MMA in Unarmed Combat

Study of Bison System

(UAC FOUNDED IN INDIA)

Krav Maga is basically a situation based art. It teaches you to get out of various situations involving an opponent grabbing and immobilizing you from various positions. It consists of one range only where someone may grab you from front or behind in a bear hug, with or without the arms pinned by the sides, someone may try to choke you and so on. You are expected to release the opponent’s hold over yourself and then attack him using a combination of a kick, a few punches, knee and elbow, and maybe a throw. It also teaches at a basic level to defend from a knife or a firearm attack at close range by using some locking and disarming techniques.

It is the only Martial Art system of the world which does not teach kicking, punching, or any specific technique of a range in detail to a practitioner before he is put in a situation where he must get out of a grab using those very techniques. Generally a student is given an introduction to a few kicks, punches, and knee elbow techniques at a basic level for a short duration only. Using a kick or a punch in a real scenario where a hostile person is trying to hurt you takes a certain minimum degree of proficiency. This is necessary as one must be able to gauze distance to target (measure), be able to make proper contact with the target, and generate substantial amount of power with the body to hurt or injure the opponent. In the absence of such training and ability, one will only try out the techniques successfully in a controlled classroom environment and fail miserably in a real world scenario.

The Bison system was devised for the military by researching in the military on forces personnel. Therefore, certain aspects of training in this system are classified and taught only to the military.

The Bison system is a multi range system where the various ranges taught are, the kicking range, punching range, trapping range, knee elbow range, grappling range, throwing range. Apart from these, various joint locks are also taught. Each range has its specific techniques which are taught systematically to a certain degree of proficiency. It makes sure that a practitioner is able to kick, punch, and otherwise execute all the techniques to injure the opponent. At the same time, since it was made for the forces, it advocates and teaches techniques from each range that are simple, easy to learn and perfect, and will cause maximum damage to the opponent. Thereafter, one who wants to learn and master a particular range or technique can progress to do so. If someone has previous experience in a particular range of fighting such as punching (boxing), or kicking (Taekwondo), it becomes an added advantage as it saves some time and becomes a starting point from where to begin. The Bison system encompasses the various components of the CQB part of ACCS such as H2H- where both are unarmed, H2W- where the opponent is armed with an edged weapon or a firearm and you must defend against it, W2H- where you have a weapon in your hand and the opponent is either unarmed or is not in a position to use his weapon (This is commonly seen in situations where you must take out a sentry using stealth), W2W- where both are armed, such as bayonet to bayonet fighting.

The Bison system takes you through the specifics of each range and then introduces you to the variables in combat. In a fight, the opponent may attack you from different angles, whether he is kicking, punching, grabbing, or using a weapon. He may attack you from different levels depending on your respective heights and other factors. He may use different ranges of attack depending on the distance between you and him such as kicking, punching, knee elbow, grappling, ground fighting, etc. The Bison system teaches you to fight each opponent differently depending upon his size, aggression, height, level of proficiency using differing strategies. No two opponents are fought the same way by the same individual. For example, when faced by a tall opponent, the best strategy may be to attack his groin, shin, knee, etc. When faced with a strong opponent, it may be necessary to use stronger weapons such as the knees and elbows. Depending on what strategy is to be used, you must also vary your angle, level and range of attack. Apart from the above, the Bison system teaches the principles of situational fighting which includes Mob fighting, release from street grabs, and defense to knife and firearm attacks. Mob fighting is where the mob is made to attack you in various ranges and in various positions. The mob may be attacking you with weapons such as knives, sticks, etc. They may be punching or kicking. You may be standing, or you may be down on the ground with the mob raining down blows upon you from the top. It may be either one of these situations or a combination thereof. Again, you are not taught specific techniques but the concepts and principles which you will execute using the specific techniques of the various ranges that you are already trained in. Release from street grabs involves an opponent or multiple opponents grabbing you in different positions and you trying to get out of the situation. This is explained in greater detail below. Defense to knife attacks is taught by defining the principle of avoiding the arc of thrust of the weapon and defense to firearm threat is taught by defining the concept of line of fire. There are also other classified subjects taught to the forces exclusively such as bare handed termination, using a firearm to threaten and restrain an opponent and first aid for the soldier who may need to treat injuries inflicted during combat to self or comrades on the spot, before professional medical aid can be made available.

Another problem with Krav Maga is that it puts the practitioner in an artificial scenario with no relation to the real world as the opponent who grabs or holds you is completely static. This gives rise to the following problems. First, an opponent who grabs you with both hands also compromises on his own tools with which he can otherwise attack you, i.e. he also ends up immobilizing both his hands. Secondly, as he is stationary, he gives a false sense of security where you go about executing all your techniques coolly and without any resistance.

The Bison system recognizes the fact that a person who grabs you with the intention of hurting or dominating you will not just stay static and immobile after grabbing you. He will also try to destabilize you by pulling and pushing you all around. Secondly, he may also try to rain blows on you with either one hand or even with both hands as he alternates between grabbing and attacking. This is a common situation experienced as it does not require the attacker to be trained in any art. Therefore, training is given realistically where the person grabbing you will use leverage to pull, push and otherwise destabilize you in any manner possible and you are then expected to get out of the situation.

Krav Maga also suffers from the problem of teaching fixed pattern based techniques from situations to anybody and everybody. For example, if a person grabs you from behind, you will be taught to do a series of techniques which you are expected to mug up and execute on the opponent.

In the Bison system, teaching concept is given prevalence over teaching fixed technique. It recognizes the fact that combat is made up of variables and the opponents also differ on the basis of their size, strength, level of training achieved or lack of it, level of aggression, number of opponents and so on. For example, if you are grabbed, regardless of what part of you is grabbed, and from which angle, you will be taught the concept of first securing his grabbing arm/arms with your own hand and brace your body so that there is minimal chance of the opponent destabilizing you and maybe taking you down on the ground, which is not a favorable scenario. Then you are taught to release the hold by hitting any one of the vital targets available depending on your reach, his body position, etc. Once the hold is released, you are taught to either entre or exit. To enter, you may continue attacking him with close range weapons such as the knee and elbow repeatedly. This is to ensure that he is destabilized and injured as these are powerful weapons, stronger than a kick or a punch. Now that he is injured and destabilized, you may throw him using any one of a variety of throwing techniques taught, again depending on what angle he presents to you with his body and your own level of proficiency. Once you throw him down on the ground, you must end with a finishing blow to ensure that he does not get back up and attack you again. On the other hand, if an exit is desired, after releasing yourself from the hold, you may continue to increase the distance by throwing a punching combination and then a kick to further distance him. The important thing to note here is that you are not taught fixed techniques in a pattern for each individual grab or hold. This is because every technique may not work on every opponent. For example, if someone grabs you from behind, you may suddenly realize that he is too tall for you, and your hand does not reach his face, so an attack to his eyes becomes redundant. Then you must try other techniques which may work on that particular opponent and in that particular situation, such as attacking his groin or shin.

Also, the Bison system teaches release from street grabs using single or multiple opponents (maybe one, two, three, or four). In all the differing scenarios, the principles of combat stay the same and you need not mug up the individual techniques for each scenario step by step which is impractical.