Self defence is not a test of skill the purpose is just to create the opportunity to escape, at least one of the participants is not willing, not all the participants are trained, there are no rules, and the winner is decided by who gets to go home in one piece.
Self defense can involve armed or unarmed combat, which does not automatically imply any type of military involvement (police on occasion will identify fights as mutual combat depending on circumstances and fault). That being said, most current usage of the word combat does revolve around military actions.
Unarmed combat in itself would essentially be any situation in which you are engaging in combat without the aid of weaponry.
Unarmed combat you may trying to fight to win or to kill. Many unarmed combat in the military do involve you retaining your weapon and getting back to armed combat to stack the shelf. E.g. you strike and fight to gain distance to use your long range weapon. There's less concern about the law.
Self defense you only fight to the point where the threat is removed and only with with corresponding levels of violence. e.g. he gives you a shove, you break his arm, that's not self defense anymore. Or if you pin him down and instead of calling 911 or run away to let the law deal the finishing blow, you start stomping him. That's also not self defense but combat.
Unarmed combat is survived mayhem.
Self defense is a part of an art that is part of the totality of one's life.
The word combat implies that it is fighting by military personnel as in a war. Self-defense is any situation where a person must defend themselves from an attack that they cannot get away from. Note I said an attack that you can't escape from. Most of the questions here are asked by kids that are really talking about school yard fights. They are not self-defense in most cases.
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It's a pretty fine line of semantics....
Generally, we use the word "combat" to designate opposing forces... Like in war or uprisings or whatever. Two distinct sides, fighting with each other.
"Self defense" indicates an unprovoked attack by one person on another, and actions taken to defend oneself.
From a physical standpoint... Pretty much the same. It's the distinction between "combat" and "defense". Combat is mutual.
the difference is in why you are fighting. it is self defence if you are defending yourself. it is not if you are engaging in deliberate acts of combat instead. ie formally meeting at dawn for a school-yard grudge v responding when jumped in an alley.
If I punched you for no reason, and you responded by shooting me, then my actions would be unarmed combat but not self defense. And your actions would be self defense but not unarmed combat.
If I stabbed you for no reason, and you responded by punching me, then my actions would be neither self defense nor unarmed combat, and your actions would be both.
Your questions already answers it. In self defense situations you need to be prepared for everything, armed opponents included. There are no rules at all.
Kind regards from germany
