History Main / NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight

*** In Batman's defense, he probably spent a very long time researching ways to take down armed opponents, since after his ContinuityReboot he's been solidly against any sort of lethal weaponry. When you're aware that you'll be spending the next few decades of your life using your bare hands against knives, guns, and lunatic clowns armed with either or both, you try your best to be ready for such.

Much like all products of the InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality, this applies equally to {{Heroes}} and {{Villain}}s, though villains are usually likelier to [[GunsAreWorthless pack heat]] or hidden knives. If someone ''does'' get stabbed, shot, skewered, or otherwise hit with the blood-spilling weapon, it was OnlyAFleshWound (though [[HealingFactor regenerators]] are [[ImmortalLifeIsCheap exempt]]). Often goes hand in hand with finding out that just like weapons, ArmorIsUseless. One way to exploit this trope is to make an immobilizing KnifeOutline, as the likelihood of fatally skewering someone [[CouldHaveBeenMessy becomes zero]].

* The page image is someone practicing the martial art known as Krav Maga. It is a system developed from the street-fighting experience of its creator, Imi Lichtenfeld. One division of its techniques is empty-handed defense against someone wielding a knife.

Not in fiction, though, where they tend to be [[InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality utter liabilities]] in a fistfight. In a WireFu movie, you should [[TitleDrop never bring a knife to a fistfight]], because fisticuffs is king. Knives, guns, and any weapon that would give the wielder an advantage in a fight, ''especially'' if they're blood-spilling and are used against an unarmed opponent, have the reverse effect. For instance, it would give the opponent like a MartialPacifist an excuse/reason to fight with full force to take the wielder down quickly, seeing as how they are now in danger of serious wounds. They also make it likelier that they'll never land a hit (ClothingDamage or [[PaperCutting minor cuts across the cheek or torso]] notwithstanding), and eventually get [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands disarmed]] or forced to [[ThrowAwayGuns throw away their weapon.]]

Not in fiction, though, where they tend to be [[InverseLawOfUtilityAndLethality utter liabilities]] in a fistfight. In a WireFu movie, you should [[TitleDrop never bring a knife to a fistfight]], because fisticuffs is king. Knives, guns, and any weapon that would give the wielder an advantage in a fight, ''especially'' if they're blood-spilling and are used against an unarmed opponent, have the reverse effect. They make it likelier that they'll never land a hit (ClothingDamage or [[PaperCutting minor cuts across the cheek or torso]] notwithstanding), and eventually get [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands disarmed]] or forced to [[ThrowAwayGuns throw away their weapon.]]

* Averted in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' of all places, where Lois Lane is fighting a security guard - after a period of inconclusive barehanded fighting, the guard get mad, pulls out a knife, and succeeds in stabbing her.

* On ''Series/{{The 100}}'' Clarke picks up a knife in her fight with Anya, but can't get a cut in before Anya disarms her, takes the knife, and starts cutting ''Clarke'' up. It's then Clarke's turn to disarm Anya and [[ImprovisedWeapon bash her in the head with a human skull]].
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': In "The Climb", Oliver fights a duel to the death against Ra's al Ghul. Oliver uses a pair of swords. Ra's choses no weapons, announcing instead that he will take a blade off Oliver and kill him with it. [[spoiler:He does.]]

* In ''TabletopGame/SpiritOfTheCentury'', whether you're better off fighting with a weapon or barehanded is solely a matter of training; the weapon itself makes no difference. Some later versions of the Fate system do diversify weapons by giving them at least some individual stats; conversely, some others go even further in erasing the distinction by no longer using separate skills for armed and unarmed combat. Justified in that the rules explicitly ''set out'' to emulate fiction.

* Jud in ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}''

* Exception: In the play ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' the violence between the Jets and the Sharks becomes more horrific as it escalates from fistcuffs to knives to a gun, leading to the violent deaths of several major characters.

* [[CombatPragmatist Dark Types]] in ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' specialize in dirty tricks; they even have a move called Beat Up which lets every Pokémon on the team get in an attack. They are weak to Fighting Types. A special trait called ''Justified'' boosts some Pokémon's attack whenever they're hit with a Dark-type move.
** Even more with the type advantage the Fighting type (whose pokemon and moves got a heavy martial arts influence) has against the Steel type (That includes a lot of bladed pokemon)
** Pawniard and Bisharp are literally made of sharp blades and their Dark/Steel typing gives them a ''double'' weakness to Fighting attacks.
* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' series: Although the second fight with Vergil in ''[=DMC3=]'' starts with him using the Beowulf gauntlets and greaves, he pulls out his Yamato katana ''after'' he finds that having the hand-to-hand weapon isn't stopping Dante from kicking his ass. Beowulf (acquired after victory in said fight) and the Ifrit gauntlets in ''[=DMC1=]'' are the strongest weapons damage-wise, but Dante never uses them in cutscenes, sticking to his sword(s).
** Both Dante and Vergil can and are skewered by all manner of unpleasant edged objects without any lasting harm, may have something to do with this.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', it is easy to disarm an opponent attacking you with a knife while you have nothing but your fists.
** Definitely not the case in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' where knife attacks are fast and [[HPToOne bring you down to a sliver of health at full health]] or [[OneHitKill outright instant kill if you have any prior damage]]. There is also no disarm ability and the barehanded counter attack is bugged against knife wielders which makes it easier for them to stab you.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game''. If one of the enemy gangsters about to attack you brings out a baseball bat, lead pipe or other melee weapon, you'd better switch to grabbing him and taking him out fast, because the hooks and jabs of the unarmed mobsters are relatively small fry compared to the beating you will receive from the weapon-user.
* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' example: [[spoiler: Manny Coachen brought a knife to a surprise attack on a 72-year-old man and he ''still'' lost.]]
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarez'', Juarez pulls out a knife after being beaten in a fistfight by Billy. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope He still loses, but only because Reverend Ray draws a gun and shoots him.]]]]

* The first two times Link confronts Ganondorf in ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', he has the Master Sword while his opponent relies on his fists. He gets beaten down both times for his trouble. [[spoiler:When Ganondorf's plan is truly and utterly foiled, he pulls out a pair of katanas for a final attack and gets impaled through the head by Link.]]
* One of the final upgrade in ''VideoGame/MadMax'' is the shiv reversal, which makes Max parry an attacker with a knife, kill him with the knife and add it into your inventory. One of the animation has Max twisting the attacker's arm so he slits his own throat.

* Played with in ''Webcomic/{{Juathuur}}'': both Bivv and Mijuu [[spoiler: try to disarm Rowasu, the latter succeeding, but his use of a sword is actually a ''handicap''. They both die soon after.]]

* WebVideo/NyxCrossing, with Frank and the leader of the natives.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Iroh is threatened at knife point for his money. Instead of using his phenomenal ass-kicking powers, Iroh pushes him down. Then he shows him a better fighting stance, which was the mugger's real problem. [[CoolOldGuy And then he makes some tea and encourages the thug to follow his real dreams.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE25TheClockKing "The Clock King"]], Fugate fights with a SwordCane against an unarmed Batman. Guess who wins?

* In an early scene in ''Film/ButchCassidyAndTheSundanceKid'', Butch's leadership of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang is challenged by Harvey Logan. Logan produces a large knife; Butch tricks his dimwitted opponent into momentarily letting his guard down by discussing the "rules" for the fight, kicks him in the crotch, and knocks him out cold.

* During the alley fight in ''Film/ShaPoLang'', Ma Kwan manages to beat the knife-wielding assassin Jack bloody with his steel baton, but is unable to finish him until Jack manages to strip him of his baton. When Jack attacks the unarmed Kwan, [[spoiler: Kwan grabs his knife, twists it around, and guts Jack like a fish.]]

* In ''Film/SecondHandLions'', [[CoolOldGuy Uncle Hub]] gets in a squabble with a group of rowdy teenagers. After Hub fends off the their initial attacks, they fall back and pull out their pocket knives. At this point Hub scoffs at them and delivers a major beat down. Hub even corrected the first attacker by telling him he wasn't holding the knife properly. The attacker corrected and Hub still beat him down.
* The SoBadItsGood action movie ''Film/BloodAndBone'' has this in it's climax that after the FinalBattle against a ProfessionalKiller in hand to hand, he fights the BigBad has a [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katana]] and [[MeaningFulName Bone]] had ... the sheath. He beat him, dropped the sheath, beat him some more, made him drop the katana, and then beat him some more, and then when nearly attacked lethally, [[SubvertedTrope picked up the katana he was given initially and chopped off the Big Bad's hand]].

* Never bring a knife to a fistfight with Creator/ChuckNorris: he will boot it off your hand in a sec, as seen in ''Film/TheDeltaForce''.
** In the sequel ''Film/DeltaForce2TheColombianConnection'', Norris's character kicks the knife from TheDragon. ''Twice''
** Then again, [[MemeticBadass never bring *yourself* to *any* kind of fight with Chuck Norris.]]
** However in ''Film/ForcedVengeance'' the first thing Chuck does on realising he's in trouble is get himself a gun. He kicks plenty of ass barehanded, but he's still a CombatPragmatist.
* Averted in ''Film/KickAss'' when [[spoiler: Dave tries to fistfight muggers and finds himself on the stabbing end of a knife.]]
** Averted again later TWICE, although [[spoiler: in both cases we just see the guy drawing his knife, but he doesn't get to use it.]]
* Played straight in ''Film/TheBourneSeries'', in both ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' and ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'' where Jason Bourne's opponents are often the ones wielding knives and other deadly close-combat weapons. Bourne himself is never given the advantage of having a knife to use against his adversary. However Bourne, being the better fighter (as well as the main character and therefore having ContractualImmortality), is able to disarm and defeat them using his fists and any improvised weapon he can get his hands on, up to and including a bathroom.

* Both used and averted in ''Film/TheExpendables''. The team regularly uses pistols and melee weapons in CQC to devastating effect, but mooks who try to do the same don't fare nearly as well. In the sequel, there is an extended fight scene where a large number of knife-wielding Mooks attack the bare-fisted Yang (played by Jet Li). Guess who wins?

* ''Film/Batman1989''. When he fights the Joker's goons, there's a dramatic fight with one using two Samurai swords. Because he's, well, Batman, he manages to outmaneuver him and then punch him into submission. (Of course, in this continuity, his costume is at least partially armored.)
* In ''Film/JackReacher'', Jack tosses his gun aside for some mano-e-mano fisticuffs with TheDragon. Midway through the fight, the guy draws a knife, but gets quickly disarmed and shortly thereafter defeated.
* ''The raid''
** ''Film/TheRaid'': Rama does take on his (similarly armed) opponents with a knife and nightstick, but drops both eventually, and goes bare-fisted from then on. At one point he takes on a gang of 5 Machete wielding antagonists, unarmed, and drops all of them. The leader of the gang loses his machete near the end of the fight, and in doing so manages to hold his own a lot better against Rama until he rearms himself and gets taken down.
** Played with in [[Film/TheRaid2Berandal the sequel]]; the assassin is the first to draw knives in his duel with Rama and does eventually lose, but because it was a pretty even fight before he drew them and he knows how to use them, he manages to do a lot of damage.

* Creator/TerryPratchett regularly notes that a weapon you don't know how to use well is worse than no weapon at all, either because you're going to hurt yourself with it, or your opponent is going to take it from you, ''then'' [[IncrediblyLamePun hurt your self with it]].

* In ''[[Literature/XWingSeries Starfighters of Adumar]]'', Wes Janson turns a [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon blastsword]] duel into a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown by disarming his opponent. First, he blocks the incoming attack with his own blastsword and proceeds to eventually knock the blastsword from his opponent's hand, breaking it in the process. Then, after Wes throws away his own blastsword (to Wedge standing behind him), the opponent goes for his knife, which Wes proceeds to kick out of his hand. Justified in that Wes Janson is well-schooled in hand-to-hand combat; the opponent is a noble who knows only the stylized form of [[CoolButInefficient blastsword dueling]] and nothing of [[GoodOldFisticuffs real fighting techniques]].
* The novel ''Cain'' by James Byron Huggins at one point features a Jesuit priest, with no combat background of any sort, going unarmed against a highly-trained cult assassin who has a sword. The priest absorbs an absurd amount of damage, bleeding profusely, while trying to talk the assassin down. Finally, he gives up and just grabs his enemy in a bearhug and squeezes until the assassin's spine snaps.
* ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'' web serial’s forests are haunted by many different types of dangerous monsters. Blacknail almost died in a brawl with a older hobgoblin there. he only survived by stabbing the hobgoblin with his knife while his opponent was trying to throttle him.

* Caine from ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'', all the time. All he has are his fists, maybe a dinky knife and you've got... a sword? A spear? A gun? ''[[HandicappedBadass Not being paraplegic?]]'' Don't expect any of that to save you.

* Literature/JohnRain prefers to rely on his martial arts skill (knives are messy, after all) but a couple of near misses against knife-wielding opponents, and the realization that his skills are fading with age, causes Rain to start carrying a knife regularly after the first few novels.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'': Kvothe profoundly disappoints his Adem ProudWarriorRaceGuy friend Tempi by pulling a knife during a BarBrawl. The Adem practice a combined philosophy and FantasticFightingStyle that emphasizes knowing and doing what's right, which is at odds with Kvothe's {{Combat Pragmatis|t}}m.

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->'''Jame:''' I don't like knives!\\
'''Dally:''' Well, you've got to learn how to use one anyway, unless you want every flash-blade in town picking on you. You can't take them all on bare-handed… \\
''[Jame tackles him bare-handed, disarms him, and pins him with his arm over his head.]''\\
'''Dally:''' …then again, maybe you can.
-->-- ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath''

* In ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'', Kenshiro can easily disarm weapon wielding [[{{Mook}} Mooks]] effortlessly, be it knives, or [[GunsAreWorthless guns]], and he lets them [[HoistByHisOwnPetard taste what they brought]]. There is only one outcome if you decided to [[DirtyCoward play dirty]] and [[TooDumbToLive pick a fight with Kenshiro]] with a weapon: YouAreAlreadyDead.
* In ''Manga/SamuraiHaremAsuNoYoichi'', when Yoichi has an early fight with Washizu, it starts out as a fist fight, which the former enjoys despite getting hit rather hard. Then Washizu pulls out a weapon (in the manga, a knife. In the anime, a [[FamilyFriendlyFirearms ridiculously oversized pair of boxing gloves resembling a spiked mace]]). In both versions, Yoichi destroys the weapon and berates Washizu for relying on those things instead of his own strength, and promptly [[CurbStompBattle beats him in one blow.]]
* In ''Manga/OutlawStar'', resident [[ActionGirl ass-kickers]] Suzuka and Aisha seem to regularly wipe out rooms of gun-wielding foes with nothing more than a [[NerfArm wooden sword]] and bare hands, respectively.
** Aisha, at least, has the excuse of being a naturally bulletproof catgirl berserker. Suzuka, however, can do this despite being human because of her CharlesAtlasSuperpower and ImplausibleFencingPowers.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has some fights when fist fighters defeat weapon users and viseversa. Zoro and Sanji constantly fight each other, but both of their skills and strengths are so equal that the fight quickly ends in a draw.
* Most of the fights the protagonist of ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' loses are to unarmed opponents. Likewise his father was a master at this trope when fighting a horde of mooks, beating them all without drawing his sword.
* Something like this was used in the first episode of ''Anime/TransformersVictory''. Fist, Star Saber defeats two gun-wielding Decepticons using only a sword. Later, when the Dinoforce fights the Brainmasters, Goryu criticises one of his underlings for using a gun; said underling immediately switches to an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]].
* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', every martial artist is skilled with [[ImprobableWeaponUser numerous weapon styles]], even those that fight barehanded. So, nobody berates the dedicated bladed-weapon users (Kodachi, Kuno, Mousse, Mint) for their choice... but their weapons never strike home anyway. Most JustForFun/{{egregious}} of all is Mousse, whose typical assault consists of tossing various weapons (some blunt, but mostly piercing and slashing ones) from his sleeves and ''[[InstantKnots tie up his opponent in the ropes attached to them]]'', instead of actually skewering anyone. But let him have a morningstar, a club, or even his own hands and feet, and he'll tear into a foe like it's nobody's business.
* Subverted in ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'', when Sousuke is challenged to a duel by the karate club. Nobody thinks to tell him that things like guns, tear gas, and hand grenades aren't permitted. HilarityEnsues
* Used in ''Manga/ThoseWhoHuntElves'' to show how serious the dark elf queen is. When squaring off against Junpei, she ''throws away her sword'' because it would just slow her down.
* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', Ku Fei manages to defeat a number of armed opponents using only her martial arts skills.

* A full chapter in ''Manga/{{Holyland}}'' (16, if you want to fast-forward) is devoted to [[ShownTheirWork demonstrating how to disarm a knife-user in a street fight]]. The narration also states that it only works here because the knife-user was an amateur and the unarmed warrior was an ex-professional kickboxer and karate black belt.
** What it amounts to is basically what was described in ''Series/BurnNotice'' quote below - Izawa grabs the punk's knife arm and beats him senseless. Though the narrator also notes that, unlike what some self-defence books say, one should focus on hitting the enemy rather than obsess over wrestling the knife away. Chapter 34 also notes that opponents might steal weapons away from an inexperienced user and turn them against him.
** Later in the series, Izawa attempts to defeat a [[WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter kendo user]] bare-handed, by using a pair of brass knuckles to block the sword before going for a surprise AlphaStrike. [[spoiler:It fails due to a GameBreakingInjury, and with the element of surprise lost he is defeated. Yuu takes up the fight and eventually manages to force a win.]]

* An example of this trope happens early in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple''. A minor Ragnarok thug assaults Kenichi with a knife and he freaks out because bladed weapons are naturally intimidating. To help him overcome his fear, the masters have [[LadyOfWar Shigure]] train him in armed combat... that is to say, she spends the whole day assaulting him with everything from rolled-up newspapers and spoons to actual weapons. Later Kenichi encounters the same thug, who draws the knife again... but Kenichi just laughs creepily and asks "What's that puny thing" and blames the thug for putting him through today's TrainingFromHell. Cue beatdown. That all said, the series does tend to treat a person carrying a bladed weapon as more dangerous than one who is not, and only martial artists of superior skill are able to take on an armed enemy while unarmed themselves.

* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': In Sanosuke's debut, he fights a large drunk who strikes him with a hidden knife. But as a testament to Sano's MadeOfIron nature, not only does the knife fail to injure Sanosuke, the drunk's arm breaks.

* At the end of the first season of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', [[spoiler: Sugou Nobuyuki attacks Kazuto with a combat knife outside of the hospital where Asuna just woke up. Kazuto easily defeats him using his skills from the video games, and he is later arrested.]]

* Depending on if he's fighting FacelessGoons or recurring villains, {{Wolverine}} can go from messily skewering everything that moves to barely managing to nick the bad guy's costume.
** Particularly bad in the cartoons, because unless he's fighting a robot his entire battle strategy has to revolve around body checks.

* The ''ComicBook/SinCity'' one-shot ''Family Values'' showed Miho beating down a knife-wielding mob enforcer with kicks and flips. When she gets bored, she does eventually [[spoiler: slice his throat with a shuriken and kick his head off]].

* {{Averted}} in ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'', as the title character is an extremely skilled KnifeNut who can rightly boast that anyone hit by his thrown knife will die instantly (the only exception only proves it more, as he was using a ''paper knife'' and the victim ''still'' went down mortally wounded), and nobody in his right mind is stupid enough to take on a knife-wielding Diabolik or a gun unless armed themselves (in fact, the rare times someone charges at Diabolik unarmed they're distraught by having just seen their friends or allies killed by the King of Terror).
** That said, it's sometimes played straight, as Diabolik can throw his knives faster than someone can draw or train a gun on him and tends to rely on ambushes anyway. Also, one memorable occasion saw [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Ginko]] punching out a knife-wielding Diabolik, but [[JustifiedTrope there's a good reason]]: they had both turned corner and Ginko threw his punch at what he believed was a normal gangster so fast he didn't realize it was Diabolik until ''after'' the King of Terror hit the ground.

* The ''Film/CharliesAngels'' [[TheMovie movies]] did away with the Angels' guns due to [[WriterOnBoard Drew Barrymore's personal beliefs]]. The Angels rely on WaifFu against a number of enemies with guns, and rarely suffer more than a nick.

* Sam Fisher in ''VideoGame/SplinterCellConviction'' seems to love this trope when it comes to close combat situations.

* BigBad Shredder of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' had claws as part of his costume, but they were never very effective at shredding in the cartoons against the heroes' martial arts. The [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles comics]] were a different matter, though.

* In ''Manga/FutureDiary'' a young girl is [[PrankDate lured into an old warehouse]] to be gang raped there. Her boyfriend is added so that "only" one of the boys can rape her. When the girl's friend knocks down the other two boys, the rapist attacks him with a knife to stab him. The exact fight is not shown, but somehow the girl's friend succeeds in taking the knife from the rapist [[AssholeVictim and stabbing him with his own weapon]].
* ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'' shows us Morgiana. She attacks a group of robbers. And although Morgiana is unarmed, and the robbers attack her with knives and even sabers, [[CurbStompBattle the robbers have no chance]] because Morgiana is simply much [[LightningBruiser stronger and faster than they]].

* In the book series ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' Percy and his friends are attacked by street robbers. They can not use their [[FantasyMetals celestial bronze weapons]] because [[HumansAreInsects they would not hurt a human]]. However, [[DivineParentage demigods]] are [[SuperStrength really strong enough]] to defeat even several highway robbers alone.

* [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20091221/us-storm-snowball-fight-officer/ This guy]] brought a gun to a SNOWBALL FIGHT. Doesn't seem to have ended well for him either.

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[[KnifeNut Knives are scary.]] A single glimmer from its profile has been known to launch a thousand screams of horror. They're eminently deadly and dangerously easy to use. In RealLife, pulling one in a fistfight is pretty much a GameBreaker.

* The SoBadItsGood action movie ''Film/BloodAndBone'' has this in it's climax that after the FinalBattle against a ProfessionalKiller in hand to hand, he fights the BigBad in front of the BiggerBad, the BigBad has a [[KatanasAreJustBetter Katana]] and [[MeaningFulName Bone]] had ... the sheath. He beat him, dropped the sheath, beat him some more, made him drop the katana, and then beat him some more, and then when nearly attacked lethally, [[SubvertedTrope picked up the katana he was given initially and chopped off the Big Bad's hand]].

* There are actually several martial arts that have moves specifically designed to disarm a weapon wielding opponent, however, they're often nowhere near as flashy as in fiction. They're normally simple, disarm the attacker as quickly as possible. For the most part, experts tend to advise a much simpler move when facing an opponent with a knife: run. The reason for this is simple; the knife-user may or may not draw the knife immediately and where you can see them. They're more likely to use it at an opportune moment and stab when you're not ready for it.
** A specific example is Escrima. This is one of the few martial arts where the novices ''start'' with knives and then move to unarmed combat after they have mastered the knife techniques. Needless to say practitioners know how to disarm a man.

* ''Film/{{Batman}}''. When he fights the Joker's goons, there's a dramatic fight with one using two Samurai swords. Because he's, well, Batman, he manages to outmaneuver him and then punch him into submission. (Of course, in this continuity, his costume is at least partially armored.)

* Film/TheRaid: Rama does take on his (similarly armed) opponents with a knife and nightstick, but drops both eventually, and goes bare-fisted from then on. At one point he takes on a gang of 5 Machete wielding antagonists, unarmed, and drops all of them. The leader of the gang loses his machete near the end of the fight, and in doing so manages to hold his own a lot better against Rama until he rearms himself and gets taken down.
** Played with in the sequel; the assassin is the first to draw knives in his duel with Rama and does eventually lose, but because it was a pretty even fight before he drew them and he knows how to use them, he manages to do a lot of damage.

* ''Manga/Magi:TheLabyrinthOfMagic'' shows us Morgiana. She attacks a group of robbers. And although Morgiana is unarmed, and the robbers attack her with knives and even sabers, [[CurbStompBattle the robbers have no chance]] because Morgiana is simply much [[LightningBruiser stronger and faster than they]].

* ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'' shows us Morgiana. She attacks a group of robbers. And although Morgiana is unarmed, and the robbers attack her with knives and even sabers, [[CurbStompBattle the robbers have no chance]] because Morgiana is simply much [[LightningBruiser stronger and faster than they]].

* Subverted in the ''Franchise/DevilMayCry'' series: Although the second fight with Vergil in ''[=DMC3=]'' starts with him using the Beowulf gauntlets and greaves, he pulls out his Yamato katana ''after'' he finds that having the hand-to-hand weapon isn't stopping Dante from kicking his ass. Beowulf (acquired after victory in said fight) and the Ifrit gauntlets in ''[=DMC1=]'' are the strongest weapons damage-wise, but Dante never uses them in cutscenes, sticking to his sword(s).

** A [[ExactlyWhatitSaysOnTheTin direct]] example of this trope is in Goku's 3rd Tenkaichi Tournament, during the fight between [[spoiler:Cyborg Tao]] and Tien. When [[spoiler:Tao]] realises he's [[CurbStompBattle getting his ass handed to him]], he pulls a super-sharp knife. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Which Tien promptly snaps.]]

* In ''Film/SecondHandLions'', [[CoolOldGuy Uncle Hub]] gets in a squabble with a group of rowdy teenagers. After Hub fends off the their initial attacks, they fall back and pull out their pocket knives. At this point Hub scoffs at them and delivers a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome major beat down.]] Hub even corrected the first attacker by telling him he wasn't holding the knife properly. The attacker corrected and Hub still beat him down.

* In ''Film/SecondHandLions'', [[BadassGrandpa Uncle Hub]] gets in a squabble with a group of rowdy teenagers. After Hub fends off the their initial attacks, they fall back and pull out their pocket knives. At this point Hub scoffs at them and delivers a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome major beat down.]] Hub even corrected the first attacker by telling him he wasn't holding the knife properly. The attacker corrected and Hub still beat him down.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' example: [[spoiler: Manny Coachen brought a knife to a surprise attack on a 72-year-old man and he ''still'' lost. Alba's a BadassGrandpa.]]

* At the end of the first season of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', [[spoiler: Sugou Nobuyuki fights Kirito outside of the hospital where Asuna just woke up from using a combat knife. Kirito easily defeats him using his skills from the video games, and he is later arrested.]]

* There are actually several martial arts that have moves specifically designed to disarm a weapon wielding opponent, however, they're often nowhere near as flashy as in fiction. They're normally simple, disarm the attacker as quickly as possible. For the most part, experts tend to advise a much simpler move when facing an opponent with a knife: run.
** And in a real life knife attack these martial arts are mostly useless. A real attacker won't take out the knife far away, getting into a dueling posture, and allowing you to prepare yourself. A real attacker will take the knife out at the last moment, and its tip will be touching your skin before you even realize you are being attacked.
** An interesting example is Escrima. This is one of the few martial arts where the novices ''start'' with knives and then move to unarmed combat after they have mastered the knife techniques. Needless to say practitioners know how to disarm a man.

* There are actually several martial arts that have moves specifically designed to disarm a weapon wielding opponent, however, they're often nowhere near as flashy as in fiction. They're normally simple, disarm the attacker as quickly as possible. For the most part, experts tend to advise a much simpler move when facing an opponent with a knife; run.

* Something like this was used in the first episode of ''Anime/TransformersVictory''. Fist, Star Saber defeats two gun-wielding Decepticons using only a sword. Later, when the Dinoforce fights the Brainmasters, Goryu criticises one of his underlings for using a gun; said underling immediately switches to an [[AxeToGrind axe]].

* The titular skeleton of ''Literature/SkulduggeryPleasant'' wields a gun (revolver, of course), although since many of his enemies are super powered monsters, it rarely does any true damage, so he uses fire magic instead. One particular exchange came in the second book of the series...
-->'''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Baron Vengeous]]:''' ...only a [[CombatPragmatist heathen]] would bring a gun to a sword fight.
-->'''Skulduggery:''' And only a moron would bring a [[AwesomeButImpractical sword to a gun fight.]]

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' has an JustForFun/{{egregious}} subversion of this, intended or not; though [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link]] isn't regarded as high tier, [[FireEmblem Marth]] and [[VideoGame/{{Kirby}} Meta Knight]] certainly are. Young/Toon Link has come under fire as a possible subversion of the trope too.
** There's also the items, such as the beam sword and the laser gun, which can give an otherwise unarmed character an advantage in range and power.
** Ganondorf ''has'' a sword, and even brings it to the battlefield, but never uses it outside of {{VictoryPose}}s (Melee) or taunts (Brawl). This aspect of the character is a significant source of SnarkBait.

* Subverted in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', when Ric Chee and Bobby Jacks fight with GoodOldFisticuffs. When Bobby realises that, conversely to his expectations, he is getting beaten down mercilessly (by a guy with no combat expertise whatsoever) he pulls out a knife (well, scalpel) and [[spoiler: immediately fatally stabs Ric.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' episode "...Or Die Trying" features a fictitious film sequel called ''Film/SoulPlane 2: The Blackjacking'', a movie where terrorists take over an airline jet run by African Americans. One of the terrorists pulls out a knife in mid-flight and tries to announce his superiority... right before a half-dozen passengers tackle and beat him down.

* BigBad Shredder of ''TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' had claws as part of his costume, yet he never really does much shredding with them.
** In the cartoon, yes. But in the original comics he put them to good (read: bad) use.

* Real life: [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20091221/us-storm-snowball-fight-officer/ This guy]] brought a gun to a SNOWBALL FIGHT. Doesn't seem to have ended well for him either.