Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm
Whereas that's the only experience I've had.
I never started fights, but I defended myself using my only training: wrestling (plus a few standing joint locks drilled into me by an overzealous friend). For me, throwing punches seemed like a good way to bust a hand or cut myself on teeth and get an infection, and kicks looked like a great way to fall down. Instead, I manhandled, shoving or tripping assailants into solid obstacles, hanging on, and grinding or bashing their face against the surface afterward.
These experiences taught me that most people who take a swing aren't expecting you to grab that arm and use it to pull their face into a car mirror, while most people who throw a kick aren't ready to have the leg trapped and get taken for a drag through the dirt when I hang on and take off at a run. So I worried about doing stuff like that well, not becoming a good all-around fighter.
I was almost certainly a mediocre grappler and terrible striker during that part of my life. However, I was interested in not getting beaten up, not in winning timed or scored bouts. I could imagine a PC in a game taking the same stance on things and getting perks like Dirty Fighting and Trademark Move to add bonuses that balance a lack of general skill, rather than ones like Off-Hand Training that remove penalties for someone whose skill is already respectable!
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Well OK I wasn't really looking to get into who's had more real life fights when I mentioned I have had some ;-0! And actually my experiences agree with you. Most of the fights I ever had seem to end up leveraging my judo if they leveraged anything beyond just scrapping. But to be fair in terms of length of practice Judo is by far my most known thing, and more importantly most of my fights were in my late teens and early 20's at which point Judo was pretty much all I had and was fresher in my mind (well barring a smattering of half known stuff that wouldn't really amount to anything in an actual fight).
But ultimately I wasn't talking about punching over grappling, or even what's the best attack or tactic in a fight. I was only talking about using both hands (which is most definitely something I was shown and used in Judo, and now later in boxing). Something that would not seem to oppose what your describing in your fights. Since I assume the leg grabbing and face grinding not to mention your initial wrestling training was done two handed?
So I'm really not seeing that training with both hands as being contry to just not wanting to get beaten up and more to do with winning timed bouts.
But yes the tales of my fights was generally speaking grabbing, knocking them over possibly (but certainly not always) while hitting them as fast and hard as I can until an opportunity presented itself to leave the situation. Certainly not 12x 3 minutes of the sweet science!
But again I come from a judo back ground and I have now started boxing a bit, two hands it's just what you do (or it certainly what I've been shown to do). So for me the very premise of the question 'should you take time to work on your off hand at the possible expense of improving your dominant hand'. Is basically a non-sequiter because to be flippant for a moment for me fighting is a "whole body action" ;-)!
But again maybe that's just my particular background talking, and maybe when it comes to punching and grappling I'm just not that one side dominant. I also used to weight train, swim and play rugby, all two handed activities this may have helped me in this and unintentionally skewed by perception on this. So this really isn't me saying "Kromm you're wrong, and you've been fighting wrong*" or anything daft like that!
And yes I think you are right dirty fighting and trademark move seem well in keeping with reality as well
One point I would make about joint holds and grapple etc, is OK they might stop the person your holding from hitting you, but it leaves you a bit vulnerable to their mates or some onlooker who decides to get feisty. However that said there has been an evening in my life that ended with me pinning someone's arms until they sufficiently calmed down to the extent that I felt I could loosen my grip and reasonably expect them not to start up again instantly**. Fights are ultimately unpredictable messy things (even if we try and make them less so)
anyway
cheers
TD
*if we achieved our goal then by definition what ever we did worked!
**long story short, it kind of did / kind of didn't