Street fighting is hand-to-hand fighting in public places, between individuals or groups of people.
Unlike sport fighting, a street fight might involve weapons, multiple opponents or revenge and has no rules. The venue is usually a public place (e.g. a street) and the fight often results in a serious injury or even death.
The main difference between street fighting and a self-defense situation is that a street fight is avoidable, whereas a self-defense situation is not. The other characteristic being that the fight is consensual between both parties. A typical situation might involve two men arguing in a bar, then one suggests stepping outside, where the fight commences. Thus, it is often possible to avoid the fight by backing off, while in self-defense, a person is actively trying to escape the situation, using force if necessary to assure his or her own safety.
In some martial arts communities, street fighting and self-defense are often considered synonymous.
Famous quotes containing the words street and/or fighting:
“Nothing makes a man feel older than to hear a band coming up the street and not to have the impulse to rush downstairs and out on to the sidewalk.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“The current flows fast and furious. It issues in a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians. Every day they tell us that we are a free people fighting to defend freedom. That is the current that has whirled the young airman up into the sky and keeps him circulating there among the clouds. Down here, with a roof to cover us and a gasmask handy, it is our business to puncture gasbags and discover the seeds of truth.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)