Seeing as you are a black belt i assume that your hypothetical situation is strictly self-defense. in that case, you should get the guy off you and get out, that is if it doesn't get broken up by a teacher first. by black belt you should know how to avoid school fights completely.

Intimidate the guy or say whatever it takes to make him feel better about himself and not want to fight anymore. No one squares off with you unless its a mutually consensual fight.

Maybe you misunderstand the intent then, the reason to intimidate would be to avoid the fight and walk away. Not everyone responds to logic and understanding in the face of adversity.

so basically what you are saying is that by trying to scare the person who already thinks he/she has the abilities to beat you up, you will be able to end the situation without violence? if they have the intent to do physical harm upon you, a confrontational response will perhaps inflame the situation more than it already is. with all due respect, i have to ask you: do you know what intimidation means? it is a tactic that uses fear and/or threatening language/actions to achieve personal goals. intimidation may end the confrontation if you are the bully and the other person is the martial artist.

If you can gauge the situation and the person (which I've found that most martial artists who spend any time living what they practice can) then you can determine which route to take. The frat guy who walks up to you and tries to punk you with his bravado is different than the guy who wants to hurt you. Sometimes all it takes is giving the attitude right back, sometimes it's obvious that the only way to diffuse the situation is to stroke the guy's ego and let it be done. Don't get hostile at me, I'm giving advice on how to avoid a fight, with all due respect =p.

Mostly for the OP, just partially for Novum----


Well I will say you can't fight fire with fire. If we're talking about your typical bully type he's probably already doing the intimidating or why would you be asking for help. As a very general rule, bullies pick targets they're pretty confident they can stomp fairly easlily. "Mad dogging" him is unlikely to make him leave you alone out of fear. It's just not that easy. Unfortunately the better way seems to take a while to learn correctly. You don't need to intimidate just show confidence. (real confidence not acting like it cuz that will get you hurt) Don't challenge him or stand in front of him and puff out your chest or drop into fighting stance and kiop. It's a matter of developing enough confidence in yourself that you don't need to prove to anyone (including yourself) that you aren't afraid of somthing/someone. If you have this you won't draw the attention of bullies usually. If he already has you in his sights? Stay out of his way as much as the situation commits and worry about the rest when you truly have no other choice but to fight him. Then all the rest is moot. You won't have time to think "ok now its time for my heel hook, jump spining 540 jedi sweep combo. You'll just do what you've trained.

Summation: Train hard, train often, train correctly, and build yourself into a better person. It always sounds like nonsense just like it did when "some old guy" said it to me when I was young. But, if you're prepared and well trained, you'll find that less bullies will target you. Not because they know you study TKD (if infact you do) , but because you carry yourself confidently and have presense. All animals can smell fear and doubt, why not bullies?