Going toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with someone who is bigger, faster and stronger is an incredibly iffy proposition.

Unless you have the conditioning to go the distance (to outlast the exertion over several minutes of struggle and have the ability to absorb the punishment from non-specific trauma, e.g., “take a punch” or 20), the physical strength to overpower him, and the skill of fighting to bob, weave, block, counter and grapple with him, you’re going to lose.

If fighting is hard, being any good at it is even harder.

Being a good fighter requires a huge amount of dedication, time and effort to build your athleticism and skill.  You need to “weaponize” yourself by getting on the bigger, faster, stronger curve and pushing it as hard and far as you can.  You need to get in the ring, get knocked out and choked out, in order to practice — and perfect — the craft.  Those who excel in this realm are models of single-minded drive, physicality, and art.

Simply hurting people, by comparison, is easy.

How easy?  Easy enough that one of our Master Instructors has a 6’4″+, north-of-300-pound relative who doesn’t have a spleen anymore because his five-year-old nephew ruptured it during a rough-housing session.

Easy enough that my 5’3″ wife was able to drop a larger man who came after her in a darkened parking garage.

Put either of those pairs in the ring together and we all know how it’s going to go.  But the right amount of force to the right body part at the right time and, in the case of the nephew, you end up with a grown man who very nearly didn’t make it to the hospital in time.

Easy enough to make eyes, throat and groin off-limits in MMA competitions.  So too with kicking or stomping the head or neck of a downed opponent.  That’s because these things don’t just win fights — they put people in the hospital with potentially permanent and life-altering injuries.  They can also kill.

If you’re going to fight someone, know what you’re getting into.  Hopefully you’ve prepared yourself accordingly and have the superior athletic ability and skill.  But if your life depends on the outcome, why roll those dice?  It’s much easier to simply hurt people.

The fights that aren’t won through capitulation or by decision are won by injury.  Outside the bounds of competition you’re best served by going straight for that moment.

Ask yourself, do you want to fight that guy?  Or simply hurt him?

Chris Ranck-Buhr
TFT Master Instructor

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