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So what are the most common reasons to keep the fight on your feet?
- The safest defense for most encounters is usually escaping the area.
- It is much more difficult to observe and defend against additional opponents entering the scene when you are on the ground.
- It can also be much more difficult to see a bladed weapon coming at you from a prone position.
- If our opponent stays standing or gets up before us, they have much more reach, power, and tactical options to use against us.
- We will need a greater skill set to overcome a stronger, skilled grappler in addition to our stand-up skills.
- We want to subdue someone without hurting them. Realistically however, this will require us to have authority, physical strength, skill, and the knowledge that there are no other opponents.
- We wish to use the ground as a third point of contact to control and disarm them.
- We are a smaller person who is solely preventing an opponent from picking us up and taking us to another location.
- It's not always possible to keep from going to the ground, as we may accidentally lose our balance in a struggle. Sometimes we are attacked when already on the ground as well. But in most situations, it is best to stay standing!
- We are already a strong grappler, and can see our opponent is not. Then you might choose to use skill set to diffuse the fight.
Stay safe!
Paul