Five Hard Truths about Martial Arts that you don’t want to believe.

[Michael Tzadok]

Hi and yes I agree with your statement but I have one of my own as I am that 40 something year old and have had and seen many displays of technical ability against multiple opponents the one thing that they all seem to lack is reality, as in every fight I have experienced with more than one attacker they never come at me one at a time as they do in pretty much every demonstration I have seen so I don't train that way. As for elite fighters I have the up most respect for but again they are in a cage,ring or on the mat facing one attacker so I put it as simple as this although I would not like to face off against one of them on my own as I would surely loose because I am not in there league but against the average person/ person's I feel I have a slight upper hand

Bro, do you even Liveleaks?
Seriously just search for stuff like, "boxer jumped", "pro-fighter defends against five guys". There is a great deal of evidence that a pro-fighter will do very well in a multi-assailant attack. Unless you get yourself in a corner, foot work and mobility are the key to a multi-assailant attack. Foot work and mobility are typically something that pro-fighters have in spades. A person with decent striking and grappling can be taught everything they need to know about multi-assailant attacks in under 2hrs(and that is with drills and live sparring).

As far whether or not a hobbyist will have an upper hand against an average Joe, again I refer you to Liveleak. The vast weight of evidence is against you.

[Ridgway]

Hi Michael I understand exactly what you are saying and no I have not seen live leak although I will have a look at that thank you. I train a lot and although I will not class myself as a professional I don't class myself as a hobbyist either I have been in many situations in my line of work where my training has helped as for elite fighters I think you miss understood me I have seen what a trained fighter can do first hand against more than one person and when I said I wouldn't like to go one on one which is true I wouldn't I was thinking more of seven to eight on one lol they train to fight as I train to defend the average person does not they fight out of impulse uncontrolled. If you have an understanding of this then by reading your opponent and keeping a level head give you a hand at any level

[BackFistMonkey]

I think the funny thing is that the arts with the best verifiable track record and most evidence behind them tell you that fighting one person is retarded and dangerous. Fighting anymore is even more stupid and a lost cause and do not train for it.

Yet those arts are the ones with the videos... any art which pretends to teach you how fight multiples is overwhelmingly likely to be full of shit.

[Ridgway]

I train to defend myself, any fool can fight given the right motivation. Wether they succeed depends on how well there opponent defends them selves surely

[Ridgway]

Any art that doesn't teach you how to defend against multiple opponents I stress defend not fight or attack is full of shit. sorry

[Tramirezmma]

Any art that doesn't teach you how to defend against multiple opponents I stress defend not fight or attack is full of shit. sorry

I'm intrigued. Can you explain some concepts your art uses in order till defend against the aforementioned 7 or 8, untrained attackers?

As a bouncer and security officer in troubled neighborhoods, I'd love to hear about an art that has a more effective delivery system than what i currently train, to keep me safe in a multiple person scenario. Please, tell us.

[BackFistMonkey]

Any art that doesn't teach you how to defend against multiple opponents I stress defend not fight or attack is full of shit. sorry

You are really going to pretend boxing is not a martial art? Or even more laughable that it is full of shit?

I bet you are one of those little dicked mother fuckers just chewing at the bit to live out the good guy with a gun fantasy aren't yeah? Maybe not with a firearm, more than likely you just sit around thinking about fisticuffs and knives. Maybe some hot sword on gun or gun on gun action but that's just when your imagination runs dry with movie gung fu and American Ninja II scenes.

[Yosuke]

Any art that doesn't teach you how to defend against multiple opponents I stress defend not fight or attack is full of shit. sorry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkXtYxHfENw

There's actually quite a lot more on youtube/liveleak. Anyway,like what Tzadok says,the concept of handling multiple attackers is pretty simple. Stick and move,don't let the guys surround you,avoid getting flanked/grabbed...actually,just read this:
http://www.wikihow.com/Fight-off-Multiple-Opponents

You do however,need to have trained in a good full-contact system to deliver the necessary force/physics to pull off the concepts. However,instead of trying to take them all out,just fight enough to give yourself room to run away. that's the smart thing to do.

[Ridgway]

Sorry but where did I ever say that I could defend myself against 7 or 8 people. I'm not superman if 7to 8 people came at me all at once you would not see my ars for dust. I'm not bloody stupid and I'm no heroe

[ermghoti]

Sorry but where did I ever say that I could defend myself against 7 or 8 people. I'm not superman if 7to 8 people came at me all at once you would not see my ars for dust. I'm not bloody stupid and I'm no heroe

I have seen what a trained fighter can do first hand against more than one person and when I said I wouldn't like to go one on one which is true I wouldn't I was thinking more of seven to eight on one lol they train to fight as I train to defend the average person does not they fight out of impulse uncontrolled.

Your writing is terrible (I don't mean that as an attack, but it's a fact), so it's possible that you didn't mean what this implies. You have written here that, one: trained fighters specialize in one-on-one fighting, two: they would fare poorly in a seven or eight-on-one fight, and three: that your training "to defend" would fare better. That this is completely contradicted by your subsequent post hints that isn't your meaning, but again, it's impossible to tell. I suggest you slow down and present your ideas individually. Break each idea into a paragraph, try to separate sentences with punctuation, otherwise, people will read multiple arguments as one.

[Ridgway]

I actually like boxing and the techniques used in boxing can and have been used to defend against multiple opponents by reading his opponent and keeping a calm head my statement is valid because every art form including boxing will give you the tools and mind set to do so

[Ridgway]

Thank you for telling me I will try to do better. Sorry for my lack of punctuation. That is not what I meant at all.
What I meant was if I was to come up against a fully hardened train pro fighter. I would rather have 7 or 8 people behind me to help

[goodlun]

If you can't fight one person with rules, how the hell can you expect to fight multiple people without rules.

[ermghoti]

Thank you for telling me I will try to do better. Sorry for my lack of punctuation. That is not what I meant at all.
What I meant was if I was to come up against a fully hardened train pro fighter. I would rather have 7 or 8 people behind me to help

Much more reasonable. In fact, two or three marginally competent and determined people are probably a match for just about anyone. There just only so many tools and sensory inputs available on a human body, and the brain can only perform one task at a time.

[PDA]

Any art that doesn't teach you how to defend against multiple opponents I stress defend not fight or attack is full of shit. sorry

This^
If Krav (the real Krav) has taught us anything it is that there is no point training just one scenario if you want to have a complete self defence system you have to explore ALL , one attacker, four attackers armed, unarmed otherwise what is the point??? Anything that claims to teach you to defend yourself but does not cover all of these areas is bullshit.

After all these years we are still arguing the same obvious facts .