My experience of getting into a fight is:

hit from behind / momentary flashes of confusion, the ground, yellow light, kicking someone / waking up bleeding in a cab

And

“Hey do you have the time?” hit in the face while turning / confusion of faces and being kicked / flagging a cab and going home

I would say running and situational awareness. I’ve been mugged 3 times, none were very dangerous I just stayed calm and asked if I could keep my cards (they said yes, they’re muggers not monsters). When people attack each other it is fast and extremely brutual, you can very easily be permanently maimed or die by hits to the head or falling.

Don’t engage in fantasies of squaring off and wrestling, you will almost always be jumped by a group if people want to hurt you.