Huge Guys with Hard Elbows

I hurt.

I just ate, both literally and figuratively, an elbow.

This would not be much of an issue if the other end of said elbow were not connected to a man who weighs approximately 320 lbs. And no, I'm not exaggerating. If anything, I'm actually underestimating the guy's weight. He's fricking huge.

There's a difference between sparring and flailing. Sparring is an exercise. The purpose of the exercise is to learn improvisation; to react to your opponent and respond. The object is not to hurt your opponent. Sometimes accidents happen, someone gets smacked in the face or whatever; but for the most part, it's bloodless. Flailing is a very different exercise. You swing wildly not giving a flying, um, darn what you hit, if you hit, or how hard you hit. This guy was deeply in the latter category. We're also very careful in how we use elbows; largly because they can be absolutely devastating weapons. Hit someone with an elbow and you can do everything from winding them slightly, to breaking an arm, to cracking some ribs to breaking a nose or a neck. And it's a very difficult weapon to moderate. There is very little difference between the force required to snap someone's head upwards, and the force necessary to break their neck. So, no elbows, as a general rule; until you get really good.

My opponent in this particular case was not that good; he just thinks he is. It's a damn good thing my reflexes are good. I jerked my head back about six inches just before he hit. If I hadn't; I probably would be in the market for some replacement teeth. As it was, he probably hit me hard enough to break my nose, but since he didn't actually hit my nose, that was a non-issue. He hit my two front teeth pretty hard, not hard enough to knock 'em out, but hard enough to make 'em hurt a bit. My lower lip got cut up pretty badly. I think I bit down on it.

As it is, yeah, I hurt. My jaw feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it, my lower lip has started swelling. I don't remember it, but apparently as soon as I got hit, I dropped like a stone. My Daai Si Ying thought that I'd suffered an anneurism or something. I don't think I blacked out or anything, I think my head just got a little knocked around. Tom, our resident med tech agreed with that assessment. My pupils were a bit dilated and I was having a little trouble tracking his finger when he moved it around. That improved after about 20 minutes, a little water, and sitting out for a bit.

At any rate, Daai Si Ying was decidedly unimpressed at the other guy and decided to teach him control.

I'm not a violent guy by nature, but I have to admit that watching my former opponent get the crap pummeled out of him was immensely satisfying.