hwarangdo-adam said:
they say that 95% of all street fights go to the ground. ....no matter how good you are at stand up the fight will prob. go to the ground
I would certainly like to meet these people ("they") who keep creating this off-the-cuff statistic about fights going to the ground. Where did they do their research to gain this information? If such a statistic really existed, and people believed it to be true, wouldn't you have to consider the number of "street fights" that go unreported, and were not included in the gathering of these so-called "statistics."
Would it not also be relevant as to how many of those fights involved two or more people who were
not highly trained in any Martial Art discipline. How many of the alleged "95%" were drunks who fell to the ground during the fight because they couldn't keep their balance. How many of those fights were two untrained women, whose only tactic at that time was to roll on the ground, pulling hair, kicking and scratching at each other (cat-fight!).
I have been involved in several real-life, street encounters, and the only connection to going to the ground for any of them would be when the other guy hits the ground after I hit him (not joking, and not bragging, just facts). In the line of duty (police and security), I have purposefully taken people to the ground to subdue, and/or handcuff them, but that is by my choice, and
not because of me being taken down, and having to defend myself on the ground in any high percent of the time.
I am in agreement with the fact that all Martial Artists (including Taekwondoists) need to train in ground grappling, controls, strikes, and escapes in order to survive any encounter which does go to ground. However, I am a firm believer that a skilled fighter can prevent the
majority of all fights from resorting to ground-fighting. Thus, any high percentage of ground-fights would either be due to the Martial Artist choosing to take their opponent down, occasional slip-ups, or both participants not knowing what they are doing, in my opinion.
CM D.J. Eisenhart