Switching stances.

[French Canadian]

What's your opinion on it ? Do you fight only on one side and never switch ? Do you think it's better to switch every now and then ?

I personally switch every 20 secs or so. I have some techniques for both sides. People know it, but I switch very quickly and sometimes only tease a technique that I throw from a side and BAM switch punch ya face bitch.

Anyway, do you switch or do you keep the same ?

 

[freaky]

I try to train my other side to be as good as my main stance.

Look at all the top fighters. They can fight from both stance. Dom Cruz, TJ, MM, Jon Jones etc.

Cuz even if you are orthodox always, there will be times when you are forced into a southpaw stance. It's could to be able to fight from both stance. And like you, it's good to mess with the opponent. Super hard to fight against and prepare for stance switchers.

 

[French Canadian]

I try to train my other side to be as good as my main stance.

Look at all the top fighters. They can fight from both stance. Dom Cruz, TJ, MM, Jon Jones etc.

Cuz even if you are orthodox always, there will be times when you are forced into a southpaw stance. It's could to be able to fight from both stance. And like you, it's good to mess with the opponent. Super hard to fight against and prepare for stance switchers.

I feel ya, that's why I train both sides. But what about Aldo ? He's an expert in his stance, does not switch (I think). And he KILLS.

 

[French Canadian]

In Muay Thai, you don't see a lot of switching as well. Except for the kick, but they don't switch all the time.

 

[rmongler]

Stance switching matters more in mma, because of the takedown threat (attacking or defending).

 

[freaky]

I feel ya, that's why I train both sides. But what about Aldo ? He's an expert in his stance, does not switch (I think). And he KILLS.

boxers also don't switch. You don't need to switch. Most fighters don't switch. But it certainly doesn't hurt to master both stance.

 

[French Canadian]

boxers also don't switch. You don't need to switch. Most fighters don't switch. But it certainly doesn't hurt to master both stance.

as the poster above you said, switching stances, is it a MMA thing ? Is it really useful ? I'm asking because I'm 8 years in my training, started at 12, it's time to get rid of everything that hinders me. Should I focus on one stance and forget the other one ? Should I practice both sides ? It's that moment where you gotta optimize every detail.

Edit: I'm much more of a Kickboxer than a MMa guy.

 

[n.diazismylife1999]

boxers also don't switch. You don't need to switch. Most fighters don't switch. But it certainly doesn't hurt to master both stance.

Tyson often switched to southpaw when in close, helped with the angles.

 

[strike thought]

as the poster above you said, switching stances, is it a MMA thing ? Is it really useful ? I'm asking because I'm 8 years in my training, started at 12, it's time to get rid of everything that hinders me. Should I focus on one stance and forget the other one ? Should I practice both sides ? It's that moment where you gotta optimize every detail.

Edit: I'm much more of a Kickboxer than a MMa guy.

It's not necessary since many fighters can get by using one stance. It is very useful though. If you look at some of the best movement in MMA, fighters like Cruz, T.J. and even Stephen Wonderboy Thompson utilize stance switching for good reasons.

My personal preference is to embrace stance switching. There are certain riddles in MMA that may requires you to utilize stance switching. Whatever footwork I learn from one stance, I make sure I can execute from the other stance as well.

Switching stances can force the opponent to adjust to your own angles. Like Cruz, he's always switching his stance and it makes it hard for an opponent to attack his weak side. One moment you're moving to their weak side, than all of a sudden he switches stance and you're suddenly sitting directly into his power side where he can counter you. Kind of like this.

There's a lot more to the benefits of stance switching aside from this as well. You have to worry about the single leg in MMA and it forces you to have a more active lead leg which often times require you embrace changing your stance.

 

[fluffball]

boxers also don't switch. You don't need to switch. Most fighters don't switch. But it certainly doesn't hurt to master both stance.

Almost every pro boxer uses a stance switch when it's appropriate, usually up close when they're moving around an opponent, even if it's only for a few punches. And then you've got guys like MP that are famous for their ability to switch stance.

When we're talking about kicking and MMA styles, I think you're a little nuts not to have a basic mastery of stance switching. There are too many attacks, both kicking and grappling that you can take advantage of, and I've never met anyone that had exactly equal attacks from both sides. My right foot kicks and right hands are a billion times better than anything on my left side, so if I wanted to throw a hard right hand I might be in orthodox and for a hard side kick I'd be in south paw, or transition between them to set up the switch.

My throws are infinitely better from orthodox as well, but I know many wrestlers have a massive preference for one side or the other.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

For something like kickboxing or boxing I would think shifting is much more useful than full on stance switching.

 

[Sidecontrol87]

Aside from the elite level, most people who switch stances are terrible at striking.

 

[roventu]

southpaw here. ive been practicing my opposite stance for a few weeks now, not bc i want to be a switch stance fighter, just to avoid being a fish out of water when i do end up in the opposite stance.

some things i've noticed: in my original stance, 60% weight is on my backfoot. when i switch stances, it ends up 60% weight on that same foot which becomes my lead. that makes me fight differently, whereas when im backfoot dominant I use a lot more front leg teeps, front leg kicks. now with frontleg dominant i do more boxing and less kicks. I'm not sure what other consequences are there when I switched frontleg to backfoot dominant. I've been trying to correct it, but maybe it is something I can build on (if I want to focus on boxing, i switch stances, something like that). probably not though xD

there are more weapons though if you can do opposite stance momentarily. from orthodox the switch kick is way more useful. the outside right kick which is just a constant nuisance in southpaw becomes a power weapon. and all your left kicks are still power, you just shift into it which i personally like doing from orthodox.

there are a lot of problems im facing though, bc i havent gotten used to it. in orthodox i sometimes feel like a one-handed fighter, bc i rarely use the cross, its only used to setup my lead hooks and uppercuts. like fullmount said, most stance-switchers suck. i think that may be because they dont put enough time into either stance. so instead of being 80% good in orthodox stance by focusing on one stance, they end up being 50% good in orthodox and 30% good in southpaw haha

EDIT: Went back and read a guy's overview of positioning thread. a lot of things he mentioned were exactly how it is, especially the cross being sucky if you're front foot dominant. i end up bending my spine to get the cross out instead of rotating well.

 

[barnowl]

Depends more on what you do. Boxers almost never swap stances, there is no need to and the can focus on what they do to an extremely high level. Kickers tend to swap stance all the time as a by product of using back leg kicks. Kickers will tend to try and get back to which ever stance they are more comfortable in, but this also reduce the ability to maximize one side or the other.

 

[macklin]

It's not even a topic I want to discuss until I've sunk another 5-10 years into training. But I entered this thread, so...

I think it opens up a whole new world of possibilties for offense, defense, gap closing, creating angles, and so forth. Striking during the transitions is big. Duane Ludwig's interview on Rutten and Ranallo touched on that a bit.

 

[Fire of Youth]

boxers also don't switch. You don't need to switch. Most fighters don't switch. But it certainly doesn't hurt to master both stance.

 

[barnowl]

Probably the poster child for doing switch hitting right.

 

[cshireman4]

If you haven't done so already, check out some of Andy Ristie's fights. Lucien Carbin has trained multiply high level strikers that switch, including Ristie and Tyrone Spong.

 

[Fire of Youth]

If you haven't done so already, check out some of Andy Ristie's fights. Lucien Carbin has trained multiply high level strikers that switch, including Ristie and Tyrone Spong.

Brendan Ingles also seems to specialise in training switch-hitting boxers (e.g. Herol Graham, Prince Nazeem, Kell Brooks)

 

[AndyMaBobs]

No one is as good in their second stance as they are in their main stance unless they're bad at striking. The idea is that you have certain go-to techniques from the other stance. I'm a southpaw so if I switch to orthodox its because I'm trying to attack the lead leg and throw more left hooks, if I'm in southpaw, I'm usually going to be using distance and baiting and countering more.