Well going back to the original post as to whether or not our training is correct or not based upon the video. Despite everyone's good advice about avoidance and awareness, which are true. Traditional Martial artists and Sport Arts, fare usuallly quite poorly in the street fight arena, due to training methodology.
Primarily all martial arts train their participants in their particular style based upon strategies for that style. In other words, Tae Kwon Do's basic strategy is that the leg is longer and more powerful than one's arm. So if we can increase flexibility and be able to strike our opponent with our leg, we can inflict more damage than using just fists. Ne?
The problem with these theory, is that you create a mental blueprint of a fighter who is then adopting the exact same strategy as you. For example a Shotokan Karateka is learning to defend themselves based upon their attacker knowing Shotokan Karate. Even more you create an image of your assailiant starting their attack from a "fighting Posture" or hands up.
This in turn starts a reactionary gap, as the unskilled fighter, who more likely than not is your assailant. As that attack will come from a position that you hadn't trained for. If you mental cue to throw out a block is when you notice the punch be launched from an on guard position. But your attacker is throwing sloppy haymakers, from low positions, which by most CCTV they do. Your reactionary time to conduct a complex motor skill is somewhat degraded.
Aside from sport mental blueprinting and using strategies designed for a similarly skilled opponent. Martial arts fail in another respect: in that most assaults are ambushes. The sucker punch, the push to the tackle, or whatever...very rarely is the situation that you and your assailant, decide to fight, tap gloves, go back to your respective gutter, and come out fighting.
I used TKD and Shotokan as examples, this is by no means disrespect to those arts, as Judo suffers from the same mentality, once you grab collar/sleeve, your opponent does the same, well what if he didn't, and just punched you in the face once you secured your collar grip? Likewise BJJ, why pass the guard, when I can just repeatedly strike the groin and stomach?
Self Defense is Self defense, Martial arts are Martial arts, never between shall they meet.
Many more unskilled people defend themselves in a day than the martial artist will face in a lifetime.
