Skilled guys in taped streetfights?

I agree. So, I wonder - why is it that in all those taped streetfights (I mean the ones I've seen) the fighters always seem to be as terrible as Gichoke says? There must be guys out there with (Thai) boxing skills, wrestling skills, ... Do guys with real fighting skills avoid streetfights much more than unskilled guys? Or why aren't there hardly any skilled fighters in those taped streetfights? Just wondering.

I was driving home last night and went by a nice streetfight going on in a parking lot that spilled out into the road. 2 pairs of guys going at it. So of course I stop to watch. Some people probably shouldn't fight. Yeeeesh...

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Because we are outnumbered 100-1.

That is my theory. Good training along with knowing yourself brings confidence. That confidence eliminates the need to prove something to yourself. In contrast, insecurity leads to more fights because many people think it will prove something useful. If that were true then there would be no benifit in rematches.

Sounds reasonable.

You may be right. Do you think that the fear of legal consequences is also higher in skilled fighters because having MA skills matters before court?

I figure it's less than that..from what I would think something like:

about 5% of the population at one point enroll in martial arts about 1% of those people get mad skills (mad skills being the properties of a skilled fighter)...

So, I figure like...black belt in karate (not mcdojo karate or TKD) or like...purple belt in bjj (or is it blue that comes before black? I always forget..)...

Yep.

Most MAs fall into a few clear categories, IME. There are those who train for fun, often with SD as a motivation. There are those who train for sport, be it TKD, MMA or anything in between. There are those who train for professional reasons: bouncers, LEOs, etc.

Of course, there is often an overlap between these categories, but none of them has anything to prove by getting into a street fight. The first group try very hard to avoid them, and often a fear of them is what led to their starting MA in the first place. The second group have nothing to prove, because if they want to find out what they can do, they'll do it in a ring. The third group are well aware of what'll happen if they get caught in a fight they could have avoided, so they too will try to avoid it.

Almost all skilled MAs fall into at least one of the above three groups, and the motivation to avoid the real fight becomes higher the better they get.

Cheers,

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It is something I worry about quite a bit. It seems to me that prosecuters focus too much on geting convictions, legislatures write laws in areas where they are ignorant, law enforcement (as much as I love them and understand their importance) they must follow procedures even if those procedures don't fit a given situation, and jurys include some of the same people who buy the Weekly World News and you see in the audience on Jerry Springer. I think that it would be easy for the truth to get lost in the mix, expecially on a subject like martial arts where there are alot of common myths and misconceptions.

My favorate legal goof is the recent trend to punish officers who empty a clip into a 'bad guy'. It is as if the system thinks shooting someone once is okay, but if you shoot him 15 times that is wrong. When lives are hanging in the balance, you either do or do not need to kill a perpitratior. If a situation takes place where an officer needs to kill, then they *need* to do it! They should not fire once and then wait to see what happens. That type of blunder could have fatal consequences. Yet our legal system will pass judgement on things it does not understand.Another issue is that many martial arts include philosophy. After years of training, it reminds us of our own humanity. Why would someone want to hurt another person? One common phrase: 'There is no first strike in Karate'. Some people will obey the law even when they *know* they will not get caught. That is becaue they agree with the spirit behind the law.

Besides the legal treat there's always the civil suits to look out for. Your attacker can turn around and sue you (and often win). Even if he doesn't win it cost you much time and money.

Where did that happen?