I'm fighting this guy, how would you game plan? (video)

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(Blue trunks, winner by KO)


(Blue trunks again, winner by armbar).

That's the video I could find on my opponent, whom I am fighting on Saturday. Short-notice fight so not too much time to prepare, although I'm replacing a teammate and I'm in shape.

About me: I'm bigger than he is. He is a former strawweight and I have to cut from 140 to make this fight at flyweight. He's 5'2" and I'm 5'7". My striking background is mostly traditional MT but I have been using more boxing and Dutch style kickboxing lately. I'm orthodox and I feel more comfortable in boxing than kickboxing. I feel more comfortable leading rather than countering, and in fact I get antsy/tend to rush when nothing is happening in a fight. I'm a BJJ blue belt but competitive vs purple belts my size at no-gi. My wrestling is probably also "blue belt" level.

What I see from this guy is a lot of patience and good distance control. A bit like Machida, in and out quickly with bursts/blitzes. I think I need to find a way to cut off the cage, get him into the clinch, and use my size advantage to wear him out and slow him down. I am also thinking leg kicks will be effective to try to slow him down.

What are your thoughts?
 
Those fights sort of show off his opponents not being good rather than telling you much about him, eh? I semi-disagree with you about him being patient though, if that first guy had been playing possum I think he could have KOd your opponent when he did those wild flying attacks. But your opponent knew the other guy had no business being in a cage...

It sounds like your style is a pretty good match for him, he looks almost like a TKD guy (I assume he's mostly MT though), and like you said I think your pressure boxing and bigger size would work well against that. Good luck!
 
Somewhat a bit late to be making gameplan changes, but here's my thoughts:

He throws alot of single shots, not much combinations. I would push with combinations. Leg kicks will be good as well, he's standing very forward heavy to stuff takedowns. Be wary of the headkick, seems its his money shot.

Is this going to be a mma fight or Muay Thai/K1?

When someone barrages me with just hands, I usually keep my guard tight, and interrupt it with a solid leg kick, then into combinations. So leg kick, 3,2. and work from there. If you have something similar it would be helpful.
He throws either kicks (body, head) or hands, there doesn't seem to be much combination of the two.

Best of luck.
 
MMA fight, pro rules (elbows, but no kicks to head of grounded opponent I believe).

Yeah it's a bit late notice but hey, always good to get the brain thinking about what to do, and have a method to the shadowboxing I'll be doing over the next few days.

Thanks for the responses!
 
From what I can tell, only your guy fought. The other guy never showed aggression so you can't really tell what your future opponent has in his arsenal.

He likes the head kick, he looks open for leg kicks. Especially the was he backs up from any aggression, heavy on his feet. If I were to guess, he's used to being the aggressor, I don't think he's used to fighting an aggressive opponent.

He looks vulnerable to a jab low kick combo. You could work teeps, to control distance and use your height against him, and hand combos to set him up, then throw hard leg kicks when he gets used to your hands. Keep it simple.

To be honest, I'd focus on what you're good at, and how to control the fight in a way that you can use your strengths, defend his, and defend against the counters of your strengths.
 
Gonna be a very difficult proposition for you it appears. You want to cut him off and leg kick and this and that... this dude is too quick and slick for that off the bat. Its hard to advise a gameplan without first addressing technique. You'll need very good technique, but a general tip i'd give would be to use the jab on him incessantly. He'll either space out, or he'll try to be cute and dip under you. A positive of him being cute is that the leg kick opens up.

He's also very sloppy in punch exchanges; early on i'd block and return a leg kick, later, i'd block and simultaneously counter as he gets sloppier in the fight (unless obviously you are wethered).
 
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Yeah its gonna be hard to nail that guy down without corners. He likes to skip away at top speed and it's hard to trap a guy who refuses to be trapped. You have to make him pay for running, but you can't rush to chase him.

You have to put pressure on him when he gives up ground, but you don't want to rush into the danger zone. That's his trap. But if you continuously keep him reseting he might slow down, or mentally feel like he's being rushed, and start making mistakes.

The dude is fast with a good sense of distance and timing, so you don't want to fall into traps, or give him time to set up his big athletic moves. He's exchanges where all polarized in that way.

Imo, just recognize what he's trying to do ,make him change his mind, and don't be obvious about trying to get in the clinch
 
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But a more serious answer. This guy looks like a pretty good fighter. I definitely second your idea of wearing him down with your size. Lean on him in clinches, put the pressure with your punches to lead into these clinches and takedowns, but don't get sloppy and walk into counter head kicks. Take him down and impose your will from top. Lay and pray. Use your advantage to tire him out and then pummel him to a victory. Don't trade shot for shot. You're probably lumbering compared to him and that's a prime target for big counters.

Just a thought. Feint a double then give him a flying tiger knee to his face as he sprawls to avoid the takedown. You won't have to knee very high because of the height difference.
 
He likes to lead/counter with that lead hook. I'd bait or feed him single strikes and then counter his counter.

His sprawl is on point, but guys like that can usually be taken down with simple chain wrestling. If you decide to hit a TD (because he's rushing in, let's say) transition to another attack and finish there. Be mindful in the scrambles and grab a sub or throw a strike quick.

In regards to wearing him down, be sure to exit with something EVERY TIME he weasels away from you.
 
fightingrabbit said:
Just a thought. Feint a double then give him a flying tiger knee to his face as he sprawls to avoid the takedown. You won't have to knee very high because of the height difference.
Click to expand...

Oh man. If this works, I'm totally jumping on the mic and saying "some guy on the internet named 'fightingrabbit' told me to throw that". Epic.
 
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Your opponent fades straight back a lot and doesn't show a lot of effectiveness lateral movement. You can see him biting on feints and big load-ups in the first video and fading straight back consistently. You can even see it at the 14 second mark in the second video in response to a leg kick. It'll be his default "thinking" move when you initiate offense.

Knowing this, you will probably have opportunities to walk/position him around the cage. The blue head gear opponent in the first video had him biting on every feint and ridiculous over-commitment he made from too far out. Your opponent moved straight back and waited, but blue-head never took the ground that was given.

If you just feint him, allow him to fade, then eat up the ground he gave, you will have his back against the cage in no time. From there, he will either have to explode out, or sit in a shitty position. You can choose to make him work out, then calmly close the gap as he give grounds to feints; rinse and repeat until he's tired/makes a mistake. This positioning will also be good for you to initiate from, which is your thing. He doesn't show a great balanced counter game - he gets some off when blue-head lunges and off-balances himself, but otherwise is more of a forward-fighting guy.
 
Jab him to death with your longer arms so he can't set up for his big kicks. He punches to wild on the inside. As an earlier poster said, fake the takedown and upercut or knee. But I think that mid range not kicks but jab cross range is where he's weakest. Or at least we didn't see any....
 
Lot of good stuff here. I'll plan on lots of feints, then cutting off the cage using my hands. The clinch should be my world.

Thanks a lot guys. Time to battle the next 36 hours! The event begins at wsofgc.com at 7pm in Manila (4am Pacific, 7am Eastern, 11am GMT).
 
He doesn't move comfortably to his backside, so move a lot to his left. In and out is good though, so walk him down rather than jumping in.

He follows with is footwork, make sure when you circle you take the center of the cage. 2:50ish of the top vid, he circles the perimeter of the fence and leave the center open.

He doesn't like to lead, he waits for a missed strike then blitzes forward with is hands. Keep reasonable pressure and throw lots of feigns and fakes to draw strikes from him then counter. if you rush him, chances are he'll catch you. If he blitzes forward, don't move away from him, step in and clinch up. If move out, your just putting yourself in a good range to get hit. If you have a good Thai clinch and your wearing headgear, double collar tie, swing him then knee. You might want to think about a snap down in to a guillotine too.

If he leads with those kicks and no set up, don't move away, check. You'll mess up his shins

His lead hand is high away from his body with is elbow out, so think about angling you body kick up under the arm and into the ribs. if you can land a couple and hurt him, switch to the head. Pause at 1:48 in the first vid to see how far his elbow is away.

Don't go to the ground with him!!!
 
The 2nd video is like Conor panic wrestling on Nate
 
Thanks all! I won! Not exactly what I had planned - ended up being mostly on the ground - but it was a first-round win with no damage taken, so hard to be unhappy.


(Sorry about vid quality, it was "girlfriend corner cam" and the fight was in a barn in Manila.)

Size was such a big issue, more physical strength than height though. I have always been the smaller guy in my fights and this was the first time I felt like I have ever physically overwhelmed someone. I thought I might have completely destroyed his shoulder when I had the submission locked.
 
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