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Fight Deception: The Art of Being First

James “Smokey” West Here

Have you ever heard the saying, “the punch that gets you is the punch you never see?” I have recently been asked questions about how to get to your opponent or attacker without getting hurt. It’s a great question and it involves closing the gap or distance between you and your opponent. If you don’t do a lot of reality-based fight training, this concept will be hard to master or even conceptualize. If a fight or a self-defense situation is imminent, things can get crazy in a hurry. You’ve got to face the situation, even though you (and even seasoned street fighters) are concerned about getting hit first and taken out.

Control the Altercation

I realize there are some genetic freaks out there who are simply hard to hurt, making it even more difficult to beat them. To do so, you have to be deceptive, fast, and first. You may have to sucker punch a guy as there is much to be said about getting off first to win.

Once an altercation has reached critical mass and can no longer be avoided, it is vitally important for you to minimize the damage you take, while maximizing the damage you deal to the would be assailant. Your ability to avoid getting hit is based largely on your movement. This starts with controlling the distance between both of you from the onset, always knowing where you are in relation to your opponent.

Mitigate Attacks

If, for example, you feel like your opponent may bull-rush you, there are a few simple tips you should keep in mind to help minimize the initial rush and impact.

  • You should align yourself just out of the attacker’s reach and on the side furthest away from their power hand or side.
  • If you feel they may lead with a bull-rush or that they’ll strike you first, then you want your feet about shoulder-width apart with your lead foot pointing at their lead foot and you want to have your weight shifted slightly forward about 60% to the front leg and 40% weight to back leg. Your knees should be slightly bent. This will enhance your ability to ride the punch or bull rush without getting your weight locked down on your back heel, immobilizing you. Also, do not let your opponent get their hips lower than yours—gravity counts.
  • Get your hands up close to your shoulders and keep your lead hand between you and your attacker.

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Striking First

If you feel that your best option is to hit first, don’t worry about being judged because you sucker punched some AH who wants to beat your ass. Just let it rip. It’s a great idea, but not always effective.

  • You have to practice hitting hard from many different angles. This is best done on heavy bags.
  • You want to hit the guy in a way that attacks their vulnerabilities and maximizes your punching power. This is never going to be the same for every situation or person.
  • If you can freeze your attacker before you punch by creating a distraction and then hitting him, this is better for you. Fakes and feints work well here. It’s like punching out in front of him.
  • Zig/Zag foot work is a method of closing that may work well, especially if your attacker has tunnel-vision and is fixed on their target and the outcome they desire. This happens when you push/slide very fast, first to the left or right as you close the distance between you and your attacker and then immediately do the same in the opposite direction, all-the-while continuing to close the gap. This may make your opponent miss you or at least have to readjust their footwork and stance, confusing them and getting them off balance and taking the power out of any strikes.

This zig/zag footwork came in handy for me many years ago when I took out a 6’8″ aggressive attacker in the streets one night.

Here’s The Story…

I was stationed at Ft Bragg NC in the 7th Special Forces Group at the time. Two of my martial arts training partners and I were out and about one night having a few adult beverages. Like many young Green Berets, we stayed out until the bars all closed down. As a result, we were not feeling any pain and had also made the natural assumption that no one would screw with us.

Little did we know how quickly things would go south. We went to an all-night breakfast restaurant and it seemed all the other hungry drunks had done the same. Long story short, an all-out brawl broke out and people were slugging it out all around us. We decided to get out of there before the police arrived.

As we were walking to the car through the parking lot, I notice a huge guy heading straight for us. He was about 6’8″ and had very long hair and was wearing a long winter maxi coat. He also had his girlfriend by his side. My internal alarms started going off because he was not only staring me down, but was making a B-line directly at me.

Things Went South Quickly

Of course my mind was going, “Holy shit, WTF?” I figured he didn’t want to talk, so I was thinking of what the best course of action I could take was to avoid getting my ass whooped by this big AH.

Just as I thought things couldn’t get worse, the guy reached into his mouth and pulled his dentures out. Now, I’m thinking this is going to get real and bad in a hurry. Keep in mind that all of these thoughts are racing through my mind in a matter of seconds as this guy is about 25 feet away and closing.

He, however, clearly didn’t have a plan of action and his internal alarms were obviously turned off. As he closed in on me, he accidentally handed me the answer to winning and not losing. He took his dentures and started pushing them down into his right pocket. As he was shoving his dentures into his pocket, I thought to myself, “there is no time like the present and this may be my only chance to take advantage.”

A Brutal Ending

When he was about 8 feet away with his hand stuck in his pocket, I did a quick zig/zag first to his left in a sprint-like motion, rapidly changing directions and zagging back to his right as if I were running past his right side. I reached behind his shoulders and grabbed his long hair and kept running behind him, forcing his weight back on his heels. As he was attempting to play catch up and regain his balances, I pulled him over the hood of the nearest car.

As he fell onto the hood of the car, I slammed his head into it. He tried to get up and I continued the flow and hit him in the face with an elbow strike as hard as I could hit him. I had nothing but my survival and bad intent behind the elbow strike.

As his head bounced back up I hit him a 2nd time with a flush forearm to the face and then immediately stuck my right index finger knuckle-deep into his right eye. This seemed to do the trick. I don’t know medically what nerves are connected to what in and behind the eye ball, but this sure had a negative effect on him. I kept my finger in his eye socket and kept digging my finger into his eye.

Every time I pushed down on my finger, his right leg would straighten out. That was very interesting.

At this point a bunch of bystanders and his girlfriend jumped on me and pulled me off of him. So, we got in the car and drove away with no other involvement from the police or anyone else. This is a neat case where if you know a lot and use a little (i.e. the zig/zag footwork), you can overcome bigger, stronger assailants with little to no real plan.

Closing Thoughts

When your brain goes into survival or self-defense mode, you will stay relaxed and make faster defensive choices without hesitation. I remember when I was training with Joe Lewis he said, “the toughest thing a fighter has to do is to make critical decisions while under fire.” Ain’t that the truth.

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242 thoughts on “Fight Deception: The Art of Being First”

  1. GOOD SHOW LADS
    HOPING I NEVER HAVE TO ZIG OR ZAG BUT YOU
    PROVIDE ALLOT OF USEFUL INPUT IF MY HOPE IS MERELY WISHFUL THINKING.
    THANKS AGAIN MUCH APPRECIATED.

    Reply

  5. Thank you for teaching me another way of thinking. I have no training, and do not intend to ever have to fight, but I appreciate all the knowledge you can give me if this should ever occur. I will practice the stance and punching, which was important information. Again, thank you for taking the time to give us ideas and inspiration

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  10. First and foremost I would like to thank you for serving your country and risking your life for my and everyone elses protection and freedoms. I just wanted to mention something an old buddy of mine told me and my boss a long time ago. This buddy was telling , mostly to my boss, who was a huge mofo. He’s 6’2″ 386 and was a baddass mofo. Anyway my friend told my boss that when he was in the Marines that there were these little guys in whatever country he was in, I don’t remember. Maybe Korea , I don’t know but he said these little guys, I think were cops or shore patrol or something. But he told us those little guys carried little sticks and if you were starting trouble or whatever, those little dudes would pull out thse sticks and crack em across your shins and thats all it took to take anybody downno matter how big they were. Of course my boss said “bullshit” right away. Have you ever heard of anything like that when you were in the Military? Thank you for your reply in advance and once again thank you for your service to your and mine country.

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  11. Thank you sharing this valuable information with us hot list members. Practical info on dealing with a bull rush effectively, especially
    about keeping the hips low and weight distributed correctly. I will practice the zig zag footwork. Thanks again, Mr. West.

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  14. Thanks smokey, I appreciate what you are doing for the Common Man. Most people do not know what is coming down the pike. If they did they would get serious and it would stop. Unfortunately I do not think it will and the skills that they are going to need are going to be from things like this that you have done. I am an old Jarhead and know quite a bit but how old is key. I am teaching my family and all others that will listen. Thanks bro we need your help. Doc

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  18. First, thanks for your time serving our country. And thanks for the info on deception. As a MC vet, I always found that strike first and discuss later is a well grounded rule to keep. It never hurts to learn new tactical advantages.

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  21. That is a good example of having a plan worked out on a single AH…where I live now the area is 91% populated by afro Americans..that does not mean the area has it share of white, mexican gangs. So far I have not seen or heard of any Asian gangs…
    I was raised up in a very poor area of my home town and it was very rough..my concern is multiple attackers,,,,what do you suggest fight or flight? If fight, should you think about armed assailants before you attack ? The way things are jumping today,,being armed yourself ,you face attacker and legalized local,state and Federal attack in court.

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  22. much appreciated, id hate to be so brutal, but can see every situation dictates its own level of need.

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  23. Hi Smokey, Thank You so much for your service & for sharing your knowledge. I’m a 60 year old woman that’s never been in fight in my life!! Guns, I know, am learning cross bow and want to take archery. I have a friend who teaches karate or maybe a self defense class would be better!? I don’t scare very easily, but I do know that the bad people will be worse when it all hits the fan! God help us all…hopefully I will find a community to be part of before it hits the
    I had a Special Forces friend whom I haven’t heard from in years….I hope he’s alright…

    Reply

  24. Smokey: Thanks for the lesson. Back in my days with the 82nd we had to send an airborne MP along with the leg MPs of the 503rd MP Bn. We didn’t respond very well to Legs. H

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  27. Thank you for sharing. I was brought up to be a pacifist, yet all the recent news from many sources (not just main-stream-media) seem to point to an ever-degrading state of human decency. Good people prepare!!!

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  28. Wow, the most impressive part of this story is the Joe Lewis training, did you really train with him or was this an inside joke I am not aware of? He was one of the country’s original bad-asses, I never met anyone that knew him. I am impressed my friend.
    Most of us that have been around a while and/or did some time with Uncle Sam have stories to tell but try to not appear to brag about it. I’ve been known to strike first ever since high school, my older brother made me that way but it worked well for me. The same goes for picking up a handy weapon when I was out-numbered. My theory was, ” Hit ’em first and break their nose instead of mine.” As it turns out, Special Forces training says it’s not only ok to do this but insisted on, it made me relax. Until I got into real combat, then those nerves came back in a hurry. The stuff you guys teach really brings back the memories, and some of the really bad-ass guys I knew were the quietest about it so that’s what makes this system you have so rare, hardly anybody will talk about it nevermind show you. Thanks, I like all your input, very useful.

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  30. Thanks for pointing out this type first strike moves. They made perfect sense to me. I have not had the experience I maybe should have in my life, but I understand the first strike method and the value of situational awareness!

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  33. Dear Bob

    I was a Prison Officer (Maximum Security, Belmarsh Prison, London, UK) for 20 years and during this time also worked as a bouncer whilst off duty. I can confirm that deception is a vital part of surviving physical confrontation. One tactic that usually worked for me was to have my hands up high in front of me palms out as a barrier to my opponent. I would distract my opponent by engaging his brain with dialogue, normally a question whilst emphasising the question with some hand gestures. (The open palm is interpreted by most assailants as non threatening especially if backed up with non confrontational dialogue and hand gestures). If my assailant pushed forward once against my hand barrier I would be on guard against attack. If he pushed twice I would consider this as intent to assault me and would strike first, hard and fast. It never failed me. Also the most important part of surviving a confrontation is to control your adrenaline/fear. You can only do this with realistic training and trust in what you have been taught. I have been generally impressed with what you teach – most self defence classes are not realistic for street situations and will only get you hurt. Good luck Bob, keep the good advice coming. Best Regards !!

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  34. Thanx bro. Good & very useful info. I’ll be zigzagging from now on (when appropriate). I already use a heavy punching bag.

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  36. Yes, I was a Ky State Trooper for 30 years, I learned early to strike first. I also knew about the long hair being a big disadvantage to the one lucky enough to have it. Iam bald. Ha. I studied the martial arts for several years but was nevertheless really satisfied with most of the tactics taught. Watching boxing and UFC I NOTICED EVERY TIME A PERSON RECEIVED A FINGER IN THE EYE, just a small poke would cause the fighter to practically quit fighting. What you did to the big man did save your butt. Thank you for your service and comments. I am a old man now at 74 but I still love learning techniques that work fast and are easy to administer. Fear is our biggest enemy, once we learn to control it, fight is half over

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  37. Thanks Smokey. I appreciate the fact that you have no qualms about burying your finger in an eye or thumb in a throat. Your lessons are always precise and to the point. inflict fight ending damage as quickly as possible and then move on. It’s difficult to train your mind and body to that way of thinking, not many sparring/training partners are willing to be subjected to that, but, I’ll keep searching.

    Thanks again – – for your service, and your services.

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  38. Good info. I’ve been an old scrapper from days gone by, so I have used some of your tactics and they do work well. The only thing that holds me back now is the fact that I am getting way too old to be busting heads on bad guys, but will not back down from a fight if need be. It will be interesting to see how well this works for this “old timer!”

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  39. Thanks for your service and knowledge, Jim, Although I’m kind of old (65) with bad knees, I’ve been lucky to have only been involved in only a few violent encounters. Years ago, I was fortunate enough to study JKD under Greglon Lee. He introduced me to Wally Jay, and some badass Eskrima, Muay Thai, and kalaripayattu guys. I’m no tough guy, but have had my eyes opened and know you speak the truth.

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  41. That was great advice Smokey I’m only 5’10 and weigh in about 175 180 lb like to keep myself in reasonably good shape . Where I do my drinking is a place frequented by meat workers so things tend to get a bit tense at times so thanks again for the tips on the bigger guys.
    All the best ,Steve.

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  42. First off, I deeply appreciate and thank you for your service to our country. Thanks for the reminders about keeping ones center of gravity lower than ones opponent, the importance of body placement and foot work and getting off the first blow in a real confrontation. I was always told and have preached to my son ( just turned 17, 6ft 3in, 220 and still growing! ) “never start a fight, but always end it” I’m a Buddhist and a very peaceful guy by nature and keep my energy and awareness attuned to staying away from obvious places or situations of aggressive confrontation, but I realized the importance of self defense at an early age with the neighborhood bully…after watching his technique of always sucker punching an opponent, I used the same technique against him when he got around to it being my turn to feel his wrath and promptly punched him in the face and broke his nose as soon as he opened his mouth and proceeded to knock him down and stomp on him until my friends could wrestle me away…that was the end of his bullying anyone in our neighborhood, the beginning of my realization of the importance of self defense and my desire to not have to ever be in a situation like that again. Several years of studying Combat Hapkido opened my eyes to the importance of learning lots of simple, yet devastating moves, and FightFast has been a wealth of fantastic info, instruction and tips from real life bad ass guys like you who have dealt with life or death situations where all the “rules” go out the window and survival is the name of the game and traditional martial arts training doesnt help as much as many would like to believe. Thanks for the awesome tips!!! I pray I never have to use them, but I will continue to practice and instruct my son in the art of self defense and survival in a world that is seemingly overrun with idiots bent on destruction of all that is right and good.

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  43. Thank you for your service mister West. I find that most people who say that are veterans themselves as am I.
    I was in the Navy with no special training at all. I’ve been in seventeen countries and over half way around the world and have never had to throw down. I’m a thin 5ft 10 inch tall. I don’t have a deep voice. But from what I’ve been told I have a “LOOK” …. that says don’t mess with me. That’s worked pretty well for the last 45 years.
    I thank you for your advice of which I’m sure will come to the forefront of my mind the next time I’m in a situation.

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  44. Great fighting tips. It brought to mind a near brawl from my past almost 45 years ago. I turned my left hip to my attacker to absorb his kick instead of the groin and nailed him in the midsection with a leftside thrust kick. Thanks for your service.

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  47. Smokey west:
    I have a few of his DVDs. They are great! Down to the point! Avasion ,close and personal. Great advice with the zigzag! I’ll be sure to implemented.

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  49. very interesting an everything he said was absolutely true; when confronted you have to be prepared to go all the way, if not your in trouble. thanks for the story.

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