[DrDoUm]

Originally Posted by Rickshaw

Controlling the wrist is actually very simple, you just bend the whole hand inwards and you have complete control over the person, a quick tug or a twist can set them right off balance, plus their entire side is open to your attacks.

With that description I picture what you mean. I have to agree this is also a plausible technic, depending on the situation (is the agressor a lot stronger than you, is he reaching for his back where the knife is hidden, etc.) One would want to practice various technics to have as many options as possible.

However, a technic such as shown in the OP's video at 1:45 which is a typical martial art technic needs a lot more training, reflexes and coordination than what I mentionned in my previous post.

Originally Posted by Rickshaw

I get what you're saying though, but in a life or death situation your options should only be kill or control.

There are various life or death situations, depending, among other things, on who you are. The OP's video concerns mostly peace keepers... Now the situation they are faced with differs from civilians since we assume their role is to control the aggressor, killing him as a last resort.

However, for civilians, many agressions resulting into death were not necessarily meant that way by the agressor. I don't have official statistics, but other kind of agressions such as rubbery, bar fights or sexual agressions can possibly escalade in violence to the point where the victim's life is in danger. By breaking out of such an agression before it gets to that point, the victim reduces its exposure to danger.

Now you will ask: What does it have to do with the self-defense drill I mentionned in a previous post? If you are able to neutralise the hand of the agressor before he takes out his weapon (no matter if you have identified if it's a weapon or not) then you are reducing your exposure to danger.

Originally Posted by Rickshaw

I get what you're saying though, but in a life or death situation your options should only be kill or control. Running from your attacker is the complete opposite of what you want to do when confronted. It exposes your back, leaves you defenseless, and if the attacker is at all faster or has more stamina then you you're totally screwed.

True, unless you neutralised the agressor before escaping. Self-defense training is meant to get you to the point where you can judge what's the best option you have, do you have a safe window of opportunity to escape? If not, what else can you do?

Self-defense drills are often based on the statistic that agressions typically last a few seconds, and agressors are most likely to abandon if the victim manage to escape. Making the fight last longer exposes the victim to more dangers and hopeless acts of violence... for example, let's say the victim manage to throw the agressor to the ground and disarm him and decide to control him to the ground until someone else calls the cops. Not a good idea, since you have no clue how desperate the agressor is and how he may react. Again, this is if your job is NOT to arrest the agressor, but there's a reason why peace keepers have weapons, radios and handcuffs.

EDIT: Now, there are various approach to self-defense, I just wanted to share that this kind of approach is taught in some self-defense schools. Altought I praticed martial arts for several years, I don't practice neither teach self-defense at the moment and some people might want to correct me on some point. I was surprised by some none orthodox technics when I was taught them a couple of years ago, but was mostly surprise by how effective they may be.