You can tell how serious someone is about really dropping a man by where they place themselves to get the job done and where they land when it comes to antisocial confrontation.

Angry or aggressive fighters will go toe-to-toe, literally stepping up to the man and then reaching out with their limbs to cover the distance through their target. A “true badass” will put his foot between the other man’s feet. The killer puts himself completely through the other man and ends up standing where his victim once stood, and then repeats the process into the ground.

Stepping up to the man and reaching out is the hallmark of antisocial confrontation: cuffing, shoving, and punching to show displeasure. It shows a lack of desire to cripple and kill, fear of the other man, and respect for his personal space — it is, after all, giving him plenty of room to work. As a result, injury is unlikely outside of a lucky traumatic brain injury (concussion), the most common fight-ending injury seen in both street fights and competitive matches.

The “badass” steps in close enough to put his foot between the other man’s feet, into his personal space and underneath his center of gravity. I say “badass” because that’s the usual assessment of bystanders — if toe-to-toe was aggressive, stepping into the man’s personal space is absolutely “badass” – The pinnacle of antisocial behavior. It also increases effectiveness: the proximity will give greater follow-through, dramatically increasing the chance of injury and knockdown.

Also, this amount of penetration is usually followed with another step in as the man falls back, as opposed to stepping away from the man. This forward motion only enhances the bystanders’ assessment of the dedication required to pull it off.

The killer throws his entire body through the other man. He wants to stand exactly where the other guy is standing. He breaks the plane of the man’s belt buckle with his. This maximizes injury and overrun, almost guaranteeing a knockdown. He then follows up with a thorough stomping of the downed man.

Now imagine driving your forearm through a man’s throat or a knife through his rib cage — where would you want to be to get that job done? The place where it might work? The place where chances are good that it’ll work?

Or the place where it’s guaranteed to work?