The Martialist: The Magazine For Those Who Fight Unfairly

“Stay ‘unreasonable.’  If you
don’t like the solutions [available to you], come up with your
own.” 
Dan Webre

The Martialist does not
constitute legal advice.  It is for ENTERTAINMENT
PURPOSES ONLY.

Copyright © 2003-2004 Phil Elmore, all rights
reserved.

Delivery Systems

By Rich Dimitri

There’s much talk about delivery systems. A delivery
system is a base from which one applies his tools.  For example, without
an adequate understanding of the mechanics of boxing as a delivery system,
tools such as a palm strike or horizontal elbow strike have no
foundational base from which to be delivered. Boxing offers the proper
bio-mechanical applications in terms of torque, proximity sense, and angles
of attack for tools such as punches, elbow strikes, and palm strikes.

In a sporting type situation like an NHB/MMA fight, as well as in sparring, the
predominant delivery system is physical. One absolutely needs a striking
arsenal, a clinching arsenal, and a grappling arsenal. The sporting event also has
three elements a real, violent
confrontation lacks.  These are awareness, consent, and preparation. These
three elements eliminate several factors present in a self-defense
scenario, such as fear (for one’s life –
not a fear of losing or looking bad), emotional inertia, the fight or
flight response, the triggering of adrenal stress (although an NHB fight
will trigger adrenaline, the context in which the mind perceives the
threat is very different), and the rage with which the attack is
delivered.

In a sporting event, your opponent – although he is
trying to knock you out or submit you – isn’t trying to maim, cripple, or
kill you.  This alone creates a completely different state of mind
compared to a situation in which a complete stranger is hell-bent on
finishing you off. The very fact that you can tap out whenever you feel
you’ve had too much, or that the referee can stop the fight, or that your
corner can throw in the towel, also creates a different state of mind that
is incongruous to that of a real, violent confrontation.

Rich Dimitri, the man behind
Senshido.
 

The real threats are the rapists, the muggers,
the gang bangers, the random bullies and ego jocks, the road ragers, the
potential murderers, and the spousal & parental abusers.

There is a particular certainty that comes with sports training that doesn’t
exist outside of that venue.  It’s been said
ad nauseam, but weapons, multiple assailants, dangerous physical environments,
the presence of people accompanying you, and so forth all ad the the stress of the
unknown to a real encounter, eliminating the certainty of sports
training.  The unknown changes things.  It dictates different
strategic implementations and tactical responses. The arena is different;
therefore the tools need to differ – and so does the delivery system.

What is
reality? Go to your nearest “hard reputed” club, pub, or bar on a Friday or
Saturday night and simply observe the behavior, the initiation, the escalation,
and the treacherous development of a few fights. See if any of the
participants “spar.” Notice whether they stand at 4 or 5 feet from each other
and
square off first. Check it out and compare it to the training that you do.

With that in mind, a real attack on your person deals primarily with an attack
on the mind, which triggers a very different physiological response. Let’s
examine this very hypothetical scenario for a moment: A top NHB fighter goes
bad and decides to rape a woman. How will he approach her? Will he be gloved
up, wearing a mouthpiece after warming up for the last 20 minutes, or will he
most probably be dressed in his everyday clothes and approach her with
dialogue as a set up?

Is he in any way, shape, or form expecting her to fight
back and, if so, how easily does he believe he can submit her and keep her
under control to have his way with her? Is his guard up or down? Is his ego
up or down? Will his primary attack be a jab/cross combo followed by a clinch
to takedown, a mount and a ground and pound, or will he most likely grab her
by her hair, threatening her, anticipating and receiving a victim’s response of
passive/submissive behavior? Does she not have the element of surprise as an
advantage if she decides to fight back? If she did fight back, would her
primary attack be a clinch followed by an HKE combo, or would she not attack
vitals first, considering the position and mindset of both predator and prey
in such a situation?

Consider this example, in which a woman attempted a martial arts technique. Her
attacker threatened to kill her.  She only survived when she went primal
and instinctively fought back.

Every successful rape defense includes primal
defensive tactics such as gouging, ripping, and biting.  For example:

Another example:

Or how about this one:

Outside of the ring, the delivery system is
behavioral. The attacker isn’t
squaring off with you unless your response is ego-based (e.g., shoves, face-offs, mouthing off).  Your attacker perceives you as being his victim,
which is why he chose you. Use this to your advantage. Since your
attacker sees you as being weak and compliant, sticking with that in mind
prior to retaliation enhances your retaliation. This will lower his guard and
raise his ego, making him the perfect candidate for a brutal and completely
unexpected physical retaliation. That is the ideal time to strike if necessary,
and that preemptive strike most likely won’t be a jab, hook ,or Thai kick – or
at least, it shouldn’t be, considering the objective is to maim and not just hurt.
The shot you don’t see coming is the one that hurts the most because your mind
and body were not prepared for the assault. In a sporting event, the mind and
body are fully prepared and aware of the retaliation. Therefore, the nature of
that attack process and response time is completely and critically different.

Stating that root skills in a sporting delivery system are an absolute
necessity and that without them you are doomed is a fallacy. Although these
skills can do nothing but improve and enhance your survivability (and health,
for that matter), they are not necessarily the end-all, and be-all.  Far more
people have successfully defended themselves against certain odds with
absolutely no training whatsoever than have martial artists who
have used what they learned.

Rich Dimitri applies his brutal
“Shredder” method.

A behavioral delivery system is critical – much
more so than a physical one in terms of personal protection. This is what
loads the dice in the favor of the intended victim, because seldom will an
attacker pick someone he thinks or believes will hurt or maim him in response. The attacker will predominantly and primarily make an attack on the
mind prior to an attack on the body – through posturing, instigation through
intimidation, cursing, threats, explicit anger, etc. The range will also be
close-quarter, but the aggression will not be sport-related at all.  It will be
very different and include such things as lapel grabs, strangulations, weapon deployments,
tackles, shoves, hair pulls, and sucker punches from natural / non-sport
combative stances, incorporating aggressive dialogue and threats.

This, of course, doesn’t mean you don’t need a good physical delivery system.
We always have and will continue to advocate the necessity of both a behavioral and
physical delivery system. If anything, we highly recommend actively training
in an alive combative discipline. However, some people don’t
have the time, energy, or desire for to train three or four times per
week to enhance their combative skills. Does this mean they cannot learn to
effectively defend themselves? Does this mean that they don’t have the right
to defend themselves? Absolutely not.

If that were the case, we wouldn’t be
alive as a species today.  People have been effectively defending
themselves since the dawn of humanity and before MMA arts or NHB bouts ever existed. So
how did they do it? How does a woman defeat a crazed rapist without any prior
training at all? Luck? I think not. There’s much to be said about attitude,
mindset, and belief systems. The behavioral and psychological arsenals fine
tune our already existing survival instincts. The key is in getting people
back in touch with it.  We already posses the tools and instinct.  We just need
to re-awaken them and stay true to the physiological rules that govern our
minds and bodies.

Let the sparks fly.