Martial Arts vs Street Fights – Geoff Thompson on London Real

24 Comments

1. I like Geoff and have trained wit him but posturing is a dangerous tactic these days.
   25 years ago when Geoff was on the door and the only camera about was the club's CCTV system, you could get away with it but with everybody now carrying a smartphone, however well intentioned you may be in giving the guy an out, doing so requires that you appear to be the aggressor and you will see your arse locked away.
   Palms forward, hands open and step back while clearly telling him to leave you alone, repeat. If he still comes forward, nail him.
   It's not perfect because some peoples predatory instincts are triggered by their opponents backing up but you are still forcing the adrenalized guy to come forward which many are reluctant to do and if that fails, you have managed the perceptions of onlookers.

2. Read his autobiography years ago. It comes as three books. Watch my back, Bouncer and on the doors. Very good reading.

3. someone talking to me that way..like nose and stuff….takle him down..let the ellbows rain…break his arms..his legs..up the kneecap on a pavement edge…beat his head until hes bleeding out of ears eyes mouth…he will calm down..kek

4. Watch My Back is the best self defence book i have ever read .

5. This guy MUST be lying. He's seen "loads of people get stabbed … by the mothers." Come on mate, that's bullshit. You've seen that maybe two or three times, unless you live or hang around with absolute scum in which case most of us normal people don't have to worry about getting stabbed by somebody's mum.

6. The biggest problem is the ego….I've got out of heaps of situations simply by not engaging and walking away….Lions don't care of the opinions of sheep….I've been doing Geoff's system of training for nearly a year…I'd never go back to martial arts but if it floats your boat then it's better than nothing at all.

7. The worse street fight I have ever seen was at a bar when two guys got started talking smack to each other. Of course it "went outside" and we all followed….they wife of one of the guys broke off a car antenna and whipped the guy from head to toe. He had cuts all over him and was bleeding everywhere and not a single punch was thrown.

8. Geoff Thompson for those who dont know of him is a Doorman/Bouncer who worked the pubs and clubs of Coventry in the 1980's for 15 years thats how come hes had hundreds of fights and confrontations, trust me the man knows what hes talking about and he can back up his chat.

9. Tough trash talk has a place before and even during a fight, but it is zero if it's not backed up by a huge amount of ability. People can most of the time feel/see through acting.
   Bottom line:
   You must know that your bodily "weapons" are very powerful (extremely fast, accurate, no doubt effective),
   your must know your body is very strong and cannot be manhandled easy or at all,
   you must know you have endurance and that you will not go out of breath,
   you must know that you are able to take pain to the level of not fearing it.
   If you don't know these things about yourself, you will always be in fear of actually engaging in a fight, BECAUSE…… YOU CAN'T TRUST YOURSELF TO HANDLE THE SITUATION.
   On top of that you must train years and realistically.
   All this, in order that you have a sincere good level of confidence and not just deceiving yourself that you have real skill when you don't.
   So we are talking about time, effort, understanding, realizing, above all discipline. But once you grow and manage to acheive such characteristics you will be able to handle with almost inner peace and confidence most attackers no matter their background. At this place, the once helpfull tough talk is actually useless. -A.T.

10. After living in UK(London) and now the U.S,I would like to think I'v learned some street skills(Hopefully still learning?)I believe staying observant,using sensible judgment(knowing when to fuck off&walk away)keeping a safe distance&and not getting into BS,Trashtalking(there not the people to be concerned out)and if all this fails,then Hit hard&fast with purpose(Fist,Headbutt,knee,Elbow,feet.etc)use all the above,in any sequence&once again "Foxtrot Oscar"
    .And finally if anyone has experienced a good beating in their life(and I have from an early age)it stays with&hopefully u learn to prevent it from happening again.You feel Fear of course but u learn to cope with it&and hopefully use it 2your advantage!!!.Merry Christmas?&✌out..

11. true when he says that these days its mainly rats who have loud mouths carrying knives acting like there dead hard, truth is 90% of them get knocked out and cant handle being beaten so they come back for revenge with there mates or threaten to burn ye house down…in all fairness they need killing these type of rats, society could do without violence

12. Self awareness and the ability to walk away – granted, not always easy – have saved me from some very nasty situations in Thailand (FWIW, I grew up in Sydney so I wasn't completely unaware of the warning signs). Staggering into a bar or club half plastered, esp if you have a 'dont fuck with me mate' attitude – is a great way to end up in casualty/a jail cell or the morgue, but one scenario I've yet to see in any of the combative videos is very common in the real world : I call it the 'screaming woman distraction' and I expect that bouncers know it only too well.

    At any point in a confrontation, a woman (or several of them) start screaming and trying to insert themselves into the mayhem. Usually pissed, they'll flail around with anything from a handbag to a haymaker, usually distracting one of the combatants from his attempts to defend himself making him an easy target. Even bouncers and cops are reluctant to drop a woman in front of witnesses (esp if those witnesses have a phone) and I believe the women concerned capitalise on that. Throw in the ice epidemic in many parts of the Western world and the people on the other end find themselves trying to deal with a shrieking harpie who's unnaturally strong and resistant to pain. The tabloids here in Oz show footage of cops and hospital staff struggling to restrain emaciated women whose sole source of strength is their ice addiction.

    I wouldn't be a bouncer if it paid $500 an hour – no amount of money could make that a gig to look forward to.

13. Where has Geoff gone?

14. the guy has 100 fights and thinks hes something special…… in england most people from rough areas have had over 100 fights. me included.. been stabbed and everything

15. So he's been in hundreds of fights? I'd have ask what's wrong with him.

16. That's a good attitude – wish more people would think like that.

17. this guy is obviously lying he's seen hundreds of people get stabbed in street fights. I live in a rough city with a big drinking culture and have probably seen five fights in the last ten years and not one of them resulted in anyone being stabbed…

18. this guy is obviously lying he's seen hundreds of people get stabbed in street fights. I live in a rough city with a big drinking culture and have probably seen five fights in the last ten years and not one of them resulted in anyone being stabbed…

19. the problem is the type of people that geoff trains are street filth, or just scum looking for trouble. no respect there.

20. Martial Arts vs Street Fights? All martial arts have evolved from real fights but the training is no substitute for the real fight. A martial art stays valid if you test it in combat again and again. You have to send legions of soldiers, policemen and security-personel, all kinds of warriors out in the battle. And when they return, those who return, they will fill the art with life and experience again: This one worked fine, that one didn't. But why didn't it work? Because it's useless? Or have I misunderstood it? Or, heaven forbid, haven't I trained enough?

21. Geoff Thompson is a class act.

22. I idolise this guy Geoff thompson his book is the best book ive read in a long time really has taught me to not be afraid of anyone and look after yourself , top man

23. If you have to fight, hit first. If he comes to close, hit first. If he provokes you with open arms, hit first.

24. Am from Coventry this man is a gent old school gent

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