That said, the general guy-with-a-knife youtubes around the CP seem to start and end with the grip, yank and shank philosophy, with not much address of what happens when the blade is actually in play. As well, the handful of online instructional excerpts on the subject from the man himself–while demonstrating superb tactics, mechanics, body positioning, and teaching skill–appear to tend towards working the guy over with the point, which is not high on my own list of activities. I'm not well equipped to go one-on-one in tight quarters with anyone serious while waiting for a pressure drop or psychological stop–which I think we all agree could possibly take an eternity when the opposition is committed to messing you up.
I agree with the last sentence, so don't end up there!
If you do, plain and simple, you don't know what will stop... psychological stop is likely, true structural stop in my view isn't. Some combination, maybe.
If the above two fail and I needed a knife to use, I want it to have dealt out the MOST damage possible so I can fight until the other guy isn't.
One thing is, Craig doesn't teach the CP as a standalone, nor IMO should anyone teach the knife as a primary weapon. Meaning you have to know how to fight when a knife is in play, not just put a knife into play and hope to win the fight.
As for "what happens"... I believe it's a false dichotomy to have a GOAL of stopping a BG using solely one method or the other. The goal is stop the bad guy.
I have never seen or had Janich's material presented to me but I do feel it's subject to becoming ineffective under enough pressure, because to "get away" you need to create some kind of window, which involves aggressiveness.
I'm not speaking for Craig or anyone else, by the way.
I want to incorporate aggressiveness into my fighting to create the window to get away... I don't want to try to back up AS I'm cutting as one instructor teaches, mainly because independently of any philosophical objection, I know from training it won't work.
To me this is a lot like the whole "learning to fight on the ground" debate. Lots of people say don't train that, you don't want to go to the ground...I like this quote:
The surest way to end up on the ground in a fight is to never train there. -Matt Thornton
Similarly, I believe that you can't have a half-measure "less deadly" or "less aggressive" knife method and expect equal efficacy. In a knife based defensive strategy, especially if multiples are present, you need something that works as fast as possible through whatever mechanisms.
Greater aggressiveness = faster psychological stop
aggressiveness = more damage, whether "structurally" or otherwise - the FGEU/RGEI methods don't discriminate, and would cause plenty of structural damage as well as other types
More damage to multiple targets on body = more overall chance of stoppage - if structural doesn't work in a given fight, you have started the "timer" on the more slow and steady decrements
Aggressiveness is also a way of turning the tide in the fight. When you fight, fight. You don't "defend" in my opinion... defending means going more slowly, trying not to get hit, letting the other guy dictate the encounter.
A psych stop may be more likely to happen with massive damage, too. If you get a cut to the forearm then the biceps then the deltoid, that might be disconcerting, and would make many people stop. I believe grievous damage such as 10-15 stabs culminating in shear cuts would be more disconcerting.
In my experience if you have someone trying to hurt you (or simulating it very convincingly) you will generally end up turning the tide by doing the counterintuitive thing of moving into them or any direction but back while delivering multiple disruptive strikes/stabs or even shots. If you concede any initiative, space, or relent, the person committing the assault will continue it.
If you extrapolate this to multiple attackers I feel point driven makes much more sense than anything else, as well. It's faster, less leakage of efficiency and energy, and the knife stays in a defined path and so does your hand/elbow, preventing you from getting chicken winged or similar.
