Three different approaches to knife defence.

frank raud

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Lots of good stuff in that video, but one thing I would highlight is his comment on Craig Douglas teaching, I have stayed at weekend course when the subject changes to shooting. I have no interest in shooting, but have stuck around to watch Craig teach, to learn from him, not the techniques he is teaching, but to learn how to teach, how to be an instructor.
 

Taiji Rebel

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Lots of good stuff in that video, but one thing I would highlight is his comment on Craig Douglas teaching, I have stayed at weekend course when the subject changes to shooting. I have no interest in shooting, but have stuck around to watch Craig teach, to learn from him, not the techniques he is teaching, but to learn how to teach, how to be an instructor.
This is a great post. We can learn from all kinds of situations and teachers. MMA is not something which has ever appealed to me. Recently, I have asked a few questions to learn more. It still strikes me as violent and exploitive sport, but I have been reading Win, Or Learn by John Kavanagh. This book and some of his teachings/interviews have given me ideas for my own classes. Being humble and open enough to learn from those more experienced than us is a great idea. Rory Miller's book on Principle-Based training is also a really useful and thought-provoking guide.
 

Taiji Rebel

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From H2H, from 3:10:
Training is training. We can learn these kind of defenses for fun. Would you risk trying it out for real? If somebody confronted you with a knife in a real situation. How would you react?

Training is fun and so is breathing - this is not something I would depend on in reality.

Martial arts training can create some real delusional mindsets at times. Pray you never come across a real life situation.

Stick with the make-believe magic of the martial arts dojo/gym and remember you are pretending you can defend against a knife 🔪
 
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Cynik75

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Let's not go to extremes - is is possibly to defend against knife. Is is risky, very risky, the succesfull knife defence is rather low percentage situation but it is possibly.
Sometimes.
With bare hands too.
The real question is not id it is possiby, but if the defender is willing to risk his life.
 

geezer

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Stick with the make-believe magic of the martial arts dojo/gym and remember you are pretending you can defend against a knife 🔪

Did you watch the "Hard 2 Hurt" video?

Cuz ya know, everything he said started with the obvious reality that no matter how good you are, there is no dependable way to defend against a knife. That if you ever have to go against a knife, chances are very, very good that you will be cut, stabbed and very possibly die. Or you might survive but have a horrible ordeal recovering physically, emotionally and ...legally.

So ....what's your point?
 

Taiji Rebel

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Did you watch the "Hard 2 Hurt" video?

Cuz ya know, everything he said started with the obvious reality that no matter how good you are, there is no dependable way to defend against a knife. That if you ever have to go against a knife, chances are very, very good that you will be cut, stabbed and very possibly die. Or you might survive but have a horrible ordeal recovering physically, emotionally and ...legally.

So ....what's your point?
It was painful to watch, especially with the advert, but I did watch the video 📼

Yes, it is obvious there is no dependable to way defend against a knife with any martial arts skills.

What is not so obvious is that these kinds of videos are created to make money from repeated plays. Knife defenses appeal to the heroic notions that a lot of young, or inexperienced martial artists have and plenty of money will be made by producing content such as this.

A lot of martial arts play up to the self-defense narrative. There was a video here, which I commented on yesterday, showing a supposed Wing Chun practitioner using his skills to defend against various attacks. It is hilarious and not at all representative of the reality of life-threatening situations - you can see it here:

 

drop bear

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Did you watch the "Hard 2 Hurt" video?

Cuz ya know, everything he said started with the obvious reality that no matter how good you are, there is no dependable way to defend against a knife. That if you ever have to go against a knife, chances are very, very good that you will be cut, stabbed and very possibly die. Or you might survive but have a horrible ordeal recovering physically, emotionally and ...legally.

So ....what's your point?

This is one of those discussions that has the same answer but gets interpreted in different ways.

There is no dependable way to defend a knife can mean

knife defence is hard and you are really going against the odds applying it. And so it is not curcumstance to be entered in to lightly because you could die.

Or.

Every response as valid as every other response. If someone tries to stab me and my response is to fight back. Or my response is to set myself on fire. It amounts to the same thing.
 

Holmejr

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we spend a lot of time on knife defense. You really have to pulverize the assailant in a short amount of time.
 

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