Wish I had KO’Ed them!! That would have been cool, but my experiences are limited and not very exciting. These were against poorly trained or completely untrained idiots. If they had been trained, it might have been different, but Wing Chun strategy and techniques did work.
Of my Sidai that have also been in fights, results and circumstances were similar; no KO, only a few punches were thrown and somebody ended up on the ground. It bothers me to hear guys “blow their own horn” about such things, and I don’t want to hijack this thread, but I’ll relate the incidents only this once on the forum and for the sake of zeppelinfr34k to take from them what he will.
Offensive: 3 guys make a rude remark within my earshot about my teenage daughter and wife. We were near a college and I think they were just freshmen blowing off some steam. But, it set me off. We had a heated discussion there for about 30 seconds and they really make me mad when one of them offers more disrespectful remarks. So now there is a matter of honor at stake. I threw a finger jab to draw the leaders hands up, entered to his side and trapped his elbow. This also puts the 2 other guys on his other side so I can see them. He was about 6 inches taller than me. His head was beyond my reach. I’m watching his hands and controlling his elbow and he draws them up to his face and started shaking, almost crying. It was weird. I almost felt sorry for him then, so I just put some soft punches to his kidneys and pushed his away into his buddies. They were all so shocked. I said, “You should apologize now.” and they did.
Defensive: Coming out of store last year after some Christmas shopping, I bump into some guy going in and say, “I’m sorry, excuse me.” in passing. As I’m walking to car, he rushes after me screaming,”I’m going to kick your _ss!” He looked much like Tank Abbot. He pushes my shoulder and says again, “I’m going to kick your _ss.” So I know that by touching me, he means to carry it through. When he reaches out to do it again, I yield to the push, step around and help his arm along with double larp sau. The guys so big and got so much momentum that he stumbles and falls scraping his knees up (he had on shorts and it was about 50 F outside—go figure). He starts to get up, but I yell in my most dominating voice, “STAY DOWN”. He does. He might have been drunk for all I know. He looked like Bluto from Popeye cartoons.
To zeppelinfr34k:
If I misinterpreted your post and you are looking for an art for the long term, Wing Chun is a good art because at a high enough skill level, a smaller, weaker opponent can use it and win. In both of my encounters I was definitely smaller than the opponents. I’m actually very strong though and lift heavy weights regularly. Theoretically, when I’m 80, I should be able to use Wing Chun to some degree of effectiveness based on skills, not athletic ability. I don’t think I will be able to do 400 lb. squats when I’m 80.
Jeez—I hope this doesn’t sound like preaching, but no matter what style you do study, the hardest thing is being able to control yourself. There are guys who have studied for a decade and got beat up. Maybe it will happen to me too someday. IMHO, an MA must have intent and purpose which is more important than any style or system. The web is full of first hand stories of guys who get in a fight and loose all composure and then lose the fight, not because of lack of skill, but because of not being able to conquer their own mind. Maybe when older, I’ll change my screen name to SonOfYoda.
In my lineage, strategy and positioning are integral to the system, so knowing how it comes into play even before the first attack does help in calming the mind. Oops, getting long winded, sorry—I’ll shut up now.
