Sherdog Mixed Martial Arts Forums - Standup Technique

critique my sparring session

goldennboy — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:09:53 GMT

Boxing.

You all already know by my previous posts and threads my sparring partner is the coaches son and very overly aggressive. Basically there's nothing I could do about it.

On top of him being too aggressive, he's dirty as f***. You can see at the beginning of the video I went to touch gloves, he tried to screw me with a double jab, right hand. then I absolutely picked him apart on the ropes straight after that. There's a point that he hits me with his shoulder on purpose and he pushes me down on purpose too. He even tries to hit me with a jab, cross after the bell rang.

I did plenty of body work and head work, played it smart, he only hit me like 4 times in the head and 1 real good body shot. Late in the round I give him a very sweet right to the body down the pipe but the ropes blocked it.

please, watch the whole video. Analyze before commenting.

Take into consideration, this kid was born into boxing. He had his brother in his corner who is ranked #2 in the 154 division in Florida. He has over 25+ fights. I have 2 fights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqLYllLAPVU

Eyes burning when sparring

Alex88 — Fri, 24 May 2013 23:37:59 GMT

Not sure what causes this , sometimes when i spar and get punched in the eye , it starts to burn like crazy and my eye becomes all red... It doesnt happen all the time but goddam it's annoying. I was told that i've got dry eyes in the past by a doctor also had prk surgery to correct my vision not sure if it has anything to do with it ... Anybody else got this problem ?

boxing against taller guy

crazykick — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:10:30 GMT

Hey y'all,

So here is my problem. I've been doing Dutch muay thai for a while and competed a few times. I'm pretty heavy for my length so I'm the smaller hard hitter. I always fight forward keeping pressure on the opponent and have good head movement as well (slip under punches to close distance).

However there is a guy I train with that fights really smart. He has long arms and is a lot taller than me. When I'm rushing in he just uses continuous jabs. Almost all of them land on my guard or miss because of a rolling motion. The problem is when I step forward while slipping in, he walks backwards while continuously jabbing and keeps circling. Cutting him off is difficult because he is good with angles.

So here is my question: I'm slipping in all the time, but always keep my left foot in front. I'm basically making small quick steps towards him. He is making steps back. Is it possible to slip while 'walking'? Like left foot front right foot front left foot front? If it is, does anyone has a video of it? Thanks in advance!

(I've asked my coach but the advice from him is to lure him by maintaining distance and waiting till he gets more aggresive, evade and counter. I can do this but since we spar together he knows how hard I counter so he just jabs the whole round, frustrating...)

My (beginner) experience of MT sparring

BudgySmuggler — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:38:47 GMT

Hi y'all

I've gotten a lot of benefit from reading about the experiences of others, so i'm writing this up as a way of giving back. And, if it leads to useful pointers from people that actually know what they're doing, even better! :wink:

I'm 23 and have been doing Muay Thai for a almost a year. I felt like i had decent strikes and knew how to block everything but didn't trust myself to read what was coming at me. I went to all of the more advanced classes, which involve body sparring and 2 for 2 headshot drills etc. After a couple of weeks i decided that the constrained defenses weren't developing my awareness since the strikes were too predictable and decided to have a go at one of the 'light sparring' sessions. These are run with 16oz gloves, shins and mouth guards but no headgear.

Since i've never really been hit i went into the session more worried about my nose than anything else. I didn't have jitters and wasn't nervous, but didn't really know what to expect.
It started with 25 mins of cardio with the intention of tiring us all out so the session would be more likely to stay light. We paired up and i was fortunate to get someone i knew from the gym, and who knew this was my first time sparring.

The buzzer rang, we touched gloves and i took a cautious step forward. What i wasn't expecting was i didn't really know how to initiate the fight. i was expecting to block his first advance and work from there, but it was becoming obvious that he wanted me to make the first move. i went for the basics i've done hundreds of time before, the jab, 1-2 and leg kick. I tried each of these without any success while he just measured me up. If i wanted to get anywhere i would need to be more elaborate.

The problem was that the adrenaline had wiped my memory. I decided to try some stuff on the fly. usually a random number of punches followed by a kick from the other side. Not much of this worked either. The kick would often land, but what i was trying to do was get him to drop his guard.
Everything that seemed like a good idea when i had space fell apart when i moved into striking range, and most of it left me vulnerable to his counters. The worst part was that when i couldn't connect with combos that started out of range, i'd move closer. This was a mistake. Everything i had learned seemed useless while eating linked hooks hooks. When that first flurry came i had no idea what to do. I kept my hands up and tried some leg kicks without dropping my guard, but while the punches were landing i couldn't bring myself to throw a punch back myself for fear that something would get through the opening. I was able to work around to the side to break his flow and managed to land a hook of my own, but i ate a straight immediately afterwards. The hit was harder than i was expecting and harder than it should have been, and it landed right on my poor nose. My partner apologized, but he had shown me something valuable. Getting hit isn't that bad.

I made it to the end of my two rounds with this first partner, thanked him and caught my breath. My second partner posed a new challenge, i had to fight a girl. I knew my gym did this but it still felt awkward (me being a gentleman and all :icon_lol: )

This round actually went quite well. I decided that if i punched for the head i'd only target her forehead and i treated her chest as completely off limits. This created a bit of a problem for teeps, but otherwise it was pretty good. I went for more of a body shot heavy approach that worked well. once she started to predict low punches i changed to head flurries to keep her distracted for rib kicks, which also worked for a while. Overall i think i gave as good as i got, and nothing landed heavy this round.

My third partner was the best fighter in the session, who also happens to be 6" taller than me. The instructor warned him i was new and to go light, but it felt like he forgot this halfway through. Part of this was probably my fault. He started out by waiting for me to initiate every attack. I was finding that my crappy, on the spot combos weren't working for me so i went for the bodyshots and 'distraction into ribkick' approach that had worked last round. A couple of these worked for me, but once they landed he started to let loose. What surprised me was that despite the height advantage he wanted to fight up close, and once he got there i was fucked. When the punches started landing i couldn't find a way to stop the onslaught. Sidestepping wasn't working, leg kicks didn't bother him, every punch i attempted resulted in a punch he got through. I went for the last option i could think of tried to grab his neck for a clinch, he responded by pulling my head down and kneeing me in the nose (he had kneepads). That was a shock. I don't think the impact was hard, but it was something i didn't even consider. I told him not to do that again, and he told me not to let my head drop, but agreed.
The instructor told me even though he was taller to work long jabs and teeps to keep distance, which worked sometimes. most of my teeps got caught and jabs were met by counters, but overall i got hit a lot less doing this.

My last partner for the typical sparring was another girl. This one was vicious. I was treating her face and chest as off limits, but i think this made her angry. Whenever she got within range of my head she went to town. But by this point i was getting used to the punches and was able to see she wasn't protecting her body and a pair of rib-kicks let me break free. The distance game worked very well here. I was able to keep out of range of her punches, but her kicks were faster than i was able to respond to most of the time.

At the end of the standard rounds we did two rounds where one partner fought left-handed and the other right. This was weird. There was an unspoken understanding not to push it here, and at the end of the first round the instructor told us the the purpose of the drill was to get used to positioning and the importance for a leftie to stay on the outside.

We finished the class with 15 mins of clinching. This is one area where i really need to improve. I have 2 techniques which are solid, but most of what my partners were doing was totally new to me and i felt i was doing well if i could keep on my feet.

At the end of the class i felt a little proud of myself for taking the plunge and making it through the class. The class gave me a new appreciation for just how long three minutes is, and that even techniques you feel you've done to death can leave you when you're out of your comfort zone.
The session left me with a headache and tireder than i've been after any other class, but fell well worth it. There is a real chance you'll get hit harder than you'd like, but getting hit probably isn't as bad as you might expect.

Beginner bagwork critique

Minnja — Fri, 24 May 2013 06:47:43 GMT

I've been training at an MMA gym for about 1.5-2 months now and recorded some bagwork about 1 week ago. I typically train muay thai 3x a week, grappling 3x a week and boxing 1x a week although recently I haven't been going due to final exams and such. I won't be going until next Tuesday at the earliest and will probably continue that schedule above or do some more training.

In the meantime I plan on hitting the bags once or twice more. I already got some feedback and I need to focus on pivoting better on the hooks and keeping my left shoulder a bit higher to protect my face better. I also think I should step a bit further back from the bag so I get full extension on my straight punches? Any other feedback would be great.

Particularly feedback on my kicks would be great. When I did them I felt good but when I watched the vids I felt like they look a bit stupid and wrong. I think I might not be chopping at the right angle or something? I don't really know.

Noob Bag Work 6.0 (Video critique)

TheJayRaff — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:21:34 GMT

Hey guys, it has been a long time since I posted my last bag video. Recovering from a chipped shoulder bone/AC joint and these videos were taken over the last month at random times. ... Noticed I have terrible knee strikes, any pointers there? Also have started to have the problem of having my chin float up higher than it should be. I know I have tons of other problems, I am hoping you guys can help me here and point out the tons of things I am missing! I tried to clip out most of the boring 1-2 parts hahaha.

I appreciate all the help in the past guys, and thanks in advance here :icon_chee

Combos for Striking (MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai)

FightFortress — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:59:23 GMT

I am new to Sherdog forums so, Hello everyone :)
I'll start by adding the combos we use at our gym, i'm pretty sure they'll be helpful for those of you who wish to develop their Striking game.

Note: Striking is like a music beat (percussion, to be precise) and there are multiple ways of throwing a combo. Here is the key to use the combos;
'+' sign b/w strike names means they'll be thrown one right after the other.
'-' sign b/w strike names means there will be a time gap b/w the strikes. There is no restriction on long you want to wait, can be 1/5th of a second or 2 seconds etc.
You'll see i won't right full names such as Left/Right but just the initials, don't let that confuse you.

Here is a basic sample of how to throw a basic Jab Cross LHook combo;
Jab+Cross+LHook
Jab+Cross - LHook
Jab - Cross+LHook

Get creative and modify the combos given below and the ones you already know using the above key.
======================================== ===============

Cross+LHook+Cross (OR) Cross - LHook+Cross

Cross+LBody (liver shot) - LHook+RUpperCut

Jab+Cross - RHighK

BodyJab+OverHandRight (orthodox; move head to the right with the jab)

Jab - LRLHooks (thats 3 hooks in case you didn't notice) - RKnee

Jab+Cross+Jab - RUpperCut+RHook - LMidK (left middle/body kick)

Jab+Cross - (step forward with rear leg) InsideLowK

These were few of the combos we practice, hope you guys will post some of your own, that way we keep sharing the knowledge. Also, another purpose of this post is to see how much people are interested in this particular topic. More people would mean more combos.

Regards

How to Defend Head Kicks

SummerStriker — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:31:24 GMT

A sticking point from another thread made me want to start cataloging some head kick defenses and see if I can find some inspiration.

In my experience, the main inhibiting factor in throwing head kicks is fear of the counter attack while your leg is coming back down. If someone thinks that they can hit you or your guard cleanly enough that their won't be a counter before they recover, they will go for it.

The second defense is fear of the immediate counter. If I think someone might kick my support leg because they have a better feel for our timing, I won't throw it.

Third is moving away from the kick. The defense almost doesn't matter as long as it is paired with a side step. Everything works if you step to the side.

Sometimes, you are not able to counter the head kick, not able to step, and your opponent doesn't think you will hit him back. The kick is coming.

I've seen this defense a couple of places and it seems really popular. Often, kicks you don't see coming are quicker but weaker. This one isn't bad against a TKD "fast kick" or a crappy snap kick as thrown by the guy in the video. I wouldn't want to use this against a heavy kick.

I also don't like how he touches the shin with his palm. That seems like a good way to screw up your hand to me.

This is full of shit, but the first thing he does, with his hand low and trying to pass the kick up over his head. I didn't think it was possible but I saw Sang H. Kim do something like it while he was talking, hardly looking at his training dummy. If I can find the video of it, I'll put it up.

In any case, the low hand could try to go under the kick but you have to have awesome timing - the reason being is that the kick is so fast, you won't be able to do a big movement like in the systema video. The meet has to be as the kick is unfolding, right out in front, with a bit of a snap or pop.

I feel like this video shouldn't be different than the first one, but a lot of people do teach blocking head kicks with the palm. At about 1:18 this guy does basically the same two arm block but instead of his palm it is his forearm on both arms.

Anything else?

Point Karate Footwork Drills

Dsingleton7 — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:36:45 GMT

I watched Raymond Daniels and some other point karate fighters, and their footwork is absolutely amazing. Does anyone know any karate footwork drills that will help me improve my movement. I tried Youtube and came up short.

Pay out for low level boxing vs. Low level mma?

DoctorTaco — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:17:22 GMT

I'm curious what professional boxers earn when they're making their bones in smaller shows. I know mma guys get offered anywhere between 3 and 3 to 5 and 5 for their first few fights and was wondering if boxers were along that same scale.

What about stepping stone fighters? Guys who are 2-14 and are fed to younger up and comers to season the new guys?

(edit: yes we know teh ufc kicks their guys in the nuts compared to the fat loot top ranked boxers make. Sport on the rise/decline, sponsors, Mexicans and tecate, etc etc etc. Let's save that crap for the heavies)