Can you defend yourself?

[loc978]

I'm rather extensively trained in such things... and there are only a few ways I'd have a chance against 5 guys.

1. I'm armed... which is actually more common for me than being unarmed, hence the #1 spot.
2. They're so poorly trained/inexperienced that when they see one friend get his nose broken, the rest break and run. This pretty much describes most city people in my experience.
3. I can run to a place with police, security guards et cetera to break things up
4. I'm up against five very weak/badly crippled guys with next to no combat training or experience.

The effortless takedown of many opponents at once as depicted in martial arts movies is mostly fantasy.

 

[zumbledum]

what i mean by this thread is if you had to fight someone for whatever reason do you think you could stand a chance of beating them i do kickboxing and judo but i still feel if i was Surrounded by 5 guys i would get my ass handed too me so is there anything you guys do that would give you an advantage in that kind of Situation?

I have been in the "surrounded by 4-5 guys" situation quite a few times myself and i have a perfect record for getting out of it without it getting violent. dont run food runs, victims run.
Identify the Alpha this will be between you and him , and get in his face but do not get physical get him to back down and away and the situation is over. you are dealing with basic pack mentality

 

[Bvenged]

A year ago I wouldn't stand much of a chance against anyone, but now I'd say I could defend myself well enough to buy some extra time to get away. A little training and some more muscle mass and that.

Against the odds and it's better to just run. Luckily I'm a fast runner.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Depends, is the group entirely male or female?

If male, I'm pretty much fucked even though I consider myself a fairly well-built person (5,11", do weights at home). If female...as rare and bizarre that would be...I'll take my chances and go on the offensive.

 

[Palademon]

If by "defend yourself" you mean

[HEADING=3]KICK 'EM IN THE JUNK AND RUN![/HEADING]

...then yes
Actually I once rugby tackled my way through 5 guys at the same time. Not sure how I pulled that off.

 

[Athinira]

Yes and i have done so in the past, twice. Both were robbery attempts, and one was with a knife.

First time (knife incident), i got a small cut on my hand. The scar is still slightly visible. Second time around, me and the assh*** managed to bloody each others noses before we both ran in opposite directions.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I'd certainly defend myself, but seeing how something of this nature hasn't come up in a number of years and I don't think I've ever been in anything that I would classify as a proper fight, I'd most likely get my ass kicked were I facing off against someone roughly my size and in good shape. I'm not really the violent type and I didn't grow up having to fight anyone off, so I don't think I'd fare too well. That said, I'm 6'4" and fairly broad shouldered so I've probably got enough upper body strength about me to handle someone in a lower weight class as it were. Also, I don't care what anyone says; if it's 5 on 1 then you're getting your ass handed to you. End of. (The exception being if you punch one of them and then run I guess.)

 

[Karhukonna]

I'm actually quite capable of violence, and I'm not afraid to defend myself. I don't think I'll much hold back if I'll get challenged on the street. I can always tell the police I was scared for my life.

I look pretty harmless, but I'm still a pretty big guy and I know how to throw a punch. And take one, if necessary. Still, if at all possible, I'll try to talk my way out of a situation.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well, for starters, I look like the kind of guy that you don't WANT to mess with. I am strong, burly, mobile, and often sporting a badass beard.

For anothers, restraint isn't exactly one of my watch-words. And what restraint am I going to give if I'm fighting someone I don't give any sort of damn about?

For thirds, understand points of pressure, the weakest parts of the body, and balances. I also know that that wall will actually hurt more if I push your skull into it than if I simply punched you.

 

[blackrave]

Well, don't rely on martial sports
(stances, exclusion of weapons and 1vs1 training)
If you seriously consider fighting against 3+ enemies, you should study Krav Maga, Sirsinat or Kuk Sool. Also I have heard good things about Kombatan.
These are efficient martial arts that doesn't care about competitions, traditions or other minor bullshit. These martial arts are about ripping your opponent to shreds. And while training usually starts as 1vs1, eventually you are training with assumption that you will face more than 1 enemy. And stances are used only as a training method- eventually you will be thought to fight from any usual position. Also you are being trained in use of melee weapons.
I personally trained in Sirsinat (it can be described as Kalaripayattu with mentality of Krav Maga) for 3 years, we trained against 1, 2 and 3 opponents (more opponents usually behave like 3). Especially awesome is exercise called "Wolf Pack"- you are thrown in the middle of 3 other opponents. For advanced fighters additional motivation includes being in the middle with no defensive gear on >
At this point I'm pretty sure I can deal with any (reasonable) amount of enemies. If they're unarmed I will inflict light-medium damage to them, if they are armed, then it is severe or lethal damage.

If I need to summarize tips for surviving when facing multiple opponents
1.Head&mouth- try diplomacy
2.Legs- run
3.Pack mentality- identify leader of jerks and target him first (seeing alfa dog crushed might cause fear&panic in other assholes)
4.Weapons- knives, bats, planks, sticks, bricks, rocks, bottles, lighters, chains, belts and anything else that can in any way harm other human being.
5.Legs- move and try to keep other enemies behind the one you are dealing with at this moment
6.Environment- find good location to deal with multiple enemies and move there. For example narrow corridor will create bottleneck and will allow you to deal with one or two at the time. Also smacking someones head or spine against a corner will do some major damage.
7.Fighting "dirty"- it isn't competition. Only way to win is to survive. Target eyes, balls, elbows, knees, neck, diaphragm, temporal bone, hell even hitting nose under the right angle can be lethal. For example kicking knee from outer side will cause it to snap as a dry branch- and it is really hard to keep fighting while hopping on one leg.
8.DO LONG LASTING DAMAGE- you don't want someone you just hit to be back up after few seconds, you want him to stay down.

Hope it helps.

 

[SEXTON HALE]

I think I have a decent chance with three people on me anything above that I would probably need help with.
I have some pretty good training in kickboxing and karate behinde me thats come in handy before.
Five guys is just overkill it,one on one is how it should be done!

 

[Shraggler]

I don't care. I will fight to survive. I will bite, chew, and spit my mettle towards anyone who wants to take a piece.

In an unfair fight, I fight like an animal: The Will to survive.

In a fair fight, I fight to survive: Kidney shots, liver shots, stomach shots are all in name as long as I'm alive at the end of it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

what i mean by this thread is if you had to fight someone for whatever reason do you think you could stand a chance of beating them i do kickboxing and judo but i still feel if i was Surrounded by 5 guys i would get my ass handed too me so is there anything you guys do that would give you an advantage in that kind of Situation?

If you're surrounded by 5 guys you're basically fucked anyway. It doesn't matter who you are (seriously, it doesn't) one person against 5 in hand-to-hand isn't going to last long.

When it comes to my survival instinct, I pick 'flight' over fight 11 times out of 10. So if I was forced into a corner I would probably black out and go into a berserker rage, returning to consciousness in a sushi bar 2 hours later with no idea how I got there. Or I'll just get my ass handed to me.

 

[Guy from the 80's]

I trained mma for about a year and a half so I know a few tricks that can take down most people, knowing how to fight on the ground is a major advantage as most fights end up in some form of clintch. However, if I (or you) run into professional fighters then we are doomed. Against two people who knows what they are doing? I get my ass kicked.

Against 5? I'm in the hospital for the rest of my life.

 

[II2]

Other posters made good tips. Regardless, most of it comes down to context and specifics. 5 rowdy meat heads step to you with intimidation, flexing their shit and in the mood for a scrap is certainly more common, but very different than a scenario where 5 guys with a specific goal come at you with a plan of attack.

That's one important distinction, but there's a lot of those kinds of contextual things that play a greater part in how these sorts of events play out than any individual's aptitude.

 

[ScruffyMcBalls]

If I were to "win" any sort of combat which poses significant risk to my health, it'd be through dirty tactics and either an ultra-defensive approach, or an ultra-aggressive approach. A combination of running away and grappling is pretty fucking effective, but at the same time so is charging the first guy in line, diving shoulder first into his chest and raking at his eyes with your nails.
I doubt anyone could safely call whether or not they'd do well in hand-to-hand combat, but those who would are almost always the lowly dirty bastards like myself who have little to no honor.

 

[Nopodop]

I can definitely handle 1 average person. Not anyone who has much experience, but just an average joe of my age group. Any more than that, and I'm running, like a smart person.

 

[trophykiller]

Well, I'm rather weak, despite being a green belt in karate.

So if I was surrounded by 5 guys, I'd be pretty much doomed.

You and everyone else in the world. The first rule of fighting is realizing that Hollywood is a dirty liar, and trying to copy anything you see in a film is likely to wind up going south quickly.

I probably shouldn't have to say that, but you would be amazed how many people I've heard say "hold still and let me try this". In real fights, no one will hold still for you.

Back to OP, yes. Details only serve to make me sound like a mall ninja.

 

[King of Wei]

It wouldn't be very graceful at all but yeah I could defend myself, probably. I'm not physically strong at all but I'm smart and have quick reflexes so I'd at least stand a decent chance. I can usually beat my friends when we spar, though that's always 1 on 1. 5 on 1 and I'm running for the nearest tree.

 

[Mr F.]

I'm a skinny guy. To be honest, the only reason I don't get my ass kicked on a regular basis is because all of my friends are very, very large muscular men. And women. I know large people.

Like this with two alterations:

I have to walk long distances every day and I live on the 4th floor of an apartment block. This has given me legs like teak.

I did martial arts a while back, to the point where I can only remember three or four attacks and all of the basic blocks.

So whilst I am skinny to the point of being annorexic (Being a student = Can only afford books or food) I have evil SOB legs and can pull off half-decent roundhouse, side and front kicks (Side as in with the side of your foot, not to the side, just saying, I cannot remember the Japanese) along with pretty decent reaction times and the ability to block.

Oh, and a mate of mine, back in the day, taught me some basic MMA ground work.

All that aside, I think I could possibly take out one person, depending on levels of drunkenness and how many fights they had been in.

Anyone short of some form of title holder who claims they would stand a chance against more than three people is just talking out of their ass. Yes, sometimes people get lucky, like my Senseis Daughter (Brown 3rd dan at the time) taking out 5 attackers. But that was through the sheer surprise of the 5ft 1 girl they were trying to rape being able to crush a throat with her fist, if they had gone in with the intention of ATTACKING and not RESTRAINING she would have been a gonner.

Anyone would be a gonner.

"But I teach Judo!"

Congratulations! You picked up and began to throw one of them when you get punched in the back of the head, kicked in the back of the knee or otherwise stunned/stumbled for HALF A SECOND. In that half second you are on the floor with 5 (Assuming you dropped the guy you were carrying) working you over with their feet.

"But I am a black belt!"

See above. You throw one or two decent punches, yeah you make it so people go down. All it takes is one blindside, and no matter how fast you are when you are fighting that many people it will happen, and then you are gone. Utterly fucked. Spitting out teeth mixed with blood.

Very few people can deal with that many attackers. And I doubt any of them inhabit a gaming website.