CQC Module 2 Knife Fighting

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Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

2

Knives are incredibly effective, potentially lethal

weapons. They are also perfectly mundane tools.

Knives can be found in any kitchen in any home in the

world. They are as close as your toolbox (in the form

of, say, screwdrivers) and are common even in the

most controlled of environments — prisons —

specifically because they are so easily manufactured

such as melting and shaping the end of a household

toothbrush. In countries where firearms are strictly

regulated (such as in the United Kingdom), “knife

crime” is on the rise. What does this mean for you? It

means that no matter where you are, the chances a

criminal could confront you with a blade are good.

VERY good!

What do we mean by “very good?” Is it paranoia

to believe you could be confronted by a criminal with a

blade? While the less prepared are usually only too

happy to call the more prepared individual “paranoid,”

the fact is that a knife is easy to get, easy to carry, easy

to hide, and easy to use. You cannot afford to deny the

possibility that a societal predator might try to use one

on you, or simply threaten you with it. Chances are

your local newspaper has no shortage of accounts of

stabbings, or of overnight robbers in which a knife was

at least displayed. In every city in every industrialized

country in the world, crimes are committed with

knives.

Also in every city in every industrialized country

in the world, citizens carry pocketknives for utility...

and they carry them for self-defense. A huge industry

in “tactical knives” has grown up over the years. It’s

even been identified (and condemned) in publications

like The Wall Street Journal. The citizens who carry

these “tactical knives” — common folding and

sometimes fixed blades that are useful for utility but

that can also be used for self-defense —

A knife is far easier to acquire (or make) than a

firearm. The United States is, arguably, a “knife

culture,” but the fact is that very few countries in the

world aren’t. South America, the Arab World... these

are places where knives, and the carry of them, are

very common. Countries like England and Ireland are,

socio-politically, very “anti-knife,” and in the UK in

particular there is a huge push to ban knives and to

equate knives and knife ownership with thuggery. It is

no coincidence that in these countries, “knife crime” is

seen as an epidemic. It is simply unfortunate that these

nations’ governments react to the threat by trying to

disarm law-abiding citizens, leaving them at the mercy

of those criminals who do choose to carry and use

blades of varying kinds. As we’ve said, it is easy to

manufacture a stabbing or cutting implement, and it is

nearly impossible to ban kitchen cutlery. This means

that any attempt to outlaw the knife is doomed to

failure... and will only impede citizen defenders.

Given all of this, just how likely is it that you will

face a blade? By this we mean, is it a distinct

possibility... or is it probable? The criminal, the

societal predator, is a creature of opportunity. He

strikes when the odds favor him, and this means he will

quite often stack those odds even more in his favor by

carrying a weapon of some kind. The knife is probably

the most common weapon found on the street; it is

legal in most areas and, whether carried by a criminal

or a businessman, pocket knives are found among

people of all social strata.

You should assume a criminal facing you is armed

with at least a knife, if not something more. It’s better

to make this assumption and have it turn out to be

false, than to be surprised in the middle of an already

physical altercation. In self-defense it is critical that

you be ahead of the curve whenever possible, and this

means anticipating and preparing for the worst (while

daring to hope for the best)

EDGED WEAPONS!

HOW COMMON ARE KNIFE ATTACKS?

WHAT DO CRIMINALS USE?

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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As any police officer with any time on the beat will

tell you, the most common knives carried among the

criminal class are folding knives. Regardless of

whether these are cheap or expensive, common or

uncommon, the overwhelming majority carry over-the-

counter purchased folding knives. The rest carry a

variety of kit according to their (sometimes eclectic)

tastes, including fixed blades like dirks, daggers,

stilettos, and other blades that lawmakers love to

mention by law in penal code knife prohibitions.

There is no knife that is the “mark of the criminal,”

no blade type, style, brand, or folding mechanism that

is the exclusive purview of society’s predators.

Anything with a sharp edge that can be obtained,

carried, and misused, will potentially be put to such a

use by a criminal. While the majority of pocket knives

and fixed blades are owned by law-abiding citizens and

will never be used in crimes, any and all edged tools

and weapons in the hands of the criminal underclass

could potentially be used to further their illicit

activities. This is simply the way of such people.

Now that we’ve established and, hopefully,

accepted the reality that the average street criminal is

very probably armed with at least a knife (or, at the

very least, you should assume for your own sake that

he is and plan accordingly), we must ask: How skilled

is the average criminal? Stories abound of criminals

who, once sent to do “hard time” in prison, emerge

even deadlier than they were when they entered, after

being tutored behind the walls at the feet of other

felons.

There is even an entire fighting system rumored to

have its root in the prison system: the “52 Blocks”

style, which is described in different ways by different

sources but that is often (if not always) purported to be

something cooked up by such violent felons. Is there

any truth to such rumors? It’s difficult to say, and

doesn’t really matter for our purposes. What we must

ask ourselves, though, is just how adept the street

criminal is at using his blade to harm and kill others in

order to get what he wants. That is the only measure of

“skill” that is relevant here.

For the average street criminal, the knife is not a

magical implement. It’s not the sword of the samurai,

or some symbol of the deadly and romantic life he

leads out on the street. No, for the average criminal,

the knife is a tool, something he uses to get what he

wants and needs. Its use is rudimentary, elementary.

Rooted deeper than that, however, is the fact that we

are all experts in the use of the knife.

Think about that for a moment. We grow up

learning to use knives. An eight-year-old child knows

perfectly well how to use his table knife to cut his

food. He knows how much force it takes to stab

vegetables with a fork. In police training, cadets are

taught never to interview a suspect in the kitchen of the

home... because every kitchen is replete with a small

arsenal of potentially deadly knives, with which the

resident of the home is probably very familiar. When

you cut your steak, slice a pizza, or carve your

Thanksgiving turkey, do you really stop to think about

HOW SKILLED IS THE

AVERAGE CRIMINAL?

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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the knife you are using? Or do you just pick it up and

use it, accepting it as natural, normal, and common?

This is not to say that the street criminal, when

using his blade matter-of-factly in order to rob, maim,

or kill you, doesn’t have a few specialized tricks up his

sleeve. For example, some street cops talk of a

technique called “snuffing,” in which the tip of a blade

is poked into the victim’s forehead to elicit profuse

bleeding. The blood pours into the victim’s eyes and

makes it harder for him to defend himself. This

helplessness in turn adds to the psychological terror the

victim experiences, making him or her that much easier

pickings for the street predator.

Those same experienced cops will tell you that

criminals who’ve been inside the prison system have

learned to carry knives with them at all times. These

predators could be considered “trained knife fighters,”

after a fashion. When a man lives in the prison system,

he lives in fear of getting stabbed 24 hours a day. You

take a shower... and somebody could stab you. You lie

in your bed at night... and somebody could stab you.

Some of these guys even cobble together homemade

body armor. This is the world of fear and terror in

which they live... and, once outside, they’re happy to

bring that terror to your doorstep if it means an easy

living at your expense.

Even the most “trained” criminal, however, doesn’t

do anything terribly sophisticated when plying his

trade. Maybe he’ll act like he wants to bum a

cigarette; maybe he’ll pretend to ask for directions;

maybe he’ll simply walk up to you and sucker punch

you.

Most people, when confronted with sudden

violence like this, simply fold up or start trying, vainly,

to block the follow-up blow. That’s when the knife

comes out, and suddenly this street interview has

turned into a shanking. The criminal pumps the knife

in several times, usually into the gut at the beltline, like

a sewing machine. He’ll just ram it in as far as it will

go and, if you start trying to defend yourself, he’ll

shove that blade or that screwdriver or that piece of

glass into your neck. That’s all it takes. That’s what a

real knife fight looks like from the criminal’s point of

view. Then the predator is walking off with your purse

or wallet, checking to make sure nobody has seen him,

and you’re lying in a puddle of your own blood and

guts, wondering what the hell happened to you...

The average citizen simply isn’t prepared for this

type of brutal attack. Some martial artists try to be

prepared, and plenty of martial arts systems involve

defenses against knife attacks. Most of these,

unfortunately, are defenses against elaborate (or, at the

opposite end of the spectrum, overly simplified) knife

attacks that look nothing like the sewing-machine

thrust to the beltline. The latter are the attacks seen

most often in prisons, however. They are the reality;

the fancy swings and pretty boy fencing duels are not

reality.

Most people, even a lot of instructors who teach

knife defenses, aren’t experienced in facing knives in

real-life encounters. Those who have faced a blade in

real life often aren’t among those still living, afterward.

Many knifing victims are stabbed multiple times and

HOW DEADLY ARE KNIFE ATTACKS?

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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are found with defensive wounds across their arms.

So... just how deadly are edged weapons?

The fact is that the average knife fight is over in

seconds. The victim will be severely injured within a

few of those seconds, from the time that knife is

deployed. If the victim can’t escape or somehow fight

back effectively, it will all be over long before you

finish reading this paragraph. “Over” could mean you

are dead. It could even mean that you have

successfully defended yourself, but you are maimed for

life. Knives are that deadly.

If you really stop to look around, to be aware of

your surroundings, you will be surprised just how

many people you see who are carrying knives more or

less openly. Most commonly, this will take the form of

a pocket-clip-equipped folding knife riding in the front

pocket of someone’s pants. Less commonly, it will be

a fixed blade on someone’s belt, something you’ll see

more often than you might think. Awareness is the

most important, most fundamental component of all

self-defense, and proper situational awareness will go a

long way towards alerting you to the possibility that

someone is armed.

We’ve already said that you should assume a

predator is armed with at least a knife. But how will

you know a criminal when you see one? What you’re

looking for are indicators that someone has ill intent —

that he or she is “fixing to put a hurtin’ on ya’,”. If

somebody appears nervous, if he or she is sweating, if

their face is flushed, if they’re staring, or if they’re

concealing their hands, you should be concerned. If

the same person starts to make little practice motions,

pre-attack motions that look like mentally gearing up

to, say, draw a knife, that is a very clear indicator that

this person is up to no good. Often, when exhibiting

these “pre-deployment” motions, the criminal will pat

himself down, touching the weapon or the area of his

clothing that conceals it.

The overwhelming majority of weapons will be

concealed in the waistband area. This makes good

sense. On most people, this is where there is a “joint”

in their clothing, allowing them to get past their clothes

to draw the weapon. This is also the position that puts

the knife, gun, or other weapon closest to the hands

when the hands are held naturally at the sides.

Remember, too, that while it can sometimes be

difficult to conceal a gun or to prevent that gun from

“printing” through clothing, it’s much easier to conceal

a knife. Knives are much smaller and easier to tuck

away. A knife with a blade as little as an inch and a

quarter can be used to kill you; a two-inch blade will

kill you just as dead as will an eight-inch blade.

Criminals may “palm” knives, meaning they may

carry them in their hands, concealed up and along the

arm in such a way that the knife is ready for

deployment but not visible to anyone from the front. A

knife carried in this manner can be easily flicked out

and into a vital area.

Because it is impossible to predict exactly from

where a weapon will be produced, the hands are the

most important area of concern when observing a

potential attacker. Always watch the hands and know

where they are. If the assailant’s hands are hidden, a

weapon will very likely be produced. The danger of a

kick or a head-butt is far outweighed by the danger of a

lethal weapon carried in the attacker’s hands.

WARNING SIGNS HE HAS A KNIFE

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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Until now we’ve spoken primarily of knives while

also implying, heavily, that an attacker may be

carrying a firearm. Many students of self-defense have

asked themselves, or been asked by instructors, if they

would rather defend against knives or guns.

Amazingly, many people respond that they would

rather face a gun than a knife, offering a variety of

explanations for this. Despite the fact that the firearm

is the most deadly and most effective means of

personal defense and criminal offense, the knife is

more feared by the majority of law-abiding citizens.

There are at least a couple of reasons for this.

Among law enforcement officers, who are very gun-

oriented, the officers often will say they’d rather be in

a gun battle because they’re more familiar with that

scenario than they are with the specter of a “knife

fight.”

Coupled with this is the fact that in law

enforcement training, not a lot of time is devoted to

edged weapon attacks. A lot of officers simply aren’t

comfortable in this realm, so they have very little

training for dealing with it. Among civilians, the

average person is, as we’ve said, very familiar with

knives and what they can do. Most people have been

cut or stabbed by accident in purely mundane settings.

Being shot, however, is an abstract concept for most

people. Because they have no real idea what it is like,

they have no meaningful fear of it. Knives, however,

scare them precisely because they know what a sharp

edge or point can do to their bodies.

The reality is that both the knife and the gun can be

deadly, and that the knife can be deadly from farther

away than many people understand. There’s a famous

exercise called the Tueller Drill that basically

demonstrates how easy it is to close a distance (say, 21

feet, what some cops call “interrogation distance”) and

stab a man armed with a gun who is trying to deploy

and fire that weapon as the blade-wielder advances.

Twenty-one feet is really quite a distance; most

attacks occur at far closer ranges. A lot of people,

police officers and civilians alike, simply aren’t

prepared to be attacked from what seems like so far

away... but they can and should be aware of the danger.

Twenty-one feet is roughly seven meters.

Regardless of the system of measurement you use,

that’s a long way in which to fear what someone with a

blade might be able to do to you. Prepare for it now, or

pay for it later.

Most martial arts systems assume that the knife is

coming at you in some easily identified, broadly

defined way. These systems describe elaborate blocks

for use against these defined attacks. In reality, you

are NOT going to step in and perform a block against a

KNIVES OR GUNS:

WHICH IS SCARIER?

THE MARTIAL ARTS MYTH OF

EDGED WEAPONS DEFENSE

(WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SURVIVE?)

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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determined, fast, and brutal edged weapon attack.

Your first instinct will be that of any individual who is

suddenly confronted with a fast-moving projectile.

Throw a beer bottle at someone randomly; their

reaction will be the natural reaction you will

experience if you somehow see that knife coming at

you at lightning speed.

The reality is that no individual, facing a

determined knife attack, will step in, block, and

counter, much less perform an elaborate disarm. You

are going to flinch and lean back. Your eyes will shut,

at least momentarily. Your hands will come up and

you will do your best to shield your body. Whether it’s

a beer bottle or a knife, you will absorb the blow as

best you can, while experiencing the shock and dismay

that most of us feel when we realize, suddenly, He’s

trying to kill me!

When dealing with knives, distance is your friend.

This is obvious to most people. If it is at all possible,

immediately put distance between yourself and the

assailant. Be aware, however, that simply turning and

running may not be the best option. If the opponent is

faster than you, he may just run you down and stab you

in the back.

Trying to put obstacles between yourself and the

attacker goes a long way toward helping you create

distance. If you can duck into and out of hallways or

between buildings, changing direction in a way that

makes it harder for the attacker to follow you, so much

the better.

It may be the case, however, that you cannot run,

especially if you are in the company of dependents like

children or other loved ones. In that case, you must put

what distance you can between yourself and the

attacker while simultaneously keeping yourself

between the knife-wielding assailant and those whom

you are protecting. There are no easy answers to such

a scenario.

Once you do have a little distance between

yourself and the assailant, you will find it is easier to

make other decisions, such as whether to run or to

close, to find an improvised weapon of some kind, to

counter-attack and with what technique, etc.

If someone is coming at you with a knife, you are

unarmed, and you can pick up an object that will help

you defend yourself, by all means, do so. A chair is

the most common example, probably. Other random

items, like books, plates, or any other random, heavy,

thrown object can be tossed at the attacker in an

attempt to hurt him or simply to distract him. The

chair, of course, is both bludgeon and ward; it can be

used to strike or it can be used to block the attacker by

forming a barrier between you and him.

Unfortunately, as we’ve said, most knife attacks

are over in seconds. That doesn’t leave much (if any)

time to hunt through the landscape looking for

improvised weapons.

Without a doubt, the worst mistake any student of

self-defense can make when attempting to defend

against a knife attack is to go for a disarm. Simply put,

your disarm will not work. Don’t believe it? Try this:

Take a training blade and coat the edges with

lipstick or colored chalk. Stand toe to toe with a

training partner. Have your partner attack you at half-

YOUR BEST FIRST MOVE

FIND A DEFENSIVE WEAPON?

THE WORST MISTAKE IN A DISARM

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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speed, coming in wide, giving you opportunities to try

and defend yourself.

Within minutes, you will be covered in marking.

You will have traditional defensive wounds, but you

will also have slashes and stabs that would be fatal in a

real fight.

The proper response is to make use of your natural

“flinch” reaction. Your hands will typically come up

to defend yourself when you flinch in response to a

sudden attack, so make use of that. Combine your

natural instincts with your training. Train your flinch,

in other words, so that when you are surprised, your

hands come up defensively and this triggers your

combat mindset. When the hands come up, the game

is on, and it’s time to fight for your life with everything

you’ve got.

Build on your flinch response by coupling it to

another natural reaction when confronted with a

sudden attack: the step back. When surprised, we

naturally want to step back, to put distance between

ourselves and the perceived threat. When you step

back, train yourself also to shuffle into what we call the

“tactical L.”

The “tactical L” is a quick shuffle step to the left or

the right, which you add to your natural reaction to step

back. It doesn’t matter which direction you step; that

will depend on the situation, the terrain, where the

weapon is relative to your body, and so on. The point

is that, rather than simply moving straight back, you’re

moving back and to the side, getting off the line of the

attack so the assailant can’t simply run you down and

run you over.

From your tactical position off the line of attack,

throw your counter attack. You’re at close range to the

assailant. That means you could throw a vicious kick

to his knee, poke him in the eyes with your fingers,

slam the edge of your hand into his neck, or use any of

several other “hit and run” tactics. You must “hit and

run” because that blade in his hands still gives him a

huge advantage, and you cannot under any

circumstances simply stand there and slug it out with

him. When you’re punching and he’s stabbing, you’re

going to lose each and every time.

If you’re a police officer or a citizen with a

concealed weapons permit, that tactical L move could

give you the time and space you need to deploy a

weapon such as a concealed firearm. When a knife

fight is over in seconds, buying yourself a couple more

of them in which to counter-attack or escape is the

difference between life and death.

That’s not to say that you may not find the

opportunity actually to disarm a knife-wielding

attacker.

The International Society of Close Quarter

Combatant’s (ISCQC) New World Patriot, consulted

with noted reality-based self-defense pioneer Jim

Wagner in compiling this report. Wagner has traveled

all over the world to train with all kinds of special

response units, including the German counterterrorist

GSG-9, the US Marine corps, and the British Special

Air Service, not to mention citizen students of self-

defense. Wagner has a rule concerning knife disarms

that he expresses as follows: Grab, Close, Take Down,

and Escape.

For more information on Jim Wagner, visit...

www.JimWagnerRealityBased.com

According to Wagner, the first thing you must do

is grab the weapon hand with both hands. Instinct tells

you to get your hands up there and grab; use that.

There is no specific position, no specific grab. Just get

your hands on the weapon-bearing limb.

Resist the urge to go after the knife itself, because

it’s going to cut you up if you try to grab it or take it

away. Focus instead on grabbing that arm with all

your might. The knife can’t hurt you if the arm and

hand holding it can’t move.

Now that you have the weapon-bearing limb,

quickly close to jam up the attacker. In order for the

opponent to use his edged weapon, he needs a little

space; he has to push you back or back up in order to

stab and cut. If you close the distance rapidly and jam

him up, you deny him that opportunity.

PROPER RESPONSE

THE “TACTICAL L”

JIM WAGNER’S DISARM RULE

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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This brings us to the take down phase. Don’t

forget that the bad guy, your assailant, has survival

instincts of his own. He’s not simply going to stand

there; he’s going to fight you as you fight him. You

won’t be able to make some fancy take down or throw

work, most likely, and you won’t have to do so. Just

get him of balance, perhaps by tripping him or pushing

him into a wall. If you can get him completely on the

ground, so much the better, but this is not essential.

Once you pulled, pushed, twisted, or otherwise put

him off balance or even knocked him down, get the

hell out of there. This is the escape phase. Escape

may not mean removing yourself entirely from the

situation, however. It may be embodied by a counter-

attack. If you have someplace to go, by all means, go

there... but if you’re trapped, you have no choice but to

follow up the take down by “escaping” into a counter-

attack that brings the fight to your assailant and

neutralizes him.

No matter what, keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t

give up. You are fighting for your very life; you must

explode into your counter-attack (and in every phase of

the disarm) if you are to come out of this alive.

So far we’ve been talking about defending against

a knife. We’ve assumed that unless you can pick up

something nearby, you’re unarmed. But what if the

rules changed slightly? What if it wasn’t just the

attacker who was armed? What if the attacker didn’t

have a weapon at all... but YOU did?

To prepare yourself for self-defense, you might

choose to carry a knife. Before we talk about what you

should carry, however, we need to talk about the law.

There are laws in most places that govern what you can

and cannot carry, legally, because knives are

considered dangerous weapons in a lot of places.

Worse, a lot of myth and misinformation is floating

around out there about your knife laws.

You need to learn the law on your own. Your

state's penal code is the best starting point. Do not ask

a police officer, a court representative, or anyone else,

because you'll get as many different answers as you

ask questions.

Find your state's legislature online and look to see

if your penal code is on the Web. If you can't find it

there, take a voyage to your local library and look up

your state's penal code in the reference books available

there.

You may not really be able to understand what the

laws tells you. There are books that try to explain the

case law and interpretation of those laws, such as

David Wong’s Knife Laws of the Fifty States. When in

doubt, be safe rather than sorry. If there’s any question

about whether you should carry a specific knife (by

type, by blade length, or whatever), then don’t choose

that knife.

To cover your ass, you should try your best to

carry a knife that doesn’t scream Ninja Death Killer.

That means if you can choose a knife that looks like a

utility tool and not a Tactical Rambo Survival Blade of

Doom, you should carry that utility tool.

CHOOSING AND CARRYING A BLADE

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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One of the best choices is a multi-tool knife like

the Spyderco SpyderRench pictured to the right. It’s a

very innocuous blade with an obvious utility use. It

says “tool,” not weapon, to everyone but the most

paranoid.

The tool has the same great super-sharp Spyderco

blade that the company’s “tactical” folders have. It’s

just as deadly. But it’s a multi-purpose tool with a

built-in excuse for its carry. When the jury at your

use-of-force trial is shown this “weapon,” your

attorney can say something like, “Thank goodness my

client had this tiny little pocket wrench with which to

defend himself from this violent criminal! A tool like

this is easy to clip to your belt or pocket for easy

withdrawal, and the tools built into it even make for a

great grip.

In general, when you look at your state’s laws

(don’t forget your city’s laws if you live in a big city,

like Boston or New York), do it with an eye towards

these points:

• Are specific types of knives outlawed, like

butterfly knives and gravity knives?

• What is the maximum legal blade length?

• Can you carry a double-edged knife (a “dirk or

dagger”) or is this forbidden?

Choose your knife accordingly. In some areas,

even whether the knife locks open or not is a factor.

Your choice should be driven by your purpose, your

tasks, and the environment in which you operate. For

example, A large, plain blade is best for stabbing and

for activities and areas where it’s acceptable to have a

large “killing blade” that penetrates deeply.

For personal defense, however, you want a smaller,

serrated blade, which can slice through street clothing

in order to inflict damage in a civilian environment.

You certainly don’t want anything that screams

“killing implement.”

The SpyderRench and other utility tools like it is

one great choice for a self-defense tool. Another

would be any of the pink-handled knives available on

the market. There are plenty of them. Do a Google

search for “pink Spyderco” and you’ll be amazed at

what you find.

Why pink? Well, to most people, that’s the color

that is the least combative. It’s not a color we

associate with macho wannabe street toughs, either,

and therefore if you were carrying a small, pink folding

knife, chances are that knife will be seen as the tool

that it is, and not the dangerous weapon some

overzealous prosecutor might like to paint it to be.

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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Once you’ve chosen your harmless-looking,

utility-oriented self-defense blade, you have to choose

how to carry it. Basically, put it in your pocket. Stay

away from any fancy carry system. Don’t go toting

your knife around in a shoulder harness or some other

combat rig. Just put the knife in your pocket and put

your hand on it when you need it. It’s that simple.

What you’re about to learn is that using that blade

to defend yourself isn’t complicated, either, no matter

what some instructors — or the screenwriters of an

action movie — might like you to believe.

This is the section you’ve been waiting for: “Knife

Fighting.” To call self-defense with a blade “knife

fighting” isn’t exactly accurate, because “knife

fighting” conjures up images of two steely-eyed

warriors dueling with large Bowies. You probably

remember the climactic fight scene between Steven

Seagal and Tommy Lee Jones in Under Siege, a knife

fight so cool it was even covered in a couple of knife

trade publications at the time.

Real self-defense with a knife is nothing like that.

You aren’t there to duel the attacker. If he has a knife

and you have a knife, at best, both of you are going to

end up seriously wounded. If you’re lucky and well-

trained and determined to survive, you might be the

one who comes out alive while the other guy is

crippled or dead. Defending yourself with a knife is

serious business.

Using a knife for self-defense is also escalation,

depending on the situation. If you are attacked

physically by someone who is not armed, if you

introduce a weapon to that situation, you are escalating

that situation. That is, you are taking the game to a

higher level, a deadlier one. Legally, this may make

you the bad guy when the incident is hashed out in

court later. Therefore, you must be sure you are

justified in using your knife to defend yourself.

We’re not lawyers, remember, but generally,

you’re justified in using a deadly weapon in self-

defense if you are genuinely in fear for your life. That

means another “reasonable man” in your situation

would have to make the same judgment, in the eyes of

the court.

Against an attacker who is not armed but much

larger and stronger, or against multiple attackers, you

might be justified in using a weapon (a “force

multiplier”) to even the odds against you. In that case

you might be able to use your knife to defend yourself.

If you are justified in deploying your blade, just

what do you? No newsletter or training manual can

completely prepare you for armed self-defense, but we

can give you the basics and you can go out and train

them. Here’s the most basic, solid method you can

use:

Deploy your folding knife from where you carry it.

Make sure you get a good, solid grip on that knife.

When the knife snaps open and locked, making

sure to keep the knife close to your body with your

elbow in (or even braced on your lead leg, which

should be the side you hold your knife on). From here,

you’ll use that knife to slash at targets of opportunity

as they get close to you.

What that means is that you don’t approach the bad

guy. You are armed; he can see that. If he chooses to

continue his attack, let him come, but don’t go to him.

You’re defending yourself, not assassinating someone

with a blade.

KNIFE FIGHTING: TAKING THE

BLADE TO YOUR ATTACKER!

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

12

As some part of him gets close, like his arm as he

tries to punch or grab you, carve it up. Slash it as deep

as you can. This will hopefully discourage him. If it

doesn’t, you may have to stick that knife in him

forcefully. Pump it in as many times as you have to do

it to get him off you. Become a sewing machine.

Shank him until he gives up, because he’s trying to kill

you.

Hold your knife in a tight fist forward. There are

other styles that use a reverse grip, or a reverse grip

with the edge in (to make it easier to rip your way out

of a limb tangle and so on). If these work for you, fine,

but keep things simple. As Antonio Banderas said in

that Zorro movie, sword (or knife) fighting is simple:

“The pointy end goes in the other man.”

Obviously you have to develop an understanding

of range and distance in order to be able to do this, and

no list of “knife fighting rules” can take the place of

live scenario training and sparring with training knives.

That brings us to...

You can’t really learn to fight with a knife from

reading alone. You’ve got to go out and train this

material with other people, preferably with a lot of

other people (because styles differ). Get appropriate

protective equipment and training knives to spar with,

and get into the game. There’s no substitute for time

spent working and drilling on your own.

Remember that training with knives, even blunt

training knives, is dangerous. Eye protection is an

absolute must. Even a flexible rubber “knife” can poke

out your eye.

Start with flexible foam or rubber training knives,

especially for practice that involves one student being

“stabbed” or “slashed” with the knife. When you

move up to disarms in training, choose a less flexible

plastic or even metal blade.

Understand, however, that an aluminum training

blade can be used to deadly effect. It is not a toy and

must be treated with respect.

For advanced sparring, used dedicated marking

blades (there are several on the market) or training

knives coated with lipstick, chalk, highlighter, or other

marking substance.

These will leave a distinct track behind that tells

you where you’ve been tagged. You’ll be surprised

just how often and easily this does happen, which will

only serve to remind you of just how deadly a knife

can be.

Most critically, keep your training alive and

unpredictable. Do not, under any circumstances, give

in to the natural human urge to choreograph it.

Predictable, choreographed training isn’t going to help

you; training in which you know what’s coming will

give you a false sense of security.

TRAINING CONSIDERATIONS

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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You must strive to make your training as

unpredictable as possible in order to ingrain your

responses so you do not have to think about them

consciously. Otherwise, in those scant seconds

available to you during a knife attack, you will be too

busy thinking about what to do and you will die before

you even reach a decision.

For those who need a little more in the way of

specifics for knife training drills, we will provide them

here. There are quite a few drills, active and passive,

in which you can train.

Keep in mind your goals: You are trying to

develop attributes that will help you survive in a self-

defense scenario. This means you’re trying to develop

speed, accuracy, the judging of distance... everything

you previously associated with “knife fighting” that

you now know is part of surviving self-defense with a

sharp blade.

Active sparring is the best of all knife drills,

provided one spars against a variety of opponents. (If

you always spar the same person, you'll develop bad

habits, because you'll be prepared to spar only that

particular person.)

In active sparring, two (or more) individuals armed

with soft rubber training knives or marking blades duel

each other. Such a drill develops reflexes, speed, flow,

timing, and the proper mindset for knife fighting.

Active sparring is itself a drill, rather than a

category of drills. All you need is a willing partner

against whom to test your skills.

Disarms and defenses are those drills that involve

"defanging the snake" or simply deflecting an

incoming knife attack. Remember that in a real knife

self-defense scenario, this may be a really bad move; if

you train these at all, do so simply so you understand

the mechanics involved, as we discussed much earlier

in this training program.

Rigid training knives are best for this type of drill

because many of the mechanics involved are about

leverage. A flexible "knife" would be unsuitable for

such training.

Training disarms and defenses requires the willing

partner to "attack" with a knife — at slow speed at first

— while the defender practices deflecting, trapping,

and taking the "blade." Special care must be taken to

avoid injuring the training partner doing drills of this

type, as it is very easy to harm someone's joints in this

fashion.

Remember always, as you engage in these drills,

that you’re just trying to increase your speed, your

accuracy, and your kinetic awareness. These are not

street survival drills. Refer always to the Wagner

disarm material we discussed earlier.

Now, in this category of training, drills will vary

depending on the techniques used (specific knife

defense techniques are beyond the scope of this

document) and the style in which one trains.

Disarms and defenses are best trained under

qualified instructor supervision. Be aware that a rigid

training knife is potentially dangerous, especially if

thrust into an eye or the throat.

While training disarms and defenses it is very easy

to get into bad habits, hurt the "attacker," or experience

injury as the "defender." Wear protective gear as

appropriate.

Drills for training forms and mechanics can be as

simple as watching yourself in the mirror or watching

your own shadow on the wall as you move through the

mechanics and flow of your particular fighting style.

Aluminum trainer blades are best for this purpose,

as they are closest to live blades (and thus help you

develop the appropriate mindset for wielding the knife)

but still relatively safe if you make a mistake.

KNIFE “FIGHTING” DRILLS

ACTIVE SPARRING

DISARMS AND DEFENSES

FORMS AND MECHANICS

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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Hanging object targeting can be done with training

knives or with live blades. Using tennis balls, ping

pong balls, sheets of paper, pieces of cardboard, or

other suitable targets, hang the targets from a wall or

ceiling with cord or string.

Using your knife or trainer, practice stabbing and

slashing at the targets to get the feel for hitting where

you're aiming. For best results, hang targets at

different heights.

Always use extreme caution when test-cutting with

a live blade! One very useful piece of equipment is a

simple pair of leather wrist cuffs. Remember that your

knife can maim and even kill you. Respect it.

Cutting hanging bottles can be a very useful

exercise. Targets can be empty or full of water (with

predictably messy results). This is really just a

variation on the hanging object targeting drills, the

stipulation being that the targets are bottles. Do not

use glass!

One of the great things that hanging bottle test

cutting provides is physical feedback. Especially when

full of water, the bottles allow you to test your cutting

ability and technique. If you can get through the

bottle, you know your technique is sound. If your

technique is faulty, you’ll just end up pushing or

knocking the bottles around, rather than cutting

through them.

It should go without saying that this type of

training is extremely dangerous, or potentially so.

Make sure no one else is nearby when you attempt this

type of test cutting, and make sure your own body parts

are out of the way of your swinging knife.

More than one human-shaped punching "bag"

exists on the market. Buying one of these is a quick

and easy way to practice accurate targeting against a

person-sized opponent.

HANGING OBJECT TEST CUTTING

HANGING BOTTLE TEST CUTTING

PURCHASED DUMMY TEST “CUTTING”

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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Training knives are used for this purpose,

obviously, because live blades would carve up and

destroy the dummy.

Your goal is simply to accustom yourself to

targeting specific vulnerable points on the human

body, using an implement that represents your knife. If

you’ve never done it before, you’ll be surprised by

how awkward you first feel — when trying to bring

your slashes and thrusts into something that only starts

to look like reality.

Once you’ve gotten used to targeting vital areas on

your body-shaped dummy, it’s time to move up to

actual cutting on something that simulates the human

form. There aren’t really any targets like this that you

can buy, so you’ll have to build one.

There are a number of different ways to construct a

test-cutting dummy. The most common methods

involve some type of hard core — PVC or wood, for

example — covered in padding of foam or layers of

cloth.

Duct tape is usually used to wrap the padding (and

can be used to extend the life of the cutting dummy).

The object is to create something that provides

resistance but which can be cut from the outside to a

harder core (which simulates bone).

This gives the knife wielder some idea of what to

expect when striking a human target. The design of the

dummy is really up to you. Use your imagination and

experiment with different methods.

Cutting slabs of meat is another way to get some

idea of the resistance one's blade will encounter against

a human target. Slashing into a slab of beef will also

impress on you the damage a sharp knife can do to the

human body with very little effort.

A certain famous knife maker produces videos of

endless cutting of hunks of meat to demonstrate the

effectiveness of his blades. The best part about all this

meat cutting is you can have a cook-out afterwards.

Remember that the purpose of training drills is to

develop the skills necessary for wielding a knife

effectively for self-defense.

Practicing a lot of flashy, useless maneuvers that

look impressive but have no application is a waste of

your time and may cause you to do something foolish

in the stress of a real encounter. When performing

these drills and in devising drills of your own, always

ask yourself a few questions:

• What skill does this drill develop?

• Will the drill create bad habits as

performed?

• What is the application of the skill

developed?

• Is there a way to develop this skill more

efficiently?

Remember also to never train when you are tired,

either physically or mentally. Even a training knife

can hurt you very badly if you aren’t careful and don’t

wear the proper protective equipment.

DUMMY TEST CUTTING

CUTTING MEAT

ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND…

Close Quarters Combat Practitioner Certification Series Module 2: Edged Weapons

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The blade is a deadly weapon. Facing it is no

small thing.

It can be a daunting, even terrifying task, and one

that no sane individual wishes to experience. The

unfortunate reality of our violent world, however, is

that you may indeed face a criminal armed with a

blade.

That criminal may want your money, your wife,

your daughters…or your life. Regardless of what he

wants, you must face him down and survive, or be

prepared to pay the ultimate price in order to protect

your loved ones.

All self-defense involves risk. When a weapon

such as a knife is introduced, the gamble you take with

your life increases accordingly. The choice before you

is whether to lie down and die, or keep fighting until

you succeed.

Success or failure isn’t, in this case, as simple as

“winning” or “losing” a fight. In a knife fight, the

winners often can be hard to tell apart from the losers.

When one person defends against a knife, that

person can expect to be cut, and cut badly. When a

knife-wielding attacker surprises a citizen defender

who has a knife, both individuals may be maimed or

killed.

In any event, you must be trained, prepared,

willing, and able to do everything in your power to

stop that assailant from getting what he wants.

This is why we advocate knowing not only how to

defend against an edged weapon when you’re

unarmed, but also how to use one yourself for

defensive purposes. It will most likely be a very

different mental state you play with when training with

a knife in your hands, sinking it deep into a pot roast…

…and that’s the point!

Edged weapons escalate a standard “brawl” into a

life or death consequence. The mental preparation for

such a violent, traumatic encounter is done long before

the actual attack. It happens now.

Prepare for the worst, dare to hope for the best, and

train safely as you keep reality always in mind.

REMEMBER THIS:

Coming Up In Module 3: FIGHTING ON THE GROUND!

You’ve heard it over and over again…”most fights go to the ground”! It’s true. But the

ground is the LAST place you want to end up in a real street fight (sorry mixed martial arts fans!)

On the ground, you’re a sitting duck for your attacker’s buddies to begin stomping on your

head or for your attacker to pull out a knife or other weapon and make short work of you while

you’re locked up defenseless. That’s why in Module 3 we’ll show you…

Ø How to make “child’s play” out of even the most experienced mixed martial artist!

(Hint: they learn “groundfighting” – we’ll show you how to “fight on the ground”!)

Ø “LESSONS FROM THE CAGE”! Why the best survival strategies from no holds barred

sports fighting AREN’T found in the ring!

Ø When “getting nasty” will actually DESTROY your chances to survive a ground attack!

Ø “SECRET TARGETS” most men have never even thought of! But they’re brutally

effective at ending ANY ground assault in mere SECONDS!

And Much, Much More!