I just suck in fighting... how do you really improve in fight sports?

I really want to turn into that mofo that breaths in your neck, comming forward fearless for exchanges and initiates attacks.

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Once in a while I do this, if I spar with a friendly opponent (not someone who gets ready for a fight). If he tags me with a real nice combo that made me look defenseless, I stop right away and ask him "what exactly did you do?". While breaking it down, he'll also tell me why he did it, what opening did I offer him. Usually you know what you did wrong right away, but sometimes you get surprised and need an outside view.

Done properly it can be very helpful, and personally I learn the lessons better than at the end of the session. You don't want to do this all the time, you want sparring to flow, but a little bit once in a while with a willing partner goes a long way.
 
I actually took a very concious approach and I am doing slightly better right now.

Today I had 3 good rounds of sparring with one of the guys and my positioning knowledge is paying off. I also managed to keep him insight and outbox him there. He is a taller, heavier guy and we had lots of fun. His defence sux, but he is good offensively.

Currently working on good body position in all ranges after all motions. Hardest thing so far seems to make my legs move while keeping decent position and after slips, bobs and weaves I struggle. But concious movement will hopefully create some good habits soon.
 
Sparring, sparring, sparring, sparring! I've got way more natural talent for grappling but when I damaged my knee while getting stuck in a heel hook and tapping out too late I became involved with Kickboxing. I was basically handicapped and couldn't kick well for a while, I got my ass beat alot. I could grapple for hours but this shit had me foaming at the mouth within 30 mins of sparring. I'd just stand there taking hits from 60-75kg pro fighters. I could tank it all and I could dish it out before I got tired. After I got tired I was just a walking kicking pad for them.

So I upped my cardio and trained the stuff I could work on. My hands were naturally better then my kicks in terms of fluidity and I worked on that and got them to at least respect my hands. You can guess what happened next, these little motherfuckers kicked the shit out of my legs. So I developed checks.

You look at what you're weak at and you develop a way to overcome it. You make sparring about that point you want to improve. In the beginning you feel like drowning and you can only stay afloat. After a while you'll see some openings. Make it your mission to check those few kicks or to slip and block that right hand. Lower skilled sparring partners can help with that, I often just jabbed them off me when they returned fire I parried and jabbed them again. After a while my jab would actually hit better people and i'd be able to at least counter one of their stronger punches.

I'd make combinations out of my strong punches of that jab, 1-3 or a 1-2b worked for me. When that is working 1-3-RLK 1-2b-3-RLK. Just remember to make some strong points in your game and develop that, hands up and move head!
 
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and ask the guys you train with to help you improve your weaknesses.
 
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