Itchin' for a fight?

astrobiologist

astrobiologist

Brown Belt
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From time to time, I kind of start getting a little itch for a fight. It's a weird sensation. It's like I want to spar full on with a resistant opponent just to work through my reactions and technique in a much more 'real' environment. The thing is though, I'm a pretty nice guy (I'm not intimidating or anything), I'm not pushy or rude, and I know from my training that starting a fight against an unknown combatant is a serious taboo.

I'm thinking about seeing if some local martial artists want to go for a full tilt sparring match or six. That way I can be somewhat safe while still getting into a more combative situation.

Anyone else ever get the "itch"? How do you handle it?
 
astrobiologist said:
From time to time, I kind of start getting a little itch for a fight. It's a weird sensation. It's like I want to spar full on with a resistant opponent just to work through my reactions and technique in a much more 'real' environment. The thing is though, I'm a pretty nice guy (I'm not intimidating or anything), I'm not pushy or rude, and I know from my training that starting a fight against an unknown combatant is a serious taboo.

I'm thinking about seeing if some local martial artists want to go for a full tilt sparring match or six. That way I can be somewhat safe while still getting into a more combative situation.

Anyone else ever get the "itch"? How do you handle it?
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We spar in my dojo. Hard.
 
Not so much for sparring, but I do have the itch to experience a real life or death combat. Perhaps I'm a strange person. I don't want to rush into a dangerous situation, but I would like to have that kind of experience under my belt just to know what it was like. Can I save my own life against a person committed to killing me? Can I defeat a deranged MAist who holds some degree of skill? Can I disarm a gun or knife from a gun trying to kill me or take me to a secondary location? How about multiple attackers with guns and knives? Yes the itch is there, and I really want to scratch.

Since I have no desire to get myself killed by jumping into a bad situation I just grab my most trusted training partners and my teacher and say, I want to work on this (insert reality based training idea here). It releives some of the itch, but it always comes back. I don't think there is a cure for it other than to go out and do it, but then again it's something foolish to purposefully seek out.
 
I think every man desires to test himself and measure himself against other men - and fears it also. Some take action on those urges, others do not.

I think of men like Teddy Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway, among others.
 
Where I train, we are frequently told, "If you want to go hard, just ask a black belt. Most of them will be happy to." So I know the option is there, but I haven't availed myself of it. Moderate contact is fine for me, thanks. Not that I don't occasionally get the "itch," but it gets squashed by other considerations.
 
It's easy, organize a semi-controlled fight club. You and your guys from your dojo can get in touch with guys from other gyms, even boxing clubs and have a little unadvertised fight night. I'm sure you'll find guys who are into it.
 
What we've done before, and with your instructors permission, is get some of the hard core guys to stay after class and go all out with no pads. Except matbe a mouth guard.

A lot of us love doing that. We'll use plastic knives and real clubs. Sometimes we'll turn off the lights and fight in the dark and with multiple attackers. You gotta be prepared to get lumped up pretty good though. We have all come out of there with some pretty good sized knots on our heads, shins,elbows. Got some black eyes and split up lips from it also.

Another thing we'll do is, one guy will back up against the wall and have one or two guys come at you with everything. Since there is no backing up, you're forced to block and fight with no retreat. Fun stuff, got pretty lumped up doing that too. Not so much fun for the ceramic store next to us!
 
Not an insane idea, Omar but you have to think of the fact that the chances of someone getting injured are pretty high - after all, that is the intent of the arts that we study and if you take off the 'regulators' that are there to make sparring safer ...

Trying to get insurance for such a thing would be extremely difficult and if you don't bother and the worst happens, whoever organised it would be in a very bad situation indeed.

It's probably best to stick with as full contact sparring as you can get to scratch that 'combat' itch.
 
Another thing to keep in mind is that during those matches, you can receive a career ending injury that pretty much takes you out of karate practice for good. So, you have to weigh the pros and cons.

For myself, I have participated in MMA style sparring, Full Contact Karate, Sub Grappling, Judo, and Full Contact Weapon sparring. Eleven broken bones later, I've decided that I've had enough and I'm not interested in testing further.

I consider myself lucky to have not injured myself beyond the point of no return. I do have a lingering back injury that will take me out if I'm not careful, however.

Each to their own, but that is the closest I want to get to "real" combat.
 
i get the same feeling, or a similar one. it usually just goes away.

line up an amateur mma fight if you want, they're not hard to get.

jf
 
I agree with Omar: organize an unadvertised fight club. Don't charge, and make sure that there are ground rules of your choosing. I mean, you can still wear protective gear like mouthpieces, gloves, and cups and still scratch that competitive itch to fight.

I don't suggest including your school on this. It increases liability for the business. It's up to you to tell your instructor.

I also suggest training for an MMA fight, which is a popular medium today for competition...

Another thing that comes to mind is that you might be reaching your athletic threshold. Ask about a more intense regimen from your instructor. If he/she says no, seek it elsewhere.

You could also be hitting a training plateau, and might be getting bored with the technique you're practicing. From personal experience, stay focused on what you're learning now, since it'll definitely help in the future.

My .02. Do what makes you happy. After all, the MAs is what we do on our free time, right?
 
Sukerkin said:
Not an insane idea, Omar but you have to think of the fact that the chances of someone getting injured are pretty high - after all, that is the intent of the arts that we study and if you take off the 'regulators' that are there to make sparring safer ...
Trying to get insurance for such a thing would be extremely difficult and if you don't bother and the worst happens, whoever organised it would be in a very bad situation indeed.
It's probably best to stick with as full contact sparring as you can get to scratch that 'combat' itch.
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I hear what you are saying man but considering it's their own fight club they can have as little or as much protection and as little or as many rules as they wish. Hooking up with some guys from a boxing club can even get you into a good, safe facility. If you only invite participants and money is not exchanged at the door or anywhere else then it's completely legal and the law would see it as a bunch of students training with each other.

Remember, no audience, no money changing hands at the door, for refreshments or bets and it's held in a gym/dojo after business hours then it's cool.
 
I like the idea of trying a fight club. I was in a fight club in college and it was fun, though most of the guys never wanted to go full-tilt boogy.

I'm an instructor at my school. My workouts are pretty much as hard as it gets for our school, but I have students of differing ability levels that I have to consider so I can never get too crazy with sparring. There is another forum that I check out sometimes that has a section for people who want to meet up and spar. That's a cool idea.

As far as MMA goes, I think I would definitely enjoy a fight. There are still a lot of rules there, but at least I could scratch that itch.
 
Omar B said:
Remember, no audience, no money changing hands at the door, for refreshments or bets and it's held in a gym/dojo after business hours then it's cool.
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Hahahahaha, you've never been sued, have you? Didn't think so.

Let one guy get hurt - his wife or mom or whatever gets their panties in a twist. Next thing you know, lawyers are involved. And disclaimers? Don't mean squat. They find out who has the deepest pockets - usually the venue, because they have insurance - and then it's off to the races.
 
astrobiologist said:
I like the idea of trying a fight club. I was in a fight club in college and it was fun, though most of the guys never wanted to go full-tilt boogy.

I'm an instructor at my school. My workouts are pretty much as hard as it gets for our school, but I have students of differing ability levels that I have to consider so I can never get too crazy with sparring. There is another forum that I check out sometimes that has a section for people who want to meet up and spar. That's a cool idea.

As far as MMA goes, I think I would definitely enjoy a fight. There are still a lot of rules there, but at least I could scratch that itch.
Click to expand...


Regardless of the setting/competition medium you're going to have to play with rules. Even in fight clubs.

Don't let the presence of rules deter you from a more athletic avenue than your current school.

With heavy sparring and fighting, you'll learn a lot about your abilities and yourself very, very quickly.
 
Bill Mattocks said:
Hahahahaha, you've never been sued, have you? Didn't think so.

Let one guy get hurt - his wife or mom or whatever gets their panties in a twist. Next thing you know, lawyers are involved. And disclaimers? Don't mean squat. They find out who has the deepest pockets - usually the venue, because they have insurance - and then it's off to the races.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Pieces of paper don't mean squat and if you have money or property, the tort system will jack for the slightest of infringements.

That's why I always recommend that people compete in sanctioned events. Join a combat sport and duke it out on their terms, it simply is the safest. You can't even trust your "friends" now days.

That said, Astro, if you are seriously itching for a fight, line up an amateur fight and practice some kata bunkai that you think would be effective within whatever rule set in which you decide to conform. It would be cool to see how you fare.

If I were going to get back into that scene, that's what I would do...and it's what I envision when I feel the itch.
 
That's kind of the problem when it comes to this itch...

It's dangerous to get into real combat. That's why we as trained martial artists don't go out and just start fights.

Well, not always... Choki Motobu, who was a very influential character in the history of Okinawan, Japanese, and Korean Martial Arts, was known for going to the "bad side of town" and starting street fights just to test his martial arts techniques. That's a bit radical in my opinion, but i think his reasoning was the same as the rest. The itch is there 'cause we want to see if what we're training with and teaching really works against non-passive opponents who have a different background than our own.
 
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