History Main / FightingFingerprint

* Iin the Wachowskis' ''Film/SpeedRacer'', Speed suspects Racer X of being his LongLostRelative Rex, because Racer X drives in the same distinctive way Rex did.

** Indeed, Special Forces soldiers working undercover/incognito (such as the SAS operating in Northern Ireland during The Troubles) will often receive training to help them 'unlearn' the advanced fighting techniques they have been taught (or learn to use unrefined, brawling techniques where appropriate), so that they don't stand out should they be involved in any fighting. If a random participant in a bar brawl handily dispatches assailants with Krav Maga, it naturally raises questions and tips people off that this person may not be what they seem.

* ComicBook/{{Batman}}: [[Characters/{{RobinTimDrake}} Tim Drake]] was able to deduce that [[Characters/{{NightwingDickGrayson}} Dick Grayson]] was the first Robin from his acrobatic fighting style. More specifically, that Robin was able to do triple somersaults, something that the Ringmaster of the circus he worked for in his pre-vigilante days (which Tim saw back when the Flying Graysons were still performing) boasted could only be performed by a handful of people around the world.

* ComicBook/{{Batman}}: Tim Drake was able to deduce that Dick Grayson was the first Robin from his acrobatic fighting style. More specifically, that Robin was able to do triple somersaults, something that the Ringmaster of the circus he worked for in his pre-vigilante days (which Tim saw back when the Flying Graysons were still performing) boasted could only be performed by a handful of people around the world.

* ''ComicBook/{{Spider-Man}}'': In the 1990s ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', Grim Hunter, one of Kraven's sons (recently introduced in 1994), fights Spider-Clone Ben Reilly (as Scarlet Spider), and, after a quick battle, recognizes Ben was not the Spider-Man he fought before (which was Peter).

* ''ComicBook/Spider-Man'': In the 1990s ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'', Grim Hunter, one of Kraven's sons (recently introduced in 1994), fights Spider-Clone Ben Reilly (as Scarlet Spider), and, after a quick battle, recognizes Ben was not the Spider-Man he fought before (which was Peter).

* In ''Brotherhood of the Rose'', CIA agents Romulus and Remus assume that Mossad is sending assassins after them, because they're using Israeli hand-to-hand techniques unique to that intelligence service. The two agents were sent by their CIA handler on a special course to Israel so they'd also learn this technique. However this turns out to be a clue of a different kind, when they belatedly realize they're being hunted by their own counterparts, Mossad-trained CIA assassins ''[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness sent by their own handler]]''.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'', in "Episode of Sabo", an elsewhere story that takes place during the first half of the Dressroosa arc, it's shown that this is what led toward Luffy and Sabo's reunion. While Luffy's disguise as "Lucy" deceived the audience and the majority of the other combatants[[note]]except for Bellamy, Don Chinjao, and Jean Ango[[/note]], Sabo, having known him since childhood, was able to recognize his fighting style and immediately realized it was his little brother upon watching him knock out Hajrudin.

* Inverted in ''{{Manga/Naruto}}''. When Jiraiya goes to fight Pain, he assumes that it's his former student Nagato because they both possess the [[MagicalEye Rinnegan]]. However, when they start fighting, Jiraiya notices that Pain only uses Summoning Techniques, which wouldn't make sense, because Nagato has mastered every ninja technique known to man (or at least, every single one Jiraiya knew and taught him). It's the first of many hints that he's got the wrong guy [[spoiler:or more accurately, it's not the ''real'' Nagato fighting him personally]].

* In ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'', Conroy, a member of the Triad branch you infiltrate comments that the player, Wei Shen, is good with his fists. He also says that he knew an undercover cop who was also good with his fists that they ended up torturing to death. He drops the suspicions when you start killing other Triad members since undercover cops aren't supposed to kill (Wei is a CowboyCop type and his officers are somewhat apathetic to the bodycount if he gets result).

* Another mild example in [[Series/Zorro1957 Zorro]], when confronted by a man considered to be the best swordsman in California while in the presence of Monasterio, Diego had to balance defending himself and not revealing that he actually knows how to fight. Despite his best efforts, Monasterio started to figure out he is Zorro because he actually won the fight - forcing Diego to come up with ways to discredit the Commandante.

* Another mild example in [[Zorro1957 Zorro]], when confronted by a man considered to be the best swordsman in California while in the presence of Monasterio, Diego had to balance defending himself and not revealing that he actually knows how to fight. Despite his best efforts, Monasterio started to figure out he is Zorro because he actually won the fight - forcing Diego to come up with ways to discredit the Commandante.

This is a less meta-y trope than TellMeHowYouFight. Compare CoverBlowingSuperpower and RevealingSkill. A less video-game example of DamnYouMuscleMemory, especially if the individual is consciously trying to obscure their 'tells'. Often the mark of a MasterApprenticeChain.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* Members of the Vale Secret Service in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12574905/1/In-the-Kingdom-s-Service In the Kingdom's Service]]'' use different weapons while on the job than they do in their day to day lives for this exact reason. Oobleck trains Jaune in knife fighting as knives are versatile, easily concealable, and vastly different than using a sword and shield. Presumably this also applies to [[CoverBlowingSuperpower distinctive Semblances]].

[[folder:Film]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

[[folder:Truth in Television]]

->'''Alfred''': Well, perhaps our cowled friend can persuade him otherwise.\\
'''Bruce''': It's not that easy, Alfred. He's after Batman as well.\\
'''Alfred''': But why?\\
'''Bruce''': He fought Bruce Wayne ''and'' Batman. Fighting styles are like fingerprints. Kyodai knows that we're the same man.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', "Day of the Samurai"

* ''{{Literature/Drenai}}'': In ''The King Beyond the Gate'', a ScarilyCompetentTracker pursuing Tenaka Khan manages to identify his quarry based on a pair of footprints in the middle of a battlefield. The prints show that someone, during the fighting, leapt into the air and spun around to deliver a cut, and the tracker knows that Tenaka is the only person insane enough to try a leapspin in a serious fight, especially when outnumbered, as well as good enough to actually pull it off.
* In ''[[Literature/InheritanceCycle Eldest]]'', Eragon figures out his opponent's identity during the climax when he recognizes a sword flourish.

* In ''[[Literature/TheWitcher the Witcher saga]]'', Bonhart figures out Ciri's identity after watching her fight. As a competent swordsman himself, he realizes her deadly fencing is essentially improvisational, which was a hallmark of witchers' fencing. Given that witcher-trained girls were, shall we say, uncommon, the rest was more or less a formality.
* In ''Literature/TheVorkosiganSaga'', Miles and his bodyguard Bothari are able to identify Baz Jesek as being not just Barrayaran (which, in fairness, they already knew), but specifically Barrayaran Ex-Military, by the knife-fighting stance he drops into when he perceives them as a threat. That he is an Ex-Military man who refuses to identify himself to the authorities, even though it would make his life a lot easier, lets Miles infer that he's a deserter without much further mental effort.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Night of the Ninja," the titular ninja kidnaps Bruce Wayne and the journalist Summer Gleeson, and Bruce deliberately fights below his actual skills as long as Summer is a witness, because of this trope (billionaire Bruce Wayne isn't known for his martial skills). However, Bruce eventually turns back to his actual style once Robin manages to blind Summer,[[note]]Afterward, Bruce told her [[ExactWords Batman arrived and rescued them]] while her head was covered[[/note]] and this very fight results in the ninja figuring out that Bruce is Batman, because they both studied martial arts under the same master in the past and had fought before.

* On ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' Omi's old friend Jermaine arrives at the temple having become a xiaolin monk since they last met. During a sparring match between the two, Jermaine manages to beat Omi using a move called "Repulse the Monkey", which makes Omi suspicious because it's a move that had been used on him before--by super bad guy Chase Young. It turns out that Jermaine had been training under Chase, and was unaware that he was evil.

[[folder: TruthInTelevision]]

** In "Return of the Shredder", Shredder takes over a dojo and has the students form "the Crooked Ninja Turtle Gang" and sends them on a crime wave. While watching footage from one such robbery, Leonardo notes that the Gang leader's technique is familiar, with Donatello agreeing to have seen it somewhere. Leo reasons that only one of two ''sensei'' could have taught it, one being Splinter, the other Shredder. From this the Turtles are able to connect their imposters to their arch-nemesis.

* The pilot episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' has [[BigBad The Shredder]] recognize the Turtles' fighting style as the Foot Technique, which tips him off to the survival of his old enemy, Hamato Yoshi.