Verbal Judo. I believe knowing you are capable of taking out the person if it comes to it, is good and all. But that whole unflinching thing is just asking to get stabbed by someone who would get annoyed by it. You can be a reasonable guy who is just trying to diffuse this lunatic & walk away. Like Jackie Chan does, “i don’t want any trouble.” I trained to maintain steady eyes in the ring & be vigilant of every movement, but I’m not going to just stand there & stare at this guy trying to fight me. I’ll look him in the eyes sure. Show no fear & all, but I’ll be trying to diffuse the situation for no more than a couple of seconds & then walk away while keeping my sights on him. If he runs up on me unarmed while I’m walking away, then that’s on him. If he’s armed, I’m running like hell. If he’s armed while confronting him, I’ll give him my shoes, my watch, my wallet.