Archive for March, 2013
You Just Did That.
If some does something successful during a fight, they will go for it again very soon, if not straight away. Over the years I have seen this happen in training, in the ring and in competition.
I first noticed this when I was kickboxing and in one of my fights a guy landed a nice right hand counter to my jab, immediately I thought ?if that was me I would throw that again as I know it works?. Therefore I had my counter ready to go for his right hand and went back to engage him. I threw a lazy jab, he threw his right hand, and I had my counter ready to go and it took his right hand away. At the time I didn?t think much of it, but the more I fought the more I noticed it happening. The only change that seems to happen is with leg kicks and head kicks – if someone lands a good leg kick they will follow up with a head kick but it is always the same leg and usually right away. This idea got me a few wins I believe as if I got hit with a good shot it gave me the confidence to know what they were going to do next.
Once I finished kickboxing and competed in BJJ and wrestling the same thing happened. In BJJ people do the same guard pass on the same side, and just repeat until they get it. They do the same subs from the same set ups in the same position. However it needs to be said I know exactly what Rhonda Rousey would be up to in a BJJ match and I am not sure of I could do much about it, but at least I can come up with a plan. The same thing happens in wrestling if you watch someone wrestle you can get a good idea of what they will do, the same set ups to the same takedowns.
In the BJJ and Wrestling comps I have found that people do the same thing over and over. I seem to have an ability to pick up patterns in people?s attacks and it helps my defence as they are telling you what they are doing. This works until a point, when someone is better than me their offence is more advanced than my defence and then they get the win.
This is just all based on the theory that more or less people think the same, I know if I land a good punch, takedown or sub that I will go for it again. Especially with striking, if I land a good shot I will be throwing it again as I like to land my punches, and I got the reward I was after last time I threw it so why not throw it again. In my case it is usually a counter punch but I will throw them all if they are landing ? who wouldn?t? ? and that is why this system works.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
The Youtube Game Plan
Recently three guys from Lockdown MMA had fights on the same night. When I was talking to people about the fights everyone said ?have you watched their opponent?s fights on Youtube?? Is using Youtube a good way to prepare for a fight?
Here is the thing ? when you watch someone?s fight on Youtube you are watching the same video that they are watching. After the fight that guy has got his video and watched it over and over by themselves and at least once with their trainer. All the mistakes that you see are also seen by their trainer and they will work to plug up the holes. This means that if every time he throws his jab he drops his right hand, his trainer will see this and make sure that his right hand stays up for the next fight. Therefore if you train to throw a left hook off his jab it?s not going to work so well. This also happens if you are up against a wrestler, who was against a BJJ guy so he kept it standing and has ugly striking. Going off that fight you work your stand up as you think he likes to stand up, then when you fight him he takes you down and you find yourself in a position that you have not trained for because Youtube told you what he would do and you got it wrong.
What you can pick up from Youtube videos are consistencies such as height, weight, southpaw or orthodox stance. What their lead attack is, do they like to counter or do they like to lead the attack and so on. This you can build a game plan on, as these things usually don?t change to much. It is unlikely that they will change their fight stance to fight you or get taller for this fight.
When I look at opponents for fights we work game plans to what the opponents do consistently. If you have a good eye you can see what people?s styles are like and what they like to do. Then there are guys like Greg Jackson and Randy Couture who see more than the rest of us and he can pick a fighter apart and work out where a particular fighter hasn?t been tested and work on getting them in to that position.
In short, people who just go off Youtube clips can be misled, especially if you are looking for the wrong things. If you have no footage of your opponent you can usually get some background on them or at least get a rough idea on what they will do from what gym they are from. People who train at the same gym have to have some similarities as they are being trained by the same people. Have a look at their last fights but remember the same mistakes that you are seeing they are also seeing, so look for styles and repeated techniques that you need to set a plan for, enjoy preparing the game plan it can make or break a fight so you may as well do it right.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
Pick your Poison
If you had to decide, who you would pick to come up against in an MMA fight out of the following – a World / Olympic Champion wrestler, World Champion kickboxer or World Champion BJJ guy. The thing to keep in minds is that these guys do not have any other skills just highly skilled in one area ? so who would you pick?
This is my order, from who I would pick and why, down to my last choice.
My first choice would be the BJJ Champ. This decision is based on the fact they would have to get through two elements to get me to their happy place, which is on the ground. That is, they would have to deal with my striking then my takedown defence to get me to the ground. If you haven?t been punched before it can make you rather gun-shy on your takedowns, which obviously makes the takedowns less effective as well. A BJJ black belt once said to me, how many kickboxing fights did you have where you didn?t clinch? (this is based on the fact that if two strikers can?t avoid the clinch how can you avoid the clinch against a guy who?s goal is the clinch) The answer to that question is at least 3 of my fights had no clinch. I thought the clinch was boring so I developed my style to avoid it, fortunately I was blessed with a decent punch so I had a few short fights with no clinching. This is why I would choose the BJJ guy for my first opponent.
Second up I would go against the kickboxer. I don?t care who you are getting hit hurts and you are going to get hit against a kickboxer. Obviously you are going to go for the takedown and on someone who has no takedown defence that shouldn?t be too hard. The hard part would be the getting to takedown range and then the start of every round trying to get there again. Also if I am honest I would want to test myself against his striking a little as well, that is until he lands a few shots and then I would decide to get the fight to the ground.
Third would be the wrestler. Until you come up against a good wrestler you can?t understand how good they are. You are going to get taken down, once you are there you have about as much chance of sweeping them as you do of successfully changing the tyre on your car using your open guard as the jack. Yes you have the chance to punch them in the face at the start of every round and you have a chance for a submission but they can give you a few shots on the ground as well. Out of all the three fighters the wrestler is the one that has the ability to dictate where the fight goes and then keep you there and grind out decision. Getting taken down and controlled is about as good for your confidence as dating a ugly girl, then once you get back to your feet you only find yourself back down on the ground this takes all your confidence and energy. All this adds up to the worst fight for me out of the three.
Things to think about – one thing the wrestler can?t do is finish the fight, they are in their for the distance, whereas the BJJ guy can tap you out before you know what is going on and the kickboxer can KO you with something you didn?t even see. With BJJ however it doesn?t hurt to tap, it saves you from injury, so even if you get caught you are not going to get hurt. Also every BJJ guy I have ever sparred does not like GnP one little bit and it does change their game. With kickboxers if they hit you it hurts but they are lost on the ground so you just have to get them there. Wrestling training is the most intense training that have ever done in any fight sport and their desire to win is second to none, even if they can?t finish the fight, because of the ability to control where the fight goes I choose the wrestler as the guy I would least like to fight.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
The MMA Landscpae – If Only
The UFC started in November 1993 and has grown since then. If any other organisation tried to challenge them they got bought out. Some of the bigger names that litter the battlefield are Pride, Strikeforce, Elite XC and Affliction.
Each time they bought an organisation the UFC (Zuffa) said that not much would change, then all the top fighters ended up in the UFC and the organisation fell by the way side. This has caused the UFC roster to become too full and unsustainable. Hence why the UFC has just released 18 people and have said that they need to release about 100 more.
Let?s just imagine this: if when they brought Pride they put one of their guys as the CEO and he ran the organisation as he saw fit. Then this would happen for each of the organisations ?Pride in Japan, Strikeforce and Affliction in North America ? and have a CEO who runs them like any franchise. Then they could still have the best of the best in the UFC and they could use the other organisations as ?feeders?. This would then give the up and coming fighters a place to make the step-up without taking the massive leap to the UFC.
As it stands, there is the UFC and then everyone else. The UFC is the undisputed king of the MMA world. It is so big that some people think the UFC is the sport. It is sad to think that the Tapout T-shirt wearing people who only know the UFC are finally correct, as that is all there is out there. Gone are the days when you could watch Pride and see Wandy v Rampage and think how they would go against Chuck Liddell or Randy Couture. Yes, it has been good to see these fights but surely that could?ve happened if they companies were run individually under the UFC umbrella and then have ?super fights?, or champion v champion matches, at the end of each year. All the UFC can do now is have guys move weight division which isn?t ideal.
Imagine the possibilities of multiple organisations, you could get the best heavyweights and have a end of year GP, a night of champions, having the best 2 fighters from each weight division in an elimination tournament ? the possibilities are endless. MMA would be a better place if Zuffa had kept each of those organisations going under their umbrella and had a the UFC as the A+ level and have the others as B+ feeder organisations. More fighters at the higher level sounds like a win-win situation to me.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor
Take the Leap
So you have won a few fights – when is it time to take that step up in class and take on a dangerous opponent?
Firstly, every opponent is dangerous, just some more than others. In your first few fights you are going against guys who have more or less your experience. This happens for about 3 ? 5 fights, if you have had good success then it is time to take the next step. Usually you will be looking at a good fighter who is on the way down, usually due to age. The other and more common option is the journey man, this guy has a record where the wins and losses are about the same. However the journeyman?s losses have come from the best guys in the division, so if you are going to get to the top this is the guy you have to beat. The best example of this in the UFC in Clay Guida, that guy is about as tough as they come and only the elite fighters have beaten him. The journeyman is dangerous as he has a lot of tricks to survive in the battle and an inexperienced fighter is likely to wear himself out going for the finish.
The worst time to take a step up in class is after some losses, in my opinion you have to earn the right to take on better guys. The way you earn it is by beating people not by taking a fight on short notice, however without the guys that do that we would miss out on a lot of upsets.
The downside to stepping up in class is if you beat them you can?t go back down, this happened to me and I wish I had waited a few more fights before I took on a better guy. For me I fought a guy who had 25 fights in my 3rd fight and beat him. Sounds great – yay, celebration time! – until it was time to set up the next fight and no one under 15 fights was interested so I missed out on a heap of experience and had to keep fighting these better guys.
In short, when you think it is time to step up in class have a good chat to your trainer / manager and pick a smart fight that will test you but not put you in a place that, if you win, you are not ready for. Sadly living in a small country sometimes you do not have a choice, but still be smart and enjoy the challenge of stepping up in class.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor