We have covered a few ideas, we could write a whole book on this subject but it is all up to you to develop what works for you, as Jimmy would say, “how good you are is how smart you are”. The idea is that you do not know how good your opponent is, he may be better than you so to square off for your “fair fight”, you could lose. Not only the fight but your life, only fight if there is no way out, if you have to fight make it fast and decisive. Do everything in your favor, distance, angle, blading, set up, just to name a few. Learn to strike hard from a short distance, your job is to strike from a position that he has no chance to react or even see it coming. In order for a brain to react it has to see the attack coming, register the threat and react but if your set up is good he will not have time to do anything, give no chances. Jimmy would always tell us if you hit someone, and they are knocked out and bleeding, turn them over on their stomach so they do not strangle on their own blood as you leave, now that is a humanitarian, heh heh. Jimmy’s goal was not to make ring champions to fight all men who came to the ring. He designed his art for the common man to protect themselves in the street and it works quite well. Jimmy would teach his students about the element in a strange way,he smoked cigars that came in a glass tube, he would put 2 or 3 dimes in that tube and hold it over the rug. He allowed the student to put 2 fingers around it and to grab it once he let go, I never saw anyone catch it. The lesson of action and reaction went home with then, in their brain. It is only a theory on my part, I have thought about this for a long time as is it better to strike when he is talking or you are talking. My thought is it is easier for him to strike when he is talking if he makes his mind up to do so. It takes energy to listen and think so he would have to switch gears to move to defend, it is only a mini second but it may be all you need, think about this and decide for yourself. Don’t yell talk softly, he may calm down a little if you say, “I’m sorry I got so mad” as the knockout punch is on the way.
Here is a video of Bill Lasiter at the 1985 San Soo Demonstration, I picked Bill because he has very fast hands. This will help explain how the element can work, watch how fast Bill can move from total relaxation to a full on attack. Once he decides to move I don’t think anyone could defend themselves or move out of the way. This is the value of the Element Of Surprise and all I can say is, “thank you Jimmy”.
Ron Gatewood
