Downward stab – 360 degree defense question

[taikei]

A typical downward knife stab vs 360 degree defense assuming counter attacks and disarm technique.

I’ve been taught to strike wrist to wrist, however this occured to me today which my wrist struck the assailant’s(KM class ofcourse) wrist joint which ended up snapping opponents wrist forward and slashed my forearm.

should I consider striking couple inches below wrist joint just enough to keep the blade away from my forearm. Or is it expected or assumed that you will be scratched a little.

Any thing you should consider when the knife is single blade or double. May be a single blade, likely your wrist will face non-bladed side.

Taikei

[anonymous]

I think you should always aim to go wrist to wrist. If you get cut, it would probably be just a small, superficial cut (nothing life threatening), better than to get stabbed in the heart.

You probably won’t be as accurate in real life as you are in training and so, when you are truly surprised by the attack, you might actually hit a little below his wrist anyway.

I hear a lot of people say that in a knife fight you should expect to get cut and the main thing is to try and avoid to get cut in any vital area.

[johnwhitman]

Yes, I agree with Giantkiller. You WON’T be nearly as accurate in real life (nor even during stress drills in class). If you intend to defend farther up his arm, and you are off by a few inches (and therefore go even farther up the arm), the knife may come over the top of your defense and stab you in the head, chest, etc.

[anonymous]

We actually had a thread some time ago titled \”Help??\”, which was about a DVD made by another Krav Maga organization in Europe. As a principle, they defend forearm against forearm, rather than wrist against wrist, because they say it makes the defense stronger and keeps their own arm further away from the knife.

However, in their videos, they have so-called \”action scenes\” and in those you can see the defender being inaccurate and he ends up defending against the crook of the elbow, rather than against the forearm, which makes the knife kind of swing around, toward his head. Worked okay in this simulated situation, but in real life this could be dangerous.

[taikei]

Thank you.

This problem occured when I started to learn 360 w/ counter and disarm.
Having continuous motion after the initial defense gave me second thoughts, holding the knife hand after defense.

I realized on video, where instructors defended downward stab with bone side of the forearm, and when they transfered to hold the knife hand, I saw a slight rotation of the wrist toward softside(palm side). I see this rotation deflecting the knife hand just enough to avoid slashing.

I should simplify this question.
I don’t see the forearm attack to knife hand entirely identical for the followings:
1. 360 and counter attack without disarming technique
2. 360 and counter attack, then hold the knife hand

For 1, I could avoid slashing by making a quick move backward and retreat.
For 2, I still need to fight against the knife hand.

Any additional view I should consider?

[anonymous]

Also remember to move in deep when defending. Make sure to really push his knife arm back, so it will be hard if not impossible for him to stab you multiple times. It’ll make it difficult for him to move his arm and thus you have more control. Then once you’ve grabbed the arm, keep pushing it backwards if you can, while kneeing him. Make sure to give a lot of strong counters before you go for the disarm. If you do the disarm, make sure to step back and get your upper body out of the way, so you won’t slash your abdomen while moving his arm forward. Of course, you don’t always have to do a disarm, if you feel it is safe you could also just run away, after you kneed him several times.

[kravron]

When h2h against a knife wielding opponent you are never going to come away \”un-cut\”. The 360 defense, if done properly, allows one to at least come away with minor cuts to non-vital areas imho. Expect some cuts, expect some bleeding, but be the one walking away when all is said and done. That is what I get from the knife defenses.

[Author]

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