Pub rules

During my tenure as coach at Lockdown MMA, I have always mentioned the term “pub rules.” When I say pub rules, I am referring to how people react regardless of any kind of martial training. To use it, is to take advantage of the reptile part of our brain – the reactions we have that we just don’t think about. The instinctive and natural way people react to certain situations that often require years of training and effort to counteract.

When I mention “pub rules” at training, I am referring to their effectiveness within MMA. The things we are taking advantage of are not techniques as such, but rather principles. We’re not going up to people in a pub and sinking in a rear naked choke. Rather, we’re using the situation of a pub to demonstrate the natural reactions of people. One of the first rules is straight lines. All our lives are based on straight lines – when we walk, we do it in a straight line (maybe not when leaving a pub though) and when we talk to people, we tend to stand straight in front of them. Therefore, in a pub, if you stand just outside of that line when talking with someone (if you move your left shoulder closer to them and open up the angle of your chest and keep talking) something interesting happens. The person you are talking to will slowly but surely move to your right to get back in line to continue the conversation. All their movement is done subconsciously, meaning they don’t like how it feels to be offline, so they correct it. The person may experience a sensation of discomfort, but perhaps not knowing exactly why. So, in reaction, their instinct is to move to get in front of the person again; in a straight line.

Wonderful you say? I can move some random person in a bar while talking to them, but how does this cross over to fighting? When fighting, there are a lot of decisions we make without thinking. Therefore, when fighting, you can move your opponent around without them being aware of it. For example, your opponent throws a jab and you slip to the outside of the jab (to the right) then you pivot to the right taking you offline from your opponent. 99% of the time, your opponent will step to their right to get a straight line between you. This means that you can predict their movement, and, if you know where they are going, then you have an advantage. Even though I know what is going on I still find myself getting caught. Reacting to these moves when people do it to me still happens because that reptile part of my brain is almost impossible to override.

The second principle I want to discuss is distance. When talking to someone you met at a pub, there is a distance that is deemed the social norm. Funnily enough it seems to be about an arm length or your striking distance. You could talk to anyone in the world at this distance (almost) and it would be considered normal. People wouldn’t be thinking anything other than what’s happening in the conversation. However, if that distance changes, then everything becomes very different. Levels of comfort change and people begin to focus on the distance rather than the conversation.

If we use the jab and slip again as our example – following the slip, we close the distance so that our shoulder is now under their elbow. In pub talk, take a step forward with your left shoulder in line with their left shoulder and without doubt that person will take a step to their right (pivoting away from you). People do not like having someone that close and our reptile brain screams “danger” – encouraging us to get back to a comfortable distance. When it comes to fighting, this works in two ways. With the jab and slip, we close the distance with foot work. The first aspect to this is that it takes out their right-hand counter and we are too close to them for that punch to work. The second thing that happens is that they move to their right to get back into a straight line as before. Now it is time to create some distance between us as having someone under your elbow when your arm is out straight (throwing a job) is a vulnerable position.

This example is for wrestling/BJJ. If I walked up to someone and grabbed their wrist, I’m either either getting a punch in the face or more likely, that person will pull their arm away as fast as I grabbed it. Regardless of training, people know they are in danger if someone grabs their wrist. In BJJ, if you’re going for a shoulder lock (figure 4 or Kimura) and you grab your opponent’s wrist, their warning lights are going off and the defence starts right away. Therefore, when attacking the arm, start with the under hook and work your way down the arm, grabbing the wrist last. This means by the time their warning lights go off, it is too late. Within this example, this is what I’m seeing: you’re under side control and the under hook means control, not that one of your limbs is in danger. Once your opponent has contro,l they can start attacking your arm as your main concern at that point is being stuck under someone. Once they attack your arm that’s all you’re thinking about. All of a sudden, you do not care about being stuck under someone. Taking care of your limbs is a primal instinct that we don’t need help understanding. From a wrestling perspective, when going for an arm drag and you grab the wrist your opponent will pull their arm away from you. If we go back to the pub and grab someone’s wrist and push it in to their hip, they will set their balance and resist against the pressure of your push. The reptile brain does not want a limb pinned to the body. As they are leaning forward and pushing against your grip then as soon as you pull their arm towards you, for the arm drag they come with it making it very easy. This works well in wrestling as you can get their arm for the arm drag then if they get aware of that (in wrestling world not a pub) and stop pushing against you then you have their hand stuck to their hip making a double leg very inviting.

There are many things we do in our day-to-day living that we can take into fighting. When someone goes against these rules as humans we get confused and react more or less the same way. Think when you are standing in a lift and one person faces the opposite way to everyone else in the lift. This will make the people in the lift feel a bit uncomfortable, prompting the others to observe this person closely without actually saying anything. While this example does not translate directly into fighting, the principle of engrained behaviour related to the desire to feel safe is what’s important. Things like distance and straight lines are extremely important examples though. People like being at a comfortable distance and people will do what they can to get back in a straight line with their opponent and you can take advantage of that. For some fun feel free to try this out at a pub, change your angle and watch people move. I know this works in social a setting as we have all been walked across a room while dealing with the dreaded close talker.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor