Comments on: Knife Defence

By: Massimo

Massimo — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:09:32 +0000

@Paul Blissett, thanks, great comment. Fighting a knife is clearly a non-exact science with lots of variables, impossible to predict. By no means anybody should feel safe in any of these situations but as it happens, having practiced some of these drills may give you an advantage on the situation.

By: Paul Blissett

Paul Blissett — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 03:53:23 +0000

An interesting current subject with the rise in knife related crime its something we should consider I think and learn more about.

Ive seen and practiced a few different ways of basic knife defence..(saw it being taught to 8yr olds in a TKD class once and was appalled!)..I have been taught some methods during my time serving in the Royal Marines and with Filipino arts during seminars (Jude Tucker and Pat o Malley)and also with a previous Sifu Kevin Chan of Kamon Martial Arts..the overall ideas with all ive studied have been the same..it is IMPERATIVE you try to fully control the knife hand at all times should you HAVE to face the armed attacker…deflections and arm wraps are totally ineffective as the attacker will be tearing their arm out, knife in hand to use their main weapon..in the above clip it looks great but the attacker is stepping in half heartedly and keeping their arm extended nicely for the technique to be practiced…get students to wear old t shirts and arm them wuth marker pens and try this stuff..they will all be dead or cut to ribbons.

With the filipino drills i saw i was blown away by the speed and co-ordination in dealing with a knife but impressed that these knife fighting masters ended the seminar by saying the chance of any of their stuff working at street level after 25 years of practice was about zero..but the awareness the drills provide may enable you to escape an armed attcker

By: massimo

massimo — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:28:42 +0000

@Adam thanks for your very useful comment: I already saw the video you suggested and you are right it’s a very eye opener for the amount of damage that an apparently unoffensive object like a credit card or a pen can do.

By: Adam @ Low Tech Combat

Adam @ Low Tech Combat — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:19:36 +0000

I agree. Most knife defence instruction is complete crap. There is a very poor understanding of just how lethal a knife can be. To me, the most dangerous knife wielder is the 14yr old male. No understanding of the consequences, he looks at everyone else in a very disassociated manner which enables him to easily dehuminse his victim. And he attacks in a very sewing machine fashion. Very quick, in out in out over and over. Unpredictable.

May I direct you to a YouTube video which demonstrates what an edged weapon can do to flesh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9xJejkInvE

By: massimo

massimo — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:48:54 +0000

@Wez movies are mostly seen by people that neither are trained in martial arts or have experience of street fighting involving knives. I believe Seagal is good at Aikido but, because this art was nearly unknown when he started acting and Hollywood needs action movies, he added other martial arts techniques and an increasing number of gun fighting. Personally if I think about a typical Seagal’s knife fight like the one vs. Tommy Lee Jones in Under Siege, I just think how impossible for two guys to carry on fighting for minutes receiving just minor cuts while holding a sharp knife each… Knife fighting is about killing in a short time, less then 3 seconds, rather than carrying on for ages.