What is the best defense in a bar brawl ??? That question comes up a lot during Jiu Jitsu practice. As a Jiu Jitsu student, you adapt to the situation. Generally, I know that I don’t want to take it to the ground. Bars are known to have broken glass on the floor. If your on the ground, someone could throw a chair on you or you could be kicked in a group attack. In my opinion, the best defense is not being there.
June of 1987 , Greg S., a friend from high school, and I went to Ocean City, Maryland. It was a tradition for recent High School graduates from Baltimore and the surrounding area. Ocean City, Maryland, is a small run down family vacation town on the Atlantic Ocean with a sandy beach. Near the O.C. boardwalk, there was a night club with a dance floor, which allowed 18 year olds into the establishment, but were not permitted to drink. We happily paid to get in and had to wear yellow wrist bands. Meeting women was on our minds. Note, we had a couple of beers on the beach before we entered. To be honest, I don’t recall drinking or how much but it definitely wasn’t an unreasonable amount.
As we were entering the bar, I believe we were being watched. It was about to get very ugly. The place was dark. As we were scoping out the dance floor for women, a ring of guys formed around Greg. Greg was in the center and another guy facing him. The guy next to me said, ” Stay out of this and you won’t get hurt.” Greg is a big guy and he could hold his own so I didn’t immediately object. Thirty seconds later, the man who told me to stay out of the fight, sucker punched Greg in the face. Just as his hand recoiled, I noticed that he was wearing brass knuckles. Brass knuckle is a small metal weapon; worn over the knuckles on the back of the hand. Greg was stunned and stumbling. To make things worse, as Greg stumbled, the attacker in front of him struck him. There was no time to get help. I didn’t remember seeing a bouncer at the front door. I had to act. Right or wrong, I forcefully grabbed the back shoulder shirt of the guy with the brass knuckles and the other guy on my other side by his shirt shoulder. I charged forward while dragging the two guys by the shoulder into Greg and the other guy. In a second, we were all laying on the floor in a pile and I was on top. My hope in collapsing the ring was to create chaos so that Greg could escape. This is when the whole situation gets really unclear. I don’t know what happened to Greg S. after that point.
My next memory is jumping to my feet after the pile up. When I got to my feet, there was a guy in front of me with his hands up with clinched fists. I quickly looked around. I didn’t see Greg. I jabbed the guy hard in the jaw. He returned with a hook. I immediately felt a cut under my eye. The cut on my face was from the attacker’s jagged ring. Blood ran down my face. I don’t have memory of the events after that. Perhaps there was another attacker, out of view, that choked me out? I believe I was knocked or choked unconscious at this time.
Next memory, I saw K. Hopkins, she graduated with me and Greg, standing with her boyfriend in front of us. Her boy friend was manic, wide-eyed, breathing heavy, and holding a broken tennis racket. It was weird. Her boy friend said that he thought he saw the attackers leave the bar. I don’t know if he came to our aid or after I broke the fight ring, the fight evolved into a brawl. After that, I remember the sun had risen. A cop was making a report. We started making our way to the exit. Someone yelled, ” Let them go, they had nothing to do with this.”
Next memory, I was in Greg’s car. Greg was in bad shape. One of his eyes had a broken blood vessel. He kept repeating the same sentence over and over. He had a concussion. I wanted to go to the emergency room but he insisted on going home, so I drove him home in his car.
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