How to Fight

Fighting is a confrontation between two or more people vying for dominance or respect. Avoiding fights is usually the best choice, but if you find yourself in one, you need to know how to defend yourself while also attacking. Whether fighting on the streets or in a controlled environment, knowing the right stance and targeting your opponent's weak points can be life-saving. Follow these steps if you want to learn how to fight.

Prepare your fighting stance. To fight, you must get into a proper fighting stance. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and bend your knees slightly, avoiding standing completely straight. Stay balanced to avoid being knocked down. Relax and take small steps as you adjust your position, keeping your hands up to protect your face.

• Clenching your teeth can reduce the risk of jaw fractures if you get punched.

Punching the opponent. The first thing you need to know is how to make a proper fist. To form the right fist, curl your four fingers into your palm and place your thumb on the outside of your fingers – do not place it inside if you don't want to risk breaking your thumb. Aim for the nose or stomach to inflict serious damage. A simple straight punch is the most suitable for non-professional fighters. Here's how to do it:

• Keep your elbows in front of you, forming a 30-45 degree angle, and always keep your hands at eye level.
• Extend your arm straight to throw the punch, moving your elbow and shoulder forward.
• Push your body weight through your shoulder into your arm so that when your arm is fully extended, the punch hits with maximum force.

Strike first. Once you’ve taken a firm stance, don’t hesitate. The person who lands the first punch is more likely to take down the opponent, giving you the advantage in the fight. Don’t spend too much time circling around your opponent or trying to find the perfect position. You should strike as soon as you have a clear shot.

Leverage your strengths in the fight. From the beginning, you should recognize how your opponent will fight. Choose your approach based on your strengths and your opponent’s weaknesses:

• If you’re taller, maintain distance. Your longer limbs give you the ability to attack from a range your opponent can’t reach.
• If you’re shorter, close the distance quickly. They’ll try to keep you at range to take advantage of their height advantage.
• If you’re faster, move in quickly, strike quickly, and retreat quickly. Attack in bursts at high speed.
• If you’re slower, use simple techniques. Let your opponent come to you instead of chasing them down.
• Know your strengths and use them at the right time. A well-placed punch is much more effective than dozens of wild swings.

Push your opponent away if they grab you from behind. This is a situation where you need to escape as quickly as possible before they throw you off balance and gain control. There are a few moves to disable them and turn the situation in your favor:

• Stamp hard on the top of their foot. Stamp your heel forcefully onto the top of their foot and wait for them to cry out in pain.
• Headbutt backwards. Snap your head back to strike their nose. They’ll release their grip after feeling the impact.
• Clench their fingers. Instead of grabbing their wrist, grab and squeeze all their fingers until they surrender.

Conserve energy. Focus your power into your punches and avoid throwing too many strikes to prevent exhaustion before the fight ends. Some fighters will try to make you “dance” so they can attack when you tire. Mentally prepare for 'Aikido'. Throw a few punches while staying defensive – this will tire out and demoralize your opponent.

Never take your eyes off your opponent. Sometimes, they may not act if you look away, but experienced fighters will exploit that moment to strike and defeat you.

Feinting an attack. When you launch an attack, you expose yourself. For example, when you throw a punch, your arm is no longer available for defense, and your opponent can block it and target your weaknesses with their other hand. By feinting, you trick your opponent into reacting, revealing their vulnerabilities. The key is to make them believe you will strike and predict their counterattack.

• You can mix feints with real attacks so they can't predict when your actual strike will land.

Taking a punch to the head. Of course, you don’t want to get hit, but during a fight, it’s likely to happen at some point, and you need to know how to minimize the impact. To take a punch to the head, move into the punch, keep your neck stiff, and clench your teeth to reduce the force of the blow. Use your forehead to absorb the punch so that your opponent hurts their hand instead of injuring your nose, cheek, or jaw.

• Leaning into the punch, rather than pulling away, reduces the impact because your opponent won’t have as much time to build up force.

Taking a punch to the stomach. If your opponent punches your stomach, you must tighten your abdominal muscles without sucking in your stomach. If possible, try to position yourself so the punch lands on your side rather than directly in the middle of your abdomen to avoid internal damage and prevent a knockout from the pain.

• Avoid holding your breath, or you’ll literally get the wind knocked out of you. Instead, exhale slightly before the punch lands, which will naturally tighten your core and help absorb the blow more effectively.

Prevent your opponent from grabbing you. If they intend to grab you, they will lower their body and loop their arms around your waist or hips before attempting to take you down. Don't try to grab their head, even if it's your instinct. Instead, use your hands to grasp their hips or upper body and push them away.

• Afterward, step back far enough to regain your balance, and aim for a kick to their groin or stomp on their foot.

Avoid being choked by your opponent. If your opponent is behind you and choking you, do not bend your knees to throw them over your back. This action will only increase the pressure of the choke and cause severe injury, especially if you're not strong enough to support their weight. You should rotate into the choke by grabbing their arm around your neck, lean to one side to create space, and wait for them to slide to one side of your back.

• If you lean far enough, your opponent might fall. Once you gain the upper hand, you can pin them on their back on the ground.

Know what to do if you're knocked to the ground. When you get knocked down, don't turn away and try to get up. Looking away will surely result in further attacks. Instead, keep your eyes on your opponent, raise your leg, and attempt to kick their shin, knee, or groin. If they are bent down, aim for their face. After causing damage, you can get back up.

• Once you’ve kicked them and forced them to step back, roll to the side and use both hands to lift your body to a standing position.
• Continue to watch your opponent as you rise. Even if you think they’re hurt, they can still advance quickly while you're getting up.

Don’t let them pin you to the ground. If you are on the ground with your opponent, under no circumstances should you let them mount you. Roll onto your side or lie on your stomach—this will give you a better chance of escaping compared to lying on your back. Once in this position, you can quickly crawl away.

• If you're on your back, they can easily mount you and punch you in the face. Avoid this position at all costs.

Scream out loud. If you want to escape a fight as quickly as possible, just scream loudly while you're fighting. This will likely draw attention and make your opponent fear someone is coming, thus keeping you safe. Even if you're in a very isolated place, shout as loud as you can, hoping someone will come to help. Screaming also catches your opponent off guard, as they wouldn't expect you to scream during a fight.

• Even if no one comes to your rescue, yelling may disorient and scare your opponent as they think help is on the way.

Attack your opponent's face. The face is a vulnerable spot to strike. Hitting the eyes, nose, and other areas on the face is a great way to inflict pain and significantly slow down your opponent's offensive. Here are some techniques:

• Headbutt their face. Using your forehead to strike their nose can cause a break if executed properly.
• Finger poke to the eyes. This is intensely painful, blinding, and disorienting, giving you enough time to escape or cause further damage.
• Punch the nose. This is an area where you can inflict serious injury.

Aim for the neck and throat. Strikes to the neck and throat can incapacitate your opponent, at least temporarily. If you want to inflict serious damage, try these brutal moves:

• Punch the back of their head to temporarily knock them out.
• Punch their throat to damage their airway.

Kick to the vulnerable areas of your opponent. In a lawless fight, your only goal is to win. Forget about adhering to any rules—just make sure your opponent is hurt, has broken limbs, or is knocked down so you can escape. Here are some ways to do that:

• Deliver a knee strike to stop them in their tracks as they charge toward you.
• Deliver a low kick to their groin, knee, or stomach. Use the top of your foot to strike quickly while maintaining your balance—you could be easily countered during the kick.

• Avoid looking at your opponent's feet or hands. To anticipate when they will strike with their fists or feet, focus on their knees and shoulders. If they are watching your feet, use that moment to move your leg and strike their head.
• Try to assess how your opponent fights before countering. This gives you a tactical advantage, though it may not always be feasible.
• Deception is a useful tactic but can be hard to execute against experienced opponents.
• Make sure your punches are properly executed to avoid injury.
• Try to strike their back when they turn away. This will cause significant damage.
• Always strike first: This provides a huge advantage. Aim for the jaw or throw a glancing punch to the side. If done correctly, this can daze or even knock them out.
• Learning martial arts is a great idea to expand your arsenal of moves.
• If your opponent attempts to get close, they will likely lower their head for defense, so aim for an uppercut to their head to knock them down.
• Never drop your guard. If you do, they could land a knockout punch or daze you.
• Focus on your opponent's eyes; you can gauge their next move.
• A punch to the chest will knock the wind out of them.

• Do not hesitate; strike as soon as the opportunity arises. If you wait, you risk being attacked and losing the element of surprise.
• In an unregulated fight, you can use your surroundings to gain the upper hand. Objects like sticks, bricks, or dirt can be effective. Just be careful not to break anything that isn't yours or something valuable, unless it's in self-defense.
• Only fight when absolutely necessary, and only in a situation where you can escape. Overusing punches and kicks will tire you out and waste energy. You might also accidentally injure someone else, leading to legal trouble.
• Keep in mind that your opponent might be armed with a knife or gun, which could cause severe harm.
• Retaliating is not always necessary and could put you in a disadvantageous position if your opponent comes back with a weapon.
• Never strike first in school, as it usually leads to trouble.