Multiple attacks

With a special thought for my fellow Singaporeans since we work this all the time…


The video Leo Tamaki has found (the blog is only in French, sorry) is very interesting on the issue of multiple attacks, multiple opponents. Thanks for the find, let's elaborate.

About the film itself. A bit of reality TV, a bit of ground truth, a bit of patriotism, classic. This kind of confrontation acts as a revelatory moment and not as a true laboratory. It feels like a kind of test tube experiment. Four novices with weapons against specifically bayonet trained warriors, is anyone surprised by the result?

If you have the patience: you'll find the whole movie on his blog, otherwise, the four fights are summarized beneath for convenience (nice irimi nage in the first part):

1. The first UFC fighter attacks with a sluggish tsuki and is countered by a classic weapon dori which ends up in naname kokyu nage. The Marine grabs the gun, attracts, atemi with sukomen + yokomen then naname kokyu nage in the movement's flow (sukomen becomes kokyu nage).

Clean, basic, unstoppable, especially with a small action on the ankle (ko soto gari if I remember well...). Careful here, the jaw can easily break (from experience).

The unbalance axis shows by A + B that the throw uses uke's back axis, not his back leg axis - that can only consolidate his balance on his back feet and it allows a nasty Kaeshi waza (kokyu or worse).

... in contrast to what is practiced in 90% of cases. The forms katata dori  / or tai no henka Morote dori / Kokyu nage are clear on that point.

On the following fights, the UFC fighter manages to place himself between the two opponents, which is obviously naive but let's give the guys a break. The second Marine then only needs to finish him from the back.

2. Good kamae by the Marine: no opening. Davis' low guard (UFC) shows indecision, since he does not know what to do, leading the Marine to tease him with the tip of his jo, just to loosen up the situation. So he ends up attacking but when his weapon is grabbed he gets between the two… his execution is logical.

3. Worse...: the UFC fighter places himself straight between the two… Bye bye, thanks for playing.

4. More interesting. The two Marines split to encircle Stann. Since he does not know how to use a jo, it does not deal with the first Marine quickly enough nor in the right timing then the second has all the time he needs to come from behind.

Common points:

(Beyond the inexperience with weapons - after all it's not their job).

- An initial hesitation gives the opponents a lot time for to organize, ie initiate the attack,encircle and kill. This hesitation means waiting, and that reminds Hikitsuchi sensei's  strong statement: 1. do not wait.

- Because the UFC fighters are used to face a single opponent, that combat habit becomes a limitation. They can deal with one opponent (and here, I fully trust them ;-), but facing two of them they end up being in trouble.

Unfortunately, a multiple attacks scenario is not only dangerous but also very likely to happen. 

However.

We can only point the UFC fighters' inexperience if we pay attention to our own practice. O Sensei is often quoted : "treat an opponent as a crowd, a crowd as one person." Certainly. But who really studies that way?


Example.

I do not know who is the teacher and his identity does not matter: only the sequence does since it has become a widely spread and copied classic.

1. A strange tai henka, very low, applied out of an absorption, probably impossible to apply anywhere but in a conventional situation. No need to talk again about that tai no henka.

The initial stepping off of the cross of the four swords cuts feels right, although one can't advise to let the head go so far towards the attack line.

But then it becomes weird.

2. Moving back in the cross of attacks offering one's back to other potential attackers...

Seriously?

What is the fundamental difference between this movement and the UFC fighters "errors"? Well…

Sure enough, the return seems to step off the cross a second time, avoiding the second cuts.

But turning your back to the opponent? No, thank you.

That implies coming back between the two opponents, coming back in the attackers's very center of attacks... Do as you like but the consequences could be painful. What's the point, where is the benefit? And, by the way, why two moments / steps to get rid of one single opponent ? Isn't it a bit long…?

The funniest thing is to compare the naname as done by the first Marine and that one…
 

Here is an example how a an opponent can be handled with while not losing sight of the other ones. Then everything is possible (including naname).

...


That very point has become a real problem in modern aikido. In general, the now classic demonstration sets a sensei and one and only uke attacking most of the time with shomen / tsuki (rather a slow-mo thrust).

Tori handles uke brilliantly (sometimes trashes him) and that scenario irresistibly reminds Bruce Lee's line: "Boards don't hit back"... The same demo against four opponents would be much much more impressive.

In addition, that one vs one set up often completely loses sight of the problem the UFC fighters experiment in the movie: when facing multiple attacks, one needs a strategy, principles of positioning (and lots of practice...). 

While the randori (conventional exercise in many ways) can give a greater familiarity with the principle by learning how to remain at the periphery of the circle of opponents, it is insufficient for it does not address enough the problem of evading the intersection of the attacks and generally speaking to deal efficiently with multiple attackers (leaving the kinda primitive / pedagogical ryokata dori attack behind…).

The positioning must be included in the technique itself, the movement induces the technique, the positioning IS the technique, efficiency and safety together.

This implies several things:
- Do not wait (Yamabiko no michi)
- Always step off the cross as the starting point of the technique.
- The end of one movement is the beginning of the next one
- Never let your back exposed to other potential opponents

One can explore the principles of motion as explained in these articles:

- irimi # 1 
- irimi # 2
- irimi # 3

(For English speaking folks: I'm translating them, be patient… , besides the images are quite self explanatory).

And since we are here talking about weapons, bukiwaza is a wonderful and unique tool to study and put all this into practice. Basically one should often work against four opponents and that's what we do in every keiko.

One can only admire the wonderful depth of the kumijos and kumitachis for they allow to work so many aspects of the Art in the same drill - including the principles of positioning in front of multiple attacks, a very likely scenario.

Beyond the pragmatic aspects (which come first and foremost), the underlying symbolic meaning seems obvious. Once again, O Sensei's Aikido merges the rational aspect (martial art) and the symbolism. Generated by the relaxed assurance of not being cut (hopefully and with LOTS of training…) one can expect some emotional stillness as a result and the condition of the technique.

The end meets the beginning: it is fear (even if relative) and their inexperience that put the UFC fighters in a situation they do not understand and therefore don't master - no doubt they would easily understand if someone explained them.



Good Keiko, folks !

- Digging deeper: watching some other videos of the same kind, the correspondence between the bayonet and the weapons of aikido is just plain striking. That is part of O sensei's work and legacy. Maybe more later.

- Yes, I wanted to give up the blog (and I still don't consider I resumed it), but so many people told me I was wrong that I'm just listening.

It will however happen at a very slow posting pace...