# Guys: how many women do you know who could kick your ass in hand-to-hand combat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 16, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934 "2011-03-16T16:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/81 "2011-03-17T13:02:08Z")
Of girls I personally know, zero could beat me in a fight. There might be one, who was a college rugby player, who would make it mildly interesting. But I still have the size/strength advantage on her. I’d be interested to see how men of the Dope think they’d fare in hand to hand combat against the other men in their social circles. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/82 "2011-03-17T13:21:42Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Another woman I trained with was about 6’4, 250 lbs of mostly muscle, and swatted me around like King Kong to a biplane when sparring. :eek: that is terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/83 "2011-03-17T13:32:16Z")
> [@Soliloquy](#): > > As a woman and a current LEO, I go into work daily almost expecting to take down men much larger than myself. Like you said, skill, training, speed… And, if you don’t mind my saying so, a little bit of a “You’re going down whether you like it or not, and I’m the one taking you there.” attitude. 🙂 Yup, attitude and mental preparation play a big role. > [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Wait you did say healthy adults right? No way the women would break 100 victories. For one thing, the men, being healthy, would have the obvious strength advantage. Even if we discount that and go for skill alone, out of people selected at random, the men are far more likely to have some sort of training in hand to hand combat. Not that I think the women should be too bummed out about this. As far as I can tell, women are perfectly capable of operating things like firearms and fighter jets as well as men are, and I think those are far more valuable combat skills than being able to kill someone without using a weapon. Have you seen some of the young women coming up these days? I’m 5’10" and a lot of the college girls around here dwarf me… but the guys don’t seem to be getting that much bigger. I wonder why that is. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/84 "2011-03-17T15:51:24Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > I didn’t read the post before voting, but I wouldn’t fight fair against anybody, male or female. Neither the thread title nor poll question mention “fair fight,” and the OP specifically denies that such a thing exists. The OP stipulates only that the fight is unavoidable (because the woman is just that pissed), that both parties are unarmed (which doesn’t seem unreasonable; I own guns, but I don’t walk around with a Glock under my coat) and that the only route of retreat involves getting past the woman. Fair fights are like elves: enjoyable to read about, but pretty much mythical. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/85 "2011-03-17T16:35:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > But Jones won. Ruiz’s size and strength didn’t do him any good. Boxing is exactly the sport I was referring to when I said the easiest way to get an upset win is to get your opponent to take you lightly. Michael Spinks defeated a larger Larry Holmes, Evander Holyfield knocked out the bigger Buster Douglas, Jack Dempsey knocked out the much larger Jess Willard. Brock Lesnar lost twice to smaller men in the UFC. That’s just one reason size and strength only go so far. And in organized sports, you know your opponent will go all out against you at the start. A man fighting a woman may not know the woman will do that, or believe he can be passive and withstand anything the woman can deliver, giving her an immediate advantage if she has enough skill. Size and strength are no guarantee of victory. Well I agree that that they aren’t guarantees of victory, but they certainly make a difference. Not to knock Lesnar’s legit wrestling skills (which he certainly possesses) but a large factor in Lesnar’s surprising quick success in MMA is that he is able to overpower his opponents. You talk about the man being passive and the woman being skilled, which is definitely possible, but men are far more likely to be physically aggressive and possess some sort of hand to hand training than women are. I’m not saying no woman could ever beat a man, especially if the man is old, disabled, or in really bad shape. But in 1000 randomly matched weaponless fights between HEALTHY (that’s important) men and women, the idea that women would come out with a 20 percent victory rate is absurd. EDIT: Tripolar did not make the claim about women winning 200 out of 1000 fights, Skald did. I just wanted to clarify that. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/86 "2011-03-17T16:47:12Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Well I agree that that they aren’t guarantees of victory, but they certainly make a difference. Not to knock Lesnar’s legit wrestling skills (which he certainly possesses) but a large factor in Lesnar’s surprising quick success in MMA is that he is able to overpower his opponents. You talk about the man being passive and the woman being skilled, which is definitely possible, but men are far more likely to be physically aggressive and possess some sort of hand to hand training than women are. I’m not saying no woman could ever beat a man, especially if the man is old, disabled, or in really bad shape. But in 1000 randomly matched weaponless fights between HEALTHY (that’s important) men and women, the idea that women would come out with a 20 percent victory rate is absurd. > > EDIT: Tripolar did not make the claim about women winning 200 out of 1000 fights, Skald did. I just wanted to clarify that. To be clear, I wrote that, in the hypothetical 1000 matchups, women would win NO MORE than 200 – in other words, they’d lose at least 80% of the time. 100 wins (90% losses) seems more likely, and I wouldn’t be surprised by only 50. I’d add that ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/87 "2011-03-17T17:00:59Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Can most guys - or most of you guys - stand tough against a solid fist or a foot to the nuts? Or are you just assuming a woman wouldn’t be able to get to your nuts before you subdued her?. It’s extremely hard to land that fist or foot to the nuts unless it’s a sucker punch (i.e. you attacked a guy who didn’t know he was in a fight). The groin kick etc. is often touted as a magical, easy way to beat a man. If it were that easy, women would win every violent encounter with a man. The fact is, it’s not easy to do in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934/88 "2011-03-17T17:21:42Z")
I voted “six or more”. I am only 5’ 5",and I’m in rather horrid physical condition – overweight, arthritic, etc. – and have never been in a fight. Pretty much any one could beat me up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guys-how-many-women-do-you-know-who-could-kick-your-ass-in-hand-to-hand-combat/574934.md?page=4)