Multiple Problems
Practitioners of most martial arts dispute the ability to address more than one opponent at a single time.
The traditional martial arts community criticizes the mixed martial art community (specifically, the sport fighters) for their lack of training against two or three opponents, emphasizing that sparring against one opponent time and again fails to train for the inevitable day when two thugs decide to team up against you.
The mixed martial art community disputes this claim, saying that the traditional community offers unrealistic solutions to this problem, and that any systematic methods of fighting two or more people at once ignores critical variables.
Which side is right?
Sadly, both sides are correct. The reality is that multiple opponents occur quite frequently in self-defense situations, either obviously (one person holding, the other person punching) or subtly (one person distracts, the other person ambushes). To ignore this scenario in training closes the eyes to reality.
However, it is true that nearly all systematic methods of teaching techniques against multiple opponents assumes that only one person attacks at a time, or that both individuals grab hold but fail to move beyond that. There is little justification for this scenario. In fact, the three most common scenarios are:
- Both attackers immediately start kicking and punching the victim, violently and fast, from two directions.
- One attacker grabs the victim violently from behind, while the other begins kicking and punching; as a variation, one attacker grabs and shoves the victim down, while the other begins kicking the victim’s head and ribs. A third attacker can and will strike at this point.
- One attacker distracts, either verbally or physically (posturing or shoving), while the second attacker comes up fast from behind and strikes the victim in the head with a weapon or fist. A third attacker can and will strike at this point.
There are no secret techniques to dealing with multiple opponents; rather, the solution is to address the situation for what it is: a strategic setup. The reason two or more opponents will attack a single victim is because the success rate is very high for minimal committment by any one attacker.
Therefore, the smarter approach is to assume that there are two or three opponents in every confrontation until you are certain otherwise. One stranger prompting you to fight him can easily have one or two partners waiting nearby. A person asking you for the time on a dark street wants your eyes on him, not his partner already moving toward you.
Studies in healthcare, security, and corrections show time and again that three or four individuals can take just about anybody to the ground in only a few seconds, especially if the group has experience working together. There are only two effective ways out of this scenario: any type of weapon, or escape. Neither will be easy to apply, but may be all you have.