Ground fighting and dealing with conflict in "The Street"

This thread on Bullshido has a string of great responses to the "NEVER GO TO THE GROUND IN TEH STR33T" philosophy. I'll post the best bits here. 

The OP:

Don't ever take a fight to the ground or willingly allow yourself to be put onto the ground.
For me it is the golden rule of streetfighting.
You don't know how many buddies this guy has around the corner just waiting for you to hit the concrete.
In toxteth in Liverpool it is practically a death sentence to take a fight to the ground, because guaranteed there will be 15 - 20 guys who will jump in and stomp the crap out of you, whether they are anything to do with the fight or not.
Keep to your feet in case you need to take to your heels.
Of course if you get taken down hard you need good ground game, but only to get them off of you so you can get back up.

The first response:

Streetfighting... you've done some of that then ?

Given it's your "golden rule" I'm gaining the impression from that, that this is something you're actively involved in.

Give me an example, if you'd be kind enough to indulge me when...

The last occasion you were required to street fight, and the circumstances of that situation where you'd found yourself unable to avoid it. 

I ask because having spent a number of years employed within a role which required conflict resolution dealing with people whom, some of which, had little to lose from inflicting serious bodily harm, if not death on others, EVERY encounter ultimately ended up on the floor no matter how many people were involved.

There are three types of control mechanism which resolves human conflict.

1. AVOIDANCE 
2. PHYSICAL RESTRAINT 
3. INCAPACITY

- Avoidance is by far the best option but isn't always 100% in your control

- Physical Restraint requires you (or someone else) to retain a hold of some description but will often require that person to be prone for the restraint to be fully effective for any period of time.

- Incapacity of your opponent by KO

You're able to hit/kick or choke-out your opponent to the point where they have nothing left.

Now, unless we're training regularly in a system which is proven to fully function against opponents who are actively resisting what we wish to do to them, options 2 & 3 are actually incredibly difficult to achieve with any degree of consistency. Being able to choke-out means you're likely not being on your feet when you do it - so we're on the ground, high kicking is a risky option in many respects and you're not always in an environment where you can effectively do it. Finally, hitting a moving target whilst under stress and doing so effectively and hard enough within the first few seconds of conflict is likewise very difficult to achieve - more to the point you have no idea until you actually hit the individual for the first time, how they're going to cope/compensate your attempts at a KO strike.

What I've driving at here is there's no single solution at dealing with conflict.

In some respects I'm agreeing with the sentiments of your original post however, learning how to effectively deal with being taken to the ground, obtaining positional advantage, then being able to fight or flight from there is far better than just learning a stand up game... Because, every cuntfuck who looks for trouble of this sort will want to put you in, what they will inherently see as a position of disadvantage, by taking that shit to the floor. They may do this intentionally or subconsciously but in a game with no rules the floor provides the ideal place to stop someone from easy escape.

And a few other great posts:

You'll have to tell us how you manage to deal with 15-20 people joining in while you're still on your feet. 
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Maybe you need more friends? It always seems people are worried about the other guy having friends. My friends usually spend 3-4 days a week punching, choking, and slamming people. You should probably be worried about my friends.
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Okay, now how do you avoid being taken there unwillingly if your opponent(s) are practised and experienced in takedowns and you're not practised and experienced in defending takedown attempts?

Entire thread:

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=121295&p=2788645