Why I Think There Is No Style

I was twelve years old. I vividly recalled a fight between two boys, one, a good wrestler (he'd throw me around even though I had the size and weight advantage) and a kid that did Taekwondo and a little kickboxing. Taekwondo boy busted the wrestler's lip, and knocked him around to the point where the wrestler needed a lot of stitches in his lip.

So I thought Taekwondo was the best.

Then, I fought a karate guy when I was a freshman in high school. I had a little training as a tyke from a neighbor's boyfriend, but not even enough to get a belt. I beat karate guy with crude/home-made wrestling and punching. But I liked the way he fought, so I pestered my mother to sign me up for Taekwondo.

After my first lesson I fought a boxer in high school. He blocked and dodged a lot of my low kicks. So, I mimicked the boxing and wrestling I'd seen on TV in order to get inside, and yes boys and girls, used some high kicks to the chest and abdomen, i.e., above the waist, to knock him down, where he stayed. I didn't know then that high kicks were a no-no!!! (Of course, his brother kicked me in the face from behind, I rolled out of it, and then the fight was stopped).

A year later I fought a strong street fighter. None of my kicks worked on him, so I used some smarts, pretended to let him grab my foot, and let him put me on my back. I then stood up with his ankle in my hand and down he went, head first, on the asphalt. The fight was over. I still felt like I'd been hit by a car later that night, but according to my peers, I won. (Yeah, okay. They weren't the one in pain!)

A year after that, I lost to a boxer and his dog. I got a bloody nose, but I still kept coming. I tried to fight his way and was losing. So, I started kicking him in the chest, and backed him off. As the tide started turning in my favor, my mother of all people broke up the fight with a stick, informed me that the guy was eighteen (I was fifteen), and therefore, she'd call the cops if he attacked me again. I felt fine that night and the next day, but he didn't come to school because, as word had it, he couldn't get out of bed because his chest was hurting him from my rear leg roundhouse kicks. I feel I lost that one.

So, three years later, I took up some boxing in the Reserves and lost my one amateur match on points. The guy who "won" had been boxing for years. However, he had to be taken out on a stretcher. They asked him his name, and he said "Thursday", while I sipped a lemonade, wondering why I'd lost since I'd been told before from different people that martial arts students weren't prepared for "real" fights, and didn't even know how to punch.

Also that summer, I and two other guys (a kickboxer and a karate guy) had the pleasure of being knocked on our butts by a small Korean reservist who wanted to prove to one of my buddies--the karate guy--his point that the basic classical techniques worked, if you knew how to use them right. He said he'd keep it simple and take it easy on us. Sad thing about it is that HE DID. He used the basic blocks, basic kicks, punches, and some pivoting, and had us all running into each other and hugging Mother Earth. Of course, this shouldn't have happened. After all, Korean Arts are from "McDojo's", right?? Yeah, right. Somebody forgot to tell him that!!!

Forms don't work in real fight, the horse stance is suicide you say? Someone forgot to tell the old guy I saw apply some moves from out of one of the black belt forms in TangSooDo (looked a lot like Bassai, with a few smacks to the face added in), in his horse stance, at a weird angle on a man twice his size who was making trouble in his convenience store. I am VERY polite when I shop there now!

The best I've ever done in a fight was one that happened years after that. Sad thing is, I'd stopped training altogether, and have only recently put the belt back around my waist (right now I'm a 2nd gup/kyu brown belt.) I got rushed by a guy who was trying to choke, or grab me and punch me or something. All I did was move out of the way. From what I remember that I did, I used a little bob and weave from boxing, and I went into the horse stance and some footwork because I was going to kick the dude, but decided not to, and worked things out after he tuckered out by non-violent means.

What's the point of all of this? The point is that I've seen that all the current "rules" these days in the magazines and on the mouths of martial artists ("never do this or that" in a fight, that some styles don't work and others do, and so on) violated. They may be true in a lot of instances, but they are not absolutes. I've seen trained fighters win and lose. My whole point is that THERE IS NO ONE WAY that will get you there. Learn how to punch AND kick AND grapple AND streetfight AND study your basics AND study kata, AND learn some weapons AND learn how to shoot a gun, AND have some faith, AND don't become too cocky, and you'll be able to survive.