It is happening. Things just got real, and now you are in the fight of your life.
All those hours spent training have lead you to this point, and then it dawns on you.
This is real, and if you lose you could be seriously hurt or killed.
Just as you are thinking this, you take a punch straight in your face.
You have never been hit by someone before with a bare knuckle, even in training you wore gloves. Now a fist had just impacted onto your nose, and you felt it break.
You start to feel blood dripping down your face.
Then you realise what is happening.
YOU ARE LOSING THIS FIGHT!
In this article, we will tell you how to spot the five signs you are losing a fight and what to do about it.
1. You Got Hit By 3 Punches
Sounds simple, but trust me it happens in a split second.
If you take 3 or 4 punches and are unable to respond, you are going to lose. This is not boxing. In real self-defence situations, there is a tempo, a kind of flow.
I have seen it time and time again, once the person breaks through with more than 2 punches, it is usually the beginning of the end.
So how do you fix this?
Use body mechanics, headcovers (shapes as we call them), body movement and of course footwork.
2. Your Legs Wobbled After A Punch
If you have never been hit hard, then this sensation might be unfamiliar.
If you get hit hard enough, you will get ‘wobbled.’ It is an odd feeling, but your legs turn to jelly.
If this has happened to you, then you need to act fast because you are at your most vulnerable. Your footwork and body movement will be out of the window, and you are easy to push to the floor.
So what should you do?
Take a leaf out of the book of a boxer and clinch.
There is no other solution at the time. You need to get behind them and grab them.
It will take just a few seconds to clear your head, and then you can get back into the fight
3. You Have Been Knocked Down
Boom!!! You took a heavy shot and now you’re down.
You are dazed, and you hit the deck hard! It feels as if a bomb went off as the noise is muffled and the world seems distant.
This is one of those moments that you never saw coming in training but it is here and what are you going to do next?
The answer is cover up!
Let me be clear, now is not the time for trying to jump to your feet. This is how you will get knocked out. Instead, you need to cover, regroup and potentially re-asses before you make another move.
I know people say ‘get up fast’ however just think about it. You have been knocked down by a heavy hitter. You are dazed, in shock and you are hurt.
It makes no sense to jump up and try and ‘duke’ it out when you just got pole axed.
This is the time when the versatility of your skill base comes into play. How you have trained to get up off the floor, what level of the ground game you have and if you can protect yourself against a standing opponent.
However, you also cannot linger. You need to move fast but only when you have recovered slightly. Spot your opportunity (inline with your training) and get back up.
4. You Just Want ‘Out.’
I cannot tell you enough that how you react in your mind in a self-defence situation will dictate how well you do.
If you are thinking to yourself ‘please let this be over’ you are going to lose.
This is a victim mentality.
Instead, turn yourself from prey into a predator. Do not think about what you want. You need to get back into the moment and do something.
Sure, no one wants to have to fight for their life, but here you are. So grit those teeth and if they hit you hard, hit them back harder.
Refuse to lose!
5. You Know You Are Losing
This is a tough one to swallow but in a fight for your life, you may realise in a few seconds that you have lost.
Let me explain.
Over the years I have seen a lot of incidents where one person was very aggressive verbally and keen to fight and the other less so.
Then after a few punches, the aggressive one backs down and wants to stop and then looks for the other person to stop.What happened? Well, the aggressive one knows he was outgunned and thought ‘ I need to stop this before I get hurt’.
I have seen this in normal violent encounters also when a person turns and looks to the floor and puts their hands out in a submissive manner.
It resembles a wolf lowering himself to the new pack leader.
If you are still struggling to picture this, think about someone putting a water hose on and spraying you. The same turn you use to avoid the water is the same you use in fights (when you know you have been beaten).
Sometimes people are just stronger, hit harder or are more skilled. At this point, all the internet bravado in the world won’t prepare you for that sensation.
It is the feeling of impending doom. The feeling that you just can’t win and you hope they don’t hurt you too much.
So what is the solution?
You need to do something completely different.
This could be running away, doing a takedown, grabbing a weapon. Whatever you can do you need to do it.
Take epic high-level action to change things. Sure you are losing, and you know it, so you need a new plan. What you are doing is not working and WILL NOT WORK!
Sure, it might work against another person, but right here, right now this is not happening the way you want.
You need to do something very different because if you carry on this path, you will get hurt!
Conclusion
We all train with the belief that should we have to use our skills in real life they will work, and we will be safe. Experience tells me that is not always the case.
However, you need to plan for the occasions where things do not go your way and figure out how you can change those situations to get you back on track.
Remember there are no referees in real life.
Thanks for reading