Seven Deadly Sins When Dealing With Multiple Attackers

Are these strategies for dealing with multiple attackers really deadly sins, or was the temptation of the title too much for me – probably a bit of both.

Whether using these strategies will get you into  trouble or not, really depends on the ability of the group of attackers. With low functioning groups you might get away with it. With higher functioning groups there are weaknesses in these strategies that will almost certainly result in big problems for the individual so I thought it was worth discussing them.

With any strategy for dealing with multiple attackers, it’s all about probability of success and each one of these strategies will be no doubt be successful some of the time. What you should consider is that while these strategies will work on occasion, the success rate on average is lower than other strategies and that should be front of mind when you determine the level of risk you are willing to accept.

If you really want to know whether a strategy or technique has any validity for you in a group attack situation then go and test it in a training environment against a higher functioning group.

 

1.  Go to ground

This is a deadly sin. If you can help it, don’t ever go to ground in a group attack situation. If you go to ground against multiple attackers then there is a much greater probability of multiple attackers wrestling with you and holding you down, allowing other attackers to kick you, or use weapons, etc. People can be severely injured on the ground against multiple attackers, so don’t be fooled, it is not a good place to be. You don’t want to be reliant on the group to stop the attack.

 

2.  Fight two attackers at the same time

This is a strategy that relies on your opponents being in exactly the right position for it to be successful. In demonstrations of this, the attackers are more actors than anything else.

Every now and then you see someone advocating that you can punch the attacker in front of them and at the same time deliver a kick to the attacker behind them or something similar.

I dislike this strategy because it splits your intentions and you stall for a moment to execute it, that is, you fail to keep to the basic strategy of keep moving.

 

3.  Go after the leader

I’m not saying that going after the leader may not be appropriate in certain circumstances, but in a general self defence situation you would have used up precious time that would have been better spent on exiting the situation. In fact, while you are trying to identify the leader you are hesitating and wasting valuable time.

What happens if you go after the leader and get trapped in a wrestling match?  You cannot assume that you are going to be able to take them out. The reverse may be true and then you are in real trouble. The leader is also not necessarily the best fighter in the group.

 

4.  Position yourself so you can fight them one at a time

The idea is to allow you to attack one person without being exposed to attack by others. There are various suggestions of how this could be done, for example:

• Keep your opponents in a line by backing away from them or by moving around the edges of the group. You position the attacker you are dealing with between you and the others until he is done, and then you move on to the next attacker, or you let the next one come to you.
• If you are in the middle of a room, try to stop attackers getting behind you by positioning yourself in a corner or hallway.
• Use one attacker as a pivot point to act as a shield allowing you to then throw strikes at oncoming attackers.

It’s a natural reaction to back away from a threat or attempt to go around it. The problems you face with backing away are that you cannot see where you are going so you might back into objects or trip over backwards. Attempting to keep outside the group and continually position yourself so that one attacker is always in front of you, shielding you from the others, really relies on the attackers being a low functioning group.

Can you ever rely on none of the group members being able to fight and that you can easily manipulate all of them? It’s no wonder they always demonstrate this at walking pace; speed it up and it would likely become a shambles. Don’t believe me? Try it with a higher functioning group and see for yourself. Once those group members really come after you there has to be a huge skill difference between the individual and the attackers for these types of strategies to work. That hardly helps the average student of the arts.

 

5.  Try to use a technique

Be wary of any techniques that suggest you can manipulate your attackers or work some other magic on them. When people try to use a technique they generally forget the rule of ’keep moving’ and the group can then focus more heavily on them.

Techniques rarely work under the pressures generated by a group attack. As the members of a group become more active, the chances of them being manipulated easily are vastly decreased. In reality, people are not easily used as shields.

If you are unlucky enough to face a high functioning group, they will dismantle or effectively shred any techniques, strikes, etc. that the individual may try.

 

6.  Spend too much time on one attacker

Sometimes in a group attack you get angry or frustrated with a particular attacker and you get caught up spending a few moments trying to dominate them. When you do this it enables the rest of the group to focus on you and even the less active members of the group will see an opportunity to have a go at you.

The individual does well in this video, except towards the end when he slows down to fight one of the attacking group which enables all three to focus on him. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6-rGQ4QnDg

I saw a youtube video of a promo for a two verses two MMA TV show. Crazy stuff, but in terms of multiple attackers it demonstrates, especially towards the end of the video, some of the difficulties encountered when they spend too much time focusing on one opponent i.e. they begin to get ‘king hit’ from the side and from behind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3qmC9PKWQ
 

7.  Attempt to strike vital targets

This strategy recommends you disable the opponent by attacking their vital targets. A gouge to the eyes, a hard strike to the groin, a kick to the shin or knee-cap, a punch to the throat, a hit to the temple.  It goes on and on but you get the picture.

I actually think this strategy is a deadly sin as it encourages people to focus too heavily on an attacker and when the opponent is also moving, it is difficult to get any of these vital target strikes to land accurately. Ask yourself the question 'what happens if I miss'.

Can you really strike someone that accurately when you are under pressure and therefore disable an attacker in a multiple attack situation? Just because the occasional person might be able to do it, does not make it a strategy for the masses. You might get away with it on the first attacker but that will only active the rest of them.  The alternative is you could be on your way, accelerating to the exit instead of attempting this sort of stuff.

 

As always with group work, train safely and under the supervision of a qualified instructor.