In combatives there is no sparring, fencing or reciprocal exchange of blows. The physical action on your part is completely one sided. The mindset and well defined goal of the combatives trainee is to be single minded in your objective to DEFEAT the enemy.
Combatives were born out of REAL experience and designed purely to counter violence. Any method that worked by doing just that is considered combative. I would like to touch on the subject in a little more depth.
Let's start by looking at the martial arts as they are practiced today both in the traditional sense and within the field of Mixed Martial Arts and combat sport. The latter has produced athletes of AMAZING levels of physical and mental prowess. NOTHING can be taken away from these modern day warriors who practice Vale Tudo, no holds barred and cage fighting.
They are truly immense within the field of what they do... But what they do is in one way or another governed by certain rules pertaining to certain do's and don'ts that define a sporting spectacle. Such matches don't include the pre-conflict 'interview' stage, which consists of conflict indicators and possible criminal acts. When one person scores the final point or the bell rings, the fighters are automatically separated, therefore the match will also lack the post-conflict stage, in which an escape, citizens arrest or police involvement may take place. The outcome of the match will dictate a winner and a loser, but this is NOT a life or death struggle nor is it a matter of self preservation.
Furthermore, the reality gap between the street and the dojo environment is simply too vast... That's not to say that the skills of the martial artist WON'T work against the potential street aggressor, they can, have and will, just NOT without first having been adapted to meet and cater for the conditions of the urban setting. The reason that the martial art self-defence element fails in most cases is three fold...
First and foremost if the trainee has NEVER been in a real violent confrontation before, chances are that he or she will never have experienced the adrenal stress that accompanies the same. Bearing in mind that the training methods presented by most martial arts instructors are ninety nine percent technique and skill based, there is a good chance that the adrenal stress part of the equation will not even have been addressed in passing conversation let alone replicated through scenario training.
The next thing relates to the actual physical skills or the techniques employed most of which are designed to be used against a practitioner within the same style or system and have in no way been adapted for use against an unpredictable and non-compliant street attacker. Finally there is the most important mental aspect that of MINDSET - which sits at the core of any functional combatives program of which will consist of ninety percent attitude, intention, and the willingness to step up and do WHATEVER it takes to win. This is for me the essence of what combatives are all about and this is where the main difference between martial arts and combatives lie!