Combat JiuJitsu - From Old Shanghai To The 21st Century

Just over a dozen attendees get up and start putting protective gear on their forearms and shins as the instructor finishes up giving directions for the next drill. The day is just about half over and some guys already have an assortment of bruises and a few run over to their backpacks or duffel bags to grab some Ibuprofen and a drink of water.

They pair off and begin the drill as the instructor and a couple of long time students move around and make sure everyone is following the drill as laid out. Where needed, the diverse group, ranging from their 20’s all the way up to older men in their late 40’s and early 50’s are coached or warned about getting too exuberant. Despite the aches, pains and assorted black and blues, everybody is enthusiastic.

The attendees had come to learn a method of self defense known variously over the years spanning the 1920s up to the current day as Gutterfighting, The Fairbairn Method, and Combatives.
Created by William Fairbairn, a Royal Marine who later became a member of the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP) where he Rose to the rank of Captain. It was during his time with the SMP that he developed a self defense system called “Defendu”. Intended for police officers it included both unarmed combat and control techniques. The latter methods being dropped after the program was introduced to Allied Military forces after the outbreak of World War II.

This ‘Method’ was not created out of thin air. Fairbairn was a second degree black belt in Judo who had received his certification from the Kodokan, and had studied Tenshin-Ryu Jiu-Jitsu during the twenty years he spent in Shanghai. His experiences in dealing with the violent criminals of Pre World War 2 Shanghai motivated him to select only those methods of old school Jiu-Jitsu that were the most practical and effective in both application as well as being taught. This was the basis of the program he introduced into the SMP.

These methods remained standard for most US and European military forces, as well as for the F.B.I. and other Law Enforcement agencies for almost two decades after the war. However by the late 1960's and early 1970's, the more traditional Eastern Martial Arts began to replace them.

After World War II, Charles Nelson a USMC veteran of the Guadalcanal campaign opened a Self Defense school in NYC that operated for almost five decades until he retired due to age and health problems. Among his students were two men named Carl Cestari and Ralph Grasso. The former being a Police Officer, and both of them being accomplished Martial Artists.

Introduced to Cestari and Grasso in 1992, Clint Sporman spent the next 15 years training in these methods. After Cestari’s untimely death in 2007, Sporman, with the assistance of Ralph Grasso continued to teach this Combative JiuJitsu style along with some other “old school” methods that have been incorporated into the curriculum he teaches today.

Clint was formerly a member of the Union NJ P.D. where he served on the Joint Auto Theft Task force as well as on their Emergency services unit. During his time there his agency had sent him , as well as other members of his group to to Blackwater where they were trained in seveal areas that included High Risk Warrant service. Clint and his group were sent to New Orleans to aid in the recovery after Katrina, and was once assigned to provide personal security for New Jersey Governor John Corzine in conjunction with a visit by president Bill Clinton. He has even provided training in Close Combat to members of Swedish Law Enforcement.

Clint’s style of instruction is informal and engaging. His low key approach and self deprecating humor do nothing to hide his broad knowledge of the subject. Some of these are intended to amuse, but most are telling examples of the effectiveness of the techniques under the stress of real world confrontations. Questions are welcomed and answered succinctly, and it’s clear that Clint is not just a practitioner but an avid student regarding the subject of unarmed combat.

The techniques taught will be familiar to anyone who’s read any books about Combatives, Old School Jiu-Jitsu, Savate or trained in any of the more common martial arts. Telling details, sometimes small enhancements, are explained to help the student maximize their effectiveness against an attacker. It also includes “dirty” tactics that are common and universal to criminal elements the world over. Many people disparage these methods as simply “WW2 Combatives”, but at their core they are simply old school jiuJitsu techniques, not some fly by night system that was invented to make a buck.

For example, the eye jab is a technique nearly everyone is familiar with. Clint teaches it using the drop step to dramatically increase this simple technique’s effectiveness. “This is something Carl brought into the delivery of his techniques after reading a copy of Jack Dempseys book, ‘Championship fighting’” he explains. “If you’ve got your hands up in a ‘fence’ and decide to do a preemptive strike, you don’t want to telegraph the blow. So, you’ll move directly toward your assailant’s eyes. The drop step adds power to the blow, putting your weight behind the strike, without overtly ‘chambering’ the strike. What might have been just a distraction, evoking a flinch response, but little else, now becomes a telling blow.”

Demonstrating the technique, the drop step is a simple step forward, coinciding with the eye jab, which lands an instant before the leading foot touches down, putting most of one’s body weight behind it. By stepping in as the blow lands it establishes the position for a follow up blow. Such as the chin jab, a devastating uppercut to the chin followed by a knee to the testicles or groin. The knee to the groin would be completed by bringing the foot down between your opponents legs. A principle that Sporman stresses is the importance of forward drive, pushing the opponent backwards and keeping him off balance. I once heard Cestari refer to this aggressive step forward.

Sporman teaches the edge of hand or “ax hand” blows, palm heels, chin jabs, and elbow strikes, as striking with your fist risks hand injury. He also teaches several low kicks including Savate’s “coup de pied bas” (low kick or low inside edge of boot kick). He advises against kicking above the knee as one is too easily knocked off balance when doing so. The knee to the testicles or groin is a staple of the curriculum.

Some people believe that this style of Combative JiuJitsu are strictly a striking based style of self defense. While strikes with the hands, elbows, knees, and feet are emphasized, both stand up grappling and grounded defense are a part of the curriculum. Sporman teaches escapes from common grabs, headlocks, and chokes. He teaches how to perform standing throws, and defense on the ground is not overlooked. When teaching ground grappling Sporman’s focus is on escapes and quickly disengaging from your opponent, rather than obtaining a submission, so one can regain their feet as quickly as possible. Throughout, the focus is on simple techniques that work in a wide range of circumstances.

In class Sporman has students pair up to go through their drills, Sporman and Ralph Grasso keep a close watch to make sure that no one gets “overly exuberant” with their training partners. Bumps, bruises and the occasional “nose bent out of shape” are not uncommon.

One of the key things that Sporman stresses through the entire program of instruction is Mindset. The real key to avoiding or prevailing in a violent encounter is a combination of awareness, attitude, and when needed, preempting. He constantly hammers home those three points. You would think awareness would be a simple matter, but too many people walk around with their smartphone in their hand or both their ears plugged up with a pair of ear-buds (sometimes both at once). If you don’t have at least a second or two of advance warning before you’re asaulted, your chances of avoiding it or successfully defending yourself go down to near zero.

It would seem like common sense, unfortunately common sense is just not tha common anymore.

Attitude is also something that has to be cultivated. If you’re not mentally prepared to goall out to save yourself when confronted with a violent criminal assault, once again you’re working from a disadvantage.

Finally, preempting. Otherwise known as getting in the first shot. People will hesitate to do this for a variety of reasons. Denial that something bad is actually about to happen to them, fear of legal consequences, or waiting ofr the other guy to throw the first punch. The unfortunate truth is that the person who gets in the first strike generally comes away the winner. This is where awareness even plays a part. If you see something that doesn’t look right and you try to move away, and it follows you, or you get loud and tell the person who is making you nervous to leave you alone but they keep getting closer to you, or actually bar your way and you feek threatened you need to make a decision.

Yes it’s a judgement call, but too often people will hesitate when every part of their mind and body is telling them that they need to act.

When discussing these issues Clint calls on his Law enforcement experience to explain the various physical behavior patterns and habits that people need to watch for so that they can make an informed, reasonable decision when it could matter the most.

Mike Haynack, a long time associate of Melissa Soalt, a.k.a. ‘Dr Ruthless’, going back as far as the days of Melissa’s Model Mugging program, was an attendee at the seminar. He has a keen appreciation of what will work under stress against a determined opponent who is actively resisting and had this to say about Sporman’s instruction “I love that he never strays from practicality, and that his focus is always on combat effectiveness. Even when he’s breaking down a technique for the student and working on the mechanics, he emphasizes simplicity. And it’s the simple stuff that works under stress.”

Just as there were great similarities, and distinct differences, between the various Combative instructors of the past and present day, there are similarities between what Clint teaches and what Mike and Melissa teach. Mike noted that they teach the hammer fist, as it is easily learned, but liked the knife hand that Clint teaches especially for striking the throat. Elbow and knee strikes are also utilized in a similar manner.

Listening to Clint and Mike talk, you begin to realize that the greatest testimony to these Combative JiuJitsu methods is that not only can experienced Martial Artists such as Sporman or fit young men such as you would find in the military have been able to defend themselves with these techniques, but that average people are as well. Mike and Melissa's students, all women of varying ages, are trained in similar techniques and many of these female students have actually used them to save themselves from robbery, assault, and worse.

Having trained in this style of Combative JiuJitsu before with both Clint and Ralph, I have learned to appreciate the simplicity and effectiveness of these methods as I’ve grown physically older. I feel that Clint and the old school Combative JiuJitsu methods he teaches are an undervalued asset that anyone interested in practical, efficient, self defense for today’s world should take advantage of.