangerous situations than I ever hope to. This guy lives by his wits, plays dirty, and has done this many times before (as many fellow posters have said here).
In either case, I try to check my ego first. Lots of rage goes away if I don't respond in kind. If violence is unavoidable, need to control my adrenaline dump in order to maintain calm and confidence. Doing those things give me a good chance (given my training and background--also said by many here)--but no one wins every fight (any undefeated pro fighters?), and one loss on the street can mean I lose my life and my wife is left hurting financially, or I'm maimed or disabled. Even a win can mean litigation or even prosecution. And all this 'winning' is assuming I'm prepared for him and his friends (BIG 'if'), and no weapons pop out (second BIG 'if').
Kinda rambled here, but this is not meant to 'talk' over anyone else's post, but to be anecdotal from my own experience.
~ kidswarrior