Skill set - expectations?

[Bonhomme]

Recently, at my school, some black belts were 'choreographing' a fight for their promotion ceremony. There were (2) 3rd Dans and (1) 4th Dan and they were being promoted to 4th and 5th, respectively. While practicing, one of them took a pretty hard punch to the jaw. What surprised me is that the one who got punched didn't even attempt to block or evade it, so I asked why and the response was that there was confusion among the 3 of them and he wasn't expecting the punch at that time.

While I know rank standards are all over the place, but I really expected an experienced martial artist to be able to defend themselves against an unexpected strike, even if they were working out a planned 'dance'. Isn't that part of self-defense, protecting yourself from the unexpected? Am I wrong in thinking he should have been able to block or evade rather than taking that punch? Opinions?

 

[skribs]

BJ Penn was a phenomenal grappler who got his BJJ black belt in 3 years and was a UFC champion. He got knocked out in a bar fight because he underestimated his opponent.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

You're never going to be able to block everything, especially from a close distance. If you did, fights would be boring since nothing would ever land.

 

[Cri70]

While I know rank standards are all over the place, but I really expected an experienced martial artist to be able to defend themselves against an unexpected strike, even if they were working out a planned 'dance'. Isn't that part of self-defense, protecting yourself from the unexpected? Am I wrong in thinking he should have been able to block or evade rather than taking that punch? Opinions?

Well, first thing precious few martial arts are about self defense: they are art - which gives full sense, for example, in investing your time in choreographing a fight. So an experienced martial artist isn't necessarily experienced at self-defense, and arguably most aren't.

Second - the mindset is everything, and visual reaction time is what it is. Nobody is ever in a full awareness state, and if you are in a friendly environment it's when you're most vulnerable - ask Julius Caesar Finally visual reaction is simply too slow to protect from an near punch - the moment your brain processes the image, it's landing. That's why (unarmed) self defense seldom relies on visual input.