Hi, i just recently had my first muay thai fight after 4 weeks of training in thailand, i fought a heavier, more experianced guy whos had 8 fights and been training for much longer than me and it went the distance and he won on points, now the videos on youtube and ive been watching it and it seems like i wasnt putting any venom into my strikes and its really bothering me! my next fight is on the 27th and id really like to work on this, any tips to get some more oomph into it? if you want to see the video ill pm you it as im kinda embarassed over it as im pretty sloppy with technique etc! cheers
How to be more aggressive?
- Thread starter JamesT
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Well, to be honest, aggression is a result of confidence.
Having confidence in your technique, in your trainer, and in your preparation are prerequisite to having aggression. When you look at some of the most aggressive fighters in combat sports (George Foreman, Jack Dempsey, Mike Tyson, Melvin Manhoef, Fedor, Badr Hari etc) they all have confidence in their abilities and its what enables them to go balls to the wall.
You say that you're "embarassed" cause you thought your performance was "sloppy".
My advice to you is, don't be embarassed. Being embarassed is the first sign of a lack of confidence. What do you have to be embarassed about? Like you said, the guy was heavier than you, trained for a longer time than you, and was more experienced than you. That being said, you still managed to go the distance with him when many other fighters in your position would've gotten ktfo.
Also, you need to consider the possibility that being aggressive isn't for you. Not everyone can be like a Badr Hari. Maybe you're just better suited to be more like Remy Bonjasky (a calm, cool, defensive striker with great technique).
My suggestion is that you go to your gym and review the fight vid with your coach and have him point out your mistakes and give you advice on how to get better.
Thanks mate! Some really good advice there, he told me not to worry about technique as it was my first fight and im pretty bad with nerves anyway, so proud i got in there and did it though cos i do get really bad nerves, and about the being embarassed thing, fuck it, ill post the link up ive only been training muay thai for 4 weeks can only get better from here! constructive criticism welcome, i know i need to keep my guard up and move more already haha
YouTube - BBQ Beatdown 30: Mark (England) vs (England) Jame @ Tiger Muay Thai
im the one in black and white shorts
YouTube - BBQ Beatdown 30: Mark (England) vs (England) Jame @ Tiger Muay Thai
im the one in black and white shorts
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Okay, here's my thoughts.
- Capitalize on Openings.
In the first minute, there were several openings that were available. Judging by your body language, I think you realized this, but hesitated on capitalizing on them (it happens alot with ppl in their first fight). Freddie Roach once said that if you see an opening, you must react and capitalize on it immediately otherwise the window of opportunity will close. Don't waste too much time thinking about it. Just go ahead and strike. Openings are rare opportunities and sometimes they don't come to often. When you train for your next fight, try to look for these openings in your sparring sessions. As soon as you see it, react and strike. It takes some practice but, once you get the hang of it, it'll do wonders for your overall performance.
- Footwork/Cutting the Ring/etc.
Try to be a little bit more mobile. At the 30 second mark, the other guy kinda got you into the corner and had you there for a couple of seconds. Don't let your opponent do that. In fact, you're the one who should be putting the opponent in the corner. For your next fight, work on learning how to cut off the ring and corner your opponent. Once you have him cornered, apply pressure and don't let him get out. There's a drill that my muay thai coach has us do where my sparring partner moves around the ring and I practice cutting the ring off and cornering him. I'm sure your thai coach does something similar.
- Follow up.
At the 40 second mark, you hit your opponent with a good shot and had him staggering backwards. Unfortunately, you didn't capitalize on the situation and follow up. Look at any Mike Tyson, Manhoef, or Badr Hari fight. As soon as they had their opponent backing up, they go in for the kill and follow up with more shots. Remember, your thai coach has you work on combinations for a reason. Don't just hit the guy with one punch. Hitting him with combinations not only gets you more points with the judges, but it also results in more damage and increases the chance of you knocking him out.
This is just my initial thoughts. Overall, you did fine for your first fight. Just work on improving your technique (I noticed that, at certain points, your punches got sloppy) and the other things I mentioned above. If I think of anything else, I'll post it later
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IMHO, I would offer the following comment and advice:
* If you have only been training for a short time, and that is your first fight, you certainly don’t have a damn thing to feel embarrassed about. No you didn’t win, but you did a hell of a lot better than more than a few people for their first fight. You weren’t throwing haymakers, you didn’t gas, and you didn’t get knocked out.
Aggression will come with confidence and experience in you abilities.
Work on watching, learning, and perfecting the “absolute” correct technique for strikes. For punches: jabs, crosses, hooks, and upper cuts. And, then use the correct form every time you throw them. “Every single time.” Shadow boxing, bag work, mitts, pads, and sparring. And, practice consistently keeping your hands up.
Same advice for kicks, knees, elbows. Remember to torque your hips when striking. Crisp speed and accuracy first, and power will follow.
Use your footwork to put you in range, and to keep you out of danger. Start working angles. Work your cardio as much as possible. Skipping rope will improve your cardio, balance, and footwork.
Try this exercise:
Try working your punches for a two minute round on the bag, rest several minutes, then several two minute rounds on the double end bag while concentrating on speed and accuracy, rest several minutes, “then” go back and do a three minute round on the bag. You will immediately notice that your speed and accuracy is much better than the first time you hit the bag, and that your punches have more pop to them. That is not meant to be a continous routine, only to show you how beneficial using a double end bag on a regular basis can be to your speed and accuracy. That way when you are moving forward, backward, or side to side, if you see an opening, you will have the tools to capitalize on it.
As far as your fight:
Your opponent was heavier, more muscled, and had a shorter reach. His style is a Brawler. Remember to box a brawler. You had the height and reach, and he sucked you into the “lets muscle each other around ring” game. You should have used you height and reach to stick and move. Don’t get caught up in his game. Circle away from his power hand side. Every time you circle properly, he is going to have to reset to throw something.
When someone sticks out their lead hand and starts tapping gloves, they are measuring you. You have like 0.00 seconds to move and get out of there. Because if you don’t move, get ready for the leg kick from hell or a punch where he will be swinging for the bleachers. Don’t be there when it shows up. Circle out or go on the offensive and move into the pocket with a flurry of punches. Remember, combos, combos, combos. The more punches you throw in combination, the better chance that you have of getting one through and landing. Set up your kicks before throwing them.
Remember to fight defensively when pushed up against the ropes or into the corner. Don’t just stand there and wait to get hit, punch and get out of there.
Like I said, you certainly don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. I hope that this was helpful, and good luck with your next fight.
:icon_chee
* If you have only been training for a short time, and that is your first fight, you certainly don’t have a damn thing to feel embarrassed about. No you didn’t win, but you did a hell of a lot better than more than a few people for their first fight. You weren’t throwing haymakers, you didn’t gas, and you didn’t get knocked out.
Aggression will come with confidence and experience in you abilities.
Work on watching, learning, and perfecting the “absolute” correct technique for strikes. For punches: jabs, crosses, hooks, and upper cuts. And, then use the correct form every time you throw them. “Every single time.” Shadow boxing, bag work, mitts, pads, and sparring. And, practice consistently keeping your hands up.
Same advice for kicks, knees, elbows. Remember to torque your hips when striking. Crisp speed and accuracy first, and power will follow.
Use your footwork to put you in range, and to keep you out of danger. Start working angles. Work your cardio as much as possible. Skipping rope will improve your cardio, balance, and footwork.
Try this exercise:
Try working your punches for a two minute round on the bag, rest several minutes, then several two minute rounds on the double end bag while concentrating on speed and accuracy, rest several minutes, “then” go back and do a three minute round on the bag. You will immediately notice that your speed and accuracy is much better than the first time you hit the bag, and that your punches have more pop to them. That is not meant to be a continous routine, only to show you how beneficial using a double end bag on a regular basis can be to your speed and accuracy. That way when you are moving forward, backward, or side to side, if you see an opening, you will have the tools to capitalize on it.
As far as your fight:
Your opponent was heavier, more muscled, and had a shorter reach. His style is a Brawler. Remember to box a brawler. You had the height and reach, and he sucked you into the “lets muscle each other around ring” game. You should have used you height and reach to stick and move. Don’t get caught up in his game. Circle away from his power hand side. Every time you circle properly, he is going to have to reset to throw something.
When someone sticks out their lead hand and starts tapping gloves, they are measuring you. You have like 0.00 seconds to move and get out of there. Because if you don’t move, get ready for the leg kick from hell or a punch where he will be swinging for the bleachers. Don’t be there when it shows up. Circle out or go on the offensive and move into the pocket with a flurry of punches. Remember, combos, combos, combos. The more punches you throw in combination, the better chance that you have of getting one through and landing. Set up your kicks before throwing them.
Remember to fight defensively when pushed up against the ropes or into the corner. Don’t just stand there and wait to get hit, punch and get out of there.
Like I said, you certainly don’t have anything to be embarrassed about. I hope that this was helpful, and good luck with your next fight.
:icon_chee
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loyal2thegame
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eat red meat.
S
Snowman3459
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Everytime you get hit, you must answer with a punch of your own. Eating shots just lowers confidence.
It's all based on the first hit you take, if you don't walk through that first punch, the fight is already over. Be confident in your technique and your training.
It's your first fight man, probably feels like a lot of pressure and your probably nervous. It's normal.
It's all based on the first hit you take, if you don't walk through that first punch, the fight is already over. Be confident in your technique and your training.
It's your first fight man, probably feels like a lot of pressure and your probably nervous. It's normal.
Thanks guys, especially MisterT and ECS123 for your well constructed replys, my next fight is on the 27th of this month so definately going to work on everything that youve mentioned for my next fight! Not sure if im going to try a mma fight or do another muay thai fight, i fancy a crack in the cage haha looks fun! But definately going to work on what you all said, footwork and combinations especially, ill keep you all updated with my 2nd fight itll be recorded like the first one! Thanks again
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I'm curious how your career has gone since this first fight. It would be helpful to know for other beginners who feel like posting the same kind of post you made. I sparred for the first time today, and I surprised myself in that I felt a total lack of aggression and I didn't want to throw punches at someone I didn't dislike. Is this normal, and can it be overcome?
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I have a similar question. I have trained striking in the past and some sparring but not enough sparring to feel super comfortable with it. When I started sparring I had a tendency to do a lot of bad things like turn away when I was getting hit, gassing out immediately etc. I stopped training/sparring for a long time and just got back into it recently. I feel my technique is not horrendous during drills/hitting pads but when it comes to sparring I feel pretty lost. I tend to pretty much just throw some jabs and leg kicks and then basically just cover up when my partner starts striking (I at least don't turn away anymore and generally am blocking most stuff coming at me).
What I have a really hard time doing is committing to combinations/strikes while still feeling controlled enough that I'm not trying to really hurt the guy. So my offense is practically non existent in sparring. I am very very used to be able to go hard in grappling but still feel very controlled but in striking I feel so hesitant because I don't want to go apeshit but it results in me sometimes to defending the whole round. In grappling I can go pretty hard with passes/sweeps/submission attempts but know how to not hurt my partner but in striking I don't feel technical enough to be able to go hard but controlled and safe at the same time
Is it just a matter of sparring a lot until I feel confident I can be aggressive and controlled or should I just say 'fuck it' and throw stuff even if I might be going TOO hard? I don't want to hurt my partners (more than normal sparring entails) and I also don't want them to feel like I'm going too hard and end up destroying me
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Relax and think of it as play fighting . You know what to do just do it. I use tu do the same thing , till this old man I trained with told just relax you know what to do . Think of as play fighting with friends. Once I did that I fought I started being more offensive and my defense were better . Tension is not your friend
j123
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You are thinking too much into what your partner/opponent is doing, you should be thinking about what you're trying to do instead of reacting to everything he throws.
Mostly you need exp to get comfortable, I was the same way, starting out I was timid on getting hit, but after some time, I'm fine. What I needed was LOTS of sparring, I ended up sparring 5 days a week. Very overkill. but it did the trick.
The issue with most greener peeps is that when you try to go light, you slow your strikes down too much, ending up sacrificing your technique. You do that day in and out for years, you pump the brakes on yourself and ultimately screw yourself over. Your partners are tougher than you think they are, and can take a hit. There's no malice behind your intentions so they should be fine, communicate it across.
What helped me mostly early on was having a "to do" list in every round, if I didn't make the minimum requirements, I fucked up. So it forced me to make me do so. So the list would be something like:
-3-5 combinations (must include both punches and kicks eg. 1,2,3, low kick)
-2 clinch initiations
-3 retaliate ASAP and with a combo
Your issue is something alot of us had when starting out, mostly people who didn't grow up street fighting or with a contact sport background. At the end of the day, this is fighting, technique helps and supplements your ability to win a fight, but its still a fight. You get hit, you're behind, so you have to make it back up. Make him pay for what he did, and in the process make him regret even thinking about hitting you. The more you let him get off on you, the more confidence he'll build. Don't let it get there. Sap his confidence before it takes off. It's "mean" to think, but this is what it comes down to.
So the new plan for you
-focus on your offense, don't worry about what they're throwing
-never let your partner land more than 3 strikes consecutively on you, always interrupt ASAP. The longer you wait for the "perfect" opportunity, the worse the next strike will be eg. liver shots, head kick, etc
-don't bail on your combo when you get interrupted, follow through. When you bail, you're giving them a sign they could throw a tap, and you'll bail
-lots of combinations
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Thanks a lot for this, it's very helpful. The bolded I think pretty much nails down how I feel. I have trained a lot of grappling and competed and I know how to go hard in training but again I am used to feeling comfortable going hard but still feeling controlled.
I will keep in mind the goals you listed and try to spar with that mentality.
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is that 4 weeks of training total, or 4 weeks of training in thailand on top of more training else where?
as was said previously aggression comes with confidence, confidence comes with time training, and constantly being pushed. i credit about 3 events in my training in the dojo as turning points for me in my level of confidence and aggression. (obviously it wasn't like a video game where event happened and i leveled up and was just suddenly there, those events are just the ones that stick out in my mind as when i learned something about myself and capabilities.)
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I saw the video
You didn't do bad. When you threw back it pushed him back.
But I think you could probably cut weight and fight at a lower class, and feel a little stronger. That would help with a few things.
Not a bad first fight at all. I got tagged up bad at my first exhibition.
You didn't do bad. When you threw back it pushed him back.
But I think you could probably cut weight and fight at a lower class, and feel a little stronger. That would help with a few things.
Not a bad first fight at all. I got tagged up bad at my first exhibition.
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This is super advice.
I was told this by a friend ( who competes ), but it just didn't sink in until after when it was too late.
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As an alternative answer:- Experience and study the art of fighting and techniques!
Do a theoretical study on "Mushin" or "Zen" not the spiritual aspect but the science in the practical abilities or insight of experienced fighters or memory muscle gained.
The summary is when you gain enough knowledge and practical experience you no longer feel you have to fight, you can see it play out in your head, well sort of.
The eyes are the key, feeding information to your brain, including your other senses, its just like remembering your first, say, learning to ride a bike; you simply remember the experience in some form.
A moment of clarity is what some experience and have expressed it.
Most know this nowadays as Fighter IQ, once you have learned all the techniques and have applied it or have experience you have naturally acquired neural pathways of memory that recognize the exact experiences you have already stored in your primary cortex frontal lobe if correct going by my understand or simply parts of the brain generally speaking.
Your brain fires the memory stored motor patterns already experienced and floods the body with chemicals and activate or signals your body limbs to register to trigger the nervous system to move a limb to block or kick or whatever is happening that has sent a feedback to the visual cortex stimulating muscles memory.
An important aspect is to breath and relax don't get overly emotional think of it as like cleaning and organizing the garage all the various tasks you have to do.
Do you ever raise your heart rate and become emotional doing that? NO!
So take it upon you as a task, address each given situation as its own and till its finished!
You can also research "Emotional Intelligence and Fear" and how to face them. That might also give you more mental awareness and loosen you up rather than tighten you up where you are tensing your muscles before any action required, losing ground before you even begin.
When you reach this state of mental consciousness, honestly you got to be careful and respect it, because you have now moved into a state of ego and confidence where if uncontrolled or unrestrained you can hurt someone and regret it or worse end up in jail.
Set "Bundaries or Limitations" to yourself as to how far you go in the act of violence, its about self analysis.
So know yourself, is knowing your enemy, sounds silly but its true.
I hope that helps trying to keep it concise!
All the best to you in your competition fights and dreams and aspirations!
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