As I will mention later in this book a person cannot react faster than another person can act So

“As I will mention later in this book a person cannot react faster than another person can act…So I hope you are seeing that you have to go on the offense and you must remain on the offense until the threat is neutralized.”

Emerson, Ernest. The Seven Strategies of Hand to Hand Combat: Surviving in the Arena of Life and Death. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015, pp. 26-27.

Much of combat is contained in understanding the action/reaction cycle. If you lose the initiative in a battle and find yourself constantly reacting the the actions of your opponent, you will be in a precarious situation. It is possible to feign reaction in order to draw your opponent into a disadvantageous position, but this is not true reaction as it is being pursued actively to achieve a purpose.