MORE STREET STUFF

   Fighting in the street has many different twists than that of the ring. The obvious is, the anything goes without interruption phase. The street is a jump above "Ultimate Fighting." As real as "Ultimate" gets, it still has rules and a referee. The greatest danger is getting conditioned in the dojo to fight other martial artist and become accustomed to a certain rhythm and flow. The street fighter is often unorthodox and has no rhythm or flow. This is why techniques in the kata are superior to kumite. You also have to be careful with kata if you don't have a clear idea of where the attacks start and the finish ends. This is unless you can always drop the opponent with one or two strikes. Also, the tuite and chin-na techniques, are release or control with little finish. Pain compliance is an interruption in the action not the finish. Granted you can take the fight out of a person by locking them down but unless they lose consciousness they are still dangerous. They are also not going to be any happier with you when you let go. If you are trying to control Uncle Fred at New Years, that is one thing. But, if you are defending life and limb, you'd better take your attacker out!! Not just hurt him. I know you can design bunkai to accommodate start to finish. Just be careful going with style over substance. I have seen some beautiful and creative presentations of bunkai, but you would have to be fighting Sister Mary for it to work. Kata must be adaptable to the untrained as well as the trained fighter. Some teach the kata based only on the mirror concept. That being, the opponent doing what you are doing. If this is not a martial arts person, they are going to be swinging and grabbing for all they are worth from every known and unknown direction. They are going to grab hold of you and try to wrestle you to the ground, pull on your shirt, and again, grab and hit whatever they can. With this in mind, you'd better have some working knowledge of ground offense/defense. No matter how good you are, there is going to come a time when you wind up on the ground. I'm sure there are people good enough to avoid the ground 100% of the time. I've never met one and I sure don't have any students that were ever that good. My recommendation for sensei's that don't have training in this area should either; get some, or get someone to work with their students that does. Another short fall of just kumite or kata training is "HEAD MOVEMENT". That's right "head movement." Boxers head movement is superior to ours. They train to slip punches with out having to block everything. Why? because when you are blocking you generally don't move your head. Some of the kata techniques actually frame the head. This means that there is a big target there that is not a moving target. In point kumite, I train my guys to keep their head as still as they can. This gives greater target accuracy. If you get whacked you'll probably get a penalty point anyhow. That's chicken manure strategy but I didn't invent the rules I just try to win in spite of them.  In continuous as in the street, I teach them to slip and weave and angle. At no time do I want that head served up first or sitting out there in a static position. I have physically demonstrated this to them more than once. The guys who run circles around me in points, have taken the ten count in continuous, because they were not protecting their heads. That's all I'm looking for is a guys head to come flying in just one split second ahead of his punch.  

   Below I have demonstrated a few favorites of mine with a brief explanation. It is very difficult to illustrate the exact timing but it's pretty simple and basic, so you'll have no trouble breaking it down.

I begin in a state of readiness. I always keep my hands chest high.  I block his punch at the shoulder while slightly hooking a punch to block his other hand and allow a follow through forearm. My next strike is a knee as I continue to his rear and slip to a guillotine choke. As he drops to the floor I follow for one more insurance strike.
This is a simple illustration of your opponent getting his head out in front of his punch. I almost always follow up with a forearm or elbow as your momentum is carrying you in. It also gets you inside his swings in case you don't drop him on the first shot. If he winds up falling under my feet I try for a knee drop. Often when a person falls, they will reach up at you. Take the arm and finish.
The first three show how to neutralize.  The next three, show a combination block and forearm strike to the head. I break him down with a semi seiuchin move. It also puts you in a toni otoshi(valley drop) position. The last move is self explanatory. You have a leg stomp option here also after the groin punch. You'll have some time to decide. He isn't going anywhere for awhile anyhow.
Neutralize, locate arm, and use shuto to head. The rear leg sweep-breaks. Switch hands and follow him down. Stabilize him, then finish with your best shuto.
A little seiuchin-wansu with a twist. Stabilize then step over. The next thing you will see is his shoulder rolling forever out of the socket. You can then knock him out if you feel sorry for him or, jump over and dislocate the other one just to give him that scarecrow look.
An illustration of moving your head when you block. Notice the hips. They are the key to power and position.	Hand position for strike/block I would also like to emphasize the importance of practicing and using the traditional weapons: shuto, shotei, haishu, empie, ect., that the safety equipment has minimized.
A sure target, the chest (heart). He may slip one with his head but he can't get his chest out of the way. Just drive it in there and follow again with the short stroke (forearm) then knee. If he falls into you and ties you up, use the wrestlers sprawl to throw him. Sorry our camera man couldn't get this part. Basically you wrap your arms around him, lift him, and slam him to the floor. Here I hold his head to the floor with my weight on my fore arm (his head) and strike. For those who prefer to use a ground attack you can apply the rear choke.