People who have been in fights: how do you win one?

by all means take the first punch if you prefer.

You never want to get into a fight. Your goal should be starting alive, not winning. You never know if the other person has a weapon or friends backing him up. Running away should be your first option.

Taking it to the ground should be avoided. You can't run away when you're on the ground. But if you do fight, don't be afraid to fight dirty. Because if you're fighting, you're fighting as a last resort because your life is in danger. Like going for the eye gouges. Punches should be fast and hard.

Just go onto liveleak and search for videos of people who have died in fights. It only takes one punch or one kick to kill somebody.

been in many fights young blood, NEVER LOST. get you some BIG BALLER BRAND punching gloves you'll be aight.

I don't think people fully realize the advantage of weight and, to a lesser extent, height. That's why there are such narrow weight class ranges in any kind of fighting/wrestling sport. Girth, weight, mass, bulk, etc.It's a massive advantage to have 30-40 pounds on a guy in a fight. You're experience testifies to that. Also, this is yet another reason why skinny runners should not fight.

DeBron Lames wrote:

I fought off a mugger who tried to take a camera off me in Mexico once. I am 6'0 170, not huge but was much larger than the person who came at me. I stiff-armed him in the face and used mass/momentum to shove him into the ground, he went down hard, scrambled, got up, and ran. I never had a chance to throw a punch. In this situation again, I would immediately go for the face -- eyes, nose, with little hesitation.

Donotfight wrote:

You never want to get into a fight. Your goal should be starting alive, not winning. You never know if the other person has a weapon or friends backing him up. Running away should be your first option.

Taking it to the ground should be avoided. You can't run away when you're on the ground. But if you do fight, don't be afraid to fight dirty. Because if you're fighting, you're fighting as a last resort because your life is in danger. Like going for the eye gouges. Punches should be fast and hard.

Totally agree, esp. the part of not knowing what opponent has for weapons combined with these days of ubiquitous guns and twitchier tempers.

As a somewhat larger, quiet type at a new school (at age 14), some scraggly druggie said he'd "take me down" when I did not react kindly to him trying to trip me in the hall. He popped out from behind a garage on my way home that day. After some shouting, he took a swing at me and grazed my neck. He had on a ring with a sharpish metal edge; I got a light scratch.

Out of reaction playing/watching hockey, I charged him, pulled his shirt over his arms and head, punched him twice in the diaphragm and stood over him after he fell to the ground. I screamed like a maniac, threatening more harm. Over in under 30 seconds,and he slumped away, me kicking him in the rump and telling him to not [mess] with me again.

Man, if that punch had landed or had he taken the advantage...

Learn to fight (BJJ and boxing/kickboxing) and practice it a lot. Nothing you can read will help you in a real life situation.

Unless you are a very athletic person or skilled fighter, if they outweigh you, you're probably going to lose.

Don't be drunk.

Hope they are drunk.

Here's a video that got posted today. NSFW. Both of these guys had the opportunity to run away. Small guy kicks the big guy in the head. Big guy's head hits the sidewalk and he starts having seizures.

https://youtu.be/Y-4KqSrTLds

Don't fight. That said, the last two fights I've gotten into were in Europe. A random bum kicks me in the leg while I was walking. I push him into the tables of a cafe. A different guy tried to mug me. I pushed him into a parked car. Nothing special.

And one that I lost. Am ambush in which they took my phone. It was too fast to fight back or catch them. I'm smarter about walking with my phone now. That was six years ago and it was my first smartphone. If I'm walking and I see some sketchy people, I'll turn around and go the other way to avoid them. I was just in Brazil and I had to do that a few times. But don't get into fights. Even a guy like me is prepared to fight dirty. I have a device for climbing which can be used like brass knuckles and sometimes I carry it with me if I'm going somewhere sketchy.

Rule one in a fight and I learned this the hard way:

punch first and talk second.

another rule is dont punch once. follow it with another

Yes. In this case my camera was in my right hand, and I am not good with my left -- wouldn't be able to punch at all. However, I have very long arms. So the left straight-arm to the face put him far enough away that he couldn't actually hit me, and then essentially pushing forward with my legs putting some momentum into it put him on the ground.

Promise your opponent fire, fury and power like never seen before.

How do you recognize 'sketchy' people? In the US it's frowned upon to turn around when you see them. I have to keep going and hope the potentially 'sketchy' teens are actually not 'sketchy' (though they act and dress like 'sketchy').

Who cares if it's frowned upon? Sketchy people has to do with your surroundings. If you're in a city that you know well and it's a safe city in the US or Europe with many people around you, then you most likely don't have to turn around every time you walk past a black kid.

In Brazil and other places, you're often safest when there are many people around. It you're about to go down an empty street and you see some young guys hanging out on the street who might be eyeing you, don't go down the street. Use main streets as much as possible. Things like this happened a lot. You just have to go back to where there are more people and maybe take an Uber.

Depends. For starters, do you know how to fight?

For all of those advocating a first strike you better hope you don't get filmed or caught by the police because you are likely to get prosecuted and may even do time unless you can prove self defense, imminent bodily harm or protection of property, all of which are tough to argue if you strike first. You show up in my court you're doing time.

The only fight you win is the one you are never in...

Does anyone agree in a knock down drag out fight, both winners and loosers will come out with marks on both fighters?

Most people don't know how to fight. You don't need to be a trained boxer or martial artist to win most fights, just need to know how to be aggressive, intimidatory and can throw a hard, accurate punch. I'm a short arse (5'8) and have had a lot of fights. Not because I'm aggressive or a trouble-maker, which a few mates claim I am because of the number of fights I've got in, but because most guys are cowards, they're angry and want to fight, but don't know how to fight and don't want to lose a fight. So they pick on the little kid :) Best thing that ever happened to me was getting punched full on to the face by an older kid when I was 11. My first proper fist fight (plenty of pre-teen wrestling fights) which I lost. But I didn't get knocked down and I realised getting punched in the face/head doesn't hurt that much. I reckon it hurts more when I stubbed my toe... I did get knocked out once and broke my nose quite badly, that did hurt, but not when you compare it to a dislocation or muscle tear. So unlike a lot of people I don't fear getting hit, which gives me an advantage. And a lot of people are worried when a short stocky guy won't back down and gets aggressive. I walk away as much as I can, it's rare in Australia that you have a fair one on one bar fight. You get into a punch up, you're down you'll get kicked in the head by others, glassed whatever. Smart thing is to walk away. I also like to reason with people in a firm manner and make them look a little bit silly.