what are some of the best hits you've taken?

[traitorjack]

this came up over drinks the other night: do you remember the best hits you've ever taken while sparring? (street stuff should be another thread, I think, as well as shots you gave.) I do. I even had them ranked for a while; oddly enough, the ones where I had a bone broken (kick to a finger) or fractured (rib, from a kick to the side) didn't hurt as much as the ones that just folded me over.

there was this one guy, a former gymnast, who I'd sworn was far enough away not to worry about for a second. he just seemed to *float* towards me, his side kick sank into my midsection and the next thing I knew my knees hit me in the forehead. of course, he was apologetic and concerned, which was cool, no problem with that (after I managed to get back up.) equal parts surprise and pain, as I recall.

and then there was the time I'd just blocked a guy's kick, guiding his body away from me while I slipped in for what I thought was going to be the sweetest takedown in the world. on the other hand, he did seem to be twisting around a little more than I thought he would, given how hard I'd blocked his kick, and then his back spinning back fist caught me in the face. I could feel my contacts getting knocked off. a very useful lesson in thinking twice before congratulating yourself on how clever you are.

there's more, but I guess I should stop there.

[LASur5r]

Not proud of this one.
I had broken up with a girl friend. Dated for three years. She had asked me to train her three brothers when we first started dating. I told them they are only supposed to use the stuff in self-defense.

My ex was dating behind my back and her brothers caught her going out with the guy when he was bringing her home one night on a date. They ganged up on the guy, beat him up, then two of the brothers arm locked their sister and beat the stuffing out of her.

I found out at the tale end of our break up. I asked them to drop by one of the classes that I was teaching and I asked them to bring the gloves. They showed up...I confronted them and said if they were so big and brave that they should take me on. All at once or one at a time.

Only one faced me, I was really into JKD then...I did a one inch punch that knocked him hard into the wall. His two brothers picked him up and said, "No More!"

I turned away as they dragged him away, but I felt something was wrong....I turned....right into a sucker punch into my left eye....I had hard contact lenses then(70's)...I felt the fragments go into my eye...cornea...etc.. I rode the punch so when I turned to face him...he turned light like a ghost and ran screaming out of the gym.

When they slammed the door close, I sat down and asked my friend who witnessed this sneak attack to see if she could pull the larger fragments out...she said my eye was bleeding and totally red. She drove me to the hospital and waited for me....she's my wife of 25 years now.

My eye healed due to the doctors at the emergency room.

[LASur5r]

Does getting sliced with a straight razor count?

Long story short....we were always bailing out this guy at his apartment whenever he got drunk and beat his wife. Otherwise they were a nice couple.

One night, we went upstairs to grab drunk hubby, he had his straight razor tucked in his waistband....he almost severed my left thumb off when we went to grab him...doc said 1/32" inch more and I'd be known as four fingered........I saw the bone after he cut me...thumb went in weird angle.

We were escorting the bum down the stairs at the time....Gee Whiz! Somehow he fell off the stairs on his way down....

[gryphon]

Wasn't really sparring, but was practicing some advanced moves with the nunchaku. Went to switch hands by bringing the stick under my arm and over my shoulder. Had the arm cocked a little too much and the free end stick hit me square in the back of the head. I was out for like 5 minutes. I was by myself, so the embarrassment factor was low.

[ckurts]

Was sparring with a young lady (who by the way, was a gym teacher) in a martial arts school about 13 or 14 years ago. I thought we'd finished; I bowed and started to step out of the circle when {whump} she caught me with some kind of a roundhouse sidekick at diaphragm level. She made contact at high speed all the way across with upper surface of her foot and lower leg. It was one heck of a physiology lesson. I'd been sucker-gutpunched before, but this was like a loud voice inside me saying "Don't get up, sucker- and don't even try to take a breath....what are you doing? I told you don't breathe!".

I almost dislocated another actor's jaw in a stage fight rehearsal when I was doing theater about 10 years ago. Both of us should have known better, we'd done a lot of theater and both of us had fighting/martial arts experience behind us. I actually pulled the punch but he kind of walked into it.

[Bogie]

Back in my misspent yout, I was hanging out at a bar with some acquaintances, and one of the guys managed to seriously hack some dude off, who proceded to make a bit of a scene. The gentleman was escorted to the door and introduced to the parking lot, and we thought that was the end of it.

Now, I don't remember this... Later that evening, after I'd ingested close to a fifth of Mr. Beam's finest, along with a sizable amount of recreational substances, we all decided we were gonna blow that pop stand... As we walked/staggered out the door, we discovered that the dude had returned with a group of friends. I was the first out the door, and I got punted. My acquaintances said that I just stood there, and then started giggling and went after the guy. We ended up running them off, in a fair state of disrepair, got on the bikes (!) and drove home. The next morning, and for the next several days, I could hardly walk. My new leather jacket had the left sleeve almost completely ripped out of the shoulder, and I felt like I'd been autopsied. I don't do crap like that anymore.

[LBC]

It wasn't in sparring, but I was trying out for a semi-pro rugby team. One of the fellas though he'd see how tough I was. As I came upfield with the ball he threw his elbow at my jaw. My neck snapped to the left for a second but I kept running upfield. I didn't even feel it. I'm told the guy stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me as I ran on. --LBC

[Spectre]

One of the most memorable hits occurred to me while I was training in Bud Malstrom's dojo a few years ago. Jim Zerelnik (hope I got his last name right) was an extremely tall, beanpole of a 4th dan. I was serving as his uke, and he asked for a gut punch. I gave him a nice, fairly hard rising (it would have to; I'm 5'6", he's probably at least 6'4") punch. He sidestepped, and hit my bicep with his elbow.

Ow.

I fell on the ground. After a minute, I managed to drag myself over to the side of the dojo, off the mat. I think I put some ice on it almost immediately, but it still turned blue. My arm would hurt so badly, it would wake me up in the middle of the night, for the next few weeks...

[Double Eagle]

The most irritating injury I've ever received happened *after* training was over. We had retired to the local pub for a few beverages, and after this, as we were walking home, a friend asked if he could practise his escape from a lock. The traditional form of the escape is a very athletic flip backwards.

Being the idiot that I was, I said "sure", and applied the lock. I felt a kind of burning slapping sensation as something hit me in the mouth.

He'd managed the escape, but he'd also hit me in the mouth with his knee on the way over (accidenatlly, he says). I was stunned for a second, as I realised that the three small white fragments on the pavement were bits of my front teeth. Sheepishly, he picked them up and offered them to me. I was pretty peeved, and said something to the effect of "what the f___ am I supposed to do with those?". Then I calmed down a bit and realised that it was as much my fault as anyone elses'.

It wasn't particularly painful, but the dentists' bill was, and I couldn't bite into my food properly for days.

[LASur5r]

Mentioned this on a much earlier thread.

Bruce Lee had issued a challenge to anyone of black belt level or above to come to his L.A. school in Chinatown to try taking him on with newly developing JKD.

A bunch of us went over one night...

I had already had 7 years of hardcore martial arts and I was considered pretty good in our Kempo circle...Bruce knocked me out standing up with one punch......twice.

Then when I was fully revived, I went after him again and he proceeded to beat me by calling his punch or kick with the specific limb and hit me exactly where he said he would with that specific punch or kick. Talk about devastated. The blows didn't hurt nearly as much as walking around in a daze for almost 6 months thinking that I had wasted 7 years of my life practicing the wrong stuff.

[falconer]

Worst "hit" I've taken was last summer. We had a few new beginners in the Shuai Chiao class that night, and the instructor decided it was as good a time as any to introduce the new guys to shuai chiao sparring. The other advanced students and myself paired up with the new guys. My group was the last to go. The kid I was working with just wasn't getting the point, so I decided it was time he got thrown to illustrate my point. He stepped in, I grabbed him as I did "steal stepping" and down he went (can't for the life of me remember what throw I did). Unfortunately, I also went down. It turns out I was in a really crappy stance (knee wasn't bent enough) and his leg hit me right in the knee either as he went down or it bounced off the mat when he landed (happened to quick for me to realize what happened).

I ended up with a severe sprain in my already bad knee. Doc said I came really close to tearing ligaments and needing surgery. I'm still wearing a brace when I train.

The 2nd worst hit was right when I joined the school. I had been there a couple weeks and asked my teacher for correction on the knife hand strike I was learning. He demonstrated it right upside my head. Granted, it was a very light strike, but it sure as hell didn't feel like it.
note to self: never ask a question that would require an iron palm master to use you as a demonstration dummy.

[gringo5]

Lets see... I used to box(middle weight) in the late 70's early 80's.Took a few good licks when the coach put me in with the club heavy weight to help him work on his speed.I've been thru a few bar disagrements in Panama and Costa Rica in the 80's and early 90's. In 1999 i took a hit in the face from a .38 colt while the guy's partner held a .38 under my chin, did a nice job on my nose and forehead. But by far it was Kerry McGuire's base ball bat to the head in 1967 at Torrance Elementary School during recess that hurt the worse. I still feel the crunch 34 years later.

[Byron Quick]

I was fighting a guy that I really did not want to fight. So I was standing there waiting for him to work up his nerve to wade back in after not doing so well the last time. Next thing I knew I'm going wobbly kneed, bent over and patting my hands against the ground to keep from falling on my face.
I can't think and and I don't know what happened. My opponent is still standing twelve feet away as I play pattycake with the dirt. Turns out this long lanky guy had come out of the crowd taking giant steps and winding up a haymaker. He came in just behind my peripheral vision on my right side with a punch that went straight over my right shoulder into the hinge of my jaw. The whiplash from the blow made my ring fly off my finger...my ring was not in the least degree loose. Two hours later I didn't know who I was. Oh,by the way, the guy just wanted to dust someone, he wasn't helping my opponent. After decking me he went after my opponent.

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