3 posts / 0 new
Last post
JWT
JWT's picture
Sucker Punches

Sucker punches can seem like the fight starter, and are often the fight ender.  

I put together this video of 12 sucker hits made on my Sim Days so that people could look at the body language and pre fight posturing of the attackers (7 by DART Instructor Chris Nicholls, 3 by  senior DART students, 1 by a Ju Jitsu Instrucor and 1 by a guest Karate instructor) and the physical and verbal telegraphs they were about to attack.  On the flip side of the coin, and perhaps more importantly, the mistakes in positioning, body language, fence and lack of preempt that opened up the victims.

I'm actually featured getting sucker punched here, starting from a disadvantaged position to replicate a mistake I'd made earlier in order to practice an escape. :)

Th0mas
Th0mas's picture

Hi John

Watching for the tells, even from the 3rd person perspective, is really hard and it must be a nightmare when you are in the senario itself. Especially when you cant see facial expressions through the protective gear.

It certainly looks like some of the pre-emtive strikes would drop the reciever if they hadn't been wearing protective head gear... good stuff.

Cheers

Tom

JWT
JWT's picture

Hi Tom

You can see the eyes and eyebrows through the gear when you're at the same height level.  Realistically the tells are in the facial contortion (which is vsible even in the cage helmets),  tone, the hand gestures and the shoulders.  The nasty ones are the pincer attacks, where one person distracts while the other lines you up for a shot.

You are right that it's tough.  The problem is compounded by the fact that some people project under the influence of adrenaline, so they see things that haven't happened yet.  

I think one of the big lessons is distance, how quickly it can be compromised, and how it affects your reaction time.  A lot of the people allowed their space to be compromised because they weren't prepared to maintain it for fear of being provocative, or preempt because they hadn't identified that soft skills weren't working.  The other thing a lot of people don't realise is how a few cm height in their fence can make the difference between being hit or not! 

You're right that some of the shots would have ended the situation without the mitigation of the mma gloves and the helmets combined.  It's still possible to get KOs though.

Cheers

JWT