What's the difference between self-defense and street fighting?

[StreetReady]

I just want to know if you think there's a difference between street fighting and self-defense. I tend to use both phrases as the same things, because I don't street fight unless I have to defend myself.

If I'm forced to defend myself, it often looks like a street fight because I'll do whatever it takes to get out of there alive. That means I won't hesitate to use weapons and all.

Can anybody define the difference?

 

[Tez3]

Street fighter = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter

Personally I don't fight streets, they're maybe hard but they are quite boring when it comes to technique, they just lay there.
Calling yourself a street fighter ref your profile makes you sound like a brawler looking for trouble rather than someone serious about self defence, there really isn't such a thing as 'street fighting'. If attacked just about everyone will do 'what it takes' to come out alive, that doesn't make it a 'street fight', you know, I really hate that expression, it's something that writers of fiction use when they want something to sound hard and tough, ugh.

 

[oaktree]

Hi Street Ready,
Street fighting is the activity of engaging in street fights for a vary of reasons. Be it for entertainment, ego, robbery etc etc. Rarely is one person engaging in fighting in the street for self defense, see the defination of a rumble.

Self defense is the act of defending yourself and is an act of self preservation. Meaning the average person is not looking to engage in street fights but the average person
does want to defend him/herself. In this case though it may occur in the street a person is being attacked and is protecting his/her well being.

Though in street fighting obviously there is some sort of defense being used, same as in self defense an attack or counter is being used. But, in my opinion the reason
on how they both start and why they occur seperates the two. The street fighter usually wants to hurt the other person for some reason, the person acting in self defense wants the person to stop attacking.

Realistically, your moves are not going to look text book in a street encounter but hopefully through your training you can understand the concepts of your art to be able to use it to your advantage. For example, I most likely will not use a text book Taiji Golden rooster stands on one leg to perform a kick, but I know that the hand can block and I can kick.

 

[Marcy Shoberg]

I'd say street fighting is when two or more people make a decision to fight each other in public where no trophies or medals are invoved. And, self-defense is when a person chooses the simplest response to a danger that keeps them as safe as possible physically, mentally, and legally.

 

[Jenna]

I think the difference is simple matter of intent..

In SD the intent is to survive.. this means avoidance, evasion, de-escalation and with physical technique as absolute last resort and only then as a means to get out..

In streetfighting the intent is to win.. often by inflicting as much damage as possible.. in streetfighting you yourself become aggressor..

I am generalising and but I figure to some the two are the same thing.. to me they are polar opposite..

 

[StreetReady]

Calling yourself a street fighter ref your profile makes you sound like a brawler looking for trouble rather than someone serious about self defence, there really isn't such a thing as 'street fighting'.

I assure you, I don't go around looking for trouble and starting fights. The reason I call myself a street fighter is because I don't want to limit myself to a single martial art style. If it sounds any better, I've got about 2 years of experience training in a boxing gym, and I currently train in an MMA gym. I've also trained in BJJ on and off for about 3 years and competed once at a local competition where I took bronze medal in my weight division.

The only reason I call myself a street fighter is because I don't plan on doing any competitive fighting. Everything I'm learning is just to prepare myself to be able to defend myself. Plus, MMA conditioning is tough and a great body workout. I guess I could have used a better word to describe my intentions, maybe such as mixed martial artist?

At the same time though, I intend on learning how to fight with weapons such as knives and sticks, so that wouldn't make me fit in the traditional definition of mixed martial artist.

Therefore, I thought street fighter was the most proper way to describe my martial arts intentions. Anyway, I think titles are overrated and it's definitely the least of my concerns.

 

[StreetReady]

Self defense is the act of defending yourself and is an act of self preservation. Meaning the average person is not looking to engage in street fights but the average person
does want to defend him/herself. In this case though it may occur in the street a person is being attacked and is protecting his/her well being.

I agree with everything you've said and I think street fighting (or fighting in general) is essentially just a part of self defense.

Here's another question I have. How aggressive should you become in a self defense situation? Do you fight like a wild animal and destroy your attacker, or do you try to escape the first chance you get?

 

[StreetReady]

I think the difference is simple matter of intent..

In SD the intent is to survive.. this means avoidance, evasion, de-escalation and with physical technique as absolute last resort and only then as a means to get out..

In streetfighting the intent is to win.. often by inflicting as much damage as possible.. in streetfighting you yourself become aggressor..

I like how you used the keywords survive and win. That makes a lot of sense, thanks for your insight!

 

[Tez3]

I assure you, I don't go around looking for trouble and starting fights. The reason I call myself a street fighter is because I don't want to limit myself to a single martial art style. If it sounds any better, I've got about 2 years of experience training in a boxing gym, and I currently train in an MMA gym. I've also trained in BJJ on and off for about 3 years and competed once at a local competition where I took bronze medal in my weight division.

The only reason I call myself a street fighter is because I don't plan on doing any competitive fighting. Everything I'm learning is just to prepare myself to be able to defend myself. Plus, MMA conditioning is tough and a great body workout. I guess I could have used a better word to describe my intentions, maybe such as mixed martial artist?

At the same time though, I intend on learning how to fight with weapons such as knives and sticks, so that wouldn't make me fit in the traditional definition of mixed martial artist.

Therefore, I thought street fighter was the most proper way to describe my martial arts intentions. Anyway, I think titles are overrated and it's definitely the least of my concerns.

Saying MMAer would have been better yes, it's all about people's perceptions, we've spent a long time trying to present MMA as a sport, something that people can look at and see that it isn't what many describe it as ie human cock fighting and that's it's as far away from 'street fighting' and brawling you can get. It may be the least of your concerns but we are trying hard to promote MMA so that it is seen on a par with other sports.

Now you may have noticed I used the word sport, MMA is a competitive 'style' and while the conditioning is good, there's no doubt about that and it will give you a close approxomation of what it's like to be hit if you compete, it isn't actually for self defence and therefore probably not the best thing for you to be doing. You don't want to be taking people down 'in the street' however MMA will teach you to get back up pdq. I would therefore look to actually take self defence classes with a reputable instructor, by all means carry on with MMA but do train in something else as well. 'Street fighting' sounds thuggish and most likely if you describe yourself that in the 'outside' world ie outside martial arts you will probably end up getting called out quite a bit.

 

[StreetReady]

I would therefore look to actually take self defence classes with a reputable instructor, by all means carry on with MMA but do train in something else as well.

Yes I'm currently researching instructors on filipino martial arts in my local area. I'm really interested in learning Kali knife and stick fighting.

'Street fighting' sounds thuggish and most likely if you describe yourself that in the 'outside' world ie outside martial arts you will probably end up getting called out quite a bit.

Haha, I don't go around calling myself a street fighter in public. This conversation hardly comes up when I'm out in public, but I guess if I got called out, I'd have to resort to self defense if somebody wanted to 'test me'. But I don't walk around like a hardass, so it probably won't happen too often.

 

[Tez3]

Yes I'm currently researching instructors on filipino martial arts in my local area. I'm really interested in learning Kali knife and stick fighting.



Haha, I don't go around calling myself a street fighter in public. This conversation hardly comes up when I'm out in public, but I guess if I got called out, I'd have to resort to self defense if somebody wanted to 'test me'. But I don't walk around like a hardass, so it probably won't happen too often.

I wouldn't recommend taking any challenges to 'test' you, nothing wrong with walking away. If you are about to be mugged or attacked then you do what you have to within the bounds of the law, running away is still something to be considered along with other techniques however it's not self defence to fight someone who called you out, it's stupidity. I think you need to change the way you are thinking about self defence, why exactly are you wanting to learn to defend yourself?

 

[oaktree]

Hi StreetReady,
I perfer non violence and destroying my attacker like a wild animal doesn't do well with the doctrine of Ahimsa in Buddhism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa

It does't mean I can not defend myself or others or do what I have to do in order to ensure safety, it means I use the appropriate response and force necessary to end te conflict.

 

[StreetReady]

I wouldn't recommend taking any challenges to 'test' you, nothing wrong with walking away. If you are about to be mugged or attacked then you do what you have to within the bounds of the law, running away is still something to be considered along with other techniques however it's not self defence to fight someone who called you out, it's stupidity. I think you need to change the way you are thinking about self defence, why exactly are you wanting to learn to defend yourself?

I'd of course attempt to walk away first. I simply want to learn to defend myself because there are a lot of crazy people in this world looking to do harm to others. Maybe I'm not communicating myself clearly, or maybe you just find things in my sentences to argue about. Or maybe it's me calling myself a street fighter that got you ticked off. I don't know...Regardless, I'm a fairly harmless person with nothing to prove to anybody.

I simply want to learn how to defend myself so I can have an upper hand on somebody who has bad intentions. I understand completely the legal consequences of unsanctioned fighting. I don't plan on fighting the first person who calls me out in public. I simply want to have an absolute advantage if it were to ever happen. What you think I should do doesn't really matter to me because I'll never meet you in person and talk face to face with you.

 

[StreetReady]

Hi StreetReady,
I perfer non violence and destroying my attacker like a wild animal doesn't do well with the doctrine of Ahimsa in Buddhism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahimsa

It does't mean I can not defend myself or others or do what I have to do in order to ensure safety, it means I use the appropriate response and force necessary to end te conflict.

Thanks you for the link. You sound like a true martial artist. Respectful and helpful to others. I grew up in a Buddhist family. Theravada Buddhism to be exact, but I never quite understood the practices. Sounds like something I should get into.

 

[Black/Red Block]

I'd of course attempt to walk away first. I simply want to learn to defend myself because there are a lot of crazy people in this world looking to do harm to others. Maybe I'm not communicating myself clearly, or maybe you just find things in my sentences to argue about. Or maybe it's me calling myself a street fighter that got you ticked off. I don't know...Regardless, I'm a fairly harmless person with nothing to prove to anybody.

I simply want to learn how to defend myself so I can have an upper hand on somebody who has bad intentions. I understand completely the legal consequences of unsanctioned fighting. I don't plan on fighting the first person who calls me out in public. I simply want to have an absolute advantage if it were to ever happen. What you think I should do doesn't really matter to me because I'll never meet you in person and talk face to face with you.

I agree with everything stated above

Onylthing I can add is:

Self Defence has no rules, it includes everything in your arsenal, it in some cases is a matter of life and death. if you have to fight you fight with full commitment as your life depends on it.

whereas

Streetfighting sort of has rules, you can only do this and this but you cant do this as I believe it is open challenges etc and a different situtation than self-defence. But it could turn into a Self Defence situtation IF there in no RULEs and it gets out of hand. I wouldn't get into these situations as they're not controlled like Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA fights etc.

 

[Tez3]

I'd of course attempt to walk away first. I simply want to learn to defend myself because there are a lot of crazy people in this world looking to do harm to others. Maybe I'm not communicating myself clearly, or maybe you just find things in my sentences to argue about. Or maybe it's me calling myself a street fighter that got you ticked off. I don't know...Regardless, I'm a fairly harmless person with nothing to prove to anybody.

I simply want to learn how to defend myself so I can have an upper hand on somebody who has bad intentions. I understand completely the legal consequences of unsanctioned fighting. I don't plan on fighting the first person who calls me out in public. I simply want to have an absolute advantage if it were to ever happen. What you think I should do doesn't really matter to me because I'll never meet you in person and talk face to face with you.

Not sure what 'ticked off' means but whatever it is I'm sure I'm not, I'm simply trying to understand what you want self defence for, I'm not arguing either. It's simply that what you need depends on what you want it for.

 

[StreetReady]

I agree with everything stated above

Onylthing I can add is:

Self Defence has no rules, it includes everything in your arsenal, it in some cases is a matter of life and death. if you have to fight you fight with full commitment as your life depends on it.

whereas

Streetfighting sort of has rules, you can only do this and this but you cant do this as I believe it is open challenges etc and a different situtation than self-defence. But it could turn into a Self Defence situtation IF there in no RULEs and it gets out of hand. I wouldn't get into these situations as they're not controlled like Boxing, Kickboxing, MMA fights etc.

Yeah I've seen street fights where it was somehow mutually agreed that each party would gouge eyeballs or groin kick, so you're definitely right about it having some sort of rules.

Also agree with you that it's better to stay away from street fights because they don't have referees like combative sports. I've seen in street fight videos of people getting their head repeated stomped and kicked while unconscious. Pretty dangerous stuff...

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I think that you have an agenda, and I'm mildly curious as to what it is, but I'm sure you'll reveal it in time.

 

[StreetReady]

I think that you have an agenda, and I'm mildly curious as to what it is, but I'm sure you'll reveal it in time.

You're a smart person Bill Mattocks. I do have an agenda and I'll be more than happy to reveal it soon!

 

[MJS]

I just want to know if you think there's a difference between street fighting and self-defense. I tend to use both phrases as the same things, because I don't street fight unless I have to defend myself.

If I'm forced to defend myself, it often looks like a street fight because I'll do whatever it takes to get out of there alive. That means I won't hesitate to use weapons and all.

Can anybody define the difference?

The following is the way I define the two:

Fighting: A mutually agreed fight; usually ego driven; meeting in a set time at a set place.

Self Defense: Defending yourself. Standing at the ATM, someone comes up and attempts to rob you. This of course, doesn't always mean physically defending yourself. You can verbally defuse a situation without ever having to fight. Knowing your surroundings and being aware.