Switching off the Power
When coming up against a powerful opponent, whether it be in sparring on a competitive fight, it is very difficult to deal with. Over the years I have leant a few tricks that may help.
These tricks are based specifically in MMA and not necessarily applicable in the separate sports that make up MMA – that being kickboxing, wrestling and grappling. For me, I have a striking background and cut my teeth sparring against some very powerful guys that would happily take my head off with one punch. This does not mean that I like it, but it is something that I have had to deal with many times. In MMA, you can come up against powerful strikers and powerful wrestlers. These people can be a handful.
When we talk about power, we are talking about the people that are blessed with speed and strength. Even if you may be in a good position against them, they just power through your move, so you have to approach it in a different way. The one advantage that you have over a powerful people is that they have so many fast twitch fibres that when they use all that power it uses up a lot of energy. This means that they only have a limited amount of power moves before they have spent their energy and they become a lot less dangerous.
When sparring against these people what has worked for me is to keep the pressure on them – I get in close and make them work. With striking, I stand at their range and hope that my movement is ok, otherwise I will be peeled of the nearest wall as soon as they land a punch. The theory is to attack the jab with some counters and head movement, hopefully this frustrates them a bit and they load up on their shots a bit more. Once they load up, the punches are easier to see coming and the more they miss the more frustrated they get. You take a lot of shots on the gloves, but the key is to move forward, that is because they are not used that. These people usually push people around with their power and are not used to people who are right there in front of them and even backing them up. Once you hear them breathing that is when you start throwing combos. Once you feel the time is right go for a high percentage low energy take down (usually these people can be hard to take down). Once you get them down you have to move and transition because as soon as their energy comes back, they will be a nightmare to hold down. This means you are shifting weight and moving your hips and just throwing numbers with ground and pound. If they do get up, start your next takedown before they have got to their feet, if that fails go back to staying close and throwing combos and work another takedown. This process has worn down many a person that is very power based and it has not doubt saved my ass a few times as well.
This is against the guy that has those powerful takedowns that can drive right through the middle of your defence and you still end up on your back. These people are tough as they are no fun to be underneath for an entire MMA round. Against these people, what I do is keep my stance long and wide. As soon as they drop their level, I am following the movement. If you give these guys space, they will get momentum on their shot and you will be going for a ride. So again, I get in close to them and putting faith in my hips that I can fight off the first couple of shots. Once a few shots are defended, staying away from their takedown becomes a bit easier. They go for the first shot and I kick my front leg back, so all my weight goes on them, and, all going well, we are both back on the feet. Now you pick up the pace and put the pressure on with punches. The second shot will not be far away, squash this one and put pressure on again. At this point, their confidence and energy will have decreased so by the third shot you are ready to take advantage. This time your aim is to counter their takedown and/or keeping position with the sprawl. However, you need to get active on the top position again, movement wears them down. You throw a few ground and pound punches then look to move and repeat.
I am not the most powerful guy and have struggled (like everyone) against these people but what works is pressure and movement. If you let them have space then they recover their energy and you are in trouble. But once you get past the initial danger and play it right, these opponents can become a lot easier to deal with. When grapping against these people you have to change your style as well. You are unable to stop them moving so you have let them move and worry about the next position (side control to all fours for example) you cannot stop them escaping side control so you deal with them on all fours. Once they move, you have to jump on them because that is when their energy is the lowest. We all love a challenge and power is one of the biggest challenges in the fight world.
Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor