anybody ever heard of this defense? apparently is is the defense that quinton jackson uses. (see quintion vs. wanderlei 2) He blocks with his elbows from punches.
I havent seen that fight but blocking punches with the point of you elbow is a legitimate MT tactic, Get it right and you can break thier hand.
I believe Rodney King "invented" it. Website: http://www.streetbrawl.co.za/ Sometimes it works... sometimes it doesn't (see Tito V Liddell). ... I was going to be funny and paste this link http://www.crazymonkeymovie.com/mainmenu.asp and laugh at myself for being so clever... but decided against it.
Here are some pictures to help you visualize the failed Crazy Monkey (and to postwhore a bit). Tito feeling the pain, but not about to give in yet... he's still yet to open the can of whoop ass on Chucky. Chuck sensing Titus pain moves in for the kill. Woa, slip the jab Rocky, slip the jab! Look at Chucks form. With technique like that Tito is having a hard time making the Monkey Crazy. Another miss, what speed, what finesse... ... Yeah well... It almost looks like he crapped himself.
Crazy Monkey was created by Rodney Chico King and is used by SBG. It's a good defense for beginners to learn but if you find yourself in a corner blocking strikes in mma you're basically f*cked. MT also tends to practice blocking which given the numerous strikes available and the small glove size in mma is a bad idea. You're better off learn basic boxing as they teach you to avoid the punches rahter than trying to block strikes that MA tends to emphasize. Some boxing techniques though like parrying are worthless for mma but I find boxing's defensive skills allow you to be in a better position for countering while taking less damage.
Okay, I used to ask about this, then I got Rodney's DVDs, and I can explain what it is. Quinton does it a little bit differently, first of all. Crazy Monkey is not really with the elbows. Rodney does teach the blocking with the elbow method, but that's from a jab-cross range. Rodney refers to the range where all punches can be thrown as the "all guns" range. Crazy Monkey is what he invented for all guns. You hunch your back, roll your shoulders forward, and keep your hands on your head. When the straight punches come in, you sort of parry the punch with the blade of your forearm. You're constantly shifting your torso left to right, bringing your arms up slightly. You use small movements, not wildly fast sliding movements to connect your elbow to his hand. You don't use this from a static position; Rodney has a stalking style of boxing. It's actually used to press forward.
of course tito got knocked out , he was standing still without countering or moving. do u think if he was standing still and slippin or parrying he would have done any better? he wasnt countering even though chuck was wiide open. randy uses very good crazy monkey , watch how he uses 1 elbow block at a time and counters with the other hand. perfy - i find crazy monkey puts me in better positions to counter than boxing techniques . personal preference dood.
on one of my rickson highlights you can see rickson in the locker room practicing moving forward with this strategy.. i think it's stupid to name it though.. i would just call it blocking. don't get your hopes up like it's gonna save your life in a real fight. it's better not to get hit at all and you probably need lots of practice to get it to work
What about when the guy throws a left hook? I watched a guy who is a decent boxer from south africa using a technique similar to this in the gym. i aksed him to show me how it works and he did then we sparred really lightly. i t seemed to be decent however it has its limitations and faults. the biggest i spotted if the guy has decent foot feints he is going to move around you and land shots that you may not see. Second I started aiming my jabs at his chest which made him lower his hands a little then I threw a hook around his arms to his head. also if you hunch over to much you are gunna eat an uppercut from a good boxer it may not hit your face but it is gunna make you slow down your movement. I also noticed that when i would hooks to his body it was very hard and awkward for him to block the punches and if he did i started to feint which took him out of his game. i also noticed he would square up alot to get his forward movement which made it really easy for me to hit his body Overall i think it is a workable system but would need to improved upon to work with a good boxer who understands footwork.
i use to practice this a lot when i first learned about it. its weird punching from ur forehead. in the video rodney talks about blocking body shots by turning the elbow in while having the hands on the forehead still. but in turn in did hurt my hand from punching a buddy bareknuckle while he was using the crazy monkey cuz of the forearm is not vertical when blocking
This defense isn't much different than boxing defense for in-fighting -- both hands high on cheekbones, shoulders hunched, elbow blocking, bobbing around. I don't see much advantage over boxing style defense, save that it is simpler and avoids some of the stuff that doesn't work well in MMA, like blocking punches up or parrying them.
That is exactly what i was getting at. The defense i use is very similar to this but simplfied. I hold my hand at cheek heigth my middle knuckle is on my cheek bone in other words and i punch from this position. to block head punches i slide my hands up or my face or duck or slip. i rarely parry unless it is to set up a counter. to block body punches i turn slightly inot the punch a use my elbows/forarms to block it. My stance is one that is slightly hunched over to make my body more compact and less of a target. I also lean slightly to the right hand side to make it harder for a jab/straight right to hit me fluch. the problem i see with crazy monkey is you limit your zone of vison and you are slightly squared up. Now i understand that a traditional boxing stance is limited in MMa i also would not want to be so squared up like you would in c.m.
Crazy Monkey doesn't just apply to using your hands like most people think, it also applies to your stance and posture, lets start from the top: You should have your hands high on your head just above your hairline with your elbows in tight and these should always be moving, so even if they do throw a punch you can't see it should hit something. Then you should compress your neck into your shoulders, this contracts the muscles making them tighter and better able to absorb shots. Your shoulders should be hunched and rolled forward slightly covering your chin this makes it harder for your opponent to land a clean shot on your jaw and, when done properly, pervents you from dropping your arms low. Next you want to suck your diaphragm in and try and drop your floating ribs into your hips, this should contract your stomach muscles making for a smaller target and taking a lot of the sting off body shots. Your hips want to be square to your opponent making it easier for you to sprawl and level change. Crazy Monkey was designed with MMA in mind which is why the hips are square, if you're a striker your biggest threat in MMA is getting taken down and put on your back. One of the easiest ways to finish a shot or any takedown is to turn the corner and get perpendicualr to your opponents hips but a lot of strikers stand like this anyway. Keeping your hips square to your opponent also means that you are always able to see him, if he uses his footwork to get around your side use yours to square back up again. You DO NOT drop your hands to defend body shots, you level change and let him hit your arms, even if you don't do this every time a proper scrunch of the body take about 75% off body shots. For uppercuts simply slide one of your elbows into the center line. Crazy Monkey isn't the be all and end all of stand up, but it is extremely effective when you are under pressure and can help you get off the back foot and back into the fight.
you can get away with blocking like that in boxing because of the big boxing gloves. with small or no gloves you need to make sure every hole is covered. and the advantages you mention over boxing style defence are exactly what makes it effective. its easy and avoids the stuff that doesnt work. that sounds pretty good to me.
