So, I was sat in my friends house, there were 6 of us there, and it dawned on us that we've all had/do some kind of martial arts training. Between us we had trained in aikido, karate, tae kwondo and tai chi.
We had a few little fights, but we were always too scared of the pain without any sparring equipment. Anyway, one of them told me something his instructor had told him: "when you're in a street fight, become someone else." In other words, lose every part of you that isn't a fighter, that doesn't like violence or pain. Go insane, but don't lose composure.
And.. well, let's say since we started having full contact fights without any sparring equipment I've felt a lot more confident in the street. The only way to train for real fights is to have real fights, otherwise you're training for something that isn't going to happen.