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D&D Monster Study Proves Eyes Have It
sciencehabit writes with this excerpt from Science: "The dungeon is pitch black — until the dungeon master blazes a torch, confirming your worst fears. A Beholder monster lurches at you, its eyeballs wriggling on tentacular stems. As you prepare to wield your Vorpal sword, where do you focus your gaze: at the monster's head or at its tentacle eyes? Such a quandary from the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons may seem like a meaningless trifle, but it holds within it the answer to a tricky scientific question: Do people focus their gaze on another person's eyes or on the center of the head? In fact, a father-son team has used D&D monsters to show that most people will look to another creature's eyes, even if they're not attached to a head."
and many of these guys have never been in a real street fight.
As a consequence, none of them will tell you "here's how to defuse this situation so that it doesn't escalate. Fighting cause you to owe money if it goes to court. You could go to the hospital. The person(s) attacking you could go. Someone could die." And most don't teach how to do this.
They also will not tell you "the complicated stuff you are learning, the spinning kicks, the block-strike patterns, will probably not work". Under adrenal stress, you lose fine motor coordination. Those techniques will go out the window, probably, and you'll be reduced to playground style fighting.
You are better off learning basic, easy to use techniques that are "high percentage". Practice those under pressure.
If you are a pro fighter, veteran cop, etc, feel free to ignore this. For the rest of us schlubs, this is how it is.