When was the last time you got into an actual Fist Fight?

Well, I guess I should not even go here but since you were mentioning martial arts, go figure. When my teacher called for "free fights" the guys used to shrivel up and not want to do it. How could they possible kick me down and feel good about it?

Well, I got a "kick" about it (pun intended). Well, that was way back then but still remember the feeling when someone was backing down from my tiny frame of 110 pounds.

As far as a "real" fight, not my game. Had a senior woman punch me in the eye a couple of years ago (in a bar) because she felt I was obnoxious (not really true) and got a black eye to "hide" for a couple of weeks.

Practicing martial arts is a great way to de-stress, co-ordinate and stay trim. Go get em' Jared!

Wow Jared - you teach Modern Arnis? That's the art I am trained most thoroughly in. When I moved out to Oregon my friend, Al Dacascos, taught me some other tricks. He and Bruce Lee were best friends and they worked on the same arts that made Bruce famous. His son Mark has been in some movies, so you've at least seen the kid, I'm sure.

Anyhow - in a FIST fight, never - but I've spanked a few bad boys in my days with and without my Arnis sticks (which somehow disappeared on me about the time a certain man was exhiled from my life. My blowgun, too, hmmmm) LOL.

It seems in the last 15 years I've become intimidating, though because when I don't back down from someone who is being aggressive, verbally or physically, they seem to shy off fast. I think I might have developed what Al called "The Look".

But then people, even some very bizarrely aggresive killers, back away from complete lunatics...so there might be something else to that one.....LOL.

I guess I'm just getting older, but things I used to brag about I am now ashamed of. I have been in a number of fights and to be honest, each and every one could have been avoided.

I had a friend once that was all beat up. When I asked him what happened he said that he beat the hell out of a guys Fist with his Face! I've been there a time or two but not in more than 30 years. Like Kurt I'd say all of mine could have been avoided.

It's been a while. Back in the day I worked security at an endless number of bars and strip clubs around this area, I had my share of fighting then. And where I grew up was a fairly rough area, so I had my share then as well.

Now I dont fight...i have a CCW. I dont look for fights at all, do everything i can to get out of them, but if someone really really just wants to go to it, then can talk to my 2 friends.. Smith and Wesson.

What time is it now?


Cheers,
Becky

P.S. Actually... never. Except that one time. Though it really wasn't a fist fight. I was standing in this pool of Jello, and...

well, I have never been in a fist fight, I guess that's because I am just 16. I hope it will stay like that forever and I won't get in any fight, but I guess it can't be that way, everyone has to feel a little bit of pain in their lives at some point... but I am not looking forward to that day.

I'd say the last time I got into a street fight was probably around 10 -12 years ago while in my early 20s, but I had many growing up. Everybody fought in my neighborhood. I guess we all thought it was cool.

Actually, I regret them. They didn't solve anything and most could have easily been avoided.

Nobody really wins in MOST street fights. Sure there's the occasional ass that you'd like to wallop alongside the head every now and then, but even then, most decent people will regret it.

Fighting for sport or to save your life or for your family is one thing... but outside of that, it certainly isn't a glorious act. Maybe to a kid or a delusional adult, but once you see someone get seriously hurt and die, most lose that fascination.

I don't care how much kung fu you know or what kind of nasty "look" you can make with your face; there are people on the street that will just shoot you. Then what?

The smart person walks away from it - alive.

I always managed to at least hold my own in fights when I was younger, even if I didn't always come out entirely on top. Fights weren't common by any means, but to me they were just part of life and nothing surprising. Then I met and married my first husband, and spent the next nine years dodging his fists and boots, mostly unsuccessfully, even through one of my pregnancies (I can imagine what you're thinking. 'Where was this woman's backbone?' Years later, I still sometimes wonder the same thing). That did surprise me, and changed the way I thought about punch-ups. No one who'd told me they loved me had ever hit me before then. In my view, it wasn't normal. Maybe fist fighting just wasn't normal either.

I've only had one punch up in the years since, and I'm ashamed to say it was with my sister. She was staying over and sharing my bed with me while husband MkII was away working, and while I was getting the babies ready for bed she was boozing like it was going out of fashion. By the time we went to bed, she was completely trollied and I was hoping she'd just pass out. Not so. 3.30am and I was still trying to get her to shut up. She told me that if she had kids, she'd be more laid back than I was. Stunned, I reminded her that she had a two year-old sleeping in the next room with mine. She then went downstairs, where I found her dressed to leave and stuffing as many of my possessions into her roomy bag as she could fit in.

I took them out again, and was handing her the bag back when Words Were Exchanged. Suddenly punches were being exchanged too - I'm not proud of this - fists were flying and so were lumps of our hair, until she ran out of the house with me throwing her bag out after her. An hour later, the police minced their way down the path in a very peculiar fashion, and were at the door because my sister was demanding her son back (evidently she'd remembered she'd got one). I watched with bewildered fascination as they walked back up the path in the way they had come. In exactly the way that they'd come. By then I was so tired I was bordering on comatose, but in the darkness, they looked to me to be attempting John Cleese impersonations. Even stranger was that they turned and gave ME odd looks as they left.

Next morning, daylight revealed they'd been picking their way through the 'essentials' that my sister would normally have carried around in the bottom of her bag. They'd fallen out when I'd thrown it at her. The front path was littered with plastic bottles bearing labels such as 'Lusty Love Lotion', 'Sex Maniac's Massage Oil' and 'Bedroom Power Potion'. I just wish daylight hadn't revealed this to the neighbours about four hours before daylight revealed it to me

In a previous line of work, I was taught "Irish martial arts" The guts of the whole "art-form" amounted to this: You're fighting for your life, not in a ring with rules. If there's no escape, hit them as hard as you can, as quickly as you can. Headbutt them in the nose or upper face, if possible. Usually, this ends things immediately. If not, target their eyes, nose, throat, groin, and shins. If there's anything to hand harder than the bones in your fists, use that instead. If you knock them down, substitute the less-powerful fists for the much-more-powerful boot. Unless you're trying to avoid further attention, screaming like a maniac will help greatly. Most people are intimidated by maniacs, even ones smaller than them.

It's not particularly elegant but it certainly works. That said, I still wouldn't recommend anyone actually seek out a physical fight for any reason. If you seriously hurt someone, even if they were the aggressor, and you were justified in doing so, and you likely saved your life by doing so, I guarantee you'll still won't like how you feel afterwards (unless you're psychopathic).

Tommy.

Never.

I have relied on my wits to avoid them, and when that hasn't worked, I relied on my feet.

All the best,
Michael

I used to play rugby and that got a bit fruity at times. The last dust up I had there was probably a good 10 years ago.

Outside the bravado and posturing of the rugby club, though, I've pretty much kept out of trouble, I'm pleased to say.

My son's just about to get his black belt in Tae Kwon Do so he can look after me from now on (although he's only 12 so I might have to rethink that)

SP