The Art of Losing a Fight

In Martial Arts, we train to defend ourselves. We train to win a fight against an untrained fighter. We train harder to win a fight against a trained fighter. We train to defend ourselves against multiple attackers. We train to be the best fighter that we can be so we can win in as many situations as possible. The bad news is no matter how good you are, there is always someone better. There will always be a situation that you cannot win and there is always a chance that you make a mistake during a fight. What then?

Is it a negative approach to believe that you could lose a fight even with years of training? No, I believe it is a naive approach to believe that you will win every fight. My instructors Chan Tai San and Chen Rong En could defeat me even though they were much older than I was. In fact, Grandmaster Chen Rong En still likes to prove it today with myself and other instructors in the city. I am sure he would tell you that his instructor, Leung Tin Chiu could defeat him.

Remembering that you cannot win every fight in every situation will prepare your mind for what to do next:

• The first goal is to survive. Do not give up, keep fighting.
• Do damage. You do not need to win a fight but you do want to make your opponent hesitate to come back again.
• Get out of a losing situation. Find an escape as soon as possible once it is clear you will not win.
• When in doubt, cheat. In a real life fighting situation, there are no referees...do what you are not allowed to do in class....these are the things that will likely be most damaging.