Oni_Kadaki
Green Belt
I've only been in one fight where anything significant was on the line, and that gives me pause when teaching anything applied, let alone when a weapon is involved.
That being said, I teach my students that anything you do in self-defense is going to involve a calculation of risk to benefit, as well as an assessment of alternatives. These things may be done consciously or unconsciously, but they should occur. In my one fight, I subdued the guy, who had tried to strangle me, and then let go of him to grab my phone and call the cops. At that point he retreated and returned with a razor. At that point, I retreated, barricaded the door, and grabbed my firearm while waiting for the cops to arrive.
Many, many assessments of risk and benefit occurred in that altercation. They were going through the entirety of the verbal escalation leading up to it. When my attacker grabbed and then tackled me, my assessment of risk told me that a triangle choke was too risky, leading me to pull guard, flip him around, and go for a safer rear naked choke. My risk assessment said that a loss of control when going for my phone was worth the knowledge that the police would be on their way. When he grabbed the razor, I was in no way confident enough to take him on unarmed, and I knew that if I brandished my firearm, there was no way to ensure the situation would de-escalate, and so, not accepting that risk, I barricaded myself and waited for backup. For those of you who are wondering, I didn't do that in the first place because there was an unconscious third party present, and the initial attack was at him, not me.
All that is to say that, while I'm glad I have training in knife/club/gun disarms, the fact that many martial arts teachers have never had to use their craft in general, let alone against a weapon, makes for the dearth of real-life data OP described. As such, while I avoid fights in general, I especially avoid dealing with weapons unless I have my own in hand. It's too much risk for too little benefit under all but the most extreme circumstances.
That being said, I teach my students that anything you do in self-defense is going to involve a calculation of risk to benefit, as well as an assessment of alternatives. These things may be done consciously or unconsciously, but they should occur. In my one fight, I subdued the guy, who had tried to strangle me, and then let go of him to grab my phone and call the cops. At that point he retreated and returned with a razor. At that point, I retreated, barricaded the door, and grabbed my firearm while waiting for the cops to arrive.
Many, many assessments of risk and benefit occurred in that altercation. They were going through the entirety of the verbal escalation leading up to it. When my attacker grabbed and then tackled me, my assessment of risk told me that a triangle choke was too risky, leading me to pull guard, flip him around, and go for a safer rear naked choke. My risk assessment said that a loss of control when going for my phone was worth the knowledge that the police would be on their way. When he grabbed the razor, I was in no way confident enough to take him on unarmed, and I knew that if I brandished my firearm, there was no way to ensure the situation would de-escalate, and so, not accepting that risk, I barricaded myself and waited for backup. For those of you who are wondering, I didn't do that in the first place because there was an unconscious third party present, and the initial attack was at him, not me.
All that is to say that, while I'm glad I have training in knife/club/gun disarms, the fact that many martial arts teachers have never had to use their craft in general, let alone against a weapon, makes for the dearth of real-life data OP described. As such, while I avoid fights in general, I especially avoid dealing with weapons unless I have my own in hand. It's too much risk for too little benefit under all but the most extreme circumstances.
