I once mounted someone in a situation in a pub after taking him down with a beautiful Hank.

Gonna shamelessly diverge from the actual topic to ask you about this, since I'm interested to see an old wrestling term like that pop up. By Hank, do you mean an Uchi Mata (which is I believe what they call it in modern Catch Wrestling) or the Cumberland and Westmorland-style 'grapevine the leg and slam him backwards'?

Nope. in 23 years of training I have talked down every situation where someone wanted to actually throw fisticuffs. And those situations were at work or on the highway. I don't drink, go to bars or clubs, or hang out with stupid people in stupid places so the chances of me needing to defend myself in a hand to hand combat situation are almost zero.

Agreed. Even in weapons based systems that I train in, we discuss the ability to minimize risk or to see the potential conflict unfolding as a “preemptive attack”. This sort of mindset in my view the path to mastery. Of course all the while concurrently training ways to defend against numerous scenarios of violence. Some of the most impressive displays of deescalation/mental Jiu Jitsu are when I see an instructor turn a potential conflict into an ally. Frequently at fma seminars, other students from other systems will come to check out the material. Some of them come in a try to show things to the other participants. The delivery of my instructor though is not to challenge and embarrass anyone but to demonstrate his interpretation in a given scenario and have his instruction speak for itself. This usually results in a few more participants joining, including some challengers

True. I’m not going to pretend I am a subject matter expert in this since I have neither the training or experience, but on the few occasions I teach I do like to spend some time discussing scenarios. I think mental reps have some use. Especially when it comes to verbal altercations. Managing an adrenaline dump is really hard and spending some time thinking/talking about things like distancing, body language, being aware of hand placement prior to being in an altercation could help to install some of these ideas. I also think facilitating discussion helps me to rep things too

i have always gotten a kick out of the concept of self defense experts when most even with a like time of training have never dealt with real violence. I grew up in the Bronx and my father was in the Westies and I have been around people who used violence as a commodity for long stretches of my life.. My father did time for manslaughter and arson one of my uncles died in prison on a murder charge. I had my first professional fight in Burma at 15 and was there during the SLORC takeover and all hell breaking loose. The fights where sponsored by people like Khun SAh a drug lord whop ran the Mon Thai Army and I used my connections to sell drugs. I have been shot twice and stabbed/ slashed on several occasions along with being attacked with everything from a baseball bat to a car and I believe there is no such thing as a self defense expert or self defense itself for that matter.. Violence has no rules and is complete chaos you prepare as best you can, react to chaos and survive I have also worked with military units and in conversations they understand better that most that plans and scenarios go to hell quickly you prepare to react nothing more.. You plan, you rehearse, you break things down and when shit hits the fan you pray and react

i have always gotten a kick out of the concept of self defense experts when most even with a like time of training have never dealt with real violence. I grew up in the Bronx and my father was in the Westies and I have been around people who used violence as a commodity for long stretches of my life.. My father did time for manslaughter and arson one of my uncles died in prison on a murder charge. I had my first professional fight in Burma at 15 and was there during the SLORC takeover and all hell breaking loose. The fights where sponsored by people like Khun SAh a drug lord whop ran the Mon Thai Army and I used my connections to sell drugs. I have been shot twice and stabbed/ slashed on several occasions along with being attacked with everything from a baseball bat to a car and I believe there is no such thing as a self defense expert or self defense itself for that matter.. Violence has no rules and is complete chaos you prepare as best you can, react to chaos and survive I have also worked with military units and in conversations they understand better that most that plans and scenarios go to hell quickly you prepare to react nothing more.. You plan, you rehearse, you break things down and when shit hits the fan you pray and react

You need to write a book! I'd be all over that.

This. This is a good idea. My good friend and former teammate Chris Dietzel could even be your ghost writer.

Would love to see a book on the history and culture of the Kachin arts from you. That's a treasure-trove of knowledge that probably no one else in the English speaking world will ever have again.

Greetings, good people! Have any of you used your training for self-defense, especially where deadly force was part of the equation? If so, what were your lessons learned, and was it so profound that you had a paradigm shift in regards to your self-defense mindset and/or training? Thanks! Jeff

I used BJJ to perform a citizens arrest. The guy I arrested had been sexually harassing and assaulting one of my English language students. It looked like he was going to hit me when I cornered him, so I clinched and did a hip throw. Got on mount and got my coworkers to call the police. What I learned is the optics of the situation matters; I was challenged in court about using such force when he hadn't even thrown a punch. I am physically much bigger than the guy. Luckily that didn't really have an impact on the conviction, but it did give me some insight into how courts view things we do as standard in BJJ. What likely helped was that I didn't hurt the guy; if I had clocked him it might have been a different story.

I’ve used grappling as a form of self defence during my time as a doorman here in Sunny Wolverhampton. It’s never made me feel like Steven Seagal but it’s always made me feel confident that I at least understand range, clinch and basic strike avoidance more than the average Joe. I once mounted someone in a situation in a pub after taking him down with a beautiful Hank. However, the biggest lesson I took from that situation was that no amount of BJJ is going to stop your attackers friends from volleying you in the dome. I treat all training sessions as a catalyst for self defence these days. I consciously consider the risk variants of all positions now from both a sports and martial arts / street situation perspective. It’s better than knowing nothing I will say that much.

I have been approached several times in the past and never really considered it but after the cancer I started to think of it and a recurring pancrease issue causing me to lose about 15 lbs quick has me thinking I will if I can get a good ghostwriter.. I want to get my curriculum down on video, get the history of the Kachin arts writen up and also possibly my story as I thought originally when the weight started stripping the cancer was back and it made me realize even though it's not at 58 the reality is I am a short timer

I was 17. A bum pulled a knife on me. I was able to Aikido-wristlock him (I had done 2 years of Aikido by that time) and remove the knife.

Did you cut his ear off as a kind of ‘keep sake’?

No I was scared shitless and ran... he actually was like 'Dude... can I at least have my knife back...'