“It’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home, they’re not much bigger than two meters.”—Luke Skywalker
If you’ve seen Star Wars (Episode IV – A New Hope), you’ll probably remember that Luke Skywalker saved the day and the galaxy by firing torpedoes from his X-wing space fighter into the exhaust port of the Death Star, a moon-sized battle station with enough firepower to destroy a planet. This was considered practically impossible because of how narrow the approach was, how small the exhaust port was, and how fast the fighter craft would be approaching—not to mention that there would be resistance from the enemy.
This scenario got me thinking: In “no-holds-barred” type fights, is the reason why strikers have historically done poorly against grapplers because they’re essentially trying to bullseye a womp rat? (For the sake of this discussion, let’s define strikers as those relying primarily on punches and kicks and grapplers as those relying primarily on throws or on shooting in followed by submissions and chokes.)
Sure, at the highest levels of striking and grappling, both can work and be devastating. No doubt that striking with adequate force to a vulnerable area can be a showstopper. And no doubt putting someone in a guillotine with adequate constriction around the neck can also be lights out. The question is which of those against a moving, non-compliant, resisting, and perhaps even aggressive opponent is more likely to work.
In my opinion, in a situation where both opponents square off beforehand (e.g., in a UFC competition), if you rely primarily on striking, you’d better be Luke Skywalker and able to bullseye a womp rat to stop even a decent grappler. Although there are many vital areas and pressure points all over the body that a striker can target, a grappler’s targets are by comparison largely, well, large (e.g., the legs for a takedown) and arguably easier to get to, requiring less precision and coordination than a punch or a kick. Sure, a well-placed knee to the head or elbow to the back of the neck can stop someone shooting in for a double-leg takedown. But there’s a reason why the sprawl is generally more effective against someone shooting in: executing the knee and the elbow with proper timing and distance are like, well, bullseyeing a womp rat. And if you don’t bullseye the womp rat, the grappler’s going to be all over you.
So, what to do if you’re a striker? Well, one obvious solution would be to practice bullseyeing womp rats more. By increasing your precision and speed against a decent grappler at full speed, you increase your chances of being able to use it in a realistic situation. But in my experience there’s a big problem with this solution: finding a person who’s willing to be kneed or elbowed like that. When executed perfectly (especially if you try something like hitting a person in the trachea when they shoot in), striking can be very dangerous—and that makes it problematic in training. Unfortunately, being unable to train at full speed makes using these strikes in real combat much more difficult.
Another, probably better solution is to work some grappling into your game. Both standup and ground grappling will almost certainly occur naturally in any situation that is not for some reason limited to striking. In fact, even in western boxing, fighters will clinch, sometimes throwing the opponent away to make space or staying in the clinch and getting off short, powerful body strikes. And I don’t disagree with grapplers who say that most street fights go to the ground (I just disagree with a percentage like 90%—I’m not sure it’s quite that high).
A third way to make striking potentially more effective is to make your strikes heavier. That way, even if you miss your intended target the size of a quarter, you might at least do some damage to the area you do hit, perhaps jolting your opponent enough to then allow you to hit your intended target. So, if you’re primarily a striker, ask yourself if, like Luke, you can bullseye a womp rat when the entire galaxy’s fate rests on it. If not, consider practicing on more (and different) womp rats/partners, consider working in some grappling to your skill set, or consider making your strikes heavier. But whatever you do, don’t join the dark side.
