Street Fighting is very different from sparring in a martial arts class, or from any kind of combat sports such as MMA or Muay Thai, and even someone who has done extensive martial arts training can find that it all goes out the window when they find themselves in a real life fight.

But whether you are just a regular person with no martial arts training at all, and just a desire to learn a bit about self defense and how to protect yourself from attackers, or if you are a veteran martial arts student, there are a few basic street self defense principles that can help to keep you safe. I will also include a few relevant links for both beginners and advanced students to learn more, including the ones that are embedded in this and the previous paragraph. 

 This is by far the most important thing in a street fight, and it is often the first thing that goes out of the window when people get scared and the adrenaline starts flowing. The more you panic the less you will be aware of, so although it is easier said than done you should do evrything you can to remain calm and focussed. What you need to do is to just listen to your own inner dialogue and edit out anything that doesn't help. You may well be thinking 'oh my god, oh my god...' or what if this ot that happens or something similar that is as natural as it is unhelpful.

You need to be aware not only of your attacker(s), and particularly of their limbs and of anything they may be holding that could be used as a weapon, but you also need to be aware of your surroundings looking for avenues of escape or things that you can use to your advantage.

 You should always do whatever you can to avoid violence. You should try to talk a potential attacker down, or just try to escape. But if you have done everything you can to stop a fight from happening, and violence is forced on you, then your only thought should be to end the confrontation as quickly as possible without getting hurt yourself. Most people have ingrained inhibitions against acting in a really vicious way, and may pass up an opportunity to take an attacker out of action simply because they are still somewhat in their everyday mindset which prohibits even vicious thoughts let alone actions. But the longer a fight lasts the greater chance that you or someone you care about will be seriously hurt or killed, and if you did all you could to avoid violence in the first place then you have no moral responsibility to hold back. Making a conscious decision to be as vicious and nasty as possible can make a huge difference to your chances.

 It sounds obvious, but the worst thing that can happen in a street fight is for someone to get behind you. This goes hand in hand with my first point, as you may be in a situation where there are more than one person who pose a potential threat, and if this is the case they you really have to keep a constant awareness of where they all are, because you will have very little chance to defend yourself if you get surrounded, or if someone sneeks up behind you without you realising they are there until its too late.