The reality is this, all real fights are armed fights whether you agree with it or not. When a fight is about life and limb weapons will come into play. Whether you carry one, improvise one or refuse to use one you can bet the other guy will. Given this knowing how weapons work and better still how to use them yourself is absolutely essential to effective self-defense. Forget sport combat. It can do a lot of things for you but prepare you for an armed fight it will not.