Hand to Hand VS Duel Weider

[Aces Red]

Me and my friend were sparring one day, he had two blunt Swiss army knives, (Training

weapons). I was fighting unarmed and was trying to learn how to fight against knifes without a

weapon. If I were to attempt to disarm one knife he would stab me with the other right in the

neck still holding on to the other weapon. So how do you fight unarmed against an opponent

duel welding weapons?

[TigerDude]

Get a weapon yourself, or run.

[bushido_man96]

Get a weapon yourself, or run.

I agree. It would be extremely difficult to try to tie up to knife-weilding hands. And once you did tie them up, all you have left is your legs.

[Montana]

Trying to disarm a person with two weapons is where you made your mistake. Instead of disarming them, use your speed to get in and out with very strong and fast blows/jabs, low kicks, etc to upset their balance. Angle your attacks to their weak side (their left side if they're right handed, etc) Your legs are longer than their arms, kick low and fast.

The thing that most people don't realize about defending an attacker with a weapon is that the attackers entire concentration is on using that weapon pretty much exclusively. They rarely kick. That can be used to your advantage. You don't want to get close to them unless you're attacking, and you need to move as fast as possible, and as efficiently as possible. Forget fancy kicks, complicated disarms (unless the opportunity presents itself and you can do it safely).

We've done this same sort of scenerio in my class, plus in my sensei's, and his sensei's class. It can be done.

[lordtariel]

Best bet is to keep your distance or run away. Possibly look for an improvised weapon. rocks, a bottle, a chair, whatever you can find to keep out of range. You might be able to win going toe to toe with him, but the odds are pretty low. But then again, I'd say odds are pretty low you're going to encounter someone who pulls two knives on you in a random fight.

As I side note, I've also noticed that a longer second weapon is more often a hindrance to them unless they trains that way.

[The BB of C]

Get a weapon yourself, or run.

I dissagree. I have a couple technique ideas in mind that (thankfully) I've never had to try but are taught in Kuk Sool Won and Krav Maga.

• Duck under the first knife swing. Get really low. You can back up into him and grab his ankles and pull them out from under him.
   
  You can drop low and sweep his legs out from under him.
   
  You can grab the first swing by the wrist. Step out away and put him into a standing armbar. He can't reach you with the other knife from here.

[cross]

Trying to keep distance or going toe-to-toe are 2 of the worst things you can do against a knife.

Unless you are far enough away to start running, then you need to close distance asap and terminate the opponent. If you try to maintain distance and step back when he takes a slash at you, all your doing is giving them another chance to move forward and take another slash.

So what do you do against someone with 2 knives? Short of running, throwing stuff at them, finding a weapon of your own. Your best bet is to minimise the amount of cuts you get and the location of the cuts, and follow the principles of good edged weapon defense:

1. Secure the weapon hand(s)

2. Clear your body

3. Neutralize the attacker.

If you only have the option of securing one weapon hand make sure you are attacking them so much that they dont even think of using the other weapon.

Also keep in mind there is no set "when he does this slash you do that block and disarm technique" that is going to help you much due to the dynamic nature of a knife attack. If you ever find yourself against a guy with 2 knives for real, do what you can to survive. The technique you use is incidental.

[cross]

Something i forgot to add.

You have to look at the context of the situation, e.g. how did a guy with a knife in each hand end up standing in front of you about to cut you up?

Unless he walks up with both knives already drawn, he has to get them from somewhere. At any time during a threatening situation you see the other person reaching for their pockets or under their shirt etc, its a pretty good indication that they are reaching for a weapon and thats when you should move to end the confrontation, BEFORE they pull the weapon out.

[bushido_man96]

Nice posts, cross. I have been reading up on quite a bit of historical knife fighting, and have seen some of the same things that you talk about. Some of the sources, though, do mention slipping the attack, or even shifting back from it, if not to regroup enough to carry out your plan. Do you think this is wrong? Or just different? Mind you, this is historical stuff, and not recent stuff. However, knife combat has not changed much over the past 1000 years, in my opinion.

[cross]

Nice posts, cross. I have been reading up on quite a bit of historical knife fighting, and have seen some of the same things that you talk about. Some of the sources, though, do mention slipping the attack, or even shifting back from it, if not to regroup enough to carry out your plan. Do you think this is wrong? Or just different? Mind you, this is historical stuff, and not recent stuff.

Once again it depends on the context of the situation. I wont say that stepping back is wrong, just that there are more favourable things to do. But if you have to step back because the situation forces you to for whatever reason then thats where you have to work from. But ideally you should close the distance the moment you get the chance. Maintaining distance gives more chance to them, not you.

However, knife combat has not changed much over the past 1000 years, in my opinion.

Whilst i agree with you for the most part, the only thing i see that has changed is some of the older material(this applies to hand to hand also) focuses on the "dual" mentality of 2 guys squaring off outside a bar and going for it like a sparring match. The reality is, however, that a guy attacking you with a knife isnt going to stand back taking delicate little slashes at you, they are going to be trying to get close enough to get one hand on you so you cant move whilst they are pumping you with the knife in the other hand.