"My mission is to provide the most efficient, practical means of prevailing in a violent confrontation. Notice that I did not say "survive" – we need to do better than merely surviving." Burton Richardson
"Just another day, business as usual. I had just begun speaking to a person of interest. Everything was going smoothly, no indicators of aggression or potential non-compliance. The next thing I remember was finding myself using a two on one knife defense I learned from Burton Richardson, controlling the knife arm of the POI who had just pulled a box cutter and lunged for me. I had been attacked by someone who was desperate to abscond. I do not remember how I got into this position, I just remember thinking how glad I was that I had been practicing it as part of Burton's Battlefield Kali program. It bought me enough time for a colleague to step in and assist me in apprehending our man.
Needless to say, I highly recommend Burton Richardson’s Edged Weapons Response.
You will not find anything flashy or complicated, just simple high percentage techniques that, when trained, quickly become part of your instinctive response.
The program is easily translated and adapted into an appropriate and effective response to suit the rules, regulations and powers of the different levels of Law Enforcement."
John from Australia (last name removed by request)
We train to be able to control a violent situation through employing an effective, justifiable response.
My basic premise is this: I assume that someday, one of my students will need to use what I teach in a life and death situation. Therefore, I am committed to only teaching techniques and training methods that have been proven to work consistently under severe fighting pressure.
Real fights include serious resistance. No attacker is going to stand there with his arm out while you go through your parrying and disarming routine. Your defense MUST work against an opponent who is resisting 100%. This is why I pressure test everything against skillful partners and then only teach those techniques and training methods which prove functional. No fancy moves to "wow" the audience. Only fighting functional material taught in a logical, easy to learn and retain progression.
When I train a UFC fighter, we never work on moves just for the fun of it or for historical purposes. There is no time to waste when we are preparing for a combat sport.
If you are training to be effective in a non-sportive environment where someone is trying to take your life, then you should be even more committed to honing the most practical fighting skills. But here is the sad truth: The great majority of popular knife defense techniques are beautiful to watch but do not actually work against a committed, fully resisting attacker. Those without experience are easily convinced that these amazing techniques will save their lives in the real world. But 20 seconds of pressure testing, (yes, just 20 seconds!) will reveal the truth. Why others are reticent to do any real testing at all is another discussion.
Just know that I am more interested in preserving your life than I am in preserving the reputation of any particular style or system.
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