Does size always matter in a street fight?

That was only latterly - it was originally a legal term that dates from Rome and refelcts the original description. The "testing" aspect is probably because people were being picked up on incorrect usage

 

To be fair at 215-220 I don't really think Mike qualifies as being "small"

 

In a room of representative "normal" people Tyson would be a big chap.
Not the tallest but in no way what anyone wold call "small".
He just wasn't in the realm of a George Foreman type person.

 

weight may have been comparable but more than often he would be
at a disadvantage in height/reach

 

Range disadvantages are very temporary for anyone who's determined to close the gap. I've never seen anyone who was inclined to fight their way in kept at bay for very long by someone determined to keep it at long range. Punchers close on kickers. Grapplers close on punchers. Etc.

 

Reading your post and going back over this thread made me realise that my use of mike tyson as an example was a bit pointless as the original question was related to self defence.
It also made me realise the real point i'd missed was that reach difference does'nt
have the significance in self defence scenarios that it does in way i currently spar so
thats a lesson well learnt.

 

Exactly. What is the power equation? Velocity squared times mass? All of the above are factors that matter. I would say, yes, size always matters, size=mass.

That said, other factors can obviously outweigh size, speed for example can be a disadvantage to size, and speed can surely trump size.

 

It's something of a trade off - there is a point where big becomes TOO big and you lose the advantage.....Giant Silva anyone?

 

I think that's an important point. I think we tend to exaggerate the role of reach advantage because our gauge is usually sparring within a particular style or school. Depending on the style in question, that might often translate into a shared range. If it's a school that favours kicking, and people are typically paired up by height (which happens often), then the two people involved are going to share a preferred range. And the person with the reach may genuinely BE at an advantage.

Now, make one of them a wrestler. The calculus changes rapidly.

 

One of my friends was a Hapikido black belt. He weights only 95 lb back then. He always carried a bottle of red pepper powder. When the fight started, he would open the bottle and threw the red pepper powder at his opponent's face and jumpted in. He told me that worked for him everytime.

 

Bottom line is that the phrase is true.

The more mass you have, the greater the force when you hit the ground.

The phrase doesn't mention any other attribute.

 

That's what she said.

(C'mon, somebody had to do it with a thread with this title and a creepy smiley)

 

I have two usual sparring partners that are at my level, one is a bit bigger than me, and one is my same height but thinner than me. I can say size makes someone harder to manipulate, and it leads to harder hits. But it is only one of many factors.

 

I'm a smaller guy, and when I have to spar a bigger guy, I like to bank on my speed and footwork. Also learning to in fight is a good thing to do if you're a smaller person as well, I don't, I'm trying to pick it up but it doesn't agree with how I move and how I do things. I just pray to God that he can't move faster than me haha.

Oh on another note of the Size matters question, anybody see the Ip Man 2 movie, the one where he has to fight the boxer. Just wondering.

 

Its a movie. Just like Bruce Lee fighting that 7 foot guy. The result is written in the script. Real life is not as neat and justified.

 

Love those movies. They made me love wing chun almost as much as karate for a while.

 

Oh, my mistake that it was taken that way, I didn't mean it that way. I'm not saying that it is all great and amazing and will work in real life just like that even if you're a smaller guy, I like the movie, it was well done, but yes, realistically it is all on script and it is a scripted engagement. They also made use of some useful things if you can get inside. If you punch to the bicep on the inside of the arm, it hurts pretty bad, I know that for sure. If you can get inside, it is isn't easy to exploit that, you really have to have their arm extended, but it is a good spot to hit if you can get inside.

 

It's cool, I didn't really think you were taking fight advice from a movie.

I could think of many targets better than the bicep if you get inside someone's guard though!

 

I threw a power hook at the same time as the guy I was sparring threw one the other night. My hand was higher than his but his punch landed right on my bicep. Made me not throw my right as much! Hitting the bicep is effective, just not a practical target : P

Edit: How anyone could have made sense out of that sentence before I edited it . . . . good lord

 

I would consider it more an entry into guard, not something to bother with once you're there.