A number of years ago, I read in some book I've long forgotten the name of one of the most excellent breakdown of "why every man should invest in learning how to fight"

I won't be able to do it justice, but the points were basically as follows.

  1. An incredible amount of anxiety and insecurity in a man comes from feeling like a pussy, inferior to other men. You may not think about often, but as a man you are hyper aware of your weaknesses and knowing you lack the ability to defend yourself or others is a huge blow to your overall self confidence. Knowing the exact movements needed to take down any man who threatens you in seconds because you have practiced them hundreds of times gives you the kind of confidence, no amount of muscles, or money or intellect can even deliver. You feel relaxed in the world when you protect yourself. Gun owners get some of this, those who carry, even the fat out of shape fucks feel safe knowing they have a death machine in reach but if they don't know how to use their hands, deep down they still feel weak. You can see cop videos that expose this when criminals wrestle their gun away and they start screaming like women, generally getting themselves killed by panicking and being weak.

  2. Shit happens. You may be funny, you may be smart, you may even be in great physical shape, but you can't always talk your way out of a fight or a bad situation. There may come a time when you are literally backed into a corner, even through no fault of your own, and must survive.

  3. Incredible physical fitness and a ripped body. The gym is great, nothing wrong with picking up heavy shit and putting it down but there are few things better for your overall fitness and a ripped body than fight training.

  4. Competition. All men need competition, we thrive on it. You can play chess, video games, but those strictly mental competitions only give you 70% of the thrill and it wears off fast. Physical competition is what men are meant for, whether it be team sports or one one one, the exhilaration of facing another man and seeing how you measure up is unbeatable. Even as a beginner, just being trained to hit mitts, or footwork, I guarantee something inside you that you were never aware of will be let out, a euphoria unlike your best high in the weight gym.

Choose whatever style you like, experiment with many: Boxing, muay thai, krav maga, that doesn't really matter, the end result is what matters, where you feel comfortable in the world and unintimidated by other men.

Physical pain is easy for a man, in fact it's crucial. There is nothing worse than emotional pain. Being bullied and never having the balls to throw a punch, feeling like you humiliated yourself in a situation, laid on your back and pissed all over yourself like a scared wolf does to submit to the alpha in the pack who is annoyed by him.

This is not about being some aggressive asshole or looking for trouble. It's about the incredible psychological and physical benefits one receives by having the knowledge to defend himself physically.

No amount of muscles will make you feel like a strong man. I've seen roided up animals get put to sleep by a smaller guy who knew just how to throw a vicious hook to the chin.

One of the best thing I ever did was start boxing, I then added hand to hand combat stuff like krav maga which is great fun. The result was a sense of calm I never had before, much like a gun you know it's there and you feel better, you don't want to have to use it, but you know you can if needed.

Also, as any real fighter will tell you, men that really know how to fight are seldom the insecure ragers that start fist fights. By knowing how to fight, you put yourself ahead of 99% of the men that might ever take a swing at you. Chances are very good that Cheal Sonnen isn't going to ask you to step outside because you looked at his girlfriend. You're average jock or juice head is just going to swing wild like a bitch or try and tackle you to the ground and punch the shit out of you. You can dispatch those types of clowns easily, even a few of them Jack Reacher style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu1MtT_S3bc

Ok, maybe not Jack Reacher style, but you see his fucking confidence level when that gang wants to beat his ass? You can have that after a good 6 months of training.