I guess something must have happened, it doesn't look like he made it all up on his own. My gut feeling anyway.
Serenity, whether you made it up or not means jack to me, but what I can add that's worth posting here is that you should look into some proper martial arts training. You've got some ideas/habits that will get you in real trouble without fighting skills to match, if your character's what it seems like.
One "small" punch in the right place is sometimes enough to put your lights out.