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Mick Nicholls
© Marc Wickert (previously published in Fight Times) Victoria’s Mick Nicholls is one of Australia’s most respected reality-fighting instructors and is widely sought after for his Ultimate Street Defence seminars, which cover such topics as the body’s weapons, the mind of a thug, understanding fear in a life-threatening situation and how to control it, and multiple attack scenarios. Nicholls first became involved in martial arts after his father introduced him to boxing some thirty-five years ago. "Five years later I started practising karate." Mick has travelled the world to improve his skills and provide the best possible techniques for his students. As well as tapping Australia’s best instructors of other codes, he also trains regularly in the USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Nicholls’s fighting arts systems also draw from his real life experiences, having worked as a doorman for nine years at some of Melbourne’s toughest nightclubs, where the only rules of combat were the rules of the street. In addition, Mick conducts "Urban Blade" seminars and offers this daunting proposition: "You’re in a car park, you’re approached by a man, the one light in the car park makes something reflect in his hand. It’s a knife. Do you really know how to defend yourself against a blade?" Nicholls says he didn’t encounter any reprisals during those nine years of bouncing, and believes this to be because he never used excessive force to deal with any troublemakers, and the offenders always knew they brought the trouble on themselves. He says that if the treatment a doorman uses is unprovoked or excessive the recipient is more likely to think about coming back to even the score. Mick maintains there is a big difference between techniques that are strictly for competition and those that can be adapted for the street. "All martial arts systems teach effective street techniques, but where most martial artists are defeated in the street is they don’t know which of the techniques they’ve learnt are street effective. You need to know what techniques are effective, how to set up these techniques and at what ranges you can use them." Nicholls doesn’t teach martial arts as a sport, but believes it’s more important to develop as a person rather than to compete for a trophy, and puts martial arts into three categories: sport, traditional form, and street defence. As a sport, he feels it involves trying to score points and normally only using single techniques, when in the street a single technique wouldn’t get the job done. "Most sports systems don’t allow punching to the face - how real is that? No defence of the face is taught!" Mick believes that traditional systems think they’re doing self-defence, but he feels they base too much on their forms/patterns and the attack scenarios aren’t realistic for the street. "A lot of arts seem to focus too much on striking and not enough on a good defence system. Most blocks taught in martial arts won’t work in a street situation, and most practitioners are defeated in the street because they don’t know which of the techniques they’ve learnt are street effective." He says that the blocks used in most clubs won’t work against a boxer because the boxer is continually retracting his hands and the person doing the blocking is likely to be caught off guard with their arm dangling in front of their body. "We use our blocks more like jamming devices. And we use the upper block to intercept a wild, overhand right or a hooking right, but we move into it and shut it down - the same with the inner forearm."
Mick believes there’s also a problem with the one punch-kill concept. He says there are probably martial artists out there who can hit a person with a single technique and knock them over, but feels that these practitioners could just about be counted on one hand. "In reality, the worst scenario would be for you to picture yourself knocking out an attacker with one strike, and then finally getting into a real confrontation and hitting the guy and he’s still standing there. You’ve lost the fight because it didn’t go to your preconceived plan, and subconsciously you’re going to fall to pieces. That’s why we say to people to aim for the chin and that’s the first of their twenty-four punches. It’s a bonus if the attacker goes down with the initial punch." Nicholls offers the UFCs as an example, where fighters have been knocked down with one punch, but a lot of the strikers, once they start hitting, really unwind. Mick bases his classes on these real life situations. "These days I just teach self defence to those who want to learn it, and personally, that’s the main thing I train in now: a lot of close-quarter techniques. And our freestyle karate system is very much based on that after students attain their black belts. We’re into blade defence, and a lot of footwork and focus-pad drills for developing close-quarter skills that are geared towards the street at arguing distance, rather than falling into the kickboxing and sparring mindset, which in reality doesn’t happen in a real confrontation," says Nicholls. "All the guys who have had street experience – Geoff Thompson, Blauer – work everything from that shorter range or arguing distance. Arguments just don’t happen with someone standing four feet, five feet or six feet away from you. When someone’s arguing and it’s getting heated, they’re up close in your personal space, and in your face." Mick believes that for this reason one needs to have appropriate defensive skills. He says that a lot of blocks used in martial arts today, including the blocks used in the UFC, are impractical. Although a big fan of the UFCs, he says a street confrontation won’t start with the fighters 32 feet apart. "And they circle each other and you’ll notice in recent UFCs that not many of them are using parries. They’re not slipping and weaving. What they’re basically doing is they’re using covers and forearm blocks. And for the short forearm parry and covering, you need distance to make that block work. But an antagonist isn’t going to give you that distance." Nicholls states that this also applies to road rage, where the combatants are approaching each other from separate vehicles. "Regardless of how much you may want to rip the other bloke’s head off, you just have to stand there and let him come to you. Which means he is going to get into that personal space. If you go to him, from the bystanders’ reports, the court will deem you to be the one who instigated the assault." Mick recommends that beginners wishing to take up a self defence style should shop around for a system with techniques that can be used for real defence. He has a number of schools throughout Victoria’s Greensborough area, Reservoir, Bundora and Hill Park. To contact Mick Nicholls call 03 9466 3472.
for more on Mick Nicholls www.MickNicholls.com
MICK
NICHOLLS “It’s Going To Get Worse.”
©
Marc Wickert photos
© Mick Nicholls It
would appear we are living at a time when bullying is more rampant than ever;
where intimidation in the workplace has never been more common; and when people
are living in threat of their lives for one reason or another. These
are also times when there has been a dramatic increase in the number of
individuals seeking to learn a form of self defense. One man who has become
aware of this trend firsthand is Melbourne’s Mick Nicholls. Having
instructed in realistic street-defense techniques for the past thirty years,
boxed as an amateur and pro, worked for 10 years as a doorman, and had over 200
street fights, 51-year-old Nicholls is one of Australia’s most in-demand
self-protection instructors. Here, Mick talks to us about the current growth in
the instance of child and adult bullying – whether it be physical or
psychological. Mick,
do you find most people come to you for self-defense purposes? “Definitely.
With kids it can be for behavioral problems – too timid… too aggressive. But
overall, the majority of my students are here for self protection.” Do
you coach children and adults? “Our
urban self-defense system is only for adults. But for our freestyle, probably
85% would be kids.” What’s
the difference between the two systems? “They’re
both based on self defense. The urban gives people a sound self-protection
system in the shortest period of time possible. This system is a little bit more
inclined to apply everything, whereas the freestyle teaches sound defense
techniques against different attacks, and teaches the same basic techniques. But
it’s a martial arts system designed to go through different belt levels and
dans. “We
also work the psychology side of attacks in the urban. For kids we don’t work
that area in the freestyle because they don’t understand it.” It seems a lot of people who are looking to defend themselves against bullies are not learning realist techniques when they go to a lot of the traditional academies. Would you agree? “Absolutely.
They train at the wrong distance.” Too
far away as opposed to close quarters? “Yeah.
People don’t argue at sparring distance. And even with boxing, kickboxing …
they all start at a range that doesn’t happen in a real confrontation. Then of
course you’ve got the verbal dialogue, environment, and all those other
factors that come into play. “The
other thing is they don’t go through the psychology part of it. You can really
place the steps of a confrontation in their order: The first step is awareness
and avoidance. Most times, you shouldn’t get yourself into a situation where
you have to defend yourself if you are aware and know how to avoid. Hardly
anyone teaches that. It’s something we do in the urban system. “The
next phase of confrontation would be to diffuse the situation. You try to calm
the person down and negotiate your way out of it. There are only a handful of
systems that teach this worldwide. “The
following step is the pre-emptive. Now this is the stage where a lot of people
do teach. They teach to hit. The problem is, if you hit too early, you’re up
on assault charges. You hit somebody who doesn’t deserve to be hit and
you’re up on assault charges. “And
the last stage of the confrontation is if the other person pre-empts and that
means you need to teach a sound defensive structure – such as covering
effectively against different types of attack. Many systems don’t teach how to
cover effectively or shield. They teach blocking, and blocking doesn’t work in
real life – not when you’re unsure of the attacker’s strikes. “It
works okay when I stand back and tell you to throw a right straight punch, or I
tell you to do a right front kick. I know what’s coming. I can adapt to the
range, and I know what counter-attack will work for that set move.” Like
choreographed sequences in a dojo? “Exactly.
We do a drill against either a wild left or right hand, or wild straight punch,
where you stand at negotiating distance, in a passive stance, and you’re
wearing a headguard. The other guy has boxing gloves on and he starts at about
half pace. As you gain more experience, he does actually try to take your head
off.” At
unpredictable angles? “Yes.
Then he adds verbal dialogue to it. Trying to keep you off guard by using verbal
dialogue – just like what will happen in the street. He then really tests your
defensive structure: whether or not you can cover effectively or jam a technique
and that type of thing. There are a few guys in Australia working it that way,
but not many. “We
teach the same methods of defense in the freestyle classes. But with kids, we
don’t add verbal dialogue or the intensity that we do in the adult urban
classes. “At
the same time you have to make sure people are protected, so we use correct
protective equipment. And we move at a pace where the person is feeling quite
confident in his ability. For instance, we wouldn’t throw a beginner in there
and then start to king-hit him. “We
start them off where they try to recognize a technique first. Then we look at a
way of jamming or covering, and gradually pick the pace up to where they become
more and more confident in their ability. And we move on at that pace. “You’ve got a duty-of-care to protect people. Even though they are there to learn self defense, it’s a bit ridiculous if they’re leaving the class with black eyes and bruised ribs. They may as well just go to the local pub and get it there.”
When you say that… In a lot of academies, the bullying goes on there instead of in the street, doesn’t it? The senior student demonstrates his prowess on the beginner. “You
hear about it all the time. I know people who have gone to certain jiu jitsu
clubs and they reckon it’s terrible. The first time on the mat and
everybody’s trying to choke you out. They just take advantage of the raw
beginner who doesn’t know very much and has no idea how to defend against a
hold. They should be going, ‘This guy’s a beginner. We need to help him
along.’ Obviously, not all jiu jitsu clubs are like that, but there is a
percentage out there. “Then
you’ve got the martial arts hierarchy, where the dan ranks continue to kick
the crap out of lower ranks, feeding their egos all the time. A lot of people
talk about self control in martial arts, but there’s a hell of a lot of
hierarchical arrogance and ego in martial arts.” When it comes to street violence, do you feel many martial arts instructors are persisting with systems that are not street applicable? “A
lot of them are telling their students that they’re teaching them self defense,
and then… Nothing’s worse than training somewhere for 10 years, having to
defend yourself, and realizing what you’ve been doing for the last 10 years is
crap and doesn’t work. “I
don’t tell people I teach a traditional system. I don’t tell people I teach
sport. I tell people I teach personal protection. Whereas everyone says they
teach self defense. But in reality, what are they teaching? They’re teaching a
traditional martial arts system that’s got nothing to do with self defense. Or
they’re teaching a sport system that’s got nothing to do with self defense.” Mick,
why do so many police officers go to you for self-protection lessons? “Because
they feel much of what they are taught is not applicable in real life. Plus
it’s not uncommon for police officers here to only get to train one or two
days every six months. And a lot of the stuff they’re doing is irrelevant. “I
don’t believe they get taught correct posturing: where to stand when they’re
talking to someone, how to cover if that person pre-empts… In my opinion, they
don’t get taught effective control techniques, how to move someone, how to
shift their balance…These are all basic principles they should be taught. “The
officers I get coming in here always say they should have someone like me
training them. But that’s never going to happen because the departments think
someone like me would know nothing about police procedures. In reality, I’d
probably know ten times more about controlling a body, putting it down on the
ground, and handcuffing it, than most police officers would.” You’re also known as one of Australia’s best qualified knife-fighting instructors. There wouldn’t be too many individuals with a high level of expertise in that area, would there? “No.
Here in Australia it’s very limited. The way I teach the knife is as a tool.
What I say to people is that I’m going to teach them knife skills. But really,
because they’re often not carrying a knife, the weapon they’re using could
be a cell phone, their keys, an ashtray they’ve picked up, a bottle… It
could be any of a whole lot of different instruments they’re carrying.
However, they’ll use them in the same way as they’d use a knife, only
they’ll use them more for impact. So I don’t teach the knife as a knife, per
se. “All
of the drills I teach are Filipino-based. Some of them come via the United
States. And recently, I’ve also been doing a lot of open-hand stuff against
blades, as a last resort. If cornered, you have to have a defensive structure
that works against a sharp weapon – and an unpredictable sharp weapon like a
blade that can move in multi directions, and change direction very quickly. “Some
people feel it’s easier to deal with a gun at close quarters than a knife at
close quarters, because the knife is so unpredictable.” How
long have you been studying blade techniques for? “I started in the Filipino arts in late ’78, and I got heavily into knives in ’86. In the last few years, I’ve been developing other methods, and looking for other people to train with. I have a huge DVD and tape library, and I’ve trained around the world. “Some
of the Americans now, I think, are more advanced than the Filipinos with the
blade. They’ve taken it and built on it. They have a much more realistic
approach. Guys like Kelly Warden, James Keating - they’re both very functional
knife-defense instructors. I’ve got tapes here of the kali system. They used
that system in the Tommy Lee Jones movie, The Hunted. “I’m
always searching for other methods. Of course Dan Inosanto teaches blade. I’ve
trained with Bobby Breen in the UK, using blades. I’ve even looked internally
across Australia. Recently, I was talking to Mannie Dematos about coming across
from Perth to Melbourne to do a workshop. As well as teaching a boxing system,
he also teaches empty hand against blade, law enforcement, and blade against
blade, which is a Filipino system. “But
these days I’ve been developing other blade work, myself: empty hand, a little
bit of Krav Mega thrown in… and I’m constantly looking at other methods of
doing things.” Mick,
how do people get in touch with you for classes and individual tuition? “They
can get onto
www.micknicholls.com
and get in touch
through that.”
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