By: Patrick Miller

If you haven't read Combatives and Fake Killing People, start there.


In the last blog, I discussed how I thought the grappling arts portion of Combatives was the best and safest way to finish a fight.

In Part 2, I will go over stand-up fighting or striking. Kick boxing, boxing, and Muay Thai are the main influences on the striking portion of the Army Combatives Program. Some initial problems with striking while in full kit is there is no float like a butterfly sting like a bee. I don’t care who you are; you do not move great with 60 pounds of kit on. It’s hard to throw any round house or side kicks with a battle belt or duty belt (LEO's), you're restricted mostly to front kicks. That takes kickboxing and boxing out of the mix, so that leaves Muay Thai.

The major aspect that separates Muay Thai is the clinch work. This is where elbows and knees are king along with some dirty boxing. The biggest part is that if we can clinch, we can get a takedown and use two of our biggest friends in a fight: the ground and gravity. At 235 pounds when I'm running up a hill or a few flights of stairs I’m cursing gravity, but when I have a mount, it's my best friend and the person I’m mounted on's it's their biggest enemy.

Now let's put this into concepts for everyday usage. If you are outside at night and someone squares up to you and wants to fight, Remember You are not in a fight; it takes two people to tango, and I’m not a very good dancer. Maybe that’s why my boxing is trash. But I digress, if someone wants to fight and he is not touching you, you can just run away and put as much space and obstacles in between you and the fight.

Let’s say you just want to bang, bro. Here are a few things you should consider:

• If you are in a crowd, you don’t know if your opponent has a friend or friends in the crowd.
• If you're both standing, you both have a 50/50 chance of getting knocked out (that’s how you win a standing street fight), and those odds are sh*t.
• There are too many people willing to get into fist fights for no reason.

I’m only getting into a street fight to defend my family, or if I can get my odds to 90/10, move out of the crowd and get it to the floor, because there aren't any lucky submissions, but there are a ton of lucky knockouts. Anyone can hit the off button.

Remember, Option 1 is break contact; Option 2 is break contact, and Option 3 is get it to the floor and  get on top.

Remember, your ego is not your amigo!