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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/KnifeduCR_9751.jpg]]
5 [[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/Dune1984 I WILL kill him!]]]]
6
7
8->''"Knife fight! You're gonna fight for your life!\
9Knife fight! You're gonna fight with a knife!\
10Knife fight! A really really really sharp knife!\
11Yeah, knife fight!\
12I'm a crazy (crazy) son of a bitch,\
13I'mma cut you (cut you)\
14Swish swish!\
15In a knife fight! (knife fight) \
16Knife fight! (knife fight) \
17Knife fight! (knife fight)"''
18-->-- "Knife Fight," by '''Music/LemonDemon'''
19
20Everyone likes a SwordFight, and for good reason. It's flashy! It's suspenseful! It's badass! It allows the hero to prove himself not just some guy designated to defeat the villain, but who can clash with him one-on-one and come out on top (or at least hold their own).
21
22Problem is, not all stories take place in locales where a sword would be considered an appropriate weapon to have along, regardless of what the hero might [[HeroesPreferSwords prefer.]] This might be simply because the story takes place in TheFuture, where no one uses swords anymore (even {{Laser Blade}}s). It might also be because the character is some manner of soldier, mercenary, scruffy rogue, or other manner of archetype who is thematically forbidden from using such extravagant weapons. Enter the knife--simple and useful enough that humans will certainly be carrying it around no matter where or when they are, yet dangerous and shiny and sharp enough that they can serve as a substitute for the SwordFight in a pinch. Knives also have the advantage that you don't have to necessarily be a knife fighter to carry one around, meaning that any character is a candidate for pulling one out. All the drama with none of the camp!
23
24Because knives are so small in comparison to swords (meaning that typical sword-fighting tropes can't really be used effectively with them), they tend to go a bit different from sword fights. While they can involve a lot of dodging and parrying in a sort of knife-based {{Flynning}}, most tend to be short and brutal. With knife fights, the emphasis is usually on the grit factor, with characters grunting and actively trying to go for the killing blow with every attack. Your typical Hollywood knife fight will always devolve into one character trying to stab another, with the other character grabbing the attacker's hands and trying to push them away. Unlike your typical sword fight, you can expect to see ''a lot'' of blood during a knife fight.
25
26Common variations involve the fighters being tied to each other by the wrists (cuts down on bicycling) and both fighters being blindfolded (one participant will turn out to be a skilled blindfighter.)
27
28----
29!! Examples
30
31[[foldercontrol]]
32
33[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
34* In ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', Firo has to duel Maiza before he can be accepted into the Martillo family (technically a duel, with a martial on hand who states if either of them go for the neck or torso he'll shoot them). Firo wins by slashing Maiza's arm, [[spoiler:but of course, it heals]].
35* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' features an unusual one -- between [[spoiler:Pazu and someone with a body identical to his own, complete with mannerisms.]]
36* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' has a ''magical'' knife fight.
37* The obscure {{OVA}} of ''Manga/DogSoldier'' has one... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IR0NTMVjEcY sort of.]] Also present in the manga.
38* There was also a knife fight... [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj7UKXKwd4k sort of]]... in ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'' (thankfully, the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise got much higher budgets in subsequent series).
39* ''Literature/TheGardenOfSinners'' has a quite awesome one in the seventh movie between Ryougi and [[spoiler:Shirazumi Lio]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPDTQViU3c Take a look.]]
40* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' features two between cyborg Triela and the BadassNormal assassin Pinocchio.
41* ''Anime/PsychoPass'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDQBDdEyufs a short but intense one]] in its final episode between Kougami and Makishima with a [[http://www.knife-depot.com/knife-information-104.html clip-point folding knife]] and a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_razor straight razor.]] In ''Anime/PsychoPassProvidence'', Kougami gets into another knife fight with Peacebreaker operative Kai in Dejima.
42* ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'' has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qywGZZL0IA a fight]] between Milde DualWielding [[MacheteMayhem machetes]] and Valmet armed with a single knife. They're not really trying to kill each other, though.
43* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'':
44** The climax of the Assassination Island arc is a knife fight between Nagisa and [[spoiler: Takaoka]].
45** The civil war arc also ends in a knife fight (with those anti-sensei "harmless" knives) between Nagisa and Karma. Of course, partway through the fight both of them lose their knives and it devolves into brawling.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Comic Books]]
49* Storm's battle with Callisto for leadership of the Morlocks in ''ComicBook/XMen'' comics.
50* ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'': The bloodiest knife fight in comic history takes place in the story arc "Get Mystique", in the Desert in Afghanistan, between a stark naked ComicBook/{{Mystique}}, armed only with a Marine Corps Bowie, and Wolverine, equipped with six retractable adamantium blades and a healing factor; it ends as Logan screams and impales Raven [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice right through the chest]]. She produces a pistol [[AssShove from god-knows-where]] and shoots him through the middle of the face. Logan recovers first and walks away, [[LeaveBehindAPistol leaving behind Raven's gun, with one bullet "...and I'm sure you'll know what that's for..."]] Raven screams after him: "This isn't over! Come back and finish me! I'll see you in hell Logan!" Don't worry; Raven (a) gets better, and (b) makes good on her threat to "see Logan in hell".
51* ComicBook/JonahHex and el Papagayo have a brutal knife fight to the death in the graphic novel ''No Way Back''. Hex eventually wins by means of LodgedBladeRecycling.
52[[/folder]]
53
54[[folder:Fan Fiction]]
55* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has the Winter Soldier get in a few of these, including with Wolverine himself.
56** Natasha gets in one of these with [[LegacyCharacter Yelena Belova]] in chapter 10 of the sequel, ''Ghosts of the Past'' as part of a more general brawl. [[spoiler: Yelena loses the fight, her knife, and a thumb, along with a large chunk of her remaining sanity.]]
57* These tend to be the result when Nav encounters assassins in ''Fanfic/DiariesOfAMadman''.
58* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' of Creator/AAPessimal, [[SpicyLatina Dolores de Gutierrez]] is Principal Teacher of Circus Skills at the Fool's Guild. [[note]]After a long battle with ultra-conservatives, in this AU the Fools have bowed to the inevitable and started - slowly and reluctantly - admitting women and girls[[/note]] One of those circus skills is knife-throwing. Dolores is from the Discworld's [[LatinLand version of South America]] where knife-fighting is part of the culture. Her throwing knives can be, from a specialised and professional point of view, thrown very badly and carelessly indeed. And she knows how to use them in close combat, too.
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Film]]
62* ''Driven to Kill'' features what may be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA3U-6zyFpU the greatest knife fight ever.]]
63* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljHRS_19vwk baton vs. knife fight]] in ''Film/ShaPoLang'' between Ma Kwan and the assassin Jack.
64* ''Film/TheHunted2003'' features Creator/TommyLeeJones and Benicio Del Toro demonstrating Sayoc Kali, a blade-focused variation of traditional Filipino martial arts. In the climax, the two face off using makeshift knives.
65* The Bride and Vernita Green in ''Film/KillBill Vol. 1'' are in the middle of one of these when the bus comes and little Nikki arrives. They discuss continuing it at a baseball field. But in a subversion, [[spoiler:Vernita tries for a bushwhack by pulling a gun and the Bride kills her on the spot (in front of her daughter who just walked back into the room)]].
66* ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'': Riddick gets into these a lot.
67* The primary weapons in ''Film/{{Dune|2021}}'' and ''Film/DunePartTwo'' are half-way between knife and machete (the ban on firearms from the novel isn't spelled out but seemingly in effect), and those trained in the ways of the Bene Gesserit (such as Lady Jessica and her son Paul Atreides) have a clear edge in duels. It's also TruerToTheText compared to the [[Film/Dune1984 1984 film]], which replaces blades with sonic weaponry. Both films end with the knife duel between Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen.
68-->'''Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib:''' May thy knife chip and shatter.
69* The cult film ''Exposure'' actually has a scene where a knife fight master teaches the protagonist.
70* In ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', there's one really [[NightmareFuel (in)]]famous one in the final big battle sequence between tough Jewish GI Mellish and an SS soldier. [[spoiler:It ends with the German overpowering Mellish and ''very slowly'' sinking the blade into his chest down to the handle, whispering to Mellish to stop struggling and to accept his fate as he convulses and winces until his life leaves him.]]
71* ''Film/EasternPromises'' is also well known for its psychologically disturbing knife fight in the climax.
72* ''Film/TheLongRiders'' had one between two Bowie knives, and at the lady's request no less. Notable for having the fighters "tied" together by a chew rather than their wrists.
73* ''Film/UnderSiege''. The final has [[Creator/StevenSeagal Casey Ryback]] fighting the BigBad [[Creator/TommyLeeJones William Strannix]], and utterly annhilating him.
74* ''Film/WestSideStory1961'' features a very dancy knife fight between champions in the Sharks and the Jets. There's a lot of emphasis on light glinting on the knife blades.
75* A defining moment in ''Film/RebelWithoutACause''.
76* ''Film/IntoTheNight'' has a struggle of knives between David Bowie and Carl Perkins.
77* ''Film/TheUltimateWarrior'' has a knife ''brawl'' involving no less than five people.
78* ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'': Harvey Logan tries to give himself a KlingonPromotion by challenging the gang leader Butch Cassidy to a knife fight to the death. The NonActionGuy Butch is not enthusiastic and inquires about the rules. As Logan guffaws, "There's no rules in a knife fight!" Butch delivers a GroinAttack and promptly [[CombatPragmatist knocks Logan out]].
79* In ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', a giant mech is handily equipped with a proportionate Bowie knife to engage in a knife fight with the hero.
80* In ''Film/MurdersInTheRueMorgue'', Dr. Mirakle's carriage runs into two men knife fighting over a prostitue. After the two kill each other, he kidnaps the woman for his experiments.
81* Averted in ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' in the classic "That's a knife" scene. The switchblade-toting mugger is not interested in tangling with a guy who carries a Bowie knife around with him.
82* Mahoney gets into a wrist-tied version with Zed at the end of ''Film/PoliceAcademy2TheirFirstAssignment''. There's a twist: Mahoney has a rather small sheath knife. Zed has a scimitar.
83* In ''Film/{{Commando}}'', between Matrix and Bennett at the end of the movie. Minutes later both of them lost their knives, engaging in a fistfight instead.
84* ''Film/TheManFromNowhere'' has one around the film's climax.
85* ''Film/TheRaid2Berandal'' has a spectacular fist fight turn into an equally spectacular knife fight as [[CombatBreakdown the assassin grows more desperate]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu_-LbOID-Q Watch it here.]]
86* ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'' features an excellent one at the end of the film between [[ActionGirl Ilsa]] [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Faust]] and [[TortureTechnician The]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bone]] [[TheDragon Doctor]]
87* ''Film/ForceTenFromNavarone'': In the climax Weaver gets into a knife fight with the Chetnik leader, who even [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain mocks "blackie" for bleeding red]]. Weaver ultimately wins but is gravely injured.
88* ''Film/ThorRagnarok'': Between Loki and Valkyrie. She wins and captures him.
89* ''Film/RedSparrow'' features an ''astonishingly'' brutal knife-fight as Dominika rescues [[spoiler:Nate]] from torture at the hands of Matorin. The resulting messy, nasty, bloody fight ends with Dominika desperately stumbling to find a phone and call for help.
90* The 2011 adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Coriolanus}}'' has a SettingUpdate, so instead of going at each other with swords, Coriolanus and Aufidius [[LetsFightLikeGentlemen put down their rifles to duel each other with combat knives]]. Things are less gentlemanly in the final scene, when a group of Aufidius’s men attack and kill Coriolanus en masse.
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:Literature]]
94* Creator/CormacMcCarthy features several in his HistoricalFiction novels. Especially ''The Border Trilogy'' and ''Literature/BloodMeridian'', ranging from quick attacks to possibly the most epic DuelToTheDeath ever captured on the page.
95* Quite a few throughout the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' novels; forcefield technology repells bullets, but slow things like knives and swords get through fine.
96* ''Literature/SnowCrash'' gives us a fight between Raven, who uses ''glass'' knives with molecule-thin cutting edges, and Uncle Enzo, who has a straight razor.
97* Creator/JorgeLuisBorges had a fascination for them. Knife duels feature in several of his stories ("El encuentro", "El Sur", "El fin", etc.) and there is a whole book of his poems dedicated to (a nostalgic and romanticized version of) the ''cuchilleros'' of Buenos Aires circa 1900.
98* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'': Most Pernese men carry "belt knives," which seem to be akin to hunting knives. These are primarily tools, but they are also the standard weapon for fighting duels of honor.
99** In ''Dragonflight'', F'lar and [[spoiler:Lord Fax]] engage in a duel to the death using their belt knives. Although F'lar has a lot of practice dueling experience, he does not have nearly as much practical killing experience as his opponent.
100** In ''Dragonquest'', F'lar is forced to take on [[spoiler:the Oldtimer Weyrleader T'ron]] when [[spoiler:T'ron]] tries to prevent the dragonriders from responding to an out-of-sequence Threadfall.
101** In ''The White Dragon'', The Oldtimer [[spoiler:T'kul]] arranges things so that he can attack F'lar with a double advantage: he's AxCrazy after his dragon's death, and he's using a skinning knife as his weapon, which is longer and heavier than a belt knife.
102** Also in ''The White Dragon'', Jaxom is about to challenge [[spoiler:Toric of Southern Hold]] for insulting both him and his hold when F'lar and Lessa appear and force [[spoiler:Toric]] to take it back. It's a fortunate turn of events for Jaxom, since the other man is taller, older, heavier, and more experienced in fighting.
103** In the middle Harperhall novel, ''Dragonsinger'', there's a suggestion that even some girls wear belt knives and will challenge over a serious insult: Pona accuses Menolly of being a thief, and Menolly puts one hand on her knife as she demands Pona retract the accusation.
104* Creator/MatthewReilly does a couple of these, since most of the characters carry knives as backup weapons (see Real Life section below). ''Literature/IceStation'' has a knife fight when the air becomes mixed with a flammable gas.
105* Technically it's a "sword vs knife" fight, but given the relative sizes of the two combatants and the close quarters involved, the duel between [[TheWoobie Ahren Elessedil]] and his [[KickTheDog tormentor]], Cree Bega in ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheJerleShannara'' is thematically closer to this. Oddly, given the number of knife-wielders in Creator/TerryBrooks' writing this is the only one that really stands out, possibly due to it being between a BreakTheCutie Woobie, and TheDragon.
106* In ''Ghost Story'' from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' Daniel Carpenter gets into a knife fight with a [[TheFagin street sorcerer]] named Aristedes, whose magic gives him SuperSpeed. He loses, but manages to cut him [[spoiler: and then Butters beats him with a lead pipe before he can kill Daniel, hospitalizing him and ending his control over the others.]]
107* ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheSkyValleyCult'' features knife and machete fights galore, being set in a SavageSouth of HollywoodVoodoo and tribal warfare.
108* The Fishhawk chooses knives as the weapons for a duel against Literature/SolomonKane, figuring that he can better use his trickery and strength than if they fought with swords or pistols.
109* In ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'' Geralhd gets into a knife fight with another bandit named Dafur. He loses but survives as Dafur is killed when Herad intervenes.
110* ''Literature/ShipBreaker'' concludes with a KnifeFight between Nailer and his ArchnemesisDad, Richard. It ends when Nailer traps his dad between the gears in the ship's engine and kills him.
111* In ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' there are fights between Tanith Low, who has a BFS, and Billy-Ray Sanguine, who carries a straight razor. HilarityEnsues.
112* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
113** Knife duels were a popular pastime for a while in the First Age. With knives coated with slow poison. Most of the time, both duelists ended up dead.
114** Knife fights are very common among men in the streets of Ebou Dari, such that many men bear the scars of past duels. Knives are so ingrained in their fanatically matriarchal culture that wives carry knives to discipline their husbands.
115* ''Literature/JamesBond''
116** In ''Literature/{{Icebreaker}}'', Bond goes to visit one of his many girlfriends and finds two thugs waiting for him instead. The other is quickly dealt with, but the bigger one with a knife must be fought with another blade.
117** After stopping the BigBad's EvilPlan in ''Literature/DeathIsForever'', Bond is attacked in London by a knife-wielding cohort of his, and all he has is a knife of his own to defend himself.
118* In ''[[Literature/TheHammerAndTheCross One King's Way]]'' Shef and his crew witness a 'Rogaland style' duel, where the men tie their left wrists together and knife fight on a bullhide. Later, Shef fights the King of Sweden this way, atop the Kingdom Rock.
119* Jürgen, the main villain of ''Literature/TheTraitorsEmblem'', arranges a private ultimate confrontation with the main character Paul ([[spoiler:who is also his half-brother]]) where they fight with knives to the death.
120* In ''Donna di piacere'' (set in a rural brothel) the Madam's favorite draws a knife on another of the girls. Madam tosses the other girl a dagger to ensure a fair fight.
121* Later in ''Literature/{{IT}}'', Mike has to fight off a switchblade-wielding Henry Bowers with a decorative letter opener.
122[[/folder]]
123
124[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
125* The ''Series/MagnumPI'' episode ''"Lest We Forget"'', in which Magnum helps reunite a couple that had been separated for decades. He was a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII flier and she was a prostitute and they met on a beach and fell in love and planned to elope but were interrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor. In any case, it shows one {{Flashback}} seen in which the flier comes to the Place of Employment to pick up his girlfriend. The local muscleman draws a knife on him where upon a sympathetic customer throws a knife to the flier and the two of them have a DuelToTheDeath.
126* Major Zod vs Clark in the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' Season 9 finale. It should be noted that the knife is made of Blue Kryptonite which renders both of them human and vulnerable to being stabbed, while preventing the Kryptonian-attuned [[TomeOfEldritchLore The Book of Rao]] from teleporting them both to another dimension. And that oh yeah, it takes place in the rain with Film/TheMatrix-style Slow-Mo being employed. The result? [[spoiler: Clark lets Zod stab him and then jumps off the building, which results in the Book of Rao teleporting the now-Kryptonian Major away]]. One of the show's most epic moments.
127* In one of the episodes of the new ''Series/HawaiiFive0''. The fight involves one of the main characters and his BrokenPedestal partner on the beach at night.
128* In the ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' episode "Brothers in Arms", Charlie [=DiSalvo=] and villain-of-the-week Andrew Cord engage in a nasty knife fight. Charlie's good, but Cord is better -- and Immortal besides.
129* In ''Series/SquidGame'''s ninth episode, the final game of the tournament quickly devolves into a knife fight. [[spoiler:Gi-hun and Sang-woo both kept the steak knife from the previous night's dinner, which they use to brutal effect.]]
130* In the third episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', Carter got in a fight with the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Mongoloid leader]]. He had a larger curved sword and was trained to fight people his own size. Carter had a combat knife and was trained to fight people bigger than she was. Carter won.
131* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise''
132** Captain Archer is forced to duel the Andorian commander Shran in the "wrists bound together" version of this trope during the fourth season. He wins by cutting off one of Shran's antenna, which incapacitates him.
133** Combined with blatant {{fanservice}} in the MirrorUniverse episode when a scantily-clad [[CatFight Hoshi and T'Pol]] go at each other with daggers while exchanging snarky comments about each others sex life.
134* Occurs several times in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' thanks to the Klingon tradition of carrying bladed weapons, specifically "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E17SinsOfTheFather Sins of the Father]]" when assassins attack Worf and later Picard, and "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E26S5E1Redemption Redemption]]" when one of Gowron's officers [[KlingonPromotion challenges him for leadership]].
135* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E23TheOmegaGlory The Omega Glory]]" has a variation; a single knife is placed between the two combatants who have to fight each other to reach it.
136* The ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS1E10DespiteYourself Despite Yourself]]" (also a MirrorUniverse episode) gives us a knife fight between Prime Burnham and Mirror Conner. In a ''turbolift!''
137* Veronica and tribesman characters get into these a lot in ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld''. In "The Knife", Veronica gets into one with Sir William Gull and Robert Anderson, but SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs and she kicks their asses because they are mere killers of the helpless and not trained fighters.
138* On ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' demons and angels can only be killed using special weapons, most of which are short blades. In later seasons most characters obtain an Angelic Blade, a slender silver dagger that is the standard weapon used by angels. Any fight between two angels is usually a fairly short knife fight since angels are not very sophisticated knife fighters, and the weapon is built for stabbing rather than slicing.
139[[/folder]]
140
141[[folder:Music]]
142* Music/MichaelJackson's music video for "Beat It" from ''Music/{{Thriller}}'' had a switchblade fight, of the wrists-tied variety.
143* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's parody "Eat It" recreated the above scene with a [[ForkFencing spoon and fork fight]]. While holding onto a rubber chicken instead of having tied wrists.
144* Music/LemonDemon: The trope namer!
145* Instrumental, but Music/TomWaits has the song "Knife Chase" on ''Blood Money''.
146* Link Wray's ''Rumble'', despite not having any lyrics, was popularly believed to feel like a knife fight, courtesy of its then-new distorted guitar sound. In fact, many radio stations banned it [[TheNewRockAndRoll out of fears that it would incite juvenile delinquency]].
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
150* {{Defied|Trope}} in Wrestling/RingOfHonor when Jay and Mark Briscoe, who happened to be having a spat a match in the ring apparently couldn't settle, tried to film one of these off the promotion's premises. It was interrupted by their dad and they eventually just wrestled.
151[[/folder]]
152
153[[folder:Theatre]]
154* ''Theatre/WestSideStory'': Tony’s attempts to stop the agreed rumble turn it from a fist fight into one of these between Riff and Bernardo. Worse still, his actions lead to Bernardo accidentally stabbing Riff- and Tony, in a rage, then stabs Bernardo, too.
155[[/folder]]
156
157[[folder:Video Games]]
158* Leon and Krauser have one in a harrowing PressXToNotDie sequence in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''. It even has a bit of ThatOneBoss to it. The duel is even more intense in [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil4Remake the remake]], where it's a proper boss fight instead of a CutsceneBoss. Both versions end with Krauser's knife being [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands shot out of his grasp]].
159* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Martek the Exiled challenged [[BigBad Deathwing]] to a KnifeFight, or at least that's his story in "The Day Deathwing Came".
160* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', Raiden engages Vamp in a one-on-one knife fight [[spoiler: atop Metal Gear Rex on Shadow Moses Island.]] Too bad [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome the player doesn't get to see any of it]] because they're trying to kill an oncoming rush of Gekkos at the same time in split-screen.
161* All of the major {{Boss Battle}}s in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' are of the Knife Fight variety. With a side-order of MindScrew.
162* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfTianding'' have your titular character wielding his trusty knife as a default weapon, and the third boss, Kaguya, fights with a ''tanto'' at close range (alternating between her blade and ParasolOfPain). The subsequent battle's difficulty depends on the amount of upgrades you obtained for your blade by this point.
163* Shiki Tohno has several in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' and the spin-off ''VideoGame/MeltyBlood''. His opponent is usually his EnemyWithin, Nanaya.
164* In ''VideoGame/NightInTheWoods'', [[ManChild Mae]] and her friend Gregg have playful knife fights for... fun, [[OnlyAFleshWound only nicking each others' hands]] instead of going full-on dangerous.
165[[/folder]]
166
167[[folder:Visual Novels]]
168* ''VisualNovel/TheEdenOfGrisaia'': At the finale of the novel protagonist Yuuji has a knife fight against [[spoiler:his own [[EvilKnockoff evil clone]].]]
169[[/folder]]
170
171[[folder:Web Original]]
172* In the ''WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail'' [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail69.html personal favorites,]] Strong Bad claims that one of his favorite emails was the one [[NoodleIncident where Coach Z and Pom-Pom had a knife fight on the stone bridge]].
173-->'''Coach Z:''' Hoo-ha! I'm a blade-man, man!
174* ''WebVideo/AMVHell 4'' took this trope to its logical extreme by setting the ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' example to Music/LemonDemon's 'Knife Fight'.
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Western Animation]]
178* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Wizards Only Fools", Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum get arrested for sneaking into Wizard City and sent to prison. Abracadaniel, who was accused of harboring non-wizards and locked up alongside them, tries to salvage his wizard cred by challenging Bubblegum to a knife fight in the prison cafeteria.
179* Parodied on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'' animated series, with the office equivalent: tied at the wrist with a necktie, and fighting with marker pens.
180-->'''Asok:''' I'm gonna [[StealthPun mark]] you so bad!
181* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' briefly featured a knife fight between [[CaptainErsatz look-a-likes]] of Franchise/TheSmurfs.
182* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' showed us the simple joys of a monkey knife fight.
183--> Mr. Burns: "OH FURIOUS GEORGE! What have they done to you?! Smithers, this monkey is going to need most of your skin..."
184* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': Beth and Courtney are sent to the kitchen in "[[Recap/TotalDramaCrouchingCourtneyHiddenOwen Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen]]" and left with a multitude of knives. Both girls think they are supposed to engage in a knife fight. Beth reasons out loud that she's willing to give it a try solely because Courtney is her opponent. Not one to take insults lightly, Courtney retorts that Beth shouldn't pick fights she can't win. Finally, Chef returns to explain that the knives are to prepare dinner.
185[[/folder]]
186
187[[folder:Real Life]]
188* Practically every culture in human history has used knives not just as tools, but as weapons too. Therefore, most combat oriented martial arts from various cultures teach how to fight with knives or defend against someone attacking you with a knife when you're unarmed. For instance, Filipino, Indonesian, and other Southeast Asian schools of martial arts, as well as UsefulNotes/HistoricalEuropeanMartialArts, focus quite a lot on using their traditional knives and produce many masters of the technique.
189* Knives are carried by most soldiers, primarily as utility/survival tools for most, while special-forces troops are more likely to use their knives as weapons. This is often reflected in the design of the knives, leading to such contrasts as the classic US Marine's K-BAR and the equally famous British Fairbairn-Sykes commando knife.
190* The reason Dizzy Gillespie left Music/CabCalloway's band involved the two of them getting into a knife-fight.
191* Jim Bowie got into a few knife fights with his signature blade, resulting in his reputation as a knife nut and the knife's popular nickname.
192[[/folder]]

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