I have taught self-defense for over 30 years, and I have seen many examples of where correct martial arts training has indeed saved students in real attack situations.
One martial arts student of mine, a banker, was in a bar in New Mexico, wearing a business suit, when a bully slugged in the head, unprovoked. My student went down, but got back up and promptly threw the biker onto his head breaking his neck. He died. Two of the biker’s buddies jumped at my student. My student, although lighter and smaller than any of the bikers, immediately knocked out the other two bikers.
My student was charged with manslaughter, and even though there were many witnesses who testified that it was clear self-defense, and he was acquitted of any charges, it still cost him $60,000 in lawyer fees. Being right doesn’t mean that it will not cost you. Avoid fights, even if you are “right.”
Another martial arts student of mine was also in a bar, in Dallas, Texas, when he was seated at the bar, which he often frequented, and was slugged in the head, again unprovoked, by a customer. My student pounded the assailant’s face with a half dozen blows, then knocked the assailant over a table. The bouncers dragged the assailant outside while patting my student on the back. They even offered him a job as a bouncer, which he declined.
Notice the similarities. In a bar where alcohol is being served. Blind sided with a punch without provocation. Conclusion: stay out of bars. That is where you find drunk, stupid, retarded morons who have something to prove.
I have numerous other stories of like kind from my students also, several from my female students where they successfully defended themselves from male attackers using what I had taught to them.
And, then there is me. I am 62 years old, fat, and out of shape, teach in a college, and have broken up a half dozen fights among students in the 8 years I have been here. I even “fought” a psychotic marine fresh back from Iraq, and one-fourth my age, in a classroom when he attacked me, and fended him off quite successfully without much effort. Without warning, he had tried to elbow me in the face. I dodged, but he managed to break my glasses. I spear-handed him repeatedly in the throat, backing him up all of the way across the room. He tried, but could not land anything else on me, and could not stop me from successfully tagging him with every blow I threw. I pulled the blows so as not to kill him, but I made my point anyway. He gave up and wanted to be my friend for the rest of the term. I didn’t even report the fight, I snapped the lens back into my glasses, and went back to teaching the class as if nothing had happened. He was grateful for that, too.
The secret is that I do not teach a “sport” marital art. I teach actual fighting which is very different from the traditional “sport” marital arts. We train full contact, and include everything the traditional martial arts have plus hair-pulling, eye-gouging, foot-stomping, man-handling, shoving, finger-breaking, and biting.
My students don’t start fights, but they damned sure can end them, and fast.