Hey guys, last September I had my first muay thai fight (amateur/smoker) here in the Philippines and sadly, also my first loss. I lost via unanimous decision. I was hoping if you can give me more advice and comment on how to improve my game. Thanks!
ROUND 1 (Im the one in the blue and white shorts)
ROUND 2
ROUND 3
Congrats on your first event, it takes stones to step up and begin your competitive journey.
Like most new fresh fighters, you have a few issues that should be addressed for your future fights
-Your opponent hits you, and you don't do anything. Although you don't think of it much, not firing back, you basically tell your opponent that there is no penalty for hitting you and it's fine. This will give him confidence. Don't let that happen, punish him for hitting you, don't let him think its okay to do that and you're not a free pass. You may feel that you're not in a position to throw a 100% power strike, but even so, throw something. Even if its weak, it'll affect him upstairs, he will feel there's a threat, and will start to overthink and not tee off on you so easily. The worst thing you can do is let your opponent build confidence, because eventually he'll start to throw stronger and more dangerous strikes feeling its okay.
Also, the longer you wait to retaliate, the worse the strike will be: eg. if you wait too long (3+ strikes) you may eat a outside knee, or a liver kick. Retaliate and interrupt his flurry, try to never let him get more than 3 strikes off of you, ideally 2.
-If MT in the Philippines has ruleset like in America, and ring control is a big criteria, then you need to work on that as well. In north america, ring control is tied in with aggression (3 criterias are control, aggression, effective striking) losing on RC would have you down on aggression as well when it comes to decision time (which is usually the case with ammy, most fights usually end up in a decision).
To work on this, you would "press forward" more, and when things become too tight, clinch up and work from there. Basically try to stay at the center of the ring, and make your opponent circle around and not drive you into a corner.
You should work on your clinching more for your next fight, right now it seems whatever you're doing in the clinch is out of basic instinct.
-Throw combinations, single shots are easy to see through and eventually counter, combinations is harder to do so (unless more experienced and you can read or tell). Besides, you can (and should) flower bs with your combos, and mask the bs with your real kill strike
eg. 1,2,3,kick. Most would have the 3 or the kick as the main power shot, the others are bs to get your opponent stationary/shelled up.
-You should have your hands higher. In the 2nd, your leg kick was too close, and you didn't have a guard so the cross was right there. Its okay to not rely too heavily on hands up, but doing so, you need to be good at distance management, and having hands down while in range for your opponent's powershot does you no good.
-For defense, either: block + stay firm, or move, not both. Moving while blocking (esp backwards) your base won't be solid and it won't be sturdy as it should when stationary. Think of being a tank when blocking. When he's too close, clinch up by:
hands up -> step in like you do with a jab, except this time the jab will be your arm coming out to grab him to pull him in. Don't think of reaching for him with your arms, think of stepping to him and pulling him in. The issue with most when they think of reaching is that by instinct, your chin come up to the clouds (aka uppercut city for your opponent)
Overall its not bad for a first fight, you're fairly technical, but like myself when I first started, you need to learn how to "fight". Be more aggressive and keep control by pressing forward, should you jam your distance (which you will, both of you pressing forward you'll end up clinching), clinch up and work. He hits you, make him pay for that. I know this sounds easier said than done, but its something we all go through when we first start out. Try not to think about what he has offensively, when you think and worry about what can hit you, thats when you slow down, and if he doesn't think about your offense, he'll start throwing heat.
The thing with new fighters, esp. at your stage, is that the fights are mostly fueled on animalistic instinct, aggression, and hormones. Its usually a nasty ugly brawl. By learning to "fight", you are basically trying to overcome your opponent's aggression with yours. As you get more experienced, things do start to appear more technical.
To have this take effect for your next fight/event, repetition after repetition needs to be put in. When we fight, we lose some cognitive thinking, and the basics that I mention (interrupting his flurry, throwing combos, retaliating ASAP) will only work when it becomes ingrained in you as muscle memory, and become borderline instinctual.
It took me 2 camps to get things working on autopilot. Pretty much a year of in and out of throwing combos, being reactive, countering with combos, and pressing forward, almost every training day (4-6 days a week).
In your defense, you do get out of the corner quick and thats a good thing. The 3rd round was yours, I liked the body kick, and you were starting to thow combos (jab,kick -- though short, its a good one nevertheless). Also, I have to ask, that huge light on the left, did it affect your vision at any time during the fight? That thing on the vid looks like you'd be starring straight into the sun.
cheers
