In the world of Martial Arts, we are often too focused on styles.
‘My style is better than your style’.
‘Your style is terrible.’
‘That style of Martial Arts will never work for real’.
However not all street fighters have a style you could easily recognise from Martial Arts, some have very different styles of attack than you will find in the dojo and in this article we look at 5 that you need to know about.
1. The Lure
“lure1
/l(j)ʊə/Submit
verb
1.
Tempt (a person or animal) to do something or to go somewhere, especially by offering some form of reward.
“the child was lured into a car but managed to escape.”
synonyms: tempt, entice, attract, induce, coax, persuade, inveigle, allure, seduce, win over, cajole, beguile, bewitch, ensnare, captivate, enrapture;”
One of the most common styles of street fighter is the ‘lure’.
They tempt you to go elsewhere.
For example, they will say ‘come over here I want to talk.’
or ‘Let’s go outside.’
To the even more sinister type of situation where you have someone inviting you into their home or actually inviting themselves into yours.
(This has been documented when a man helped a lady up the stairs with her groceries, as he offered to put them onto the kitchen she felt compelled to agree for the sake of being nice, he then attacked her.)
The Lure is a style because the attacker places you in a weaker position.
They know they can attack you without interruption and sometimes attack you as you are in transition to that new location.
This is how the lure works.
They want to move you to a vulnerable place.
2. The Side Attacker
This is one of the most brutal forms of an attack, one that hits you from the side.
They often engage with you at; first, this could be in the form of an argument and walk off.
At this time you are now in deep conversation with another person be that friend or foe.
And bang, they hit you from the side.
The sheer brutality of this type of attack is chilling.
I have seen countless people use it and cause severe injury and trauma.
Jaws fractured and severe head injuries followed.
Beware this type of attacker by making sure you think about your flank, especially after an incident with someone.
3. The Street Boxer
The street boxer is a fearsome fighter because they combine some boxing skill with street tactics.
Boxing is one of the most accessible fighting styles around, and because most areas have an abundance of boxing gyms, you will find no end of people out there that know how to punch.
The street boxer is slightly different in that they have honed their boxing skills to work in the streets/ bars and nightclubs.
You will find that they have great movement, some robust techniques and power.
But beware, they will use head buts as well, elbows and eye gouges.
These are boxings version of MMA fighters, they have no grappling experience but are dangerous in their arena!!
4. The Glasser
Number 4 is perhaps the worst of the bunch so far, this type of attacker does not fight with an empty hand.
Their first goal is to pick up a bottle or glass to use against you.
And they rarely stop once they have picked it up, either launching at you straight away or even throwing the weapon.
So how can you spot these fools?
In all honesty, it is tough because so many people hold their glasses and bottles in their hands when they go out.
So if you have an issue with someone, their use of the weapon is often spontaneous.
5. The MMA Sted Head
The last of our street fighting styles is my personal favourite, the MMA wannabe who engages in the heavy use of steroids.
Most of these types have never been to an MMA gym but have certainly overindulged in watching the UFC.
The sad part is that they fight not as they train but as they have seen.
Now this type of person does bring issues, they are often insanely strong, and as a result of the exposure to MMA they will try and take you down to the ground, strike you and even try and grab a kneebar or rear naked choke.
This makes them very dangerous to most people.
And yes to most trained martial artists who have no idea how to escape such holds.
The good news is that most of these types of fighters have very little stamina and are often so big they gas out quickly.
How To Prepare To Deal With These Threats
You might be wondering, ‘ok but how should I fight them?’
Well if you are attacked by this modern style of street attacker, you need to fight fire with fire.
Self Defence training is the only way, and it is why systems such as Defence Lab are leading the self-protection revolution.
Built from the sole goal of protecting yourself, Defence Lab has been engineered to give you a range of options.
From the protective head shapes that will shatter an attackers knuckles as they hit bone, to the ground defence, hammer strikes and more.
This is a modern system for modern times.
Learn online or at a Lab; the choice is yours.
But to deal with the modern attackers out there you will need a toolset that allows you a variety of responses.
That is the importance of training, and that is why Defence Lab is growing so fast.
Thanks for reading.