The floor isn't where you want to be ... but if a fight goes to the ground, you need to be prepared for ugly consequences. That's the issue addressed by Marc "Animal" MacYoung in his Floor Fighting book.

Floor fighting does not mean putting your opponent in some kind of "hold" and lying there, waiting to be kicked by his friends. Nor does it mean wiggling into some kind of mount position so you can pummel his face into strawberry jam -- that only lasts until his partner busts a bottle over the back of your head. These and worse are what submission fighting techniques will get you if you try to apply them in a street brawl.

 While MMA submission fighting and grappling do have their time and place, trying to apply them outside the narrow parameters of the ring will get you seriously hurt.

Understanding the difference between "grappling" and floor fighting will determine if you get out of a trip to the floor with a few bruises and scratches or major or life-threatening injuries. Trips to the floor in real life involve concrete, rocks, curbs, furniture and glass that breaks when you land on it. Then there are his friends, who might want to get their licks in while you are helpless on the ground. While they might tell you that street toughs fear going to the ground, what MMA and grappling instructors won't tell you is that this is a double-edged sword. They won't tell you about the sheer ferocity of the vicious and brutal tactics an experienced street fighter is going to unleash  when you try to grapple him into submission. A streetfighter knows about the dangers this book defines. And that's why he is going to furiously try to get off the floor. The kind of blood-splattering, mauling, flesh-ripping moves he'll employ are discussed in this book.

MacYoung also talks about learning how to fall to keep from damaging yourself, how to slam down an opponent with the most devastating impact, how to take someone down who is trying to stomp you from above and the best ways to defend yourself on the ground until you are back on your feet.

This is not a master's album of traditional, dojo-oriented grappling techniques. It is, instead, a primer by someone who has been taken to the floor in places that grapplers fear to go. Places where weapons, popping eyeballs, biting off ears and stomping downed fighters were the norm. He  survived to pass on the valuable hints that kept him alive and writing books like this today.

Autographed by author.

Warning : This book was written when MacYoung was "coming out of the street lifestyle ("the life"); offensive language, and an obvious display of " street attitude" are present. The book is not for all readers. But the concepts are important, despite language and presentation. This is the attitude a person will face out there.

Floor Fighting: Stompings, Maimings and Other Things to Avoid When a Fight Goes to the Ground (Paladin Press), 1993, 188 pages, ISBN 0-87364-716-5

Softcover,  Item# Bfloor
Book -- $23      Retail: $25

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Reviews of Floor Fighting include:

Fighting on the Floor is a very difficult thing. Everyone who does a martial art covering that topic knows that. But when a "real" fight goes to the ground, everything's much more difficult. So in this book, MacYoung describes ways to keep the damage on your side as low as possible, and getting the damage on the opponent's side as high as possible. And like all the other books from this author, it's the neat little tricks that make this topic interesting. -- Stefan Mueller, Germany

Marc "Animal" MacYoung has survived countless real fights in his own life, and so his advice on how to survive a fight is more practical and useful than that of a karate instructor who has been sparred in the dojo but never fought for real. This book focuses on when fights go to the floor, as most fights do. It is spiced up by Animal's colorful language and some hilarious real-life anecdotes about his fighting experience. Don't expect to read it once and automatically know what to do -- the techniques in this book must be studied and practiced. -- Brian Hammond, Madison, New Jersey

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