Deception And Sucker Punches..

So a big part of fighting and confrontations is DECEPTION..

Like when your bouncing and break up a fight, both sides are innocent and the other party attacked them.. or they were both just minding their own business and got attacked.. sure that does happen.. but were they both just minding their own business and randomly attacked each other?

And theres the old sucker punch.. and the "I don't want to fight.. turn away.. then BAM..

And as RBSD practitioners we can train this and use it to our advantage..

But how can we train to identify it from others who are experienced, like street fighters who have learnt it from actual fighting experience..

A little altercation at the door got me thinking about this..

A guy come to the door and I wouldn't let him in for being intoxicated.. he was trying to tell me that I could not make that judgement and I had no right to.. to which I informed him that I have every right to as it was my job.. he was trying all kinds of stupid arguments like this.. but I stayed strong and didn't sway so he tried the aggressive approach..

Got in my face aggressively.. and of course I had my fence up the whole time while talking to him.. I asked him to step back and he wouldn't so I pushed him away with my front hand and told him to step back from me.. he was like "you can't touch me like that blah blah" I informed him that he was acting aggressively towards me and didn't step back when I asked.. he started to point and threaten me.. and put his hand up and threatened to punch me out if I touched him again.. I could read he wasn't prepared but because I couldn't reason with him I was now trying intimidation to get him to walk away.. I pushed him this time with both hands a bit further than before.. he stayed at a bit of a distance then.. but eventually come closer and had his hand up in a fist.. I was ready to drop him with my front hand that was in position for a palm strike as soon as I seen his hand moving towards me..

And I was very close to restraining him and throwing him out on the footpath.. I had threatened him with the police and everything, didn't work..

The assistant manager come out, he must of noticed I was ready to go physical and eventually he got him to walk out on the footpath.. he stood there for like 20 minutes.. and come back.. I was like thinking "here we go".. he started asking why he wasn't allowed in.. man some people are THICK.. I said "I have told you, end of conversation" and stood there and started at him and told him to go home.. and then I said "I will not talk to you anymore and went inside.. he then left..

Now not much of a situation but it got me thinking about deception and being set up.. now this guy seemed dumb.. but you never know, I know his sons a good fighter who is good at this, so maybe it runs in the family..

What if the fist pulled back to his shoulder threatening to hit me was a distraction for something else he was going to do.. like a shot to the ribs or even pulling out a weapon..

I was so focused on that hand thinking "you bloody idiot I know what your doing".. and didn't think until later that night it could have been a setup..

So i'm looking for some ideas on how to train myself to identify this better as I need to work on it.. and also any of your experiences you can retell that may get me thinking more in this area..

-Ben

Ben

I think you partially aswered your own question in your post about controlling the distance. I felt you made some very good points in that post.

Not knowing whats coming is one of the most diffucult parts of self protection. However, by you controlling the distance you dictate the situation. It gives you that reactionary gap. By controlling the distance he must commit to reach you. If he can touch you then it becomes quite hard. You really only have a few choices, move back or to the side or crash forward.

I can't speak from a bouncer's point of view, but I would have pre-emptied the second time he came towards you with his hand up in a fist. You guys have a tough job trying to maintain the safety of those who are just trying to mind their business and have a good time while dealing with these assholes.

Don't know if this helped any, but I feel you were on the right track with your other post. Richie probably has a better grasp of this than I.