Transcript of a YouTube interview (Jan 11, 2022) where Georges St-Pierre explains street-fight self-defense tactics to Lex Fridman. Key points: avoid being the instigator; use element of surprise; keep off the center line and raise hands; if necessary, strike first to disable (target eyes, neck, genitals); when confronted with a weapon, prioritize escape and compliance for valuables, but if threatened with a knife aim to close distance to smother or control the weapon using the body and break the wrist; thumb/eye gouge recommended to force release; tactics are pragmatic and focused on disabling quickly and leaving the scene.
Chapters
In a street fight, I would rather fight Francis and Ganou and fight the bass rutan in a street fight. Yeah. So very often people ask me the difference between street fight and a fight and mixed martial art. The difference is in the street, there is no referee and there is an instigator and there is the other person. The best in life for a street fight is always to not be the instigator because you have the element of surprise. So if you're in a heated argument with someone and then you feel that you potentially going to be into a fight, the best thing to do is to never show your center line, to always go on the side and put your hand up like this. That's one of the best thing to do. It's a self defense tactic that it's used all around the world, because from there, the distance that I have to travel to cause a lot of damage to him is very minimal. You know, it's very short. You know, I. I can go boom. I can go boom. And I'm protected because if he ever tried to do anything, my hands are already up, but I'm ready to respond at any aggression. So the first thing is, if you're in an argument and you feel the heat is rising is to eat first. You don't want to fight, but you want to hit first. You want to hit first, you know, so it's either, boom, hit first, depending the situation. If you're someone who's much less physically strong than the aggressor, you can use in the eyes, in the genitals, the.
Neck, you know, and then you can leave the scene. However, if I'm like this, and the.
Minute he touched me, like he declared.
War, now I can go and perform.
A self defense move.
Striking now.
Wrestling.
Yes, yes. It's always striking first and leave the scene. If you're, for example, a kid or someone who's not as physically doesn't have the physical strength of your aggressor. Of course, I'm a UFC champion, so that does not apply to me. But the key is on a tactical, we always use the element of surprise. And when you strike, strike first and strike to cause the most damage as possible. The eyes, you can use the neck and do the genitals, and then after, you can leave the scene. That's the goal of having the element of surprise.
Okay, we were talking about knives.
Yes.
What about if weapons are involved, run faster.
So weapons is very important. If someone has a weapon and attack me for having my money, I give him my money. Even if I'm Jean St. Pierre and I'm UFC champion. However, someone put a knife on my throat here, and he's telling me to go in the trunk. Now I don't want to go in the trunk because I know it might. I've seen this movie, and it's a bad ending. So things that I can do first is always make sure that I try to make my hand as close as possible as the weapon. And I try to be as close range as possible. If he's here, I cannot do it because the distance is too far. If he's here. That's idea. So I can act like I want to scared. Yeah. Please, please, please. Boom. See here I use my body and then I can go and break, you know. So the idea is to use your entire body to deflect the weapon. So if the weapon is like this and the blade is coming out this way, I use the element of surprise, you see, I use my body not only grabbing him like this. So if he tried to come back with the. The knife, it's solid. Then I can go and break. If he. If it's the blade. Disappointing. The other side is something. Here, here, here. I can, I can. I can use my body always to smother the weapon.
Throwing the wrist. Yeah, but if it's out here, if it's out.
If it's out here, you know, and. Yes, exactly. It's too. There's too much distance. You want to make sure you, you, you, you get close to the weapon because that's what can cause the most damage. This is very important. There's other situation. If the opponent, if, let's say you're a kid or someone come grab you by the body. Here, you grab by the body. What I can do is grab the head and put my fingers inside the eyes. Will make my opponent to release me immediately. Then I can go and leave. Yeah. Thumb in the eyes. You push in the eyes. There is no rules. The eyes is always my favorite choice to go for, because if you cannot see and it's very hard to fight and normally the reflex for most people when they can't see, they grab their eyes, you know, so it release the grip.
I'm not going to ask you about the tie because I think you're wrong. Still, I think it's possible. So like, if you. It's possible to use it as a. Same as for like a head snatch, like this kind of situation, as opposed.
To a choke, I think it could be an advantage if it's a fake tie. If it's like something that can go like that can. A tail of a reptile that can go. So if you try to pull my tie, it goes on. And now I know I get a head start. Exactly. It's all about the element of surprise. You want to strike first. The element of surprise in the street.
