Is Grappling Safe On The Street?

( Or, I Have You, Or Do You Have Me?)

By William Sanders, Pendekar

Today many people have been led to believe that grappling is the answer to winning any type of fight. I believe the following analogies will prove otherwise. Martial arts have been practiced for thousands of years under a variety of circumstances. In addition to the Indonesian martial art that I teach and practice I also train horses in the classical movements of what is termed the Hautecole or "High School." These movements were original battlefield martial movements designed to save the life of the warrior on horseback. The horse was trained for maximum mobility, spins, turns, kicks in all directions in close quarter areas. Now keep in mind these horses could have been trained to bite, actually latch onto the foes' horse, as some cow horses are taught to grab, literally to grapple cows to the ground, for branding in areas of South America. But these horses and riders were training for real combat, not jousting, no ring or octagon, no tapping out or special surface. The enemy was armed. Swords, knives, multiple opponents were common, and to become grounded, locked onto your opponent was certain death. In other words a fighter had to move and strike, or be struck down.

 I was reminded in reading some contemporary horsemanship articles that there is nothing new under the sun today in the riding arena. Ribbons and trophies have replaced the need of the real combat applications. Methods that would have to be abandoned should real combat again be necessary. The rules of combat have been learned over thousands of years but today in an age when horses go to "shows" and martial artists go to controlled contests it is too easy to forget what we once had to know to fight and survive for real. These comparisons are essential as in times past realism was strived for as it was essential to survival. The equestrian arts complimented the rider in war. Today with controlled contests riders may trust that their mounts training would allow them to survive a real armed conflict, and a martial artist may believe the grappling, which would work in a contest, would save him on the street. Both may find they are dead wrong should a real armed conflict occur. Dead wrong literally!

The grappling arts and the striking arts have been with us for thousands of years. Today for some reason, various people would have us believe that they have reinvented the wheel with old fashioned grappling. We see contests billed as no holds barred where the kickers are forced not to wear shoes as 99% of all of us do on a daily basis and which adds to the effectiveness of the blows much as an iron shoe does to a horse's strike. Contestants can wear armor, like metal groin cups to eliminate this common striking target. Knee blows to the groin, one effective blow to stop a grappler is outlawed. Eyes are off limits. Hooking with the fingers and biting are out and for some unknown reason, unless perhaps the contestants are told not to, strikes that rank beginners are taught, throat spears and boxing of the ears, are not seen. Special surfaces for the comfort of the grapplers is used. How strange! Of course this is entertaining but anyone who sees this as reality is not only delusional but as I will show you, this foolishness can get you killed in the real world real quick!

Almost all fights between two unskilled fighters, of any type will usually end up in some kind of ground struggle. Even boxers who are being pummeled and are close to unconsciousness will try and grab. Because of this street smart fighters know that their best chance is if the unsuspecting fighter closes and holds on as they can dispatch them with their knife. This is why grappling can be deadly for the defender. He can't move out of the way. He can't see the blade until it is stuck in him.

In Indonesia where armed confrontation was the norm, grappling was and is never suggested unless the assailant has been stopped with a strike that caused a disarm. Even then these immobilization's usually consist of a momentary breaking lock, never an engagement of attrition where chokes and counter chokes are attempted.

As precious seconds tick by the attacker and his possible partners have more and more time to reach their weapons and use them.

Today, as in times past, weapons are the norm. More states are allowing gun permits and virtually every street thug has one or more knives. In a confrontation only last year, a man pulled a knife on me over the use of a pay phone. When his one knife did him no good he quickly produced another one in his other hand. Had I not had my Pencak Silat training and or had attempted to grapple with him, I would have never seen the second knife and I feel certain I would have been stabbed. As a matter of fact I have been told by some street smart types that this is one of their favorite baits, decoys we would call them. It's simple, conceal the weapon, allow the unsuspecting victim to grab on and while his hands are occupied, remove the weapon and kill him.

One is reminded of armed combat against a dog attack. Dogs that slash and move in and out as a wolf fights can be very difficult to kill, even with a blade. On the other hand a pit bull, which can latch onto another dog's throat with unbelievable tenacity until victory, can be lured into clamping down on an outstretched padded arm, only to be easily dispatched with a knife held in the other hand as the dog holds on tightly. This analogy perfectly compares a fluid moving fighter who can strike and evade a weapon with the tenacious grappler who single mindedly clutches his opponent allowing the calm opponent ample time to remove a concealed weapon and kill him.

All of this illustrates my premise that unless you can first scan your enemy with a metal detector you are safer to practice a striking art. Putting your foe down first, making him produce his weapon up front if he is to use it. Then when he goes down we in my art of Pencak Silat Pukulan Cimande Pusaka follow the foe to the ground with elbows and knees taking him out quickly.

Notice the tenacity of the grapplers art. The necessity that he latch on and hold me while we go to the ground is his downfall. He can't escape my blade and in fact never saw it until was way too late. Be forewarned!

 In the contests that I have seen the most skillful grapplers in the world often took ten to twenty minutes to choke out or lock out an opponent. A blade can be withdrawn in a second and used in a manner unseen by the grappler until it is too late.

The modern craze of glorified tough man contests, that of course allow no weapons, may have created a dangerous false sense of security. Just remember that the striking arts flourished in times past when the danger of holding on were known. Watch videos of the so called no holds contests and imagine the outcome if the man on the bottom suddenly had a knife, and keep this in mind the next time you choose to hold your opponent in your kill zone.