This is the brutal Filipino art of biting and eye gouging. Although it cannot be used as a primary fighting style, you can use it as an add-on to any other fighting art. When mixed with grappling, it can render an opponent virtually helpless. The art's effectiveness has been proven in battle, and is now being taught to high-level military teams, such as the Navy Seals, and U.S. Army Rangers.
If you look back at the history of the
Philippines, you will see war and bloodshed. During many of their battles, the
Filipinos found themselves outnumbered, outgunned or both. Consequently, they
developed an ideology that focused on finding a way to put themselves on equal
footing with their adversaries, to somehow circumvent the odds. They were forced
to be innovative in dealing with the harsh reality of the times.
For the Filipinos, "circumvent" ended up meaning "find a way to cheat." In the
world of weapons combat, they concocted an amazing way of cheating: Instead of
blocking a strike with their own weapon, they would smash or cut the opponent’s
weapon hand. The opponent was likened to a snake and the weapon was the fangs of
the snake; hence, the method was called "defanging the snake." While the rest of
the world went toe-to-toe while fighting with weapons—blocking strikes and
trading blows like nobody’s business—the Filipinos would simply attack the hand.
When fighting with empty hands, the Filipinos employed the same ideology.
Instead of blocking punches and kicks, they used nerve destructions against the
incoming limbs. Rather than exchange blows with their opponents, they got inside
and implemented strategic knee thrusts, elbow strikes and head butts. Once
again, they were trying to circumvent the reality of their situation and put
themselves on an equal footing with their enemies.
The
Equalizer
Now that the central theme of the Filipino paradigm—of David being forced to
overcome Goliath—has been described, we will delve into the world of grappling
and the topic of this article, Kina Mutai, or the "art of biting and
pinching." Jeet Kune do practitioners refer to it as "biting and eye
gouging" because their preferred area to pinch is the opponent’s eyeball.
The
Art
Whenever biting is mentioned, the first thing that usually comes to mind is,
"Anyone can bite." In reality, that bland assertion is true, but the difference
between "just plain biting" and Kina Mutai is how to bite, where
to bite and when to bite. A Kina Mutai practitioner’s bite is
"uninterrupted." That means he knows the exact places on your body to bite and
does so with precise timing. He grabs hold of you using his superior grip
strength and bites areas that would take you literally minutes to pull him off.
There are more than 140 places on the human body that he can bite for as long as
he wants. While biting, he is implementing his knowledge of kinesiology and
sensitivity to hang on like a pit bull.
In the world of wrestling, Brazilian-jujutsu practitioners are clearly
the kings. Their subtle body movements, ground sensitivity and knowledge of
leverage, escapes and finishing moves put them in a league of their own. When
jujutsu is combined with Kina Mutai, the result is perhaps the most formidable
hybrid grappling art on the planet. In a street fight, you can use the mix
against a bigger, stronger ground fighter—if not to beat him on the ground, then
to create enough space to get back on your feet (even if your only goal is to
run).
The
Training
Before you begin practicing Kina Mutai, you must learn the essential principles.
First is how to bite. You should always be cognizant of how much flesh is in
your mouth. Typically, the average person will try to use all his teeth and take
too much "meat" in one bite. To avoid that pitfall, you must angle your face so
the pressure is applied directly on the incisors. The actual motion of the bite
is a repeated circular ripping of the flesh, resulting in numerous smaller bites
which, when applied cumulatively, inflict considerable damage.
The more you practice this drill, the better your body mechanics will become,
the easier it will be to make small, circular bites and the faster you will be
able to gnaw through the beef. At the beginning, it may take two or three
minutes to get through the meat. After 20 or 30 pot roasts, however, you will
find that you can tear your way through a 5-pound slab of meat inside of 10
seconds.
The next point that must be addressed is the most important concept of Kina
Mutai: the ability to bite someone uninterrupted. To understand uninterrupted
biting, picture yourself holding your opponent in a bear hug with your arms
wrapped around his torso (or imagine he is held in your guard and your arms are
wrapped around his neck) while you are biting his throat. If you do not have a
firm grip on him while you bite, his instinctive response will be to pull away,
resulting in a small puncture wound that will hardly do any damage. Applying the
proper "vice grip" while making small tears with your incisors, however, will
give you the ability to hang on and bite him until next Christmas.
The
Targets
That brings up the next item: where to bite. Yes, you can use your teeth just
about anywhere on your opponent’s body, but to bite uninterrupted you must
target specific areas. What constitutes a good area to bite? First, it should be
extremely sensitive to pain. The cheek, neck, ear, nipple, latissimus dorsi
muscle and groin are sensitive regions with many nerve endings. Second, it
should be an area that will allow you to position yourself so your opponent
cannot counter your bite by pulling away or pushing you away. The importance of
biting a sensitive area while hanging on cannot be overstated. Using some basic
jujutsu positions, we will present a few of the many possible bites.
• If you are mounted on your opponent, you can bite his face and neck.
• If you are in the cross-side position, you can bite his cheek, ear or neck.
• If you are in the north-south position, you can bite his groin.
• If you have him in your guard, you can bite his cheek, ear or neck.
• If you are in his guard, you can bite his nipple.
• If you are on the bottom of the cross-side position, you can bite the
latissimus muscle if his elbow is across your body or his neck if his elbow is
elsewhere.
Remember: The key is to hold your opponent so you can bite as long as you want.
He will try to get the source of the pain—your teeth—away from his body as
quickly as possible. That means he will try to create space between his body and
yours. You can then take advantage of that space and push or kick him off. If
you are pinned under someone much stronger and heavier than you, biting is the
fastest way to escape. If, however, you fail to hang onto him while you bite, he
will be able to pull away before your bite can inflict the damage required to
get the reaction you need.
Once you understand the concepts discussed above, it’s time to try Kina Mutai in
sparring. The following drill will help you learn when to bite:
While you and your partner grapple, look for the appropriate areas of his body
to bite. Called target acquisition, this process can take from one to five
minutes. Timing is critical, and only by actually rolling on the mat will you be
able to develop the ability to engage in Kina Mutai at will.
Once you have selected the target, your next step is to hold your training
partner as firmly as you can to ensure that your bite will be uninterrupted.
Then you simulate the bite by pressing your face firmly against the target for
as long as possible. The moment your partner feels the "bite" being applied, he
should attempt to defend himself by pushing your face away, breaking the hold,
etc. If you apply the technique correctly, it should take him at least 10
seconds to escape the simulated bite.
The
Eyes
The second half of the Kina Mutai equation is the uninterrupted eye gouge. To
train for it, you can use the same methodology as for biting: First wrestle
slowly while you acquire a target. Each position that is advantageous for biting
can also work for eye gouging—with the exception of the north-south position.
Grab your opponent’s neck and gently press on his eyeball until he pulls
your hand away.
As you get better, he can wear swim goggles so you can practice the eye gouge
more aggressively.
The
Alternative
One often-overlooked advantage of using Kina Mutai is the tremendous
psychological damage that a vicious bite or eye gouge will inflict. When you
bite uninterrupted and your assailant cannot stop the pain, you cause him to
panic. Because you are also biting a sensitive area, in essence you are
destroying him emotionally.
Kina Mutai should be used only as a last resort. These days, the thought of
having the blood of an unknown person in your mouth is certainly objectionable.
However, in a life-or-death situation, biting at precisely the right time could
enable you to create enough space to escape.
In the martial arts, there must be a clear distinction between self-preservation
(doing whatever it takes to save yourself and your loved ones) and
self-perfection (the sport and training aspects of a style). When you think
about bludgeoning someone with a stick, stabbing him with a knife or biting a
hole in his face, it is obviously distasteful. However, when it comes to
protecting the life of your mother, your spouse or your children, is there
anything you wouldn’t do?
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