Defeating grapplers with a striking skill

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

It's been generally observed of unarmed combat skills that grappling skills like wrestling and judo have a destinct advantage over unarmed striking skills like karate, brawling or wrestling, as it is in real life. I'm wondering if there are methods in GURPS for dealing with a grappler when you have a unarmed striking skills only. What techniques, actions and could one undertake to beat a grappler without taking a grappling skill?

I think that's a bit of an overstatement. When you have a grappler who is fighting a striker with no grappling skills, a grappler has a real advantage, and a lot of the techniques a striker would use (like dropping an elbow on the back of the head) are illegal in sporting competitions, since they're potentially lethal.

Strikers who know how to keep their foe at a distance can and do defeat grapplers, and a well rounded fighter who knows both is most dangerous of all.

And to continue:

1. Most grappling offensive maneuvers are attacks, and can be parried. The real dangers are the responses AFTER an attack by you (meaning things like Judo Throw and Arm Lock after they parry your attack). Arm Lock after a parry is dangerous because it can be bought up cheaply from an Average grappling skill (Wrestling) and that skill is used both for capturing the arm and the actual technique. Judo Throw is an attack/defense, so parry helps.

2. You can strike in CC, quite effectively, and if you learn it, it's a big deal. Buy off the posture penalties for ground fighting, which are the real killers for untrained ground fighters in GURPS (-4 for lying down, etc). Invest in elbow and knee strikes, as well as back kick and back strike and other techniques that allow one to hit to all facings on a foe in close combat.

3. Shock is your friend, since it penalizes his rolls. Likewise, even a zero-point head blow can stun your foe, so learning Targeted Attacks which can accomplish this in CC would be worthwhile.

4. Be STRONG. Many grappling contests can use ST instead of DX or skill, and while ST is more expensive than skill, it's less than DX. If your GM allows, Lifting ST I believe helps with grappling rolls, and is about as cheap as skill.

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

I think that's a bit of an overstatement. When you have a grappler who is fighting a striker with no grappling skills, a grappler has a real advantage, and a lot of the techniques a striker would use (like dropping an elbow on the back of the head) are illegal in sporting competitions, since they're potentially lethal.

Strikers who know how to keep their foe at a distance can and do defeat grapplers, and a well rounded fighter who knows both is most dangerous of all.

Yeah, it's probably worth repeating that the advantage is probably greater in sport than in down and dirty combat, where there needn't be any hesitation about doing full force 'stop thrust' type techniques to the head just as the grappler's trying to get the first grip. Wait and Knee Strike is one such option, especially if the grappler is going for the knees and bringing the face down to the right level...

[nanoboy]

Kicking characters can use some of the same tactics that spearmen can use against swordsmen. Since kicks can hit reach 1, and grapples require reach C, kickers can do retreating parries (or dodges) and kick and step back on a turn. This, of course, requires space. UFC cages are often used by grapplers to trap strikers. Boxers and the like can't use the retreat and step back tactic, of course, but as others mentioned earlier, both punchers and kickers can use the wait maneuver to some effect against grapplers.