Fighting multiple armed attackers.
Multiple Armed Attackers!
Can you win against multiple attackers even if they are armed?
Yes but it won’t be pretty. It will require correct tactics, incredible aggressiveness, no hesitation, and heart.
By following the tips in the video and listed below you will set yourself up with the best possible chances to survive being attacked by multiple armed assailants.
#1 – Be Armed
If you are serious about self-defense then get serious about self-defense. If you are unarmed you are limited in your ability to create injury.
Criminals often arm themselves to do just that, to increase their ability to cause injury. If the bad guys do it then why shouldn’t the good guys?
To pick the proper self-defense weapon follows these guidelines.
- It should be legal where you live and travel
- It should be small enough and light enough that you will choose to always have it on you
- It should be concealable (where legal)
- It should require low to moderate skill and you should be able to use it with either hand
#2 – Stay Aware of Your Surroundings
Perhaps this sounds cliche at this point but it is true. You must be aware of your surroundings. If you can see danger coming in advance you might have the chance to avoid it.
If not then you will at least have time to get prepared for it mentally and physically.
#3 – Only Fight One Person at a Time
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, you can’t fight multiple people at the same time.
Pick one, take them out, move to the next immediately.
You do not want to give your attackers the opportunity to surround you and come at you from multiple directions.
If you take one out then that is your way out of the middle.
Stay aggressive and on the offense. Never let your attacker’s have time to form a plan.
#4 – Find a Bottleneck
Using a bottle neck like a hallway or going between 2 cars will allow you to funnel your attackers in a single-file line. Thus you don’t have to work as hard to fight one at a time.
Be cautious though because you don’t want to get trapped and also if you go between 2 cars and stay there too long they might come around the other side and now you are pincered in between.
Under most circumstances you should be constantly moving. Once again if you stay put and defensive your attackers are likely to come up with a plan. Don’t let that happen.
You can also use natural obstacles such as park benches to force one attacker to go around while you are able to fight the one on the other side.
Once again this is temporary so move quick.
#5 – Be Prepared to Get Cut or Hit
Assuming your attackers have bladed weapons or possibly a clubbed weapon it is highly likely that you will get cut or hit during this lethal self-defense encounter.
Regardless of whether you get cut or hit your goal stays the same. Take your attackers out ASAP! Then worry about getting away, more on that in tip #6.
For the most part you can take hits and cuts to most of your body and still be able to fight. You can worry about the emergency room visit once you are safe.
Your head, neck, and face are the main areas you must defend. You can withstand most blows, cuts, and stab wounds to pretty much any area of your torso or limbs. But a blow to the head might knock you out. A cut to the neck might kill you.
Men should also mind their testicles as targets but in most cases armed attackers are not going after the groin.
#6 – Attack High Priority Targets
All of the places in tip 5 that you need to defend are the areas you should prioritize targeting.
Now for the record if you have distance from someone and their hand or arm is sticking out by all means whack it with your club or knife.
A low commitment attacker is more likely to want to lick their wounds and give up than continue attacking. However high commitment attackers will often ignore damage to these areas or won’t even know that they just got cut or stabbed.
Ideally (assuming you are forced into this scenario) you would want to get the first nasty hit in to one of your attackers anywhere on them just to create enough fear that they back down and possibly run away.
This happens quite frequently.
Attacking the head, neck, and faces of your attackers is likely to eliminate that individual.
Creating a noticeable cut, stab, or heavy blow to a hand, arm, or anywhere on your attacker’s body is likely to make the other attackers hesitate and possibly back down. It depends on their collective commitment levels.
#7 – Run Only if it Makes Sense
Running away sounds like a great idea but it can end up being a really bad move in some cases.
When You Should Not Run Away
- You would be running to an area with less witnesses. While I would never expect anyone to come to your rescue I would expect witnesses to record the incident and someone will hopefully call the police as well. Remember most criminals don’t want to get caught so they would love to chase you to an isolated area.
- If they can outrun you and catch you. You don’t want to be tired from running when you have to fight. Nor do you want to turn your back and be attacked from behind.
- Remember also that running invokes a primitive chase reflex and I’ve seen incidents where people who were not involved in an violent situation chased someone because they ran form others. Yay for lemming people!
When You Should Run Away
- If you can run faster than them go for it!
- If you can get behind a locked door before they can get to you then do it.
- If you can get to a weapon or more advantageous area to fight from then do it.
- If you can move the fight from an isolated area to an area with more people to witness then do it.
Final Thoughts
Technique is not what wins these types of scenarios it is tactics, heart, and your mind.
Having said that your martial arts practice should reinforce solid fundamental tactics while training techniques. It isn’t like you won’t use your martial arts techniques it is just that the techniques isolated outside of proper tactics are useless.
So train your escrima, kali, combative handgun, sambrada flows, snake disarms, etc. but do so with a solid understanding of the context of the situation you might be in.
Until next time,
Brian
