04.12.07 From the Viking
Attack Mode: How to Survive A Back-Alley Knife Fight
Written by Ariel Hernandez
You are coming home from the bar at two o’clock in the morning. You’re dumb enough to take that shortcut your girlfriend’s father’s friend told you about, and boom: you are stuck in a back-alley. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but a shadowy figure is approaching you, and the demonic glint in his eye matches the streetlight reflection off his blade. Yes, he has a knife. Now: what do you do? How will you survive? First, you thank your lucky stars that you read this article. And then you enter Attack Mode.
*Some images may be too grotesque for certain viewers. Please be advised.
The most important thing is to control your attacker’s knife. Every move you make should be a means to that end. Since I believe you should never be unarmed in a knife fight, I urge all my readers to carry a pocketknife at all times. I would like to introduce you to my knife. It’s quick, it's light, and the half-serrated blade is great for sawing through the bones of your enemy (enemies hate having their bones sawed through). But I digress: controlling the knife is really about controlling distance. Simply put, you need to put yourself in a position where you can stab while avoiding getting stabbed. When your enemy closes in, make a note of what hand he has the knife in. DO NOT LET HIM STAB YOU WITH THIS HAND. Try to circle around so he has to reach across his body to stab you. In the case that he squares himself to you, throw a front kick into his stomach to let him know you've done this before, and just because it feels good to kick stomachs.
Try to use the darkness of the alley to your advantage. Just because your enemy is actively trying to stab you to death doesn’t mean you can’t cut his pancreas out and sell it to a Vietnamese steak house (I believe Confucius coined that phrase. At any rate, I first saw it on a fortune cookie.). Use anything around to distract your opponent and control the weapon. If you have a jacket or a sweatshirt take it off and use it to wrap up his knife hand. Another good technique is the French “Saber and cloak” method, accomplished by taking your "cloak" (in your case, a jacket or sweatshirt, unless you wear a cloak, in which case: welcome to the future, time traveler) and wrap it around your off-hand for use in deflecting oncoming sword blows. Try to disarm him your enemy with a swift punch to the wrist. Call him names he's never heard before. Any advantage you can find could save your life. With your wrapped hand, smash through a window and grab a shard of glass. With a glass shank in one hand and a pocketknife in the other, who’s really in trouble?
If you do find yourself “mano a mano," and you've gained control of his knife, you'll have to cut him to end it. First, go for the arms so your attacker can't strike back. This is about survival. If you cut the back of his arm across his triceps you will probably hit the brachial artery, which will cause your enemy to bleed out within minutes. This is a fight-ender to be sure, but it is also a surefire ticket to prison. If you are flexible enough, you may opt instead to kick your opponent hard in the face. This will cause him to question his entire upbringing. If you are lucky, he will utter the phrase, "Why, mommy?" before losing consciousness. As always, if your kick does not land, simply repeat. It only takes one good kick to the face to destroy the will of even the most frenzied attacker. Just ask Chuck Norris. Since you now have both knives, you also have the option of throwing one knife up in the air towards him, and, as he looks up to grab it out of the air, fire the other knife toward him as hard as you can. If you do it right, it should strike him squarely, lift him off his feet, and pin him to the wall, leaving him just enough breath to choke out one last, "Damn you, you'll never get the emeralds..." or whatever he wants his villainous last words to be. (Note: The high-low combination is also a killer finishing move for snowball fights.)
Again, persistence is the name of the game. If any of these techniques fail the first time, simply try them again. If you are badly injured in the process, hey, those are the wages of back-alley knife fighting.
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I'd suggest carrying a razorsharp box cutter in those cases; you can claim you have it for work or something, and didnt contemplate using it violently. Plus a boxcutter is potentially more intimidating than a sharpened bucknife. If the weather is acceptable, wear a leather coat; that will stop most knife stabs. If there is a chance I may get in appreciable trouble I'll always carry a small 9mm HK though. And when I have to pull, I'll always shoot 4-6 shots, aiming at the legs, as quickly as possible. Carrying a concealed firearm will get me a 6+ month sentence. Drawing it in selfdefence more than a year. Consistent nonlethal shots will save me from a several year sentence.
The best style to train against firearms is serious (versus infantile) ninjitsu and krav maga. Plus if you are new in town, ask a taxi driver how bad it gets. Taxi drivers know.
Best legal option would be a weighted walking stick. You can deal with a knife fighter with a balanced, metalshod walking cane easily - if you train a little. Just swing the stick 500 times in an afternoon and you are trained ultra-minimally.
Causing damage on assailants, when you cant flee, is not something you should aim for. Cause fear; boxcutters, razors, injection needles, something that looks like a firearm, etc. But know that once you escalate, there often is no way of going back to kansas.
Knife Attack
Claim: Photographs show a USAF airman slashed in a barroom attack in South Korea.
Status: Real photos; inaccurate description.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/gruesome/kunsan.asp
happens a lot inside penitentiaries where gangs are prevalent.
The second best reason to live in the USA.
Sure, if you live in some backwater protect-the-criminal country where there's no concept as self-defense. In today's America even a newbee lawyer can get you off for killing someone if you honestly thought your life was in jeopardy. And given the propensity these days for punks to pull weapons just to get your shoes, you'd be a fool not to eviscerate someone if they got up in your face.
It's pretty sad to read such articles about a country that once was the land of the free - and still claimes to be.
It happens of course, so maybe I've been lucky. But to me it seems you're whipping up a bit of paranoia among your readers, and at the same time recommending that they carry a knife, and at the same time linking to a site that's selling a tasty little stabbing device.
I don't really believe in the alley-way videogame psycho who wants to stab you for no reason. And there's a hell of a lot of guys in jail, with shit they have to live with for the rest of their lives, just because they were carrying a knife to protect themselves from the "other guys" with knives.
I mean, sure, carry one if you want, but can you be sure you won't be the one to escalate things, when you're wasted and outnumbered, to save yourself from a common or garden variety punching?
That was my 2 cents worth.
Knife defense is impossible:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3314413849946719103&q=knife+defense
Getting into a knife fight means getting cut. Getting into a knife fight without having a knife yourself means getting killed (UNLESS your assailant is merciful). The only way to defend yourself against a knife is to run away. However, note that even that is unlikely to work, because most victims of knife attacks do not know that their assailant has a knife until they've already been cut.
"The most important thing is to control your attacker’s knife."
No. Control the delivery system of the knife. The knife moves too fast and trying to follow it will only get you distracted and cut.
"Again, persistence is the name of the game. If any of these techniques fail the first time, simply try them again."
If any of your techniques don't work in a knife fight, you've been cut and are going into shock. A chopping blow from a fighting knife can cut off your hand. A slashing blow from even a keychain knife can destroy your face. Getting cut and trying again is not an option.
"Since you now have both knives, you also have the option of throwing one knife up in the air towards him, and, as he looks up to grab it out of the air, fire the other knife toward him as hard as you can."
That is the most retarded knife fighting advice I've ever read.
Not only are you potentially getting geeks killed with the knife fighting advice, but you're potentially getting me killed by encouraging geeks to carry knives. If you don't already have unarmed self-defense skills and competent threat-assessment abilities, you should not carry a knife. You're going to pull the knife under the wrong circumstance and cut someone who doesn't deserve to get cut--or get yourself killed.
Dear Author, please say BINGO! :)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3314413849946719103&q=knife+defense
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All I can say about this is "Cocaine is one hell of a drug" -Rick James
"The most important thing is to control your attacker’s knife."
This is the the truth. I got into a altercation with some Russian when I was stationed in Korea. Immediately, I advanced and dislodged the knife from his hand. From my experience I would reccomend closing the gap as soon as possible. BTW, In the end I didnt have to cut or stab him once I got the knife. After I got the knife and threatened him a few times I took off.
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