Think of it like the light side and the dark side of the force.
Aggressiveness is like the darkside of the force, have more adrenaline, less pain, more power, less focus tend to be only offensive for the duration. Probably can get you into trouble in the street, but you like trouble.
Cool-headed is like the lightside, more focus, more sensitivity, more thinking (which is bad if too much), lower blood pressure, tend to observe and wait for opportunities, usually keeps you out of trouble.
Based on what you said in your question, I think you need to put on more pressure instead hanging out on the outside all of the time, you don't have to become aggressive to do that.
I think it's very different for self defense and for sparring, but at the heart of it your aggressiveness should be whatever lets you do the most effective move the quickest. Sparring aggressiveness means taking control of the floor and keeping on pressing, whereas something like smart street aggression would be brutally hitting the most damaging areas as quickly as possible. I like what AKBAN said, something along the lines of "a cool mind, but an assertive style."
In the real world, rarely is one punch enough especially against someone who is experienced, berzerked, etc.
In competition where you are judged by others, aggressiveness can earns points. On the streets, it gets you in trouble with the law because of excessive force and can get you kill because an aggressive fighter who is blinded by fury is not looking for a way out (to escape) - he is fighting to prolong and stay in a fight.
I would say that it is more important for a fighter to have better technical ability than to be aggressive, but maybe you could be both. You would just have to be careful, a lot of traditional martial arts, jui jitsu for example, talk about using your opponents energy against them. I'm sure going ham on a jui jitsu fighter could easily result in a take down and a painful submission.
People often confuse being aggressive with determination. I have seen aggressive fighters who were loose cannons and made lots of mistakes and were pretty easy defeated by much cooler and collected fighters. I think you let his "aggressiveness" get to you and it threw you off. Don't let it intimidate you. More is needed than being aggressive to win a fight. Practice more with partners who like to come in like a ton of bricks. Once you get the hang of it it's easier than you think to fight someone like that if you don't let it intimidate you.
Hmm, it's kinda a catch 22 type of thing. It's VERY important to keep your cool and collection, but one can also be "cool and calm" and still fight in an aggressive manner. Aggressive doesn't necessarily mean balls to the wall go crazy sort of deal, for there are levels of violence in fighting. Imagine for sake of analogies, a highly trained professional killer, hitman, assassin, whatever, they fight very "aggressively", but they are calm, cool, and collected the entire time.
http://www.akban.org/wiki/Levels_of_viol...
When I fight, I need to stay calm, BUT, I will still fight with unforgiving cruelty and my goal will be to seriously hurt my enemy as quick as possible.
Make sense. Aggressive in "style" calm and cool in the mind. Per se.
Perhaps that was a bad analogy.
Some people are simply not prepared for being rushed and attacked in a quick manner bc they are used to trading blows and whatnot for a few minutes.
In a real fight though I will not waste time trading blows. I will try to end it as quick as possible.
Depends on how you view aggression.
Personally I view myself as aggressive, I prefer to force openings rather than waiting for them. This is purely opinion but in my opinion waiting for an opening could well be waiting for something that never comes, especially if you're dealing with someone who has some ability.
That's an excellent question and really one that depends on the other fighter or person and what is actually happening. If the other fighter or person is super aggressive and moving forward and making contact and doing damage then it really in part depends on your skill and ability. If you can't break off contact by moving back or away at an angle and countering then you could find yourself on the losing end pretty quickly even if you are the better fighter technically. The above is one strategy and another is to try instead to try and establish control of things yourself and get your opponent backing up. Some fighters don't fight as well going backwards and it of course also means you are going to have to have some kind of exchange with them then and press forward to accomplish this and that also carries its own risks. A third strategy and the one that I really liked and relied on a lot along with the second strategy that I mention above was breaking off contact just outside their effective reach and then as they continued pressing the attack, suddenly stopping and catching them coming in and if I did then following up with that second strategy of trying to get them going backwards.
You can of course just go toe-to-toe with them but that might not always be advisable especially if they are bigger and have more ability to hurt you than you them. That of course is a fourth strategy you can employ as well though.
There are a couple of other things you can do especially if we are talking about organized, structured fighting. One is to create distance and then as your opponent starts to set up his attacks and closing you move to some angle forcing him to have to adjust to that. Then he often has to set up his attack again and try to close with you. I sometimes would also do this a couple of times trying to make him more anxious and aggressive and then when he thought I was going to do that again suddenly change and try to beat him to his set point and the punch and then follow up, backing him up. You can't rely on this in a street situation so much though. Instead a lot of times in a street situation it comes down to who can do the most damage the quickest really. Anyone who trains for self-defense reasons or want's to be able to defend themselves better should be directing a portion of their training to this purpose as well. It along with how accurate you are with things you throw, how quickly and strongly you can throw them are all critical for this which we associate with a person's technique or the quality of their technique.
I have been in very few street situations that lasted more than 20 seconds or so. Most lasted a lot less and so it really is important I think for a person to be able to think, act, react, as well as execute things quickly without having to stop and think if we are talking about a street situation. If you have to stop and think or if you hesitate then that involves too much time and you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed by a really aggressive individual in a street situation in a lot of cases.
Aggressiveness makes punches extremely fast with power. Its important to keep your mind in that situation in a sport like boxing. Do you KNOW that when you are aggressive you CAN GET HIT MUCH. but you'll not be knocked out.
Your blood flow will be fast. Muscles will be harder. Can get hit a lot.
Tip : To be arrgeensive, you can think that he is conning to kill you. You will be dead on the floor like a shi*.
The problem with being an aggressive fighter is that one uses up all of their energy quicker. If he (or she) doesn't knock the other one out rapidly and the fight is drawn out, then they are vulnerable to defeat.
I remember a few years ago when I was boxing. I wasn't particurarly aggressive fighter. I liked to stick to the outside, bob and weave out of the way. But I remember when I lost a fight against this guy. He was incredibly aggressive. He just kept coming and attacking all the time. He never stopped. He finally defeated me on points. I would say that I was the better technical fighter but he was more aggressive.
Can aggressiveness substitute technique?And in the real world where usually one punch is enough is it better to put your money on being aggressive or on being a better fighter?
The correct answer is you need to be the better fighter.
You can be aggressive or assertive and not be effective.
Strike a balnce between offense and defense. You need both to be effective.
