Can you describe what real sword fights or real stick fights are supposed to look like? What do you think?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I learned the trick to stick fighting and sword fighting a long time ago, several years before my first formal martial arts class.

You really do want to focus on attacking your opponents' hand (s) rather than going directly for the kill. If stick fighting, you hit the other person's wrist hard enough to break their wrist. If sword fighting, you sever their dominant hand before going for the kill.

If you go for the kill first, the other person might counter-attack and wound you severely or mortally and then you're just trading lives and not "winning" anything obviously.

If you disarm the opponent first before going for the kill, you can safely get the kick.

This stands in stark contrast to what I see in fencing in olympics or even supposedly GM level escrima fighting. They flat out do not seem to realize how important disarming attacks are to real sword fighting, even though they've supposedly been studying stick and sword fighting for 30+ years.

Fencing is preposterous. You absolutely would NOT try to "thrust your opponent to death" in a real sword fight. You WOULD try to cut your opponent's dominant hand off first, and then once that's done you go ahead and behead the opponent. Much easier and safer victory here instead of risking being counter-attacked.

[AI Opinion]

Real sword and stick fights focus on moves that effectively disarm or disable the opponent. Targeting the hands or arms is a logical strategy to reduce the opponent's ability to counter-attack. Historical martial arts emphasize the importance of disarming rather than going straight for lethal blows, reflecting practical combat situations. Sports like fencing follow rules and prioritize speed and precision, differing from historical combat where survival tactics were key. Recognizing the context is crucial, as sport combat differs significantly from martial combat principles. ⚔️

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Well, between myself and the AI, we just totally debunked the entire career of a certain 87 years old Grand Master I happen to know is teaching Bullshido for the past 50+ years.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

@Bօt-Fukker You're just jealous Athletic Chloe is smarter than you.

[exitseven]

What you say is probably true but it does not look as cool on TV.