“In self-defense, you never wait to get hit. You strike when you feel threatened.”

Richard Bustillo is no stranger to having to defend himself. When he was a young man growing up in the “projects” in Hawaii, two brothers decided they were going to beat him up one day. But Richard has always held to the philosophy that if you can’t avoid trouble, you’ve got to be willing to dish it out to the best of your ability.
As soon as the first brother raised his fists to Richard, he received a powerful right hook to the jaw and was out cold. The second brother, moving in concert with his sibling, suddenly was jettisoned off the ground by a powerful sidekick.

“When I realized what had happened,” Bustillo recalls today, “I got a little cocky. I mean, here were these two tough kids, lying sprawled out on the ground, and I wasn’t even aware of having consciously struck these guys. My limbs seemed to move of their own accord.”     

 It’s a philosophy of cultivating quicker and more natural “reaction responses” and Bustillo has it down to a science. Bustillo’s background in the martial arts is at once varied and impressive. He is a director and chief instructor of the IMB (International Martial Arts & Boxing) Academy in Torrance, Calif. He is a former lecturer with California State University and a current certified law enforcement defensive tactics instructor with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. And he is the consultant with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Civilian Martial Arts panel.

A native of Hawaii, Richard has over 40 years of martial arts experience. He began judo training at age 10 at the Gray Y Center in Palolo Valley. He learned boxing at age 12 in Kalihi Valley and competed in “biddy boxing “and PAL boxing under the Veterans Boxing Club in Honolulu's Aala Park.



At age 15 Richard practiced the kajukenbo systems, with the Kempo/Karate Club of Waipahu until graduating from St. Louis High School and moving to California to pursue a college education. While a college student at age 19, Richard competed in Golden Gloves and amateur boxing tournaments for Shaw's Boxing Gym in Los Angeles. At age 25, Richard studied jeet kune do under the system’s founder at the Jun Fang Gung Fu Institute in Chinatown, Los Angeles.

Bustillo's background from this point is well documented. With assistant instructor Dan Inosanto, Richard researched and studied the Filipino martial arts of kali/escrima/arnis in 1967. Richard and Dan are credited and honored for reviving and promoting the martial arts of the Philippines throughout the world. In 1974 Richard and Dan co-founded the Kali Academy in Torrance to share their experience of jeet kune do with others and to preserve and promote the martial arts in Philippines. In 1976, Richard was promoted to senior instructor level in jeet kune do. In 1978, Richard learned muay Thai from his student Niyim Pibool-nakarin and in 1985 achieved the title kru (teacher) in muay Thai by Thailand’s former Olympian and former muay Thai Champion Namfa “Chiridichoi” Satenglarn.

The martial arts credentials continue: Richard is also certified by the USA Olympic Training Center as a coach and official of the U.S. Amateur Boxing Association of Southern California; he’s certified sensei (instructor) with the Catchascatchcan Wrestling Association of Japan; a guro (instructor) in the Filipino arts of kali-escrima-arnis; a sifu (senior instructor) in jun fan (jeet kune do) gung-fu; and a kru (coach in muay Thai (kickboxing).



When it comes to the topic of this article—practical self-defense—this guy knows what the heck he’s talking about, so let’s let him explain.

Technique No. 1 (Shown)
Use: “This technique is used when somebody attempts to strike you in the head with his right hand, left hand or even both hands (in a grabbing attempt). It's called a ‘temple block’ in that your arms form the apex of a temple—it’s a very safe block.”
Application: If your opponent tries to hit you with a right hand punch, you can use this block (1). My follow-up technique is simply to "shock the system"—it's not meant to debilitate your adversary. In this series, I smack him on the head with an open-hand strike (2). The idea is to shock him into freezing for the split second required for you to maneuver him into choking range (3). This choke is effective; you place one arm around your opponent's neck, making sure that his windpipe is in the crux of your arm (where your biceps meets your forearm) (4). From this position, place the hand of your choking arm on the biceps of your left arm and then drop the left arm down behind your opponent's neck (5).

Technique No. 2
Use: "I am defending either a punch or an overhead shot. My opponent's stance reveals to me that he will be coming at me with his right hand.”



Application: My left hand blocks the overhand strike (1), while my right hand comes into play to destroy the limb (2). It is like trying to defend against the snake—hit the limb. And because of the angling of the opponent's arm, I can go into a figure-4 lock. (3), which is an outside lock in which my adversary's arm will be bent into a shape almost resembling the number 4. I accomplish this by turning his head (4), which keeps me from being hit with a counterstrike. I step in and check his lead leg with my shin (5).

Technique No. 3:
Use: “I am redirecting my opponent’s attack and following with an attack of my own.”
Application: When my opponent prepares to strike (1), I intercept his strike by flicking out a fingerjab (2). Now a fingerjab is an efficient strike, because it doesn't take particularly strong fingers or a lot of power to jab your fingers into somebody's eyes. With the fingerjab hand, I can redirect my opponent’s punching and lead right into an elbow strike (3). And when I hit that, I work to the head, which is already set up for a neck-crank (4). You'll also noticed that I've eliminated the possibility of his countering me with his other hand by applying a chicken-wing lock from the back (5).

Technique No. 4
Use: "In self-defense, you never wait to get hit. You strike when you feel threatened.”
Application: As soon as your opponent raises his hands in a threatening manner (1-2), you strike fast, first and fast (3). In other words, if your hands are down and someone says, "You want to fight?" and puts his hands up—as soon as he puts his hands up you strike him with your leg to an area containing soft tissue, such as the knee or inner thigh (4). Our concept is that there are ways to defend yourself; either hit first, hit at the same time in a different direction, or hit after your opponent has initiated his strike.

John Little is a well-known freelance writer.