If we understand the ranges of combat, we can best identify the course of action.
Non- Contact: The range for negotiating. Bouncers, Police and hostage negotiators are well versed in working from this distance, showing non-threatening body language, calming tonality and non-emotive reasoning to calm a threat before any engagement.
This is also the range we describe when somebody disengages from a standing opponent and may choose to re-engage (ala Muhammad Ali’s “the walk-off” also used by Kostya Tszyu), or to exit the confrontation.
Contact Range: This is the range where participants can slap each other’s hand but no serious strikes can occur other than the low round kick. It is a range for decision making, to enter the pocket against a passive or disenchanted opponent; or to retreat to contact range and regroup and re-engage. Frequently utilized by Anderson Silva.
Exchange Range: The fight range. Both participants can land longer strikes from all limbs and traditional style blocking also applies. Kickboxing and MuayThai often occur at this range as well as the jab and cross style long punches and wide/loose hooks (vertical fist).
Close range: Military tacticians work to disable threats swiftly at this distance. Power punching (uppercuts, rips, tight hooks), and Thai style knees and elbows apply as well as entries to the clinch, trapping for clinch handles and takedowns.
Grappling range: The Thaiclinch, jiujitsu/judo/sambo takedowns and throws, wrestling and military/tactical techinques apply at the grappling stage.
The ground: The final stage (which incurs different distances and directions) were most reality altercations will be ended and most MMA fights get muddy and extremely violent.
The worst case scenario for a fighter is to be at the mercy of a standing fighter, when you are grounded. The downed guard is particularly difficult to navigate and the ability to move is severely limited to one’s versatility in traversing the ground with all of our jiujitsu animal drills, buttscoots and inverting techniques.
To face a standing opponent and creating distance is much more difficult than it is for the standing opponent to create movement and to apply strikes or pass to a dominant position.
Here are some basic techniques for self defense and effective white/blue belt level BJJ and a game plan for applying them against an active opponent.
A more advanced set of techniques apply from ability to assemble more complicated guards like the De La Riva, Reverse DLR and shin-on-shin etc.
Here are some easy ones from Full X-Guard and a couple of entries to the position.
The most sensible move to apply in this situation is the very first one that you learn in jiujitsu. How to Get-UP.
Get-up in base is a primary technique for a reason and most academies have a “you must get up in base or everyone does push-ups!” policy.
And it’s for a good reason.
It might just save your life.
Michael Zoupa is a blue belt in BJJ and a brown belt in Wingchun with over 20 years experience in martial arts. You can follow michael zoupa’s blog at archangelnotorious.wordpress.com
The post The Longest Yard: Looking at Jiu Jitsu in Self Defense appeared first on Science Of Skill.