Ugly Red Dummy- Ground Fighting, Damian Ross, The Self Defense Company

One of the SDTS Legion Members suggested that I try to take advantage of the Ugly Red Dummy's tendency to fall down (when it's not weighted down of course). He said I could knock him down and perform the SDTS Ground and Pound from Module 3 of the SDTS.

The drill we're starting with comes from Module 3 of the SDTS: Ground Fighting for Keeps. In this situation you're knocked down and your assailant is standing over you. There could be 100 different ways how you got here but all that matters is that you have the wherewith all to defend yourself.

Your goal in this position is to get on your feet, it's not to end the fight. If you can, it's a bonus but it is best to create some space to enable you to get to your feet OR if you injure or distract him enough you may be able to take him down from this position in the manner shown. Granted, if you do injure him, you may even just want to get to your feet and finish the job.

Try not to be enamored by the technique. Martial artists and self defense experts tend to think that every technique they teach will work 100% of the time against 100% of the attackers in the world. This is obviously false. In this situation for example, I would much rather be the guy standing. When I train, I'm not thinking "I have him now!!" while I lay on the ground in trash and broken bottles only to have his buddies come up from behind and kick my skull in. I'm really thinking "HOLY S#!T!! I've got to get on my feet and if he comes near me I'm going to hurt that SOB anyway I can!!!"

Never, ever choose the ground or grappling. You wind up in grappling and ground scenarios by accident, not by choice. Personally, I've been on the mat for over 30 years. I have won more wrestling and judo contests than I care to remember and I would NEVER choose the ground or choose to grapple in a street fight. The only time I would if it tactically gave me the advantage to do more vicious and violent things to my attacker. A number of years ago when I was a young man I happened to get into a situation where I was fighting in a crowd. While I took down the guy who squared off with me without a problem, his buddies didn't like it so much and took turns teeing off on my head and back. In this situation I was lucky the police showed up or I probably wouldn't be writing this article today.

Always assume your attacker is armed and has friends. I've seen a drunk high school kid get knocked into a coma because someone didn't like the fact that his buddy was getting thrashed, so he decided to put a steel toe Redwing boot into his brain. Don't be stupid, use common sense. If you're not fighting in a controlled environment you're depending on the kindness and sobriety of others.

Getting back to the drill...

This was actually pretty cool and I was never able to train a transition and go full bore before. When you train the SDTS Ground and Pound (or any ground and pound) unless your training on a dummy, you have to be careful and not injure your partner since the force of your strikes are reinforced by gravity. The Ugly Red Dummy allowed me to go from a standing target to a prone target while maintaining intensity. I could never do this with a training partner. And before you start posting and saying "I can do this with a partner holding pads or in a redman suit" I'm going to stop you and tell you you hit like a toddler and should be embarrassed. If you hit with any amount of real force against a pad that is in front of someone's face, you're going to smash their hands into said face. So please save your breath. The only way to do this with a partner is to pull your punches and that is something I don't have time for. we are not sparring we are destroying what's in front of us.

Next time we'll take our Ugly Red friend from the standing position to the ground (Yay!).


Train Smarter, Not Harder,
Damian Ross, CEO The Self Defense Company


Damian Ross is CEO of the Self Defense Company and developer of The Self Defense Training System, the most lethal and effective self defense system in the world, The Guardian Defensive Tactics Police Combatives Program, 60 minute Self Defense and the Family Safe Program. Mr. Ross also founded the Self Defense Instructor Program that helps people develop their self defense careers from the ground up. Mr. Ross is originally from Ridgewood, NJ where he was a High School Hall of Fame Athlete in football and wrestling as well as a varsity wrestling coach. He then went on to Lehigh University where he was a varsity wrestler and football player. Mr. Ross has 3 black belts, 4th Degree in Tekkenryu Jujutsu, 2nd Degree in Judo, 2nd Degree in Tae Kwon Do. In addition to his martial arts experience, Mr; Ross spent 8 years in the professional security and personal protection business. He is internationally recognized as one of the foremost authorities in reality based self defense.