The Man’s Guide to Winning a Fight With No Experience

If you have come to this article, chances are the stuff has hit the fan, your machismo is on the line, and you’re out of time to learn the art of fighting the long, hard way. The first place we’d send you to is our interview with the strength-training author, Michael Gundill (MBA), who offers three essential tips on what it takes to be successful in any fight.

And with that out of the way, we’d now like to say that there is no such thing as a textbook fight. Most fights are dirty, meaning that your opponent will do almost anything to get the best of you. But if you know the majority of their tricks, chances are that you won’t be pulled into them, and you will have a better chance of walking away with your life… and possibly even the win.

These are our best tips for someone with no fighting experience to have the best chance of winning surviving.

Walk Away… Or Run

If you really have no idea how to handle yourself in a fight, it is sometimes best to walk away today to ensure you will still have legs to carry you tomorrow. And this will work a good 90 percent of the time.

But what happens during the other 10 percent… could save your life.

The Sucker Punch

Many fights begin and end without the opponent even knowing what was about to hit them (quite literally). When confronted by someone, and you notice their hands drop and body angled slightly towards you, they are likely preparing for their first punch and they are not going to let you know about it (as the name suggests).

Another hint of a pending sucker punch is verbal communication will break down to a point where either the person is incoherent, or just repeating the same phrase. This means that the person is so focused on planning their attack, they are no longer involved in any conversation you were initially having. Prepare yourself for the worse at this point.

Besides being aware of an oncoming sucker punch, it is useful to keep in mind that you can deflate some of the power behind these punches, by countering a move backward and to the side of where their head is turned. This will throw off the perfect angle they have prepared, and leave them grappling to set themselves up again. Continue doing these counter moves in order to keep your opponent off balance should they decide to try to land one of these cheap shots.

Nick Drosso will expand on these points:

Hand Shake Sucker Punch

We have seen this move time and again. Your opponent will drop their hand low and move your direction as if wanting to amend things with a gentleman’s handshake. They know that it is instinct to reach out to meet someone’s hand when it is extended to them, and then what they do is pull you in for a close-up, devastating first punch. Don’t fall for this.

Make a Proper Fist

You shouldn’t have even read this far if you have no idea how to make a proper fist, because it is essential to stabilize the elbow and knuckles before delivering an impact to the human body. Otherwise, you are only setting yourself up for a self-inflicted injury.

This is how it should be done (with a little history):

Eyes Wide Open

Some people will turn their back towards an oncoming fight to protect their face, but this only puts them at the disadvantage of not seeing a punch before it hits. You can protect yourself best if you face your opponent with your chin tucked in, fists high and feet planted securely on the ground.

Hard and Fast

Professionally boxing matches are all about maintaining stamina for the long haul, but a street fight is hard and fast, meaning they are over almost as quickly as they started. Put your full effort into the first 30-seconds of any street fight, because there is rarely a reason to save energy, unless it is to run, as we have already mentioned.

The Straight Punch

A lot of films depict the use of wily punches like haymakers or hooks to put your opponent down fast. The problem is, it takes a lot of power to build up a punch like this, and will likely be dodged by an opponent before it has a chance of doing any substantial damage. The safest punch is a straight punch coming from a strong, stable stance. These types of punches are difficult to counter, and won’t leave you in an off-balanced position should you end up missing your target.

Pinch, Slap, Knee, and Side Hand Blow

Yeah, this may sound like girly advice to use pinching and slapping (palming) to win a fight, but if you have no idea how to throw a punch properly, these two moves will save you from injuring yourself. And pain is a great de-motivator and can be inflicted in a number of ways beyond your knuckles. By palming your opponent to the chin, kneeing them in the face, or pinching their inner arms (or thighs) and not letting go, you may cause just enough pain to get your opponent to call it quits.

But what is perhaps the best use of an untrained hand is to utilize the side of it to deliver a devastating blow to the neck that will drop your opponent with one swing. This will force them down to the ground long enough for you to walk away. And if that person has friends waiting to back them up, the sight of them going down that quickly, may give them second thoughts about joining in.

Let’s see it in action: