UC Seminar Tour in Finland

From October 18th through to the 21st 2011 UC was hosted in for the third time in Finland. This time we had 3 seminars conducted in three different parts of the Country. The first was in Helsinki where we covered our basic Combatives program to a variety of guys from TMA, MMA and RBSD.

Day One: Here we looked at Personal Security Skills, Threat Recognition and Contact Management onto the physical Combative Hard Skills and the principles that drive them. We also looked at aspects of Counter Grappling from a street perspective, orientated around a proficient practitioner and the aspect of scenario training.

The guys here took to the material really well, and some of the guys even made the long journey to Tampere the next day to attend the second seminar...

Day two took us to Tampere, where I had taught twice before for Ville who is affiliated to me and Richard Dimitri, and is one of the most popular Self Protection guys in Finland. Here, the topic for the day was our 'Sharp Edge' program or Counter-Knife module.

As always, we started by defining the subject before looking at solutions. It was emphasised that no single method of Counter Response could ever offer a fool-proof solution for dealing with the knife unarmed. The primary solution lies in early threat recognition followed by avoidance or in the very least pro-active action by taking initiative before the knife is in play.

If the knife is out and in the hand of a committed subject, then we must do what's necessary to eliminate the threat. This is, in larger part, a mental thing - coupled with an intelligent and tested physical response. In the best case scenario, you deal with the subject relatively unscathed. If not, then damage limitation is the objective; eliminate the threat quickly and clinically, then seek medical management.

The main elements were looked at after the basic threat dynamics were understood - such as how the knifer operates, weapon signature, definition and capability of an edged weapon, consequences of injury, medical management, etc. We moved into the physical realms, covering primarily three facets: the first on dealing with the subject on his/her attempt to weapon access.

Next was, as said ,when the knife is out and in play. And finally from a hold up or brandishing perspective; this is where an obvious lapse in observation has occurred and the very first thing to address will be gaining functional control of your emotions. In all cases, our physical tools were isolated and drilled, then principle applied in scenario application. All in all everyone worked hard and gained some workable information.

The final leg of this tour took us to Pori, to one of Finland’s best MMA clubs. Here, many of the guys were well versed in Thai Boxing and MMA, with many students coming from one form of RBSD, 'Defendo Alliance'. The topic for the day was pure Counter MMA. We took a look at some Combative, street-orientated options for dealing with an MMA practitioner, based on the fact that the modern enemy has indeed evolved to the point where lots of people are now training - including some of the wrong people.

The fan-base for pay-per-view UFC and cage-fighting MMA events is so big that it's not unlikely someone might pick something up from just watching it and try it the next time he finds himself in a scrap. Not to mention the individual that actually trains and/or competes, and momentarily loses it! Of course, such behaviour exhibited from a disciplined MMA athlete is highly unlikely - but shit as we know, happens! In terms of response, we looked at the employment of the very things that are illegal and considered 'fouls' within MMA competition in order to even-up the skill disparity for the pavement arena.

Biting and gouging, groin and eye attacks, ballistic manipulation of small joints, along with a variety of other things formed some of the counter-response options for many common MMA-orientated skill sets. This formed somewhat of an eye-opening addition to what many of these guys already knew, and a welcome addition to their current armoury.

All in all, the material in all three parts of the country was well received. Many thanks goes out to Ville, and to all who took part and made it all possible. I look forward to returning to Finland at some point in 2012...

Peace LM