Location - Accepting Reality

One of the five situational components is location – the place where the assault happens – and replicating location in the studio and dojo can be extremely difficult; as by nature the mat space or training area is relatively large and expansive, whereas in reality, most of the places where you will be assaulted or surrounded by obstacles, and barriers and by nature confined. The term “Street Fighting” is largely a misnomer, and certainly not a synonym for reality based self-defense, as the “street” is only one of many locations including, homes, bars, pubs etc. where real-life violence can occur – and in many instances the street is bordered by cars, shop fronts and litter bins, which restrict the actual space where an assault can occur. You can train every dimension of a fight, be it standup, grappling or ground, and yet until you restrict space and movement, you are not really replicating reality.

Groundwork is a great example of this. Many women’s self-defense programs will stress the importance of knowing how to defend and fight when taken to ground, however most of these programs are taught in a studio where there is at least 1000 sq ft of mats/ground to roll around on. Women are most likely to be sexually assaulted in their homes, or somebody else’s, where there is furniture etc. which dramatically reduces the space available to move in. If a woman is sitting on a couch or bed, next to a sexual assailant who pins her down, how effective is her ground game going to be? She will certainly be fighting with her back to the ground, but the “ground” is now a sofa, or a bed, or possibly the backseat of a car etc. Such surfaces will have an element of give in them e.g they arem't necessarily solid surfaces to push off from e.g. try bridging when pinned down on a soft mattress etc. Any reality based self-defense system should include a ground component, but it should also train “ground” fighting in confined spaces, as this is often the reality of the environment/location. If you believe you have a good ground game, take a moment to think how you would apply your skills and knowledge to being pinned down on the back seat of a car; take a moment to think of what techniques and components of your ground game you’d be able to perform and function with, in this environment e.g. most of your armbars would have to go. If you need more space than a coffin to get your ground game to work, you may need to spend some time reviewing it, in order to have an effective system of self-defense.

The same goes of your stand up game. You may be someone who excels at sparring, where you are given a relatively large and open space to work in, but when your back is pushed up against a wall, how well do you perform? Give me the room to engage my hips, and I can deliver strikes and punches with power, pin my hips to the wall, and all I’m left with is arm strength/power. Whoever decided to add the cage component to MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fights, understood something about reality i.e. that fighters must be able to fight when they are pressed/trapped against a wall, and not just when they are able to move freely. It is also important to know how to use the environment/location to your advantage – a wall, a steering wheel, a table etc. can all be used to inflict pain and trauma to your aggressor.

Experienced assailants are very skilled at taking space away from you, whether when on the ground, which includes beds, chairs, sofas etc. or when standing. However great a fighter you believe you to be in these dimensions, start to back yourself into corners, press yourself against walls etc. and train from there. Understand what will work in a confined space and understand what won’t. This is reality based self-defense.