Best response for guy who keeps popping up in the places i frequent trying to pick fights?

Some background: I had anger issues back in highschool that got me close to legal trouble due to how far I'd take fighting back, worked on myself significantly since then and now I usually avoid it since I know fighting can get me in legal trouble (Ohio has strict self defense and excessive force laws especially if you have had a history of this stuff as an adult or minor), and cause me to lose my job, I try to 100% avoid it unless it's 100% self defense. I used to practice martial arts (trying to get back into it) and also have a few sports injuries plus about 20-30 extra lbs I need to lose.

I used to be friends with this girl but she has this possessive, aggressive boyfriend who likes to drink and I've stopped being friends with them because he has tried to pick fights on multiple occasions. However I live in a small town so the two of them keep popping up and both are very blatantly aggressive towards me.

I don't want to be kicked out of the places I'm running into them at. They're cool places and I tend to know a lot of people who work there and set up events there. However I'm also pretty convinced this guy is eventually gonna throw a punch instead of try to provoke me into doing so. If I'm worried about all this I will freeze up and get clocked hard. What is the best approach to pre-emptively defending myself from this guy? I don't know if that's the best question for this group but like: how can I resolve this before it escalates into a fight and I have to deal with the aftermath of getting into a fight in a public place?

Also for this guy and hypothetical future people like him what's the best method to go about getting used to being attacked? I've been lifting weights and going over boxing and wing Chun drills, but I still have this gripping fear where if I get into a fight it will be like my nightmares where I try to throw a punch but it feels weightless and empty. I feel like if I have to defend myself that fear will affect me and cause me to get more hurt.

Submitted October 06, 2018 at 01:30AM by tremblinggigan https://ift.tt/2zUmtHT