There has been a lot of recent emphasis placed upon ground fighting. The need for an effective arsenal of ground fighting techniques has been brought into focus by such sporting events as the "Ultimate Fighting Championships." In these events, the fighters rarely exchange more that a few fleeting punches or kicks; instead, they quickly end up on the floor, grappling. Though these competitions are believed by some traditional martial artists to be no more than glorified wresting matches, for any one who has found themselves attacked by an enraged street fighter and wound up on the ground squirming, attempting to get the upper hand in the fight realizes, there is a very definite need to develop effective ground fighting techniques which can be put into action if the need ever arises. To this end, we as martial artists must train ourselves at all levels of combat to not only make us more complete and proficient warriors but to be able to successfully defend ourselves in any combative situations we find ourselves in.

The most important thing to remember if you find yourself on the bottom of a ground fighting skirmish, is to not attempt to recklessly wiggle out from under your opponent. This type of ground fighting tactic will only leave you exhausted of energy and and with limited results. Any defensive action which is taken must be done so in a very competent manner, in order to not only substantially limit the time of the fight, but to save yourself from unnecessary injury, as well.

The appropriate time to launch into any ground defense is the moment you find yourself on the floor. For as each moment passes your opponent possess the ability to get you in a hold that you can not break free from or strike you to a Vital Point from which you can not successfully recover.

The predominate difference between violent ground fights on the street and the fighting matches which takes place in the ring is that, on the street your opponent is not satisfied with simply getting you into a hold you can not recover form and you ultimately "Tap" out of. Instead, he is much more prone to attempt to completely debilitate you, than to desire to simply receive your concession to the match. For this reason, time is of the utmost importance and you must enter into the most effective defense possible when you find yourself in any ground fight.

The first step a competent martial artist must take when located on the bottom of a ground fight, is to protect his head and neck from assault. Most trained and untrained fighters alike, will attempt to either punch at your face or strangle you, if they are in the superior upper positioning. As any one who has ever been engaged in a fierce street altercation will attest to, it only takes a few well delivered strike to the head and your ability to competently defend yourself is greatly diminished. Therefore, not allowing this type of attack to occur is paramount.

Protecting your head and neck from ground level combat does not mean you should only "Coverup" and do nothing further to protect yourself. By doing nothing your opponent will maintain the fighting advantage. What this does mean, however, is that you must first halt any type of forceful attack your opponent may be launching at your head and then immediately follow up with a competent counter attack. The most efficient way to accomplish this is to encounter his attack in a format that will not only stop his assault on you but will give you defensive positioning from where you can get him off the top of you, and continue on with additional self defense, as well.

To understand the best approach to ground level defensive strategy, we can look at the two predominate types of attacks an opponent will launch at you in a ground fight; the punching attack and the choke hold.

It the case of the ground level punching attack, there are two elements of your opponentts body you must initially recognize in order to best deal with the assault; they are: the Base or Holding Arm, (the arm that is generally left stationary to hold you down), and the Striking Arm. By identifying these two weapons and their location you can begin to effectively deal with the onslaught of the attack.

If you are being held down and struck from above, you attacker's punches need only travel in a downward path. Thus, they posses additional gravitational force and momentum, to a punch which is delivered horizontal. Therefore, this type of punching attacking must be halted immediately or you can very easily be knock or or severely injured. In this case, the Striking Arm of your opponent is the best body element to immediately deal with.

Instead of simply covering your face, if you find yourself in this unsuitable positioning, you should immediately launch into an effective form of self defense which will get you out from under your opponent. One of the most effective way to begin to achieve this is, to encounter the outside of your adversary's punching elbow, as it is traveling towards you. This can be best accomplished by intercepting it, with an 'Open Hand' Out to In Cross Block, directed at the outside of your opponent's elbow. Once this block has made contact, it will deflect the oncoming punch from striking your face and your opponent's own downward punching momentum will force him to continue forward with the gravitational power of this punch. From this deflecting action, one of two things will occur. One, his punch will travel on and make forceable contact with the ground. This is obviously the most desirable option as it may cause injury to him and give you the momentary option to quickly escape from his grasp. The other probability is, due to the fact he is in a superior positioning he will catch the punch before it travels too far and attempt to retract it in order to strike again. If this occurs, you must take control of his arm. This is most successfully accomplished by maintain your blocking hand's position on his outer elbow and then shoving his arm tightly into his body. With this you will have interrupted the fight long enough that you may strike him to a Vital Point, with your free hand, and then use appropriate methods to dislodge him from on top of your body.

Catching the Striking Arm is the last desired defensive action when you find yourself at the lower level of ground combat. It is much more effective to encounter your opponentts Base Arm before he has had the attempt to strike at you at all. This can be effectively accomplished at the moment he attempts to position his Base Arm to hold you down before he punches. Once his arm is in place, you can deliver a powerful Knife Hand strike to the interior region of his elbow. This will cause it to bend and your opponent will collapse onto you. At this exact moment is the time to flip him off of your body, as he will be most vulnerable. From this, you can gain superior positioning and move forward with your self defense.

The other, very suitable option when your are about to be struck from above, is to strike at your opponent Base Arm elbow from the outside, before he has a chance to punch at you. This is most effectively accomplished by first grabbing onto the upper portion of the hand of his Base Arm, where it touches your body. This will effectively lock it in place. Then with your other arm, powerfully Palm Strike to the outer area of your opponent's elbow. By maintaining control over his hand and by delivering continued force and pressure on his outer elbow, post the strike, you will force him, face first, to travel downwards towards the ground. From this, you can gain superior positioning.

The ground level choke hold is another common type of grappling attack. When an attacker has you in this grasp, we see that he is directing the majority of his energy at holding both of his hands tightly around your neck. Attempting to wrestle them lose may eventually be effective, but in doing so you will waste much of the energy; which may later be needed if a secondary attack is launched against you by your opponent. Therefore, to most effectively defend against a ground level choking attack, you must first take control of the confrontation. You can most effectively, initially, accomplish this by powerfully striking your opponent in a debilitating location. With this, his hold on your neck will be loosened.

The most effective type of counter strike to launch at an opponent from the lower positioning is one that will hit one of his easily accessible Vital Points. The most exposed of these, at this combative juncture, are his temples, his neck, his nose, and to a lessor degree the side of his ribs. The type of actual strike you will use can only be defined by the force of the choke hold your opponent has you in and the distance your attacker is above you. For example, if his face is close to yours, a Knife Hand strike to his temples may be the most effective type of initial counter strike. If he is back, a bit farther off of your body, with this arms more extended, then a Straight Punch to his trachea or a Palm Strike to his nose will be most effectual.

In extreme cases, if you find yourself being held in a ground level choke hold and your attacker has extremely long arms, which are outstretched, then you may need to bring him closer to you, to achieve this first defensive strike. To successfully accomplish this, you can bring both of your arms up over the top of his arms and deliver simultaneously Knife Hand strikes to his inner elbows. This will cause them to bend naturally inward and he will be forced to moved closer to you. From this positioning you will have then possess the ability to effectively strike him.

Once you have made this initial counter strike, it is imperative that you immediately continue forward and remove him from on top of your body; as this is the time when he will be most vulnerable. To achieve this most effectively, you should not interrupt your fighting momentum by changing to a completely different strategy and attempting to recklessly wrestle him off of your body. Instead, you should move forward, progressing in a similar fashion to your initial strike. For example, if you have used a Palm Strike to his nose, you can continue on by leaving your striking hand in place, as you reach your other arm behind his neck and by pulling downwards, towards you, with his hair, as you push upwards, away from you with his jaw level, you will powerfully arched his neck into an unnatural angle, thus, locking it. Once you have achieved this hold, directing him off of your body can be accomplished with ease, by simply applying additional pressure to this technique. Immediately upon removing your attacker from you body, you should strike him to a debilitating location so he will not posses the ability to continue the grappling match any further.

Each ground fight is very different. Thus, there are no universal rules for how to defense yourself in each individualized confrontation. There are, however, a few rulesofthumb which need to be remembered. First of all, never allow a ground fight to become a muscle to muscle confrontation. That type of combat is to no one's advantage. Instead, always remember to deliver an initial strike to Vital Point on your opponent when possible, and then use your opponent's own body elements to remove him from his upward positioning. As discussed, this is most effectively accomplished by taking control of his arms or by grabbing his head with both of your hands and powerfully arching his neck to one side.

In is very important that we as martial artist enter ground fighting practice into our training regime, as it has been proven time and time again this is where most street altercations end up. From this partner training, if we ever end up grappling on the ground in a no holds bar street confrontation it will not be an alien experience to us and we posses the knowledge from our practice sessions to understand how to successfully deal with each type of ground level opponent attack.