Minutia matters when it comes to the blade though, and the “Devil is in the details” as they say. The concept is similar yes, McCann is definitely onto the right track with closing the distance, taking out the attacker instead of fixating on the weapon, and his overall intensity/energy. What he is showing is better than 95% of the stuff I see being touted as knife defense stuff.
Rich’s stuff is just that 5% more refined and therefore will give you just that little extra protection that may mean the difference between suffering a potentially lethal stab or slash should you ever find yourself in a truly worst case scenario knife attack.
I will point out all of the little differences that make a difference between the two techniques so it becomes more clear:
- notice Ryan’s body positioning, he has compressed his body structure in such a way as to not only pull his abdomen further away from his opponent, but also made himself a smaller more compact target overall; this effectively minimizes the potentially lethal targets and gaps that his opponent can access making his just a “wall of bone” that his opponent must try to figure a way through/around.
In contrast McCann is much more upright and even goes as far as to expand even further when he reaches out to block the slash/stab. This makes accessing his vital targets much easier and also requires that he judge the line of attack perfectly to be successful.
- Notice that when Ryan closes on the target he remains in his compact position and simply repositions his “shield” so that he beats his opponent to the target. Shielding is a different process and mentality to blocking which, if you have never been exposed to it or don’t fully understand the difference, may look very similar to an untrained eye, but has drastically decreased timing and line recognition requirements thus making it a more effective method of defense against a “swarming” attack.
McCann on the other hand executed a double forearm block, which works great if your opponent throws a predictable line single slash/stab, but falls apart due to it’s timing and exacting line recognition requirements against an unpredictable line slash/stab or swarm. Your margin for error against a knife are far less than unarmed, and fractions of an inch could mean the difference between surviving and winding up dead.
- once inside Ryan winds up in essentially a “shot put” position where his whole body is loaded and he can drive with his most powerful musculature and throws a full body strike into the opponent’s brain with the intention of “wiping them off the face of the planet” as Rich says in the video, and continues to do so until he can either escape or completely incapacitates the opponent. He is seeking to minimize time frame and entanglement as the longer the fights lasts the worse your chances of survival and the more connected/entangled you become the less mobility you have should you have to quickly untangle yourself and escape.
McCann on the other hand throws a relatively weak chopping/hammerfist style attack which is powered by relatively weak muscles (posterior deltoid, triceps, obliques, and maybe some drive from his left leg and hip). He does not wind up in a power/drive position at contact when he blocks and must therefore reposition in order to achieve such a position prior to landing (which takes extra times that he does not have) or throw a relatively weak speed shot. He also again seeks to entangle himself with the attacker, thus making an escape more difficult as well as leaving him open to those liabilities that I outlined before should his speed strike not have the desired stunning effect that it was intended to.
So again, Cliff Notes version.
-Ryan uses a more compact body positioning thus minimizing opponent’s access to lethal targets.
-Ryan shields rather than blocks, thus decreasing the timing and line recognition requirements and minimizes the chances of his opponent capitalizing on openings should he misjudge the line of attack
-Ryan winds up in a power/drive position once inside that allows him to immediately generate a full power initial strike to the opponent’s brain thus giving him the best possible chances of interrupting his opponent’s attacks and he continues his assault until he can either escape or finished his opponent
-Ryan remains untangled with his opponent and therefore he can disengage and escape much quicker should he have to in the even that other people enter the fray or should he seek to access his own weapon (and use Batman’s solution for example), and doesn’t risk his opponent severing his Brachial Artery by placing the blade arm under his upper arm