# Knifefighter



## Jerry (Mar 18, 2005)

> But since the dead have arisen....the deadly myth of the "knife fighter".





> I love that article. I honestly think it is worth its own thread...


OK. Done.

"Colonel Rex Applegate, who trained thousands of GI's in WWII and whose work was based on Fairbairn and Sikes, commented to me about the current crop of so-called knife fighting instruction, "What these people are teaching  is dueling." "

OK. The obvious problem here is that a person teaching knife-work is complaining that people teaching knife work are not teaching something useful while excluding himself.

The *reality* is that *much* of the knife-work taught is poor at best. Though there is some truth to the "any reaction is better than no reaction" mentality, training given at most martial schools is poor at best.

Even hitting many of the more known brands (FMA), there is indeed a tendancy to focus on "dueling". But it is interesting how everyone who writes such articles ignores the fact that they are teaching knife work from a cirriculum learned by the people who taught them. It's a common thing to take "many people are wrong" and turn it into "only I am right".



> Our opinions are based on one simple thing: We are not talking about "fighting" at all, but rather surviving.


That's my strategy for *every* confrontation. Every single one I'm trying to avoid (or, if I'm working in LE capacity, avoid escilating). Any situation where my life is in danger, my life is in danger. From a civillian standpoint, I tend to think of them as life-or-death regardless of weapon or lack thereof, and respond accordingly. Obviously, the occasions I'm working LE the rules are a little different, but since I do mounted work, it's not something I oft have to deal with from that perspective (never go without ground support).

Considering how many people view unarmed as a boxing match, I'm not surprised they view blade work as a duel.


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## arnisador (Jan 16, 2006)

It's very true that many FMAs seem to focus on knife dueling. If that's not what you need, you must watch out! Still, it's a good way to get a "fee" for the weapon.


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## Jagermeister (Jan 16, 2006)

I think there are basically 3 possible results of a real knife fight (or duel).

1. If you are much more skilled than your opponent, you live and he dies.
2. If your opponent is much more skilled than you, he lives and you die.
3. And if you are evenly matched (even remotely), you both die.

So in a sense, you have only a 1/3 chance of surviving a real knife fight.  Not good odds, imo.  So my advice?  Run!


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## Airyu@hotmail.com (Jan 19, 2006)

Hello Everyone,

The 1/3 approach to each scenario holds true if a person is in a the "dueling" mentality, rare that the scenario happens so the odds will go to the more trained, prepared and aware member of an attack. 

Awareness - Avoidence - Aggressive Action. This is a simple chain that many should follow. Notice aggrssive action is last on the list as avoiding(running) is always a better choice if it is available.

Gumagalang
Guro Steve L.

www.Bujinkandojo.net
www.Sayoc.com


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