[quote]Sifu wrote:
Anything against a person who is skilled can be tricky. Most of the counters I can think of don’t require a high level of skill to be effective.
[/quote]
Yes, I agree.
That is a possible counter. But, you must first stop the person’s forward pressure and have a good solid base (very difficult to generate enough force when you are off balance). A good takedown artist is not just going to sit there on their knees and wait for you to pull off a counter.
I agree though that attacking the spine (as in locking the spine) can be a very effective method of defending a takedown.
The windpipe may or may not be a viable target. The carotids can also be viable (you mentioned a guillotine choke) along with the collar bone. You can also attack the nerves under the jaw line, behind the ear, or the side of the skull (using a “razor fist”). But once again, you must stop the initial takedown to pull those off.
It also can be harder than you might think to get to the eyes, especially if the person is aware of eye attacks and knows how to prevent you from getting them.
Yes, that’s a very possible defense (and the neck break is brutal). It still depends though on what type of takedown (high single, low single, high double, high crotch, etc…) you are talking about.
Well, that’s not really a “side stance” then from the definitions of stances that I know. But yes, a basic “on guard” stance would be a better choice for most situations.
You need to buy time because if you don’t you’re going to be crashing to the ground before you know what happened.
A good takedown artist doesn’t look to just get in, grab your legs and then muscle you to the ground. They’re looking to plow through you, grabbing 1 or two legs on the way in to prevent you from being able to regain your balance.
The correct way to get the leg up in a single for instance isn’t to try to pick it up (muscle it up), but to drive the opponent backwards/off balance, and use that drive to stand up with the leg. Once there (and if you have been taught now to defend against possible “street” attacks) it’s very difficult to pull off any of the counters that you have suggested.
So you need to buy time to regain a solid balanced position from which you can then perform any number of defenses.
Of course a good opponent is going to be constantly adjusting to you, so you need to be able to pull off counters without thinking. Hence the need to actually practice takedowns/takedown defenses with other skilled practitioners.
You are also right that there are counters to takedowns (both “sport friendly” and “street”), I haven’t been trying to say otherwise. I’m just saying that you must really train the heck out of those counters against truly skilled practitioners.
Sadly, many people practice their takedown defense against people who quite frankly suck at takedowns. Yet because these people can make their stuff work against crappy takedown artists, they think they could pull them off against truly skilled opponents. That’s just not the case.
Also, while the defenses that are common in sporting contexts (especially wrestling) might not be as lethal as some “street” methods, they can still be just as effective at defending takedowns.
After all, wrestling is pretty much a sport purely consisting of who can take who to the ground and control them. As the old saying goes, “if you want to know the best way to the top of the mountain, ask the man who goes there everyday”.
