The Truth in Combat is a martial philosophy and concept. This truth mindset is crucial because most people only think about their personal reality and experience and not truth.
The word reality is being used all the time now in martial arts and combat but most people only have a partial understanding or a perception of what is really true.
When mixed martial arts (MMA) events first started in the U.S. many spectators including myself thought that the striker would just knock-out the grappler and not be taken down and submitted. Well this was not a true assumption.
The reality was that in the close quarter closed cage/padded ring environment the grappler had the advantage. This advantage was due to the fact that the striker had a false mindset, underestimated their opponent’s abilities and were unprepared for the strategy of the grappler. Improper conditioning also played a major factor also.
Fast forward to today’s MMA competitions and we see that striking is the most common way to defeat your opponent or that striking is used to set up a takedown for ground-in-pound or submission. It’s the integration or mixing of these styles that make for a true mixed martial artist.
The truth is that only a mixed martial artist (someone who knows striking, grappling, conditioning, fight strategy and has a finishing mindset) can prevail in today’s events. Cross-training and mixed martial arts have been around for thousands of years. The Greek Pankration events from the early Olympics and Greco-Roman is a great example of blending cultures and fighting styles. Russian Sambo and Systema are also hybrid systems taken from European and Asian cultures and modernized for today’s sport and military combat needs.
What is the difference between reality and truth?
Reality is truth and truth is reality, but reality is subjective and truth is absolute. We can have a perceived reality of something but this does not make it true. We can also believe that something is true but in reality it is a false belief.
“And isn’t it a bad thing to be deceived about the truth, and a good thing to know what the truth is? For I assume that by knowing the truth you mean knowing things as they really are.” (Plato)
Definitions of truth: (Dictionary.com)
A. Actuality or actual existence
B. Conformity with fact or reality
C. That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
Definitions of reality: (Dictionary.com)
A. Resemblance to what is real
B. Something that constitutes a real or actual thing, as distinguished from something that is merely apparent.
C. The state or quality of being real.
Combative truth:
Following are a few examples of how people’s realities can be self deceived.
A. Most people when asked, think they are good looking and attractive.
B. Most people believe they can sing well. (If you don’t believe me, just watch the first few episodes of American Idol).
C. Most people believe they have lots of friends but the truth is, when you are really in trouble and need help there will only be one or two people that you can truly count on. This is where the term “true friend “comes from.
D. Most people lie to themselves and don’t want to know the truth.
E. When people are asked to give their eye witness testimony about what they saw many times the reports conflict with what actually happened.
Reality is subjective:
Some people argue that what you believe is real, is real for you. This is perceived reality or false reality, but that does not mean that it is actually true.
Truth is based on facts, evidence and collaborating witnesses but reality many times is based upon perceptions, false beliefs and traditions. Many times people believe something to be true but after they gather more information or practical experience they come to the realization that what was real to them was actually false.
Summary:
There are many misconceptions in the martial arts world today and we must be clear about what our objective for training and study is based upon. If we are studying a sport based MMA or traditional sport based art like Tae Kwoon Do then we must understand that our training is for the cage, dojo or arena and this is fine but let’s not deceive ourselves and believe that our Kickboxing or grappling will be effective against multiple attackers or a weapons attack.
Just like the striker against the grappler we must not under estimate our opponent or over estimate our training and abilities. A Karate practitioner or full contact boxer who does not condition their hands against impact or who only spars with protective gear will be in for a rude awakening when they hit with maximum power and break their hand against an attacker’s skull. Or when an experienced wrestler or Ju jitsu man goes to the ground and gets stabbed in the gut or head kicked by a bystander or accomplice.
The solution:
We need to base our training on what is true and real and not let false information such as advertising, the movies, certain so-called experts who recommend submission ground fighting for the street or sports competitions that make us believe otherwise.
If you are looking for effective truth based, real life street self-defense then Paul Vunak’s “Enigma” DVD will give you all the tools needed.
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The exact curriculum I teach 13 government agencies.
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My secret Golden Goose principle of One million techniques.
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Defense against a knife that will improve ones odds 100% guaranteed.
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In five minutes I show you how to increase your chances of surviving a carjacking or home invasion 100%.
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How to fight more than one person and win.
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The three ways to get a large man off you and come to your feet. -
I will show you the escapes to use in a fight against a headlock, armlock, ground pin, bear hug, rear naked choke and many more.
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I reveal the rare Filipino art of Kinimutai — the art of uninterrupted biting and eye gouging.
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The incredibly brutal leaping face bite.
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The primate groin bite.
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Finally I will share the single most important fact in Martial Arts which happens to be the reason behind the title The Enigma.
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Bruce Pahl is the owner of Immortal Martial Arts & and Delaware Combat University. He is a certified Full instructor in Jeet Kune Do & Filipino martial arts under Paul Vunak of (PFS). Has a second degree black belt in Shorite Ryu Tai Jutsu under Dr. Christian Harfouche. He has a basic instructor cert. in Combat Ju-Jitsu under GM Michael DePasquale Jr. He earned his Black belt in 1997 in Chinese Kenpo Karate and was inducted into the Action Martial Arts Hall of Fame for excellence in teaching in 2007. He is a certified Battling Ropes® coach under founder John Brookfield, was certified in Circular Strength Training (Clubbells®) under Scott Sonnon, and is a certified instructor in FlexBands & Ultimate SandBag L.I.F.T,2010.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
i fight and kill with love and compassion. my main motivation is the love of my family.
Thanks Laurent for your comments and for sharing your real life combative experence. I also learned that if you stay out of bars life becomes much safer and much clearer.
I am planning on writing an article on multiple attacker defense based upon the principles that I have learned from Jeet Kune Do, Russian Systema and Bagua Kung Fu.
Take care and God Bless!
Wow! My first reaction to the tactic of biting was, man that is way Un-Civilized. But after some thought..it leads me to the conclude that there is no civility in real fights. You can afford sportsmanship in sporting events, but not in a real fight when your life is in real danger. Growing up, I ‘ve seen quite a few schoolyard fights, and they would more or less happen in the same way. Someone will say something and pick a fight with you, and you would decide whether you’d back down and alow yourself to be called a coward or stand up for yourself and escalate it. So you kind of knew what you were going to get yourself into. And usually before a minute is up, the fight is broken up and whether you win or lose, you go on about your way. So that sort of shaped my perception of reality that I would always have the opportunity to decide whether I would fight or back down, and if I did fight, as soon as I’ve had enough, the fight would be over because someone will step in and break it up. As I grew older, this mindset allowed me to build a false confidence about how to handle myself around others, dangerous or otherwise. I was in for a rude awakening the night I got jumped. I was on my way to a bar with a few of my friends when it happened. (one of the reasons why I don’t hang out in bars anymore.) As we were heading in, a group of ‘thugs’ were heading out. Actually they were being kicked out. As they passed us, one of them turned around and started punching my friend in the back of the head. It was pretty shocking. But I managed to push this kid off of my friend, and next thing you know, there were about a half a dozen of them punching and kicking me to the ground. I was able to get back up to my feet and sort of fight, but I was so shocked that I couldn’t focus on the fight itself because all I could think of was “why are these people punching me?”. Lol…I don’t know how many fists landed on my face as I tried to think things through. And to make matters worse, I was expecting my buddies to jump in and give me some back up, or the bouncers to break up the fight. But the bouncers just stood there because the fight was out in the street, and all I heard from my buddies was, “Come on man, fight back.” Seriously? The second thought that preoccupied my mind as I was getting pummeled was, “Why are my buddies standing there and not helping me?” You’re right about true friends Bruce, because that night, I learned the truth about my friends. I’ve had enough, but the beating continued, and they didn’t stop until they found other folks to prey on. Worst beating of my life. But as I replay the scene in my head and what I should’a, could’a, would’a done…if I had pulled one of them to the ground and bit furiously as I laid on my back, they wouldn’t have been able to get as many hits on me, and they would have probably backed off after hearing their buddy scream in terror as blood rushes down my chin. They would have had second thoughts about me being ‘easy prey’. Now, I wouldn’t neccessarily have fantasies about doing this, actually I think it’s pretty sick…but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. When you’re life’s in real danger, and you can’t afford to think things through…you need to be able to do something that you know is going to be effective.
And I agree with Kim that this applies to all of life. (Not the biting but the principle.) As a born-again Christian, when anything serious or unexpected happens in my life, I automatically turn to prayer, because I come to realize that it is the most effective weapon I have. Others may disagree theologically, but consider how soldiers react when bullets are flying over their heads. There are no atheists in foxholes.
I really like this article. This could apply to all of life….a lot of what we think is true really is not. Our reality can be very skewed. There is, afterall, only one truth and everything else is a lie.