Emotional control (if not outright detachment) is essential, of course, which is why there's no substitute for free sparring. There's nothing like getting pummled a few times to get over the fear of getting bloodied up. Having said that, however, my 'back off' look is something like 'you have angered the badger' (google it), albiet with slightly less fur, and it works extremely well. You know you have 'the badger' when a stranger who (I can only assume) forgot to take his morning meds is walking beside you down the street and muttering to himself until he gets worked up enough to turn on you with a fist cocked... Then backs down because he can, very easily, read your poker face.
Anyways, if somewhere claims to practice 'no-contact sparring' as I've unfortunately seen in some shoto (why is it always shoto?) dojos then it doesn't have sparring any more than Tae-bo does, and is about as effective (not very). As for actual fights, I don't care to keep tabs on my wins, but I've had one loss and a draw; Know how you can't have a metal lunch box in grade school anymore? My bad. I was hit in the face by a metal lunch box in the fourth grade, supposedly, this would be about 1988 or 1989. I don't remember the incident due to being knocked out immediately. I may or may not have pinched the ass of a girl wearing a skirt two grades above me prior to the incident in question. The draw was in 2000 when a black bear made an earnest attempt to maul me, however I had my buck knife and the mauling became mutual, with both of us quitting to lick our wounds after a time. The missing flesh on my right arm between my elbow and shoulder is inconvenient in the extreme, but at least the scar (most of the others healed) gets the occasional compliment.