Universal Fight Plan
When two untrained fighters meet almost anywhere that you could look, their instinctive tactic to win a fight will most likely be to strike each other with their fists until one of them takes enough damage that they cannot fight back. This is referred to as the Universal Fight Plan because everyone in the world knows it instinctively.
Martial Arts instruction has an approach that simply teaches people/fighters to be able to more effectively execute the Universal Fight Plan. It is simply more efficient to teach people to control a violent encounter by controlling the elements of that encounter. I will briefly talk about two different trains of thought and will elaborate more indepth in a later post.
The first train of thought is for an encounter with firearms. The basic rule of thumb is this:
- Reactionary Gap – Clear the gun to target line, secure or support the weapon if in close range. If at a defensible distance, secure and present your firearm.
- Risk Management – We reduce risk by terminating the threat in a legally defensible manner. Control factors that you can directly manage. Risk, Threat, Recoil.
- Retention – We continue Risk Management and Reactionary Gap by preventing the attacker from securing a grip on our firearm and disarming or shooting us with our own weapon.
- Reload – If you discharged your weapon, immediately combat reload and regain Reactionary Gap.
- Recovery – Disengage to a safe and covered position while scanning. Recovery can also include clearing malfunctions or stoppages.
- Recover – Once the threat has been mitigated, we recover by completely removing our self from the danger area and immediately replace ammo, scan for other threats and to treat any wounds. Lastly, we initiate the Law Enforcement process by calling 911 or your local emergency response number.
The second train of thought we will consider is a empty hand or fist fight. The rule of thumb for this engagement can be simply this; control the elements of the fight which in this case is: Range, Angle and Level.
- Close the distance – Avoid punching range by utilizing evasive footwork that puts you in range to utilize your punching skill set.
- Gain the dominant position – This can be accomplished simply by being in the place that you can hit, kick or otherwise strike the opponent where he/she cannot hit you back.
- Finish the fight – When a dominant body position has been gained either standing or on the ground, the fighter in the dominant position can begin to finish the fight with devastating punches or submission techniques.
Until next time…Lets Get Training!
