A boxing ring, a cage or even the mats of a dojo offer the perfect environment for two different fighters to compare their fighting skills and abilities. Real life violence however doesn’t concern itself with the idea or concept of finding out who is the best fighter, instead it is about what one person is prepared to and able to do to another. The best ring or cage fighter is as vulnerable (and unprepared) as the next man if an armed assailant starts shanking them in the legs and buttocks whilst they stand, relieving themselves in front of a bar/pub urinal. Real life violence doesn’t occur on a level playing field where each party involved starts with even chances, rather it involves a level of inequality where one person(s) understands how to play the advantages of their situation and make the other party enjoy the disadvantages of it e.g. make an attack/assault when their target is preoccupied and their movement restricted etc, which makes a pub or bar’s bathroom an ideal environment in which to launch an assault.

Being able to use the landscape and environment to your advantage is a key survival skill. I often re-tell the story of chasing someone through a parking lot, only to have them turn on me with a knife. Never underestimate a person who has given up on any thoughts of escape whilst at the same time realizing they have a knife. In a heartbeat the situation changed from one where I was viewed as the predator to one where I suddenly became the prey. The advantage of being in a parking lot is that there are a lot of cars, which make fantastic barriers/obstacles. The disadvantage of a knife is that a person has to be close to you to use it and the width and length of any family saloon is enough to prevent this happening. I lose count of the number of circuits I did of that car but it was enough time to cause my assailant to lose his heightened state of aggression and return to a more rational state where he wanted to talk – still holding the knife of course.

What can be looked on as something that restricts your movement can also be seen as an obstacle to someone else’s. We are often so intent on looking for clear lines of disengagement that we fail to see those objects that hinder our escape/movement as things which could be used to create time and distance for us. The furniture in my house may prevent me from having the room to execute the perfect roundhouse kick but as a barrier between me and a potential aggressor my sofa/couch is able to offer a fair degree of protection.

Your environment is not restricted to objects, people can form barriers too. If you know how to move through a crowd quicker than any aggressor, your exit from any situation – in a crowded space – can be faster than your assailants. Even though a crowd will slow you down, it can be used to slow down any (potential) assailant(s) more. Whilst you may be trying to perfect the perfect escape from a rear naked choke, you may be overlooking the possibility/fact that knowing how to move through a crowd quickly could be a more valuable life skill.

Don’t get bogged down in becoming a studio/dojo warrior. The world needs these people to keep teaching and developing skills etc but it doesn’t need them to argue that the studio is the “street” and vice versa. Next time you walk a street, think how you would use what you see to deal with any potential aggressor – don’t look for discarded clothing etc, rather consider what you could use to give yourself an advantage against a blade.