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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.

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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”

  5. The eye trick works great I had to do that once and it worked great the guy had me in a choke hold from behind a chair and I drove my finger into his eye and he didn’t want to do anything after that.

    Reply

  13. Exciting and informative story. You were fortunate to avoid the Police because telling a Judge that he had all the hallmarks of a potential aggressor, he looked at you took out his false teeth and walked towards you somehow just does not sound like a legal defence. Factor in that you are Military, well trained and legally a walking lethal weapon as well as being under the influence of alcohol and the defence sounds very weak.
    One would have thought that a better mode of operation would have been to wait just a little longer and then use superior skills to sidestep any aggressor and then take him out. Large men have a strategic weakness, their knees. Sidestepping the attack and then side kicking a knee out would have mastered the situation. Few men try to fight while waiting for a knee reconstruction and crutches don’t look anywhere near as bad as a blinded man when they are presented by the prosecution.
    Had anyone had the wits about them to follow you and your friends, to observe and report, this encounter would have had a totally different outcome.
    At no point in the story have you said that the large and obviously frightening to you man has in any way expressed violent desires. Some people just look menacing because they are large.
    I know one thing from this story and that is that the Australian Army trains their men better, we are taught to assess before acting, on assessing the situation was a concern, but it was yet to be counted as an actual attack. Had someone had the thought to observe and report, you would have served at least three years in prison and that’s in a soft country like Australia, we don’t even give murderers all of life unless they are insane, in the USA this could have cost you a decade or more of your life. Worth it?

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  15. Thank you very much for these. I watch and practice each one. I am a Senior who ha# been very capable and defended those less @ble my whole life. Your techniques and gifts have been so welcomed.

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  16. Thanks for your service and great tips I’ve kinda used something you talked about and your right surprise is definitely the key to a bigger and stronger opponent. Keep giving great tips they are very useful. Ty

    Reply

  18. Now my question is what If you have just walked into a prison-van with about 10 bad guys who want what’s in your pocket and sometimes want your body. They are one feet away because the van closes up behind you, and no-one will hear you scream. No time for fancy footwork or even perhaps to put your one foot behind the other. You’re not sure if one has a knife in his pocket. What do you do?

    Reply

  19. Thanks for your story. The zig zag does work . A few years ago I had to use it and at the time I didn’t even know it was a “tactic” but me being a smaller female had to get creative last minute and took the biggest one out first. After that..well….lets just say I’m very thankful it all worked out.

    Reply

  20. I not only believe you, I think you had no fear, plus you knew how to handle yourself. I like the zig zag too, I played football in school in the seventh grade on up to University level. Yet, I too am a vetern who lost his file?!! Agatha Christie, I too have a story,…., of three men attacking me. I am involved with fightfast and flow with the moves of the street fighter. Being oversea’s was to ” walk in the way honor”, and to “serve in the light of truth”. This too was what was on my mind when I saw them coming and I went through a window latticed in squares of glass, I walked away. I then put my fist into a steel door and knocked the door off it’s hinges. I then proceeded to patch myself up and left town the next day. I took a bus to King County where I lived for a couple of weeks. Sincere, Marvin Maddess

    Reply

  21. The relative story at the end provides a key mental image to the information you shared.
    I’ve been a non-confrontationalist all my life and while it’s helped me avoid many situations it’s also inhibited me from taking charge in others. I’ve got a friend who helps me put into practice the info I glean from guys like you in order to turn the tables.
    Thank you.

    Reply

  23. I get it, but I would never damage a person’s eye like that. That just grosses me out for one and two you can never take it back. Might as well just kill a person if you’re going to maim them.

    On a more positive note, the concept and technique of moving is a good tactic as it confuses your opponent’s ability to measure your distance from themselves and prevents them from being able to plan how they are going to first strike. You are controlling the distance, your final position and which side of the body (Left, right, front or back) will be presented to them and where you can hit or attack first. Even the speed at which you approach can be used to your own advantage and while not mentioned, even looking and following or targeting exactly or falsely directing your eyes and body can cause your enemy to misjudge your intentions and then you might catch them by surprise.
    I recall reading or hearing advice about such things, but I remember Bruce Lee seemingly starring or looking off into the distance and other times directly at his opponent.

    Reply

  26. Good story and great advice. His long hair was used against him and I like the zig zags and finger in the eye technique. Thanks

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  28. Good info. My grandmother always said “Never throw the first punch, but always throw the last”. Well, sometimes you do need to throw the first punch, to be able to throw the last as well.

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  32. hi – personally i know the second mouse gets the cheese! i rather know how aggressive the ah is to me and as bruce said force with = force and throw in some vicious tactics for good measure, blocking is cool and can open up vulnerable areas –
    – jas

    Reply

  33. It’s good to know and just goes to show you that’s it’s
    very important to pay attention to your surroundings
    at all times. And it helps to be prepared think about what you can do to end it fast. Get the first strike get it over and get out of there.

    Reply

  35. Thank you for the great advice. I’m 5’2″, female and not afraid to defend myself although I don’t have the training to do it right. I was married to a heavy-weight boxer and he taught me a few moves. I tried the sucker punch on him once when he was annoying me and he went down like a felled log. He was 6’5″, bloody tough so he was more surprised than me that I could put him down. I was in shock!

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  37. Love the advice. I’ve always been told to hit first, ask questions later when in a confrontational situation. Now I have a tactic that I can use if confronted with intentions to hurt me. Thanks again

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  40. Thanks a lot for shareing this. thanks more for taking time out of your life to protect the folks in this country. I know its not easy.

    Reply

  42. Mostly good advice, but please be sure to get out of there as fast as you can, especially if you’ve hit someone preemptively.

    I’d never say don’t do it, only you can make that call, but certainly in UK it’s considered assault, and you don’t want to be there when the fuzz arrive.

    Reply

  44. As a South African Law graduate. Assault is a very relative term… Surely if one big mofo comes for you, you should and be willing to use any opportunity to ‘defuse’ …stop a situation that could escalate… I’d rather be in a court of law explaining than in a grave!

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  46. Loved it. You just went up several notches on my meter for respect. I have finger strikes to the eyes as part of the styles I have trained in since being a youngster.

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  48. This was great information for me as an older woman. Younger women think i look like their age and always want a confrontation. This helps me to out manuver my assailant. Thanks.

    Reply

  50. Sir,

    Unless you are in a life and death combat situation, even if your out and feeling no pain, there is no need to be the giant AH aggressor or bully to those also having a good time. It is an awesome feeling to know that should a 6’ 8” AH decide that you need a beating, the whole time he is “swelling up” in front of his lady friend, your training takes over and you are sizing him up while focusing on where you’re going to strike and what bodily arsenal you are going to unleash. You have the advantage because you create your plan, you are going to be in control and you already know what he will be doing as a result of your tactics. You don’t have to think about where you are, or in what vicinity your next punch is to be landed because you know the “reaction” from the “action”. You remain calm and focused and every time the AH goes to pick his head up, before he can get his wits about him, you’re two steps ahead unleashing the fury HE was in search of…
    “Failure is not an option!!!” Thank you warrior for sharing with us.

    SEMPER-FI my Brother 🇺🇸

    Jack H.
    USMC Ret.

    Reply