Mma striking

[Jordan1997]

So i recently competed in my first mma event,won in the 3rd round via rear naked choke
I have my next fight in may of this year and i'm looking to improve my striking.

I'm a huge fan of the Diaz brothers,Nick in particular,i watched a video where he'd throw a lot of jabs then a sort of double cross before going for a lead hook to the body.
For some reason i can't seem to get my opponent to cover up to give me openings to the body
I either get countered or they hit back and i get pushed back until i clinch and take the fight to the ground.
I'm extremely comfortable on my back most of the time but i don't want to be a one trick pony.
If there are any drills (solo or with a partner) to work on footwork or anything else you'd advise please send them my way!
Thankyou!

 

[j123]

So i recently competed in my first mma event,won in the 3rd round via rear naked choke
I have my next fight in may of this year and i'm looking to improve my striking.

I'm a huge fan of the Diaz brothers,Nick in particular,i watched a video where he'd throw a lot of jabs then a sort of double cross before going for a lead hook to the body.
For some reason i can't seem to get my opponent to cover up to give me openings to the body
I either get countered or they hit back and i get pushed back until i clinch and take the fight to the ground.
I'm extremely comfortable on my back most of the time but i don't want to be a one trick pony.
If there are any drills (solo or with a partner) to work on footwork or anything else you'd advise please send them my way!
Thankyou!

That means they don't respect your strikes. They feel its "weak", and they can walk through it

One of the best tactics done in fighting is to rip the nastiest stiff jab at the start. It screws with their mental game, they think "fuck, Jordan1997's weakest and fastest strike just did do much damage and broke my nose, imagine if he threw a power strike. Fuck".

Then they end up going on defense alot of the time, and you will have the luxury to set up cool stuff.

So sparring ain't a fight as you already know, but work on tagging them with volume, and mixing everything up so they get confused and shut down, then you can do cool things.

 

[Practical Goat]

The jab is by far the most important and underused punch in MMA.. You should always be jabbing, for range and to keep your opponent back as they advance. As j123 said, you either can't be committing properly or you need to find out what the issue is.. you should be snapping their head back with your jab as they advance. The beauty of being good on the ground, especially off your back, is that you can fully commit to everything to your strikes.

Look at boxing footwork drills online.. the check hook is a good way of pivoting out as they advance. Join a local boxing club and do some sparring.

 

[AndyMaBobs]

I'd strongly recommend this article by Jack Slack

http://fightland.vice.com/blog/frankie-edgar-the-textbook-of-mma-striking

Learn half steps, and pivots and you're already well on the way to building some foundational skills. As for the rest, there's so much to cover but I'd say focus on footwork and keeping your elbows in when you throw punches (even hooks, you should pop the book after making it look like a jab).

Once you've got that then get into the specifics.

 

[Jordan1997]

That means they don't respect your strikes. They feel its "weak", and they can walk through it

One of the best tactics done in fighting is to rip the nastiest stiff jab at the start. It screws with their mental game, they think "fuck, Jordan1997's weakest and fastest strike just did do much damage and broke my nose, imagine if he threw a power strike. Fuck".

Then they end up going on defense alot of the time, and you will have the luxury to set up cool stuff.

So sparring ain't a fight as you already know, but work on tagging them with volume, and mixing everything up so they get confused and shut down, then you can do cool things.

So punches in bunches?moving in and not giving them the opportunity to counter?
For example,continuing to strike even when they hit back to try and outpunch them and decrease their output of strikes?

 

[j123]

So punches in bunches?moving in and not giving them the opportunity to counter?
For example,continuing to strike even when they hit back to try and outpunch them and decrease their output of strikes?

Thats one aspect. It is a big rookie mistake is throwing a combo, you get interrupted, then you bail. One, you won't finish your combo, and two if your opponent is keen, he'll get confident thinking every time he interrupts you back off. The last thing you want to do is to let them get any more confident.

But back to the point, so say you throw 1,2, pause-a-beat, 1,2 (body), head kick. That's going to confuse them more than just 1,2,3,2 (all at the head). Mix everything up, have alot of it as fluff with one or 2 being real strikes.

Keep with the basics, but always keep them guessing, do your best to never let them get in their comfort zone when you throw things.

A drill you can do with a partner is, you go on offense, and they go on defense. They cannot initiate any offense, but they can counter with strikes (single, or combo). For the time being, you're focusing more on being offensive, so this would work well.

 

[Jordan1997]

Thats one aspect. It is a big rookie mistake is throwing a combo, you get interrupted, then you bail. One, you won't finish your combo, and two if your opponent is keen, he'll get confident thinking every time he interrupts you back off. The last thing you want to do is to let them get any more confident.

But back to the point, so say you throw 1,2, pause-a-beat, 1,2 (body), head kick. That's going to confuse them more than just 1,2,3,2 (all at the head). Mix everything up, have alot of it as fluff with one or 2 being real strikes.

Keep with the basics, but always keep them guessing, do your best to never let them get in their comfort zone when you throw things.

A drill you can do with a partner is, you go on offense, and they go on defense. They cannot initiate any offense, but they can counter with strikes (single, or combo). For the time being, you're focusing more on being offensive, so this would work well.

For body shots would you suggest to step in with a cross to get in range for the hooks to the body?
Like not a fully extended cross just to be in range for the follow ups, I find myself reaching a lot for body shots.