Category: Fighter (combat sports)

Eye gouges, groin strikes, bites, scratches, throat strikes, hair pulling: why “fighting dirty” is not enough in reality

Click to watch video on Youtube

Reddit discussion and video

Groin strikes, eye gouges, and other “dirty” street fighting techniques are often overestimated in their effectiveness, and are not reliable substitutes for fundamental fighting skills.

The key issue with these techniques is that they rely on pain to influence behavior, rather than directly incapacitating or controlling an opponent. Real fighting scenarios (see videos) show that people can endure severe injuries, including serious maiming, and still continue to fight. This resilience is especially true when the stakes are high.

Gaining a controlling position increases the effectiveness of any technique, including those banned in sports. Without a dominant position, attempts at “dirty” tactics are more likely to fail.

Consideration must also be given to what happens when these tactics fail. In a fight, once a certain level of violence is introduced, it can be reciprocated, potentially leading to more severe consequences.

Real-life examples illustrate these points. Fighters have continued to compete even after sustaining significant injuries like broken limbs or blindness. The effectiveness of these tactics is unpredictable and can vary greatly depending on the situation and the individuals involved.

While “dirty” techniques can be part of a fighting strategy, they are not reliable or decisive. Effective fighting requires a combination of skills, including striking, grappling, and a strategic approach to positioning and control. Simply relying on pain-inducing tactics is insufficient for real combat scenarios.

Here we have a man arguing with police, and he throws a knee to the groin. You can see the officer’s hips move back as the energy from the strike transfers to his body. The officer responds with a punch which knocks the man unconscious. This is a stark illustration of the difference between doing something that simply hurts a lot, and something that takes away your capacity to fight completely.
A jeweller is stabbed and attempts to stop the attacker by using groin strikes and eye gouges, which have no effect. Neither man is able to clearly dominate the fight before the stabber eventually gives up and walks away.
This man entered an MMA gym and challenged them to a fight. When he gets caught in a guillotine choke, he attempts to eye gouge his opponent, who continues to choke the man unconscious.
In Japan 1995, 5’7 Yuki Nakai fought 6’5 Gerard Gordeau in an MMA bout. Gerard illegally eye gouged Yuki, which left him permanently blind in his right eye. Yuki continued to fight with one eye, and won by heel hook in the fourth round. He never let officials know that he’d been blinded.
Full fight where a man’s ear is bitten off, and the biter loses by submission when he is unable to escape from a bad position, demonstrating the importance of basic grappling skills no matter the rule set.
A man’s lower lip is bitten off in a street fight; however, by the end of the video he is keen to continue fighting, while it is the biter who walks away.
Man has his ear bitten off in a street fight and does not stop – by the end of the video he is in a dominant position and continues to fight without issue.
A man who is allegedly a pedophile according to onlookers, attempts to bite and eye gouge while underneath the mount of his opponent, which fails. His opponent – the man in a controlling position – eye gouges and blinds the other man, demonstrating the importance of positional control no matter what rules of lack thereof.
Two men are fighting on the ground, one has his eye gouged out – however, he continued to fight and at the end of the video, he is in a controlling position and is now gouging the eyes of the other man.
Multiple unanswered strikes to the groin which appear to have no effect
Source of video thumbnail – by MMA photographer Esther Lin
“After the fight, Werdum said the poke didn’t hurt or affect him – and even if it had hurt, he might have lied to the ringside physician and said he was fine out of concern the bout would be stopped. Werdum, who won a unanimous decision, says he thinks some fighters embellish the severity of a poke to get out of the fight and that offends him to some degree.”

https://www.espn.com.au/mma/story/_/id/27850706/danger-mma-problem-eye-pokes

MMA fighter chokes out knife-wielding attacker after disarming him

SOURCE

CUTLER BAY, Fla. – A former professional mixed martial artist won the fight of his life outside the ring, and it was all caught on camera.

Javier Baez told Local 10 News Friday that he is grateful to see another day thanks to his combat training after a man attempted to stab him in Cutler Bay early Wednesday morning.

Baez said he was out late on Halloween night, getting back to his complex around 4 a.m. Wednesday, when he saw Omar Marrero, 50, of Cutler Bay, behind the 11,000 block of Southwest 211th Street, holding a knife that was about 14 inches long and yelling in the parking lot.

Marrero’s arrest report stated moments after seeing Baez in his vehicle, he began hitting his car window with the knife and then opened the driver’s door and attempted to cut him.

As Baez exited his vehicle and attempted to diffuse the situation, Marrero continued to swing the knife at him, the report stated.

Shortly after, Marrero went back to his vehicle while placing the knife on the front passenger side floor and began fighting Baez.

Police said moments after, Marrero went back to his car, grabbed a second large knife, and attempted to cut Baez several times.

Additional surveillance video showed Marrero rushing at Baez, who quickly overpowered him, lifted him, and then slammed him to the ground.

“You train so many times that it becomes just a reflex,” Baez said.

Baez was able to defend himself while disarming Marrero and detaining him until police arrived at the scene.

“Once I started putting the choke in, he kind of just let it go because no one is worried about anything else but breathing when you’re losing air,” he said. “I was able to hold him down with my knee and call the cops, and he woke up, cops came, and it was good, easy peasy!”

Baez told Local 10 News that he was unhurt and only sustained minor scratches to his hands following the scuffle.

“Once it came to that, it’s all instincts. I couldn’t do much but just react,” Baez told Local 10 News. “I’ve been training my whole life — black belt jiu-jitsu, wrestled in college, I’ve got eight pro fights, MMA masters. I’ve got great training partners.”

Baez said that he didn’t personally know Marrero but had seen him before walking around in his neighborhood.

Marrero was transported to the Cutler Bay Municipal District where he was interviewed and provided a statement to police.

He currently faces one count each of burglary with assault or battery and aggravated battery, according to jail records.

As of Friday, Marrero is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Karate vs BJJ/Vale Tudo challenge match

I believe I saw this video about 2005-ish, so it could be much older than that. An old-fashioned challenge match where a pure Karate man has entered a BJJ (or possibly Vale Tudo) gym and challenged them to a fight, somewhere in Brazil.

Back before MMA was popular, many people completely underestimated the importance of grappling skills and believed they could prevent takedowns and never go to the ground, despite having zero experience in takedown defence and grappling.

Two Vs One Self Defense case study: MMA fighter vs two “Eshays” in Brisbane

Link to Reddit discussion

A higher quality version of the video is available on my youtube channel.

After making this video, I found a 1-hour long interview with Viktor. I definitely recommend watching this interview. He offers insights into his thinking during the confrontation, talks about his past experiences with violence and how this lead to his training and MMA career, and they broadly discuss violence what motivates young men to engage in this kid of behaviour.

Citizens arrest by BJJ black belt – effective control and no injuries

BJJ black belt Idriz Redzovic takes down and controls a man who assaulted staff in a shop. Idriz uses the “gift wrap” method to maintain control for an extended period without any harm to himself or the belligerent man. He hands the man over to police when they arrive without issue.

Methods of control comparison – police vs MMA fighter Matt Serra

The methods used by police in this example are typical of those used by people who have very little grappling experience – holding wrists and pressing down on the head without controlling the body. Two police hold the man who has been arrested for possession of a knife in a public place, while a crowd gathers which becomes a safety concern for the officers. Although the methods used are not causing harm (the suspect is lying on his side rather than face down, most of the officer’s weight is on his own feet and the knee is pressed into the head rather than neck), the knee on the head resembles the George Floyd incident which could quickly incite the crowd to intervene.

It is very likely the man was actively resisting and attempting to escape custody before this video clip starts, however it would not make sense to continue once he saw that a crowd had gathered and was filming. Playing the victim only makes sense, whether it is right or wrong. This video resulted in the police officer being suspended.

Matt Serra, shown in the second video restraining a man who had just threatened restaurant staff and attempted to punch him, sits in the mount position which has the man immobilised. Serra controls the wrists only to prevent him from grabbing and hitting, not as the primary method of control. It also allows the man to breathe and causes very little discomfort.