Asklemmy

As a retired martial arts instructor, I can't really say that being shorter gives you much of an advantage when targeting an opponent's belly...but it does mean you will have a lower center for gravity compared to larger opponents.

In grappling terms, this gives you a slight advantage in applying leverage for most shoulder throws. Your natural pivot point at the hip is lower than theirs so they will be top heavy compared to you.

Unfortunately, if your arms are proportional to your height, then larger opponents will have a reach advantage over you, which may negate the advantage you have due to your lower center of gravity. They will be able to keep you from closing the distance needed to apply your leverage.

But, if you happen to have unusually long arms relative to your height, then you can still get a hold of them before they can get a hold of you...and more effectively position them for a throw.

Being short gives you a massive advantage in gunfights.

And airplanes.

Well, with no actual experience in fighting, I believe everything comes down to strategy and practice. You can exploit the easier access to Belly or the fact that they are heavier but it's also a disadvantage that you're smaller and lighter so it's easier to toss you around I guess.

If a large man gets ahold of you, youre fucked

Practise getting away

The only real advantage being small has is that a larger opponent might underestimate you or just have no idea how to fight someone smaller. Otherwise, in any physical fight, they're just going to have an advantage.

Why would they let you get to their belly with their superior reach? They can use their own knife/whatever to hit you first.

Obviously, for anything, they might also just not be as trained as you or have whatever other disadvantages, but in general, assuming equal skill and effort and no mental biases, i.e. everything else being equal, larger simply equals better in a physical fight.

It's comparatively easier for a tall person to knee you in the face or keep you at range though.

The main problem with the belly as a target in a self defense scenario is that it's too slow. If you're being attacked, you want to end the fight and escape as quickly as possible. Wounds to the belly kill via blood loss and sepsis, which takes at least several minutes during which the attacker can keep causing you damage.

The femoral artery in the inner thigh is what you want to aim for. Also, the tendons along the inner wrist are responsible for grip strength; if severed, that hand can't hold anything. Take a good look at the anatomy of those areas and you'll have a good start.

Your reaction times and agility from fencing will help you in a real fight, but the actual techniques not so much. Stick to slashing attacks, as stabbing can result in your blade getting stuck in or between bones.

In the immortal words of Mike Tyson

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

I don't know about knives, but in fencing sword, the first target is the hand and arm, not the belly. The hand is as close to you though for any size of your opponent.

A tall opponent has a longer reach, so that is what you need to be wary of in fencing. It means it does have a advantage to attack. But once the blades crossed, the advantage is gone, and the you have the advantage bellow your taller opponent. Because you have more room for movement in the two blades space than your opponent. You are committed there though, because getting away from the situation will be harder.

In most altercations, the first to use violence is the likely winner. Unless you walk around with a knife in hand all the time, it is unlikely to make a difference. Even then, you must always be prepared because even holding a knife, you have blind spots to be exploited.

I am tall with broad shoulders for my height. I think of my size as being an easier target for a bullet, though in practice I know that difference is rather insignificant. I look at displays of strength and force as weakness and fear. Even a kid can pull a trigger.

I primarily fear groups of stupid people, and the intelligent. I am probably biased because I am too large and intimidating to be worth the effort to fight, and have little that anyone would want. No one can fight off several attackers at once. The human propensity for dogmatic stupidity and confirmation bias is horrendous. On the other hand, I fear the domination of the intelligent, because the human capacity for cleverness is beyond the scope of anyone's ability to counter.

In pretty much every situation, you are safer if you run. Instead of working on fighting back, having sure footing, agility, and confidence in your ability to run faster and further than any opponent is far more likely to save you. Your stride is much shorter than mine, but you are likely to be able to change directions faster than me and my momentum. Like in american football, I must increase the buffer distance before engagement when facing a smaller person in order to prevent them using my momentum against me. When I am all out in pursuit, it is the moment just before contact that is critical for awareness, confidence, and the agility to change directions quickly that will prevent me from catching you. It is also a mistake to assume I will tire or lack endurance to chase. You must have a stronger spirit than your opponent and the confidence that you can out agility them every time they try. There is no fairness in this type of altercation. I know that is scary. It is always better to turn to flight first in the fight or flight mechanism. Then come back with your fight when you control more variables.

My partner and I sometimes sparring and discuss on different scenarios. But those are just games and hypotheses. There are always advantages and disadvantages, prepared and not prepared, there can be ambushes that we don't know how we died, a fight with the same weapon is not fair because all sorts of things. All in all, we don't want to be caught in a fight. If have to, we want the information/power/instrument the opponent don't know we have. And then, we might still die...

So I might want to keep the advantage that I thought I have, or my opponent thought I don't have, as a secret. Maybe?