The Way of Least Resistance

It's more than a year since I wrote my analysis of Ronda Rousey's loss to Holly Holm .  My conclusion back then was as follows: "If there's a lesson in there for Rousey it is this: in a stand up fight, simple aggression is often enough to win against an unskilled opponent.  And if you're a good grappler, it will certainly give you some good chances to close the gap and use your real skills.  But if you want to fight a good stand up fighter, you need to know enough about stand up  defence ."  It would seem that in the intervening year, Rousey has done nothing - and I mean absolutely nothing - to improve this skill, as was clearly evident in Rousey's fight last night against Amanda Nunes. Many think that the cornerstone of stand-up fighting is  attacking : striking, in the form of punching and kicking. Indeed, this is very much the philosophy of some schools who tout themselves as " target focused ". But, as I have stressed over many years a...

Okay, so the dust is settling on Ronda Rousey's historic loss to Holly Holm. And there are no shortage of pundits analysing the details of what went wrong with Rousey's game and what went right with Holm's. Heck, some people managed to get the commentary right before the fight even started.  Consider this adept video that my friend Gene Burnett put me onto: Doubtless, writers like the amazing Jack Slack will use this kind of analysis to examine the fight down to the finest technical degree. [Edit: Jack has posted an article  - and I'm glad to see his conclusion is consistent with mine!] But I'm going to be brutally frank here.  I don't think we really need to go to that level of detail to understand what went wrong for Rousey and right for Holm.  I think that in the end it's as simple as this: All of Rousey's previous opponent have been second rate strikers (compared with Holm). Rousey  simply wasn't prepared for a good stand-up game . ...

Many of my recent articles have concerned the topic of defence : why it is important, and how it is to be used - together with a connected, appropriate counter . Well I recently came across an example of "textbook" defence: a response that typifies everything I've been writing about. To some readers it might seem odd that it concerns firearms and not "hand to hand combat".  I don't find it odd at all: the principles of effective defence are universally applicable.  They are part of the Daoist concept of wu-wei . Consider this video: In it, you'll see a store clerk being held-up by a man armed with a handgun: only the robber doesn't realise he's up against a highly trained, combat-experienced Iraq war veteran . It doesn't go well for the robber.  You can read a detailed textual account here . What's the first thing you notice from the video?  Fantastic situational reflex by the veteran: As the robber starts to bring...

We’ve all heard the refrain: “Attack is the best form of defence.”  It is so axiomatic that we almost daren’t question it.  And yet in this article that is precisely what I propose to do.  In fact, I will go further to demonstrate that the true measure of martial skill lies not in one’s skill in attack - but in one’s mastery of defence . First let me dispose of the inevitable: Yes there are cases where “attack is the best form of defence”.  Principally, there are two situations in which one can say this is true: If you can pre-empt an attack with your own, you will obviously be in a much stronger position than if you had to negate/avoid an attack launched before yours.  This is so obvious it barely warrants a mention.  However, as I have most recently discussed , pre-emption isn’t always possible.  In fact, when it comes to most civilians facing an unprovoked attack, it is usually improbable - and perhaps inadvisable for ethical/moral, ...

I've received many messages and comments on social media and privately regarding my recent article " Enter the interception ". A common response is exemplified by "Nelson's" below: ""When in doubt strike out." was the maxim under which I was trained. This I took to mean when confrontation is inevitable you must have the wherewithal to react BEFORE you get popped whether it be by a knife, gun or fist. If you insist on being a dojo lawyer and giving an opponent the first shot you'd better stay on the "good" side of town only in daylight hours."   This is a variation on the old " I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6 ". I have to say, it has a lot of emotional appeal and seems unimpeachable when it is raised: no one can disagree with it in principle . However I don't feel this provides any kind of formula for conflict management . To me, it is far too simplistic to capture the myriad social cir...

Here are a couple of questions that were recently posed on the Traditional Fighting Arts Forums by "Kframe".  I thought it would be useful to post them here along with my answers: "Ok, now here is a great question with regards to the round kick and movement.  We all know that moving up the circle past the apex will cause the round kick to lose a lot of power. How far does that movement have to be fore it starts losing power? How much power does it lose in the first few inches past the apex?" A roundhouse kick loses force exponentially the moment it passes the apex.  How much is lost in a few inches?  It isn't easy to say definitively, but I'll give it a go in a minute (I'd need my brother to do some more precise calculations). Let's just say that even a few inches and I think you'll have lost more than the kick was worth.  That's exactly why the Muay Thai defences below involve body shifting sideways (ie. "taisabaki" or ...

Back in about 2007 I met a youngish man at a training seminar over East. He used to train with a particular kung fu school where they practised "deadly" and "invincible" martial arts. To demonstrate the effectiveness of his former art, during the break he directed some of the other participants and me to a Youtube video. I forget which one it was, but similar ones are featured in the video below (although I hasten to add that while the combination techniques might be similar, I am not suggesting that the persons in the video embedded here are making any of the assertions made by this particular fellow). Let me summarise what we saw: The video comprised a series of clips pasted together which revealed a speed and ferocity of response that was truly breathtaking; the sheer number of blows being rained down upon the hapless "attackers" seemed "insurmountable" and "irresistible". It was like being attacked by a hurricane (perhaps...