Can You Tell if Someone is a Fighter?
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Is it Possible to Tell if Someone is a Fighter by Looking at Them?
The question has been thrown around before, “Can you tell if someone can fight by looking at them?”, and the answer may surprise you. Many fighters have certain tells, while others might hide it a bit better.
Different fighters carry themselves differently, but any confident fighter has a way about them. You can tell someone is a confident fighter by their manner in how they handle altercation. Some might be a bit eager, some might be a bit more ready to calm things down. Either way they will be confident they have the skills to end the altercation, and their body language will display this more than their words.
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When they say martial arts builds confidence, a lot of what they mean is as you develop an ability and affinity for fighting. You start to realize even if things go their worst you have the skills to handle the situation, giving you a relief and ability to relax in tense situations. A sense of comfort in conflict, because they have been there already mentally and physically.
What Are the Tells of a Fighter?
Different types of fighters will exhibit different things when it comes too “tells”. The grappler may have what is known as cauliflower ear, gained through years of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or wrestling. Strikers may exhibit a few signs, funky fingers, previously broken nose, or possibly irritated knuckles. Years of training leaves its mark, even if you mainly train light you should have some visible damage from the years some where on the body.
Striker Tells
- Broken Nose
- Bruises, scars, marks on the face or visible parts of the body
- Damaged Knuckles
- Steps to establish distance, with the classic hands up pose
Grappler Tells
- Cauliflower Ear
- Firm Base, shifts weight and drops a bit at the sign of conflict
- Busted up fingers
Both
- Confident and calm in conflict
- Strong or Intense eye contact
If you have time in an altercation to analyze your potential opponent, it would be worth note. Many fighters take to their traditional fighting stance with their feet, long before their hands. Fighters when anticipating a problem may also step back out of striking range to establish a safe distance, before gauging how to proceed.
There are always exceptions to these rules of course, and some people you just can’t tell. They carry themselves in such a way that you would never guess. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has many nerds in it and a fresh blue belt doesn’t have the same ware and tear that a black belt would.
Can you tell if some one can fight by looking at them? The answer, yes and no, While the more calm someone seems during an engagement the more likely they are trained in my personal opinion. Also from my personal experiences, it’s those with the loudest mouths, who make the most noise, who cant fight. This is why they make so much noise, as to try and scare a predator off. There are still so many complexities to fighting, it can be really difficult to tell with people.
In either case it’s always best to not engage in fights, and treat everyone you meet with respect, but always come prepared for conflict. Always watch for warning signs of conflict, but never start conflict.
Recommended Martial Arts to Help you Learn to Defend Yourself
- Judo
- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu/Luta Livre
- Boxing
- Muay Thai/Savate/Tae Kwon Do
- Karate
- Wrestling
Learn More – Martial Arts HQ
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