Thanks all...for the support so far. As you will notice...I'm not all about producing polished footage edited for effect - these clips are from shakey smartphones produced by participants during seminars and courses - I don't have any cool set-piece demos carefully prepared...it's not what, or how, I teach - and I'll never be considered for a fight-choreographer position anywhere...thankfully... Also...nope...no DVDs or online 'instructionals' are available - sorry, but I just don't class this as training in any effective sense of the word...so I don't bother with it. I travel...and teach, instruct, coach...other people travel...and I teach, instruct, coach...and that's how it goes...I do provide very limited remote coaching via video analysis, but there are a few conditions and limitations attached to this. Website is www.corecombatives.com and there is a busy C2 Training Group on Facebook...but a caution, if you don't approve of critical thinking and objective discussion...and want to join a fan club or be simply validated...you probably won't like it...
hi Mick, seen a couple of your videos now and they make a good deal of sense. However, I have to disagree with you on this one. Back in the day I was a master of the head butt, and I can think of no better short range weapon when used correctly. All you have to do is connect below the eyeline with where your hairline begins (assuming you're not bald) and it's a winner every time.
Shaun Turton I agree...I've used headbutts as much as anyone I know, and they can be devastating - especially wearing Kevlar - but... Everything works great...until it doesn't. The best punchers in the world still mess up and break their hands on occasion - and 'all' they had to do is make a couple of knuckles hit the side of a jaw... The penalty for a busted hand isn't as great as a busted head...so I'm just beong cautious...plus, the main message is that there's a certain hierarchy of effectiveness for all these options - this gets forgotten and less effective means end up being selected in place of more simple, more effective, and safer options.
I've had my stuff ups too, forehead to forehead is one, and blood every where from headbutts that ended up on the teeth, so I take you point, but on balance, if I'm seeing the opportunity, it's still my go to (in theory, because I don't live that life any more). Anyway, just wanted to put a counter point in.
In my opinion, Mr.Coup is the best Combatives instructor there is. I have respect for quite a few of the instructors, but no one comes close to Mick Coup and his C2 stuff. Simple, scientific and brutally effective system.
Dennis Martin is one of the Combatives instructors that I respect (hence my original post). I managed to get one DVD of his, Mastery program, and one pdf about the strikes that he uses the most. He has my respect most definitely.
I like this. It is exactly what I was debating in the dojo. Time , momentum impact and readiness are the elements for a fight. Having knowledge of body mechanics is a must. Thank you for this.
My deescalation tactic? Choose locations carefully and stay away from idiots and alcohol. Works for me. Never had a fight since I was 17 and I'm 48 now ;-)
Absolutely. Can't think of a scenario outside of school that I've ever witnessed that wasn't pissed up people throwing haymakers. Unless it's a mugging situation, where your best option is to comply or run like hell, the only time you're likely to have trouble is if you are around drunks, and you are not willing or able to calm the situation with verbals and body language.
@@GMak81 absolutely,if it wasnt a life or death,restrain if necessary but talk your way out of it while being assertive and maintaining arms length.Im very rarely around big groups of drunk men the older I get.
Brilliant insight! Thank you for changing my approach to this useful tool. As you point out fight dynamics can truly make head butting a double edged sword.Excellent!
This man is the real deal..When i see a dangerous man i know it..Trust me none wants to fight with a man like this guy on the streets..Lucky uk "bastards" you have such a great teacher..one day i will visit hin to learn fron him..My respects..
Greg P fortunately he's on UA-cam we can learn from him that way. Not quite like learning from him in real life but better than not getting this info. I really like his practicality, he realizes subtle things that many in martial arts overlook or take for granted. Everyone is into MMA. which is a great sport ( the greatest) Thou not all of it is applicable to real life scenarios. Hopefully more people like him surface and share these martial arts
Just watched my first few videos of yours and decided to subscribe. I'm fma student and have been for quite a few years. I like the no nonsense attitude.
This is a great channel and simply busting at the seams with what to actually do if you find yourself in dangerous situations but i will say that any martial arts teacher worth their salt will tell you its all bullshit and if you do your Jackie Chan in the street. youll get your ass kicked. A real self defence instructor teaches the art for arts sake and real self defence,stripped back,nasty and practical . The problem is their are alot of bullshit martial arts teachers who've never gotten in a fight out their lives. My advise to people is check out the history of the people teaching first. My instructor is ex army and ex door work. He dont bullshit and has a reputation outside of the dojo. Im lucky to have someone like that and i think what you are putting out there is 100% the real deal.
JiminyPopapill Mhm, either one works in a street fight. My style is more focused on incapacitation at any cost, so I would default scratching, biting, anything that will get the job done without killing the person, even if it takes breaking bones.
thanks Mick Coup ! for me, i reckon you are the best i have ever seen with your applied theories . please keep uploading . if i find my self in a bad situation a can,t avoid (only a few times in my life), i prefer to be on the offensive than defensive. what do you think?
I've always wondered why a lot of martial artists didn't get head trauma in breaking demonstrations using the forehead as the striking agent. Is it because of structural alignment?
Hm, seems to me this is the exact same concept of creating space I use and argued for on one of your videos on "Jeff Phillips Self Defence" channel where they referenced me to one of your other videos as refusal to my arguments 0_o
Think a caveat to all this. Soccer/football players have learned how to deal with their heads, often in a fairly wide field of attack, with extreme precision. With a sense for the timing and flow of the fight, scary weapon. Imagine if you let Ronaldo in too close.
The 20/80 rule ..... so focus on 20% of your techniques to give 80% of the results and for the average joe who isnt a night club bouncer this will be more than enought , plus dont over think techniques as in all likely hood you will never use them in your life. (1) palm heel strike and elbow cover of head (2) muay thai thight kick ( 3 ) elbow strikes( 4) left hook plus when you hit make sure it is hard and 100% instictive and keep it simple ......................... always walk away if you can as the hassle with police , cctv , criminal courts is not worth it..............
citic101: Kudos to you! Yeah, the fucking cameras and cell phones make squeezing the shit out of an attacker not worth your job or freedom...... Fuuuuuuuck! 😳😳😵😵
but the fist is far more fragile than the forehead, so yeah if you have room for a headbutt you have room for a punch, but what about the damage from a given energy release to your forehand or to your hand?
Harris Witherden depends on where too, you’ve gotta use it on the weaker parts of the face if you can, but almost always closed fist punches are better used on the body than the head from the pectoralis major down
You can't hide from me, I'll find that video to expose you! LOL just kidding Mick! It's always good to see at least principles applied in real or realistic situations, that's why I asked for a video. So there isn't any?
outofthebox7 if it’s applicable for street confrontations how would he have any videos of himself in situations. Unless of course he set himself up to be mugged or attacked in a bar or car park and have someone video it 🙄.. FFS mate come on if he was in a boxing/kickboxing/MMA it would be different to what he’s teaching wouldn’t it .
No, I actually asked for two type of videos. I said "any video of him fighting or in a match of some sort". By fighting I had in mind e.g. a bouncer video (many bouncers upload them), or if he was a cop (don't know he's background) and it showed a real life situation being handled realistically or maybe challenging someone for the martial art world to a real no rule fight. These type of videos are all over youtube.
I love martial arts, but I wonder exactly what it is all about when it comes down to it. The majority of us will never fight anyone - yet we seem to have a deep need to learn self protection against a force which never comes.
Video Master I just like the power, the feeling that I have lethal potential at all times. I also like the idea of martial arts being a way of life rather than a skill set, I don’t know why but something in me kind of howls whenever that moon rises so to speak. There’s an unspoken level of respect between martial artists rather than people who simply practice martial arts. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say for sure that I love sparring, heavy or light, but I hate fighting because I’m just generally not very confrontational. My need to be liked gets in the way of my need to defend myself, so there’s a bit of duality there. That’s why I continue to train even though I may never have a fight in the foreseeable future: it’s to train my killer instinct rather than keep kowtowing to people. Because I know I was born with an acute killer instinct, I’m just way too scared of people not liking me. That’s anxiety for ya.
The problem with what Mick teaches is..the methods he teaches are bleeding obvious..AFTER he shows you.He made me realise how much pure garbage I had wasted my time on for years.No one is in his league in this "industry"..
+Mike -> CORRECT . I studied and taught Korean arts for many years and went back to what we taught in Army Rangers and good ole knock down / dragout street fighting . Stylists have a damned hard time with a well trained street fighter and - The only guy who ever bitched about a fair fight was the loser .
Head butting is for real close distance right before the fight starts.. just to break the nose or to shake the guy up before the overhand right comes in hahaha
"You biohazard bastard" hahaha! 100% on the same page Mick, just stumbled on your vids, been trying to get the same combative approach and philosophies across for years inside and outside of the martial arts system I came up in here in the USA, and have just had a cognition after watching your BS martial arts vid, of which I agree 100%, that I am am preaching to the wrong crowd. Having spent decades in Martial Arts, it is instinctual to want to share it with your fellow "Martial Artists", the reality is like you stated, and funny enough I am aware of, but more so in a new unit of time, is that the ego won't allow them to make the paradigm shift, even if they see the reality of what is being explained, their identities and bank accounts have become to invested in what they do (over here in the USA you can make good money with a McDojo), it's like Kryptonite, they just can't have it, not all but most. It's amazing how (outside of the Military SF) neglected the physical and mental axioms and constituents of reality combat are. Great vids.
This sounds dumb but a head butt is a poor tool, unless you played soccer for at least 10 years. One of the first things you learn to do, is head a ball without it hurting your head. There is about a 1-2 inch diameter part, at the top of your forehead. If you head a ball in soccer or head butt someone in a fight using that tiny area, it's painless, almost to the point of disbelief. Now head that same ball or face, dropping down just one inch on your forehead or up one inch on the top of your head... excruciating pain. Head butts take a lot of practice, and it starts with finding that sweet spot on your head and keeping your eyes open, all the way to impact.
Hi Patriot. I have to disagree there. Easiest move I ever learnt. Stays with me to this day without training. It's what I love about it. The one move that stays with you forever.
Patriot4TheTree i can tell you from personal experience that you are wrong, when i was about 18/19 some drunk guy attack my friend, normally i would of just jogged away but his first punch knocked my mate to the floor so i had to stay to try and help. He was a fat fella and i was a slim but in shape young man so i thought i could just use my speed with arm punches and keep distance (i had only trained a tiny bit of boxing and was pretty clueless). I was very wrong he just charged and bare hugged me, he tried to put his weight on me to take me down. I was extremely panicked as this guy had a good 7 stone on me, i just instinctively headbutted him. It split his lip and shocked him. This was enough for me to break free, then me and my mate just ran off. It worked for me when i had no clue what i was doing and was at a massive size disadvantage, so i imagine if you spent time training and actually knew what you were doing it could be a practical and useful skill.
In JKD concepts, we're taught to headbutt along with using knees, elbows and wrestling and judo takedowns from inside clinch range. The headbutt is meant to use the thickest part of the skull (on the top of the head) against the smaller, fragile bones of your opponent's face, chin, temple area. You don't headbutt forehead to forehead and expect to come out ahead. Also, headbutt is safer than winding up with a punch with bare knuckles. The skull is the thickest bone in our body, while knuckles and bones of the hand are small and fragile. Especially if you're strong and have boxing skills, you'll be able to punch harder than your bones can support if you hit bone (such as their skull or even jaw). Hands are actually one of the more fragile weapons on the body, while knees, elbows and skull can make good bludgeoning weapons.
This is the reason that boxers wrap their hands and use gloves, even for bagwork- it's to protect their hands and wrists from the devastating effect of impacting the opponent's bones and flesh with crushing power.
Thanks all...for the support so far.
As you will notice...I'm not all about producing polished footage edited for effect - these clips are from shakey smartphones produced by participants during seminars and courses - I don't have any cool set-piece demos carefully prepared...it's not what, or how, I teach - and I'll never be considered for a fight-choreographer position anywhere...thankfully...
Also...nope...no DVDs or online 'instructionals' are available - sorry, but I just don't class this as training in any effective sense of the word...so I don't bother with it.
I travel...and teach, instruct, coach...other people travel...and I teach, instruct, coach...and that's how it goes...I do provide very limited remote coaching via video analysis, but there are a few conditions and limitations attached to this.
Website is www.corecombatives.com and there is a busy C2 Training Group on Facebook...but a caution, if you don't approve of critical thinking and objective discussion...and want to join a fan club or be simply validated...you probably won't like it...
Traditional martial arts BS gives us polished footage. I'd much rather have truth on a shaky smartphone.
hi Mick, seen a couple of your videos now and they make a good deal of sense. However, I have to disagree with you on this one. Back in the day I was a master of the head butt, and I can think of no better short range weapon when used correctly. All you have to do is connect below the eyeline with where your hairline begins (assuming you're not bald) and it's a winner every time.
Shaun Turton I agree...I've used headbutts as much as anyone I know, and they can be devastating - especially wearing Kevlar - but...
Everything works great...until it doesn't. The best punchers in the world still mess up and break their hands on occasion - and 'all' they had to do is make a couple of knuckles hit the side of a jaw...
The penalty for a busted hand isn't as great as a busted head...so I'm just beong cautious...plus, the main message is that there's a certain hierarchy of effectiveness for all these options - this gets forgotten and less effective means end up being selected in place of more simple, more effective, and safer options.
I've had my stuff ups too, forehead to forehead is one, and blood every where from headbutts that ended up on the teeth, so I take you point, but on balance, if I'm seeing the opportunity, it's still my go to (in theory, because I don't live that life any more). Anyway, just wanted to put a counter point in.
In my opinion, Mr.Coup is the best Combatives instructor there is. I have respect for quite a few of the instructors, but no one comes close to Mick Coup and his C2 stuff. Simple, scientific and brutally effective system.
so right . i have only just found him and intend to follow him
Chris Evans same here...2 hrs ago
Dennis Martin knows his stuff... this stuff Mick puts out though is quality 👍🏻
Dennis Martin is one of the Combatives instructors that I respect (hence my original post). I managed to get one DVD of his, Mastery program, and one pdf about the strikes that he uses the most. He has my respect most definitely.
I like this. It is exactly what I was debating in the dojo. Time , momentum impact and readiness are the elements for a fight. Having knowledge of body mechanics is a must. Thank you for this.
My deescalation tactic? Choose locations carefully and stay away from idiots and alcohol. Works for me. Never had a fight since I was 17 and I'm 48 now ;-)
Absolutely. Can't think of a scenario outside of school that I've ever witnessed that wasn't pissed up people throwing haymakers.
Unless it's a mugging situation, where your best option is to comply or run like hell, the only time you're likely to have trouble is if you are around drunks, and you are not willing or able to calm the situation with verbals and body language.
@@GMak81 absolutely,if it wasnt a life or death,restrain if necessary but talk your way out of it while being assertive and maintaining arms length.Im very rarely around big groups of drunk men the older I get.
That is an intelligently scientific approach to something ruthlessly pragmatic. IMO nobody teaches this stuff better.
Brilliant insight! Thank you for changing my approach to this useful tool. As you point out fight dynamics can truly make head butting a double edged sword.Excellent!
This is real competence! Awesome job Mr. Coup!
This man is the real deal..When i see a dangerous man i know it..Trust me none wants to fight with a man like this guy on the streets..Lucky uk "bastards" you have such a great teacher..one day i will visit hin to learn fron him..My respects..
Greg P fortunately he's on UA-cam we can learn from him that way. Not quite like learning from him in real life but better than not getting this info. I really like his practicality, he realizes subtle things that many in martial arts overlook or take for granted. Everyone is into MMA. which is a great sport ( the greatest) Thou not all of it is applicable to real life scenarios. Hopefully more people like him surface and share these martial arts
Great stuff, Mr. Coup. I appreciate the simplicity.
Just watched my first few videos of yours and decided to subscribe. I'm fma student and have been for quite a few years. I like the no nonsense attitude.
solid and practical thx. making space and no self inflicted injury
Great, logical and nicely explained.
Mick very interesting , you make lots of sense ......
Im not a fighter at all too old but i love your thinking on this no bullshit down to earth combat
Absolutely outstanding, suscribed after watching only two videos!!!
This is a great channel and simply busting at the seams with what to actually do if you find yourself in dangerous situations but i will say that any martial arts teacher worth their salt will tell you its all bullshit and if you do your Jackie Chan in the street. youll get your ass kicked. A real self defence instructor teaches the art for arts sake and real self defence,stripped back,nasty and practical . The problem is their are alot of bullshit martial arts teachers who've never gotten in a fight out their lives. My advise to people is check out the history of the people teaching first. My instructor is ex army and ex door work. He dont bullshit and has a reputation outside of the dojo. Im lucky to have someone like that and i think what you are putting out there is 100% the real deal.
Well explained. Thank you.
The little head tap to make space when your tied up in close - could you alternatively bite a lump out of his/her neck?
JiminyPopapill Mhm, either one works in a street fight. My style is more focused on incapacitation at any cost, so I would default scratching, biting, anything that will get the job done without killing the person, even if it takes breaking bones.
"Biohazard bastard" - 😁👍 Great stuff, Mike. Thanks for sharing!
Is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu effective for self defense(especially for escaping grabs and holds)?
thanks Mick Coup ! for me, i reckon you are the best i have ever seen with your applied theories . please keep uploading . if i find my self in a bad situation a can,t avoid (only a few times in my life), i prefer to be on the offensive than defensive. what do you think?
I've always wondered why a lot of martial artists didn't get head trauma in breaking demonstrations using the forehead as the striking agent. Is it because of structural alignment?
Nicely done mate! 💪💪💪
Is there any footage of this being used in live sparring??
Hm, seems to me this is the exact same concept of creating space I use and argued for on one of your videos on "Jeff Phillips Self Defence" channel where they referenced me to one of your other videos as refusal to my arguments 0_o
Out of curiosity
, why is the student demonstrating striking with an open hand???
Because getting hit with an open hand-palm transfers power and you dont break bones in your hand...
Where are you based and are you ex forces?
Where can I learn this? I’m in Canada? Any DVD’s?
Pascal 0 I can come to Canada...or you can come to the UK - I don't teach via DVD.
Think a caveat to all this. Soccer/football players have learned how to deal with their heads, often in a fairly wide field of attack, with extreme precision. With a sense for the timing and flow of the fight, scary weapon. Imagine if you let Ronaldo in too close.
Heading a modern football is rather different to headbutting someone’s skull
The 20/80 rule ..... so focus on 20% of your techniques to give 80% of the results and for the average joe who isnt a night club bouncer this will be more than enought , plus dont over think techniques as in all likely hood you will never use them in your life. (1) palm heel strike and elbow cover of head (2) muay thai thight kick ( 3 ) elbow strikes( 4) left hook plus when you hit make sure it is hard and 100% instictive and keep it simple ......................... always walk away if you can as the hassle with police , cctv , criminal courts is not worth it..............
citic101: Kudos to you! Yeah, the fucking cameras and cell phones make squeezing the shit out of an attacker not worth your job or freedom...... Fuuuuuuuck! 😳😳😵😵
Mick do you classes in London
Charlie Danso Yes...mostly private tuition. Vauxhall area.
but the fist is far more fragile than the forehead, so yeah if you have room for a headbutt you have room for a punch, but what about the damage from a given energy release to your forehand or to your hand?
nevermind, at 8 minutes i see the student punches with his palm, not fist, so i guess you teach that. Cool.
+vano scrap Nice catch.
True that, I fucked my knuckles punching a motherless bastard in the upper part of his forehead..... After 20 years, it still hurts like hell.... 😳😣
Harris Witherden depends on where too, you’ve gotta use it on the weaker parts of the face if you can, but almost always closed fist punches are better used on the body than the head from the pectoralis major down
I appreciate this man, he know what hes talking about. Does anyone know if there's any video of him fighting or in a match of some sort around?
outofthebox7 I really hope there isn't!
You can't hide from me, I'll find that video to expose you!
LOL just kidding Mick!
It's always good to see at least principles applied in real or realistic situations, that's why I asked for a video. So there isn't any?
Mick Coup like your work. Just discovered your channel a few hours ago.
outofthebox7 if it’s applicable for street confrontations how would he have any videos of himself in situations. Unless of course he set himself up to be mugged or attacked in a bar or car park and have someone video it 🙄.. FFS mate come on if he was in a boxing/kickboxing/MMA it would be different to what he’s teaching wouldn’t it .
No, I actually asked for two type of videos. I said "any video of him fighting or in a match of some sort". By fighting I had in mind e.g. a bouncer video (many bouncers upload them), or if he was a cop (don't know he's background) and it showed a real life situation being handled realistically or maybe challenging someone for the martial art world to a real no rule fight. These type of videos are all over youtube.
I love martial arts, but I wonder exactly what it is all about when it comes down to it. The majority of us will never fight anyone - yet we seem to have a deep need to learn self protection against a force which never comes.
Video Master I just like the power, the feeling that I have lethal potential at all times. I also like the idea of martial arts being a way of life rather than a skill set, I don’t know why but something in me kind of howls whenever that moon rises so to speak. There’s an unspoken level of respect between martial artists rather than people who simply practice martial arts. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say for sure that I love sparring, heavy or light, but I hate fighting because I’m just generally not very confrontational. My need to be liked gets in the way of my need to defend myself, so there’s a bit of duality there. That’s why I continue to train even though I may never have a fight in the foreseeable future: it’s to train my killer instinct rather than keep kowtowing to people. Because I know I was born with an acute killer instinct, I’m just way too scared of people not liking me. That’s anxiety for ya.
Dear god I wrote an essay lmao
The problem with what Mick teaches is..the methods he teaches are bleeding obvious..AFTER he shows you.He made me realise how much pure garbage I had wasted my time on for years.No one is in his league in this "industry"..
It's a cruel truth to learn isn't it? All those hours. I'm the same mate.
Steve BB are the courses expensive? Id love to do one especially seeing the times we live in now
+Mike -> CORRECT . I studied and taught Korean arts for many years and went back to what we taught in Army Rangers and good ole knock down / dragout street fighting . Stylists have a damned hard time with a well trained street fighter and - The only guy who ever bitched about a fair fight was the loser .
mike williams Well you say that but everything he teaches I've already seen from a guy named Russel Stutely.
Mick Seminar in Germany was the funniest AND hardest seminar i ever participated - and i learned a lot too!
Head butting is for real close distance right before the fight starts.. just to break the nose or to shake the guy up before the overhand right comes in hahaha
"You biohazard bastard" hahaha! 100% on the same page Mick, just stumbled on your vids, been trying to get the same combative approach and philosophies across for years inside and outside of the martial arts system I came up in here in the USA, and have just had a cognition after watching your BS martial arts vid, of which I agree 100%, that I am am preaching to the wrong crowd. Having spent decades in Martial Arts, it is instinctual to want to share it with your fellow "Martial Artists", the reality is like you stated, and funny enough I am aware of, but more so in a new unit of time, is that the ego won't allow them to make the paradigm shift, even if they see the reality of what is being explained, their identities and bank accounts have become to invested in what they do (over here in the USA you can make good money with a McDojo), it's like Kryptonite, they just can't have it, not all but most. It's amazing how (outside of the Military SF) neglected the physical and mental axioms and constituents of reality combat are. Great vids.
Fucking Man is really brilliant.
Wisdom. You can tell it's coming from reality.
cool guy
Liverpool kiss?
This sounds dumb but a head butt is a poor tool, unless you played soccer for at least 10 years. One of the first things you learn to do, is head a ball without it hurting your head. There is about a 1-2 inch diameter part, at the top of your forehead. If you head a ball in soccer or head butt someone in a fight using that tiny area, it's painless, almost to the point of disbelief. Now head that same ball or face, dropping down just one inch on your forehead or up one inch on the top of your head... excruciating pain. Head butts take a lot of practice, and it starts with finding that sweet spot on your head and keeping your eyes open, all the way to impact.
Hi Patriot. I have to disagree there. Easiest move I ever learnt. Stays with me to this day without training. It's what I love about it. The one move that stays with you forever.
Patriot4TheTree i can tell you from personal experience that you are wrong, when i was about 18/19 some drunk guy attack my friend, normally i would of just jogged away but his first punch knocked my mate to the floor so i had to stay to try and help. He was a fat fella and i was a slim but in shape young man so i thought i could just use my speed with arm punches and keep distance (i had only trained a tiny bit of boxing and was pretty clueless). I was very wrong he just charged and bare hugged me, he tried to put his weight on me to take me down. I was extremely panicked as this guy had a good 7 stone on me, i just instinctively headbutted him. It split his lip and shocked him. This was enough for me to break free, then me and my mate just ran off. It worked for me when i had no clue what i was doing and was at a massive size disadvantage, so i imagine if you spent time training and actually knew what you were doing it could be a practical and useful skill.
In JKD concepts, we're taught to headbutt along with using knees, elbows and wrestling and judo takedowns from inside clinch range.
The headbutt is meant to use the thickest part of the skull (on the top of the head) against the smaller, fragile bones of your opponent's face, chin, temple area. You don't headbutt forehead to forehead and expect to come out ahead. Also, headbutt is safer than winding up with a punch with bare knuckles. The skull is the thickest bone in our body, while knuckles and bones of the hand are small and fragile. Especially if you're strong and have boxing skills, you'll be able to punch harder than your bones can support if you hit bone (such as their skull or even jaw). Hands are actually one of the more fragile weapons on the body, while knees, elbows and skull can make good bludgeoning weapons.
This is the reason that boxers wrap their hands and use gloves, even for bagwork- it's to protect their hands and wrists from the devastating effect of impacting the opponent's bones and flesh with crushing power.