10/12/2026
People often speculate about the “dirty tactics” they would use against a trained fighter. During a Gracie Challenge, however, the challenger isn’t required to follow a sport rule set. You’re free to attempt whatever you think might work.
You can attempt to grab or strike the groin. You can attempt to strike the throat, twist fingers, gouge eyes, or use whatever other attack you believe will give you an advantage against a trained opponent.
The short answer is that unless you’re highly trained yourself, and you’re fighting someone who is equally highly trained, you’ll likely never find yourself in a position to successfully apply these attacks. The problem isn’t that these techniques are impossible to use. The problem is that knowing an attack exists and being willing to use it are two very different things from actually being able to apply it against someone who knows what they’re doing.
You may be willing to go for the eyes or attack the groin. But being willing to do something doesn’t mean you have the timing, positioning, coordination, skill or opportunity to pull it off against someone who is actively fighting, controlling distance, anticipating your movements and actually is skilled at fighting and control. Having the intention to do something is not the same as having the ability to execute it under pressure.
Of course, this is something you really have to experience for yourself to believe or understand, and You can always walk into a gym and test your assumptions against someone who is trained.
Furthermore, what makes you think the trained fighter will continue following the rules of sport if you start using attacks? Trained people often don’t resort to those tactics for two maine reasons.
1. They are unreliable and ineffective. It is not like the movies where you will immediately rip someones eyes out of their head while they’re actively fighting you.
2. Trained people simply don’t often need to resort to that level of force because they are usually in complete control of the fight, and have complete control of their opponent, if they are fighting someone that is not similarly trained.
If you’re willing to abandon the rules, why would you assume your opponent is obligated to keep following them? The trained fighter has access to the same range of potential attacks you do, but unlike you, they will have the skill to create the openings and the ability to apply those techniques effectively.
The point isn’t that “dirty tactics” would never work. It’s that being willing to use them doesn’t give you the skill to execute them. Training matters because it teaches you how to create opportunities, control an opponent, and perform under resistance. Simply imagining what you would do in a fight is a very different thing from actually being able to do it.
