Fight! Fight! Fight!

February 29, 2008 3:46 PM

They Think They're People Filter: Animal Combat Friday!

Bruce Lee once said:

"Unless there is a being with more than two arms and two legs, that there is only one style of fighting, the human style."

When not biting, animals fight in an uncannily human style, too. For example, recognizable human techniques and tactics in the bear fight:

0:21: The clinch, followed by grip fighting for superior position.
0:41: A throw resembling tai otoshi. The big bear then circles around to get around the smaller bear's guard.
1:20: Smaller bear reasserts his guard to maintain control over the big bear.
1:36: They stand up and clinch again, trying to get some leverage.
1:47: Everyone gasses out. Huffing and puffing, they give up and make friends.


The cat-ferret fight isn't as technically exemplary, but it is awesome. It starts with a lot of circling, and it looks like nothing's going to happen, but then blaow! Around the 2:00 mark, the ferret gets the takedown but is rolled down onto his back, cat punches fly, and it's on! Watch for the awesome kick exchange at 7:55. Also, I think there's a rear naked choke somewhere in there. (OK, not really.)

posted by ignignokt (15 comments total)

Intelligent use of guard against a much bigger opponent. And he managed to get the bigger bear to back off. Though I saw two great opportunities for sweep. And and an Omoplata. But damn those short legs!

My BJJ coach had a kooky instructor once who used to take notes watching dogs brawl at the dog park.

My dog, for instance, is an expert at the Thai clinch and often uses that to take the back. And from there... nevermind.
posted by tkchrist at 4:08 PM on February 29, 2008

Cat vs. Ferret was obviously a work. And like all WWF type spectacles went on about 4 minutes too long and had too much prancing and showboating .
posted by tkchrist at 4:15 PM on February 29, 2008

The ferret and the cat is good... the ferret's like, “Ha HA! I will stand UNDER you! Ha HA! I will stand ON TOP of you!”
posted by XMLicious at 4:17 PM on February 29, 2008 [2 favorites]

What, no youtube clips of Bull-shi-do?
posted by jtron at 4:17 PM on February 29, 2008

Here you go, jtron.

Yeah, there definitely needed to be some penalties for non-combativeness in the ferret fight. But I thought that seeing that ferret whip down a cat was good watchin'.

My dog, for instance, is an expert at the Thai clinch and often uses that to take the back. And from there... nevermind.

Position before submission, indeed.
posted by ignignokt at 4:41 PM on February 29, 2008

1:10: Randomly crapping right in the middle of the fight.
posted by dirigibleman at 4:55 PM on February 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

The ferret is cheating. It's obviously learned the magical power of foot odor and used it to continue the fight past all reasonable endurance.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 5:22 PM on February 29, 2008

Isn't the bear fight from that Grizzly Man movie, by Herzog?
posted by Forktine at 6:19 PM on February 29, 2008

Isn't the bear fight from that Grizzly Man movie, by Herzog?

Yes, it is.

When not biting, animals fight in an uncannily human style, too

Humans are animals, are they not? But aside from that, it's probably much more accurate to say that humans fight like animals.
posted by beagle at 6:29 PM on February 29, 2008

I think the bear fight you linked to twice in this post is not technically a fight - it's not between two boars, but instead is a confrontation between a boar and a sow. And it's probably not even a fight, and is instead a more ritualistic encounter preceding mating.
posted by KokuRyu at 9:38 PM on February 29, 2008

Humans are animals, are they not?

Yeah, that was my thought. Maybe we fight in an uncannily ursine manner .... considering our gangly, long legs and all.

The bit I liked the most about the cat/ferret one was the ferret's initial indecision between playing with the cat ... and playing with the boots. Cat! No, boots! No, cat! Yes, I owned a ferret once.

Actually, one of the best things about a ferret is the way other animals react to it. My little Rosalie once faced down a full-size German Shepherd, who was pretty confused by this food-sized creature that wasn't afraid of it. And I just love the awkward bouncing that looks like it can't move, until it dives for a belly shot.
posted by dhartung at 9:52 PM on February 29, 2008

The bear fight was interesting. This was my thought process at one point:

"The raw power of nature... the beauty... the majesty... the... randomly shitting all over the place. That was unexpected."
posted by Alex404 at 12:05 AM on March 1, 2008

*presses low kick button madly*
posted by ooga_booga at 1:55 AM on March 1, 2008

Forget animal-vs-animal. Human-vs-animal is the unexplored martial territory! Here's some advice I gave a friend vacationing in Australia:

"When faced with a boxing kangaroo, there are two options. Pull guard, sweeping the stationary leg to a knee bar, ensuring that your hip faces the knee joint which is located opposite to those of a human's. Second option, more difficult, is to check a kick (rear or forward, doesn't matter; kangaroos do not favour either orthodox or southpaw stance, as they normally sit back on a tail), get inside and ensure a bodylock and trip the tail. Once the kangaroo is down, its instinct will be to get on four points, giving an opportunity for a rear mount and rear naked choke.

Ok well penguins are tricky because they have such a good base, they are hard to get on the ground. Their wrestling sprawl is pretty phenomenal. You will probably need a strong muay thai clinch and use dirty boxing with plenty of elbows, knees, maintaining the plum grip at all times. Penguins are not known for their cardio, so this punishment will tire him out, opening up the opportunity for a well-placed knee to the chin for a knockout win.

However if you see more than one penguin, the battle is lost. Run!"
posted by growli at 6:09 AM on March 1, 2008 [1 favorite]

That cat is a judo master, as all cats are.
posted by biscotti at 7:07 AM on March 1, 2008