End a Fight Quickly - Top 7 Strategies

Apart from the basic strategies for self defense like covering your face or staying calm, a more experienced martial artist and fighter should keep more advanced principles in his mind. A martial artist's objective is to end a fight as quick as possible-ideally within a few seconds. If a street fight lasts longer than thirty seconds, your chances of winning have drastically dropped. Below are a few things to help you win faster:

1.) Play dirty. Go straight for the eyes or the groin if you are in a self defense situation.

2.) When blocking or parrying a strike, grab hold of the limb and do not let go. From there you can use a manipulation, lock, break or takedown.

3.) Surprise the attacker by moving extremely close to him and bombarding him with strong attacks to vital places like the face. Many attackers do not expect this from a victim who should be too afraid to even move. NOTE: do not try this if you are not experienced or do not have good close quarters combat skills.

4.) Stay off the line of attack at all times. Tactical advantage is all about your position. Use clever footwork to stay deceptively off the line of attack, yet, at the same time you are staying close to your attacker and not tiring yourself out. And remember: evading is more efficient than blocking.

5.) Improvise weapons. Do you have a pen near you? A paper weight? Car keys? You can learn to use anything as a deadly weapon. If it has a point, stab your assailant. If it is heavy, bash the attacker of the head with it.

6.) Be unpredictable. Confuse your attacker by having an offbeat rhythm and by feinting or faking attacks.

7.) Be aggressive. Return your attacker's viciousness, but be wary and careful. Do not get caught up in your aggression so much that you cloud what little judgment you have in a fight.

Though these are recommendations for martial artists with roots and experience, this can still help to keep you safer. Finding a school that trains these methods is ideal. One of the best would be Krav Maga, because they teach improvised weapons, dirty tactics and close quarters combat. And styles like American Kenpo or many grappling systems stress that when you get a hold of a limb, you never let it go. Keep these strategies in mind while training, and consciously practice them for real life situations. These are but a few of literally hundreds of strategies that can end a fight quickly.