A few months ago, I was walking home from my dojo, when I decided to stop by a friend of mine's house, since he lives nearby. When I arrived, he was standing on the sidewalk talking to another friend of our's who wassitting on the porch. We started talking as usual, nothing out of the ordinary, but then he saw my bag and the subject of Karate was brought up. His only training was a few boxing lessons and he isn't very fast, but he seems to think he's untouchable. After a few moments, he started throwing some seemingly playful punches which I just blocked and dodged. He never did anything like that before, so I just wrote it off as him being his usual arrogant self. However, the more I blocked, the more aggressive he became. He came to a point where I had to do something to stop him, so I threw out a back hand, stopping a few inches from his face. With that, he started swinging at me with all of his power, so I blocked a few times and locked his left arm up. After a few seconds, I pushed him away to avoid him throwing a cheap shot. After that, he called me a few names and I just went home and he hasn't spoken to me since. How would you have handled a situation like that? Is there another way?

No, you did the right thing. He was being an idiot. If someone can get all fired up like that over nothing and start lashing out at you, what kind of a friend are they?

you had to protect yourself. from what i can see by this, your friend is a plonker and has issues!!

this kinda thing has happened to me and i'm sure it has happened many more. he's lucky your such a nice person

You didn't say how long you guys have been friends so I'm left to wonder how well you knew him. Was there a woman or someone around that he was trying to impress? Sounds like he takes it as a challenge that you're involved in the martial arts. If he's a long time friend you might want to suit up and do some backyard sparring to get it out of his system. I would have some real concerns about a friend that would start throwing real punches at me without provocation. Strange situation, you handled it well.

Sounds like you handled it pretty well but did you actually tell him "No, don't do that?" ... Anyway, your friend sounds little jerky. His pride was hurt big time. He'll either come around or not but I wouldn't worry about it. Move on is my advice.

I think you did well. I would offer a bit of advice that's worked for me... offer your "friend" and out, and if possible, stroke his ego a bit.
I had a similar situation, where a friend of a friend did the same sort of thing, and it continued to escalate in the same fashion as you described. Finally, when I realized that it would be a problem if it continued, I stepped in as he punched and locked him up tight. I know he was in a bit of pain, and his face told me that he knew he was in too deep. I said "Holy crap you're fast! I'm glad you're not my enemy!" That quickly smoothed things over and sufficiently massaged his ego enough to allow the "fight" to be over.

Very admirable, real character.

You people are all saints.

Decades ago, I sent a "friend" crying back to his mummy. Needless to say, I haven't seen him for decades.

Quote:

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You people are all saints.

Decades ago, I sent a "friend" crying back to his mummy. Needless to say, I haven't seen him for decades.

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St.Boomer the Merciful....I like it
However...it's only one time that I did do the right thing for all the times I messed up. I remember something an army chaplian told me once:
"All saints have a past, and all sinners, a future."

I knew you'll understand -- Whewwwww; I feel a lot better now; it has been weighing on me for decades.

Nothing like confessing to a real live Saint.