In an earlier post, I mentioned one of my old students, Steve Andrews. He trained with me in the late 60s and early 70s.
Steve was not tall but was strongly built. He had spent much of his life in a rough environment, which gave him a strong killer instinct. When he attacked or countered an attack, he did it with blinding speed and put everything he had into every technique he threw. Even when he hit you in a normally non-target area, such as the hip or shoulder, it knocked you off center and left a large bruise.
He got into frequent fights as he ran with a rowdy bunch of bikers. I generally wasn’t concerned about the fights, knowing it was with someone who was far out of line and simply had the bad luck (for them but good luck for society) of running into someone who knew what they were doing, instead of some poor, helpless guy on the street.
But Steve got into a fight one night that likely changed his attitude a bit about them, and caused me to readjust how I trained my students.
Steve was attacked late one night outside a downtown bar. The guy was so big that Steve always referred to it afterwards as his fight with Grizzly Adams.
Grizzly charged as if to tackle Steve. But before he could reach him, Steve reverse punched him in the head. He hit so hard he said he heard bones breaking in the guy’s face. The punch knocked Grizzly back but he stayed on his feet. He shook his head, moaned “ooo”, then charged again. Steve reverse punched him again in the face, and again heard his facial bones breaking. The punch knocked Grizzly back again and cut his face open from nose to ear. Instead of quitting, however, Grizzly shook his head and again said “ooo”, louder this time, clearly unfazed by the bone-break, face -plitting punches. Steve said by this time he was beginning to get worried and probably said “ooo” too.
Grizzly charged again and Steve hit him again. But he wasn’t set and got taken down. We practiced defense a lot back then against tackles, getting our legs grabbed while kicking, and such. Steve twisted in midair as we had practiced and came out on top of the man’s chest.
He punched him as hard and fast as he could in the head. To stop the punches, Grizzly grabbed his hand and bit his index finger all the way to the bone. Steve continued to punch him in the fact with his free hand but without effect. Finally, he stuck his fingers into the guy’s eyes to get him to release his finger.
They both got to their feet. The guy intended to continue but the sounds of approaching police sirens stopped him. They both left the scene.
This is the kind of fight martial artists have nightmares about. What would you do in a situation like this, or tell your students how best to deal with this type of opponent?
I worked in corrections in Calif, for 14 years,, and have ran into several people like this,, I was lucky in that I had only confrontation with one. But another inividual we called Tiny Tim,,was about 6'2" not too tall but weighed in at about 280 lbs and wrist so big we had to use leg irons on his wrist. He was normally quite sedate,, but had the mind of a teenager and had to be kept on medication to keep from going into rages. I saw him once break the leg irons that were on his wrist, he held them up with a big grin on his face to the correctional officers.. LOL,, Eventually in the jail he assulted a CO and crushed the side of his head in with one punch, I wont go into detail on how he did that,, but Im just saying,,yes there are people like that out there that have that super strength and can also take full power punches..
ReplyDeleteSometimes, its in one's best interest to take advantage of the quick moment of "oooo" and run....
ReplyDeleteOld Taiji - You're exactly right. Most, even in the martial arts, don't understand these kind of people exist or that they will beat someone to death simply because they feel like it. One of my old students was a CO at San Quentin, then Soledad. At SQ, he had to transport Hugo Pinell, who could reportedly bench press 500 lbs and was in max at the request of the other murderers. Thanks for adding your insights and experience. Greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteJohn - exactly the best choice if an option.
Yes-in this unique situation (because each one is different) running away to live another day--it a terrific option. I also have so many stories to share which sums up why 'running away' makes sense--especially when out gunned, out-smarted and having thrown your best Sunday combination with little or no effect:-) It's time to get the hell out of there-pronto. LOL!
ReplyDeleteGreat advice, as always. Thank you for your comments, Hanshi Linick.
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