You should
Give them proper sabres and take off their armour, see how many points they're willing to concede then.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Fri 19 Jun 2009, 10:58, archived)

This is the whole point
at the beginning of the game conceding a point is actually of far greater effect than scoring a point; as shown above with despite an orthodox win of 3 vs 2 it becomes a draw that goes through to sudden death.

People seem to forget what they're emulating when they fence.
(Frozen_Banana Shaved against the grain; thoroughly unrewarding., Fri 19 Jun 2009, 11:01, archived)

I've got a martial arts background
and have worked with Bowie knives, which are similar in technique to sabres. A good sabreur will still probably chop the fuck out of me, of course, I haven't put the hours in, but he'll do so with all sorts of bad habits.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Fri 19 Jun 2009, 11:06, archived)

I heard that once you get in a knife fight
you're pretty much guaranteed to get cut in some way, so the idea is to minimise the damage done to you, such as even grabbing the blade to get control of the weapon. How much of this rings true?

Then again... bowie knives are quite different to kitchen knives.
(Frozen_Banana Shaved against the grain; thoroughly unrewarding., Fri 19 Jun 2009, 11:10, archived)

No to grabbing
you're likely to get cut, so make sure it's on the backs of your hands and forearms and not the palms/insides, outer leg rather than inner leg and so on. And finish up quickly before you go into shock :)

I met one guy who took an attacker's knife out of the equation by jamming it into his thigh and holding it there while he punched the crap out of him. He's a very scary guy.

Yup, 10" or so is the cut-off between small and large knives - whether you have a realistic prospect of getting past the blade with your bare hands. Most etymologies of fencing indicate the sword is your protection, rather than your weapon - you keep it between you and your attacker.
( Flapjack I spay a little mare for you, Fri 19 Jun 2009, 11:18, archived)