Martial arts on the street can take a number of forms, including self-defense, mutual combat, informal bouts, and, as seen here, bouncers.
You only very, very rarely see a skilled fighter taking on a bouncer one on one. Ordinarily, altercations that occur outside of clubs involve bouncers manhandling drunk people. Well, the following footage is different; this time the bouncer had to take on a very legitimate opponent.
It’s unclear why the two men started trading blows, as the video only shows their fight. As doormen would ordinarily back each other up, the bouncer must have told his colleagues not to intervene. That would prove to me a mistake, because even though the massive size disparity is immediately apparent, size matters, but skills do too.
What Happened
The two men square off and the fight starts. The smaller man is using distance management to keep himself safe, but, having a vastly shorter reach, neither can he attack.
The bouncer throws a jab followed by a 1-2 combination all of his punches miss. The boxers head movement provides protection, as he gets a sense of the bouncers speed and reflexes. Very quickly the boxer realizes what he is working with - there’s not much, but there’s a lot of it.
The boxer lands a jab to the body and a left hook to the bouncer’s jaw; he’s clearly dominating the standing exchanges. The bouncer recognizes that and uses his much, much larger frame to clinch with the boxer and throws him on the ground.
Unfortunately for the bouncer, and fortuitously for the boxer, the bouncer barely understands clinching, and doesn’t understand the ground at all. The boxer manages to get up in a matter of seconds. and both men are still clinching; the bouncer lands a knee to the body, and the boxer returns the favor with a headbutt.
A central aspect of mixed martial arts is getting reads on where your opponent is weak, and then capitalizing on them. Unfortunately, the bouncer does not even appear to understand where he is weak, and how to work with that. They both eventually break up from the clinch. It was at this moment (1:46) the bouncer knew … he f***ed up.
The boxer is back in his natural element now. He dodges most of the bouncer’s wild hooks with clean head movement and starts throwing a combination of his own - straight punches, hooks, uppercuts. He is BLASTING the bouncer with heavy knuckles.
Then, a little improbably, a woman with an umbrella walks between the pair. The rest of the security staff, doubtless reading the writing on the wall, intervene, and it’s over.
The Takeaways
•It makes no sense for bouncers to get into fist fights.
•Boxing is one of the best martial arts in human history.
•Guys egging on the action are always idiots, and need a slap.
•If you want to box on the street, learn to grapple.
•Head movement is a very, very effective means of defense, in a fist fight.