I know, I will have it in a few days most likely, but I am kina asking about how and what do you think while sparring / fighting [whenever throwing combinations live].
Well I'm not a pro yet like you are and I'm not sure what to comment on, but I can tell you about me I guess and see if it can help you make out your own combination gameplan.
My style is systematic and calculated, so I never have to think about combinations or what to do - I have a pre-made arsenal of feints and combinations as part of my strategy and I adapt the rhythm and selection of these dynamically. First thing I do is get in his face feinting with the jab and throwing some out there that are meant to connect on his guard so I can pull back and see what mood he's in. From the start of the fight I'm ready to slide back and counter at any moment. I'll keep feinting and switching up targets, combinations & rhythm with long and safe attacks in snap/bicycle snap kicks, jabs, crosses all of which I try to target to the body as much as possible and low calf kicks until I've established that I can pick him apart if he's inactive. When he goes after me as planned/expected, I try to time counters (my basic go-tos are front snap kicks, pivot left+arm extension/block/hand trap>rear straight, slide back>rear straight, check lead hook/jab, reactive takedowns that I just use to land free body shots as he's getting up & if I have time to throw it, a spinning foot sweep/back kick).
I push to the cage from the beginning both to control the fight and to take away some of his ability to kick by getting him on the backfoot. I also like to circle toward his power side with small steps (like some boxer advocated whos name I can't remember) and want him to throw it, because I like to make my opponent mentally feel that I nullify his best weapons rather than me trying to avoid them. I also fight at a long distance again for control's sake and like the inside angle for shot selection too. If I get him to the cage I will try to get a takedown or running foot sweep off a feinted leg kick so I can use knee-on-belly against the cage, the aforementioned body shots as he gets up, and then disengage. I don't want to give him opportunities to hit back, don't want to get caught up in ugly exchanges, and even though I like the clinch a lot since knees are one of my favourite things in a fight I want to save the clinch for when he's already been tired out relative to me so his resistance in it is lesser.
The big picture of what I'm waiting for with these counters other than winding him is signs that he for whatever reason has stopped considering the idea that I could go on a committed lead meant to KO rather than sap and control him, and that is when I will start seriously going for the head. This can happen quickly or not in a fight depending on the opponent. When I see that I explode on him with all-out flying knees (to the body, unless I can reach his head) and combinations that usually involve hand traps, start using my remaining feints, look to trap him in the clinch and destroy him with knees if I crash into him after an attack, and greatly raise my tempo. That shift is also a contingency in case I need to take it to him because
I'm getting picked apart, but that's not supposed to happen
and of course this is the plan on paper and not necessarily as it turns out.
Hope I could help in some way at least.
