My first fight

1:30am Brighton. A Level results night.

I was walking past some guy and gently touched him, as one does trying to walk through a dancefloor. His response to that was "You want to try something?", I couldn't believe it, so I squeeze his right bicep and then squeezed mine, pointing out I was ridiculously bigger than him and he was being an idiot. The next move was even more idiotic, as soon as I squeezed my arm he grabbed me by the throat with his right hand.
And I am glad to say I was as calm as I have ever been in my life, I knocked his arm away with my right with a downward sleep, dropped my chin, hunched over, my fists came up and I began to throw. Sadly of the 4 punches I threw none hit, partially because the guy was backing up, secondly because a Parkour friend grabbed the guy round the stomach from behind and started pushing him across the dancefloor, the guy began to break out of this as I threw a final punch as I tried to move towards him and he kind of tripped/fell/lost balance on the wet club floor.
During this I have 2 blokes getting in the way in the middle and 4 of the guy's mates holding me back. One of which was holding my hands and apologising, telling me to leave it, the guy was an idiot and not to get a bouncer because it wouldn't do any good to have him thrown out.


Ok so that's what happened.

1. I think my mental calm was fantastic and exactly what I have always trained for.
2. I had drunk barely anything that evening as I always want to be alert in clubs, and I was also driving.

I can't really see what you can do when 4 of his mates grab you and don't actually try to physically harm you, because you can't harm them etc.

My mate's response of getting the guy round the stomach from behind and driving him was fantastic.

3. It was strange that about 4 fights kicked off that night, and the 3 bouncers were nowhere to be seen in either case. Bear in mind I was bigger than two of them and about the same size as another - so these guys were not Manchester sized doorman. In my case it was a small dancefloor in front of the DJ and about 11 lads were involved in the whole "fight" from A to Z - something difficult to go unnoticed.

Just thought i'd share.


For some reason my thumbs ached after this? Any idea why?

For some reason my thumbs ached after this? Any idea why?


because of the grip of the biceps?

if you are in a situation.. your grip is much stronger than in training..

i asked myself also many time the question.. where s the pain coming from?
nobody hit my jaw??
but its the tension from muscles if you are in a fight..

also if you are calm your body react different many times..

maby thats why?

Yeah I guess it must have been because I was locking my fists so tightly.

re the bicep squeeze

brilliant mate.

bottom line, you kept your cool, gained some experience and all walked away with no probs.

seems like you did ok mate, used reasonable force and didnt get hurt... and as finlayson says got some experience. Its all good.

i can't add anything to that. i just want to say that one of my calmness is everything--meaning i think the mind is more important if you were
stuck in a position to chose. both is better. this is to validate you, if it doesn't seem clear enough. i know someone who (i'm staying vague in
case he reads this) doesn't really have a game plan, just (i believe from knowing him so long) a feeling that 'i don't know how i'll do it, but
i'm not leaving until i put a hurting on him'. his mind is really strong, he never bows inside. it's like he's not programmed for it. all this to say
i think you're laying a nice foundation for furthor mind-work.

Its funny when somebody starts a fight and their 'friends' tell you its okay because he is a dickhead.

Its something that tells you this idiot starts shit regularly and his friends are sick of it.

I would back up any of my friends anytime if people were starting shit with them, and I have stopped fights at times and when people have been trying to fight my friends.

On, the other hand if a 'friend' was regularly going out looking for and starting fights and being a fuckhead, which I luckily haven't had happen.. they would soon not have my support anymore because I don't agree with that behaviour.

-Ben

That was brilliant, I wish I had done as well on my first one.

I can't fault what you did, only offer something which may have worked better, if you are interested.

The bicep squeeze may have pushed him to act if he saw it as a threat and therefore may have been avoided (equally, he could have been going to fight someone anyway and you were just lucky/unlucky). An alternative responce is to laugh, in a genuine as opposed to condescending manner. Not only is laughter nonthreatening, but it also relaxes you completely so you are able to act at your optimum. Throw in a head nod at the joke as you push past him to be on your way. What makes this work is not your size, but the fact you believe it because it is genuinely how you feel. Your mate wasnt so much wanting to fight, as wanting to find his place in the social order without being hurt too badly.

Now you know you have the mental ability to deal with confrontations, think about applying that to being in an altercation which is going against you: feel the calm overtaking and righting everything else as your physical responce becomes more frenzied and animalistic.

Thanks for the feedback.

The squeeze was intended as a deterrent but I can see how it worked otherwise. Or the guy was just stupid. I feel more with the latter.

my first impression was that the bicep squeeze belittles the guy and makes him more likely to go physical. I'm 5'8" and 12st. I'm not the kind of guy to kick off because someone's knocked shoulders with me, but if I was being genuinely picked on, I'm also not intimidated by a few muscles.

I think perhaps a genuine sounding apology for knocking into him gives him a chance to back down without losing face. You still have your big guns if he chooses not to take that out.

Ahh I see thanks Adam.

I didn't actually knock into the guy I literally just brushed him ever so slightly. Which is impossible not to do in a club.

He was probably set on starting a fight with you, bicep squeeze or not.
Just saying something like that might give someone the final encouragement to go physical. In fact it's you that's crossed the physical boundries.

That's very true. But I think I got finally sick of people starting on me pointlessly for the last year I've been 18.