(Continued from Part 1.)
The knives that I have in mind for fast draw, and for defeating unarmed Mixed Martial Arts types, are those that do not dangle in a sheath by one’s side, but rather sit tucked into the belt, such as the Afghan Khyber knife/Indo-Persian pesh-kabz (but not the sword versions, such as the otherwise excellent Cold Steel version), facon of Argentina (Cold Steel has a smart version of this), the Arkansas toothpick, and Scottish dirk. Cold Steel’s Marauder, has a 9-inch blade, 4.7 mm thick, and is used by pig hunters (see Gideonstactical, YouTube, “Pig Sticker OR Outdoor King? Cold Steel Marauder”). Cold Steel’s OSS and OSI would also be suitable and reasonably priced; the OSS having an 8.25-inch blade of AUS 8A steel, 5 mm thick, and the OSI having the same blade length and steel type, 4.7 mm thick, with the former knife being double edged, and the later single. There are also reasonably priced pig stickers on eBay, such as from Downunder, the Tassie Tiger Knives pig sticker, with an 8 inch, 8cr13 steel blade, 5 mm thick and a G10 handle. Many others, from Scorpco, Wolf Creek etc., would be suitable. The desire is for a blade that is an excellent stabber, not too long for really close range work, but still has slashing ability to deal with close range attacks from the likes of modern superheroes, such as grapplers, in the WROL/TEOTWAWKI scenario.
A case can be made that every grappling, choking and throwing technique of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) can be defeated if one is armed with a good fighting knife — if someone I shighly skilled in its use, and are not stupid, and have situational awareness. Obviously enough, if one is asleep with no security, one can be choked out, even smothered with a feather pillow. But we can assume that if someone made it past the collapse, they are not going to be an easy take. Despite much nonsense pushed by various martial arts systems, both classical and non-classical, knife disarms are unlikely against highly skilled opponents with the very best fighting knives/short swords, and usually only work against those who don’t really know what they are doing. [4] The reason is that the knife will travel even faster than any grappling technique, and there can be no mistakes made against the knife, as it can in principle severe even an entire arm or leg (or head), as the Cold Steel meat-cutting YouTube videos, with slabs of beef, have well demonstrated.
For example, MMA champion Forrest Griffin in his book, Be Ready When the S*** Goes Down: A Survival guide to the Apocalypse [5], is the only MMA champion that I know of who has written about unarmed combat in the collapse scenario. He wrote: “Although learning how to throw proper strikes and apply fancy submissions will not hurt you in any way, it is not high on your apocalypse-preparations to-do list. When it comes to fighting during the apocalypse, you want to focus on choke holds because they are the only techniques that allow you to turn your aggressor’s lights out, permanently.” [6] While there could be debate about choke holds being the only such disabling technique (various breaking techniques, throws onto sharp edges, rocks etc. could also disable, perhaps permanently), I pass over this point. He illustrates two key chokes.
The first is the famous standing rear naked choke, where you are the one being choked. This will sever blood supply to the brain, and blackout occurs in 10 seconds or less. This is a grim situation, and while there are plenty of martial arts counters, in my opinion few would work against a strong, dedicated opponent. What would work is quickly drawing one’s pig sticker, and drilling it into the arm, then cutting up, taking out the entire forearm if necessary, all done in seconds. I saw one video where someone escaped this choke by getting out a cigarette lighter and burning the forearm, a quick release. But nothing works more reliably than a good knife (expect the lighter to fail when you need it most), as the Jim Bowie character said in the film, The Iron Mistress (1952).
The other technique illustrated by Forrest Griffin is a guillotine choke off the tackle. What I am interested in here is primarily the tackle, which is a classic MMA bridging the gap attack. While it looks easy to stop, the partitioners are good at it, and charge in surprisingly fast. Strikers are overwhelmed, and seldom can deliver a knock down strike on the way in, even though the head is down, and back of head and neck totally exposed. Boxing punching does not deal well with such attacks. Hammer blows and chops, from classical styles, would be better. However, the fast draw stabbing knife put in the path of this raging bull attack, would make the MMA attacker change his mind, especially if the knife goes through the top of the skull! Of course, against a sword or short sword, decapitation would be conducted. Clearly this unarmed technique is insane against the bladed armed, but it does show as a thought experiment, the limits of unarmed combat against a melee weapon. As SEAL Cade Courtley has written, “In the real world of modern-day combat, if you find yourself engaged in hand-to-hand, then you can pretty much assume that everything is totally s******.” [7]
One argument against my minimalist position may be made based upon the use of grappling and other unarmed martial art techniques in medieval and Renaissance fight manuals. [8] The manuals, and commentaries by the likes of Hans Talhoffer (died 1482) [9], Johannes Liechtenauer, Joachim Meyer [10] and Fiore dei Liberi (1350-1410) [11], to name but a few, do feature illustrations of unarmed techniques being used in sword fighting, when the dualists are locked up close. Thus, D. Hagedorn, in Durer’s Fight Book, dealing with the German swordsmen of the Renaissance, has the cover illustration of two fighters, one having a rondel dagger (a stiff-bladed stabbing knife for getting into the openings in armor, with a needlepoint, and often no sharp edges), and the other grappling. [12] It is hardly an optimal situation, but it is possible. The rondel dagger is limited as an attacking weapon against unarmed opponents, being suitable primarily for stabbing; other knives and daggers of the time, capable of delivering devastating slashes/cuts, would cause more problems, and are more likely to be used outside of a fight against plate armor.
We can also see scattered in the fight manuals kicks being used in close range when swords are locked up, and techniques where one drops one’s sword, and just wrestles the opponent. All of this is unrealistic and probably seldom occurred in combat; fighters would have been armed, if they had any sense at all, with a “left hand” weapon, such as a dagger, or if using a two-handed broad sword, a dagger in one’s belt for fast draw. As well, as far as sword fighting goes, these lock up situations should not have occurred the first place, and shows limitations in footwork. The lock up should lead to an immediate change of angle, side movement or some technique to avoid ending up in the absurdity of dropping one’s weapon and fighting unarmed. Too bad if there are multiple opponents, which is highly likely in a collapse Mad Max scenario, and would have also occurred in the medieval period. Overall, the argument for the relevance of unarmed martial arts from the European fight manuals is to be rejected.
The Limits of the Unarmed Martial Arts
There is also a case to be made for the intrinsic limitations of unarmed martial arts system, be they classical like karate or my own system of Wing Chun Kung Fu, or non-classical systems such as MMA. This is not to reject these systems, but to see that that do not deliver infallible knock-down self-defense solutions, and are merely one tool among many. Given the cult-like mentality that arises in the martial arts, classical and non-classical, a deflationary argument is worthwhile for intellectual balance.
This case has been put in a very well-argued article by Bladefighter at Survivalblog.com, “Weapons-Based Martial Arts for Survival” [13], that the point of weapons use was to avoid having to slug it out with hands and feet, so if one is to study a martial arts system, then it should be one that is weapons-based, and moves to unarmed techniques as a product of the weapons use. This is seen in the Filipino martial arts systems of Arnis, Eskrima and Kali. Most classical martial arts systems in the modern era, but not the past, have put unarmed fighting first, with weapons, if any, later in the teachings, Wing Chun being an example.
The six-and-a-half- pole was added almost as an afterthought (it is a long-style technique grafted onto a short circle system, due to the history of an exchange between practitioners of two different styles on the Red Junk boat, as one mythical story goes). The big horse stance is used, even though it does not occur in the rest of the system, and long poles in European quarterstaff fighting had a normal stance, similar to a boxing stance, feet shoulder distance apart. The six and a half pole is generally seen as not so important for a modern urban environment, but in fact the pole is highly relevant outside of comfortable suburbia, as a weapon against man and beast, and would be a fine melee weapon for the collapse.
The Wing Chun butterfly knifes are taught, but in my experience, Wing Chun practitioners do not put much time into the mastery of the knives, since, well, you can’t carry them down the street in most jurisdictions. That is not to say that there are no specific weapons disciplines, only that the standard martial arts systems today have “lost touch with their weapons based origins or applications,” as Bladefighter rightly observes. [14]
Thus, MMA has no weapons as such, and is a sports contest between two fighters in a padded ring, with rules needed to keep fighters alive. This is not to push the line that these restrictions would therefore make classical systems based upon no rules superior; it was known in the 1970s that Taiwanese kickboxers were soundly defeated in challenge matches against Thai boxers. And, purely traditional martial artists, lacking in grappling and ground fighting skills, were defeated in the early MMA/UFC by the likes of the legendary Gracies, and the BJJ winning streak continued until fighters beefed up on grappling and ground fighting.
(To be concluded tomorrow, in Part 3.)