ANGLE 1
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ANGLE 2
1) Neil and me are squared off in the pocket. 2) Neil throws a jab at my face. Instead of attempting a block, I evade his strike by shifting my weight toward my right side, dipping my head to my right, and parrying his fist to my left using my right hand. 3) As Neil’s jab slips by the left side of my head, I throw a left jab. By striking him in the middle of my combination, I break his rhythm. To capitalize, I will immediately follow up with another strike.
TIP #24 ANSWER YOUR OPPONENT’S STRIKES
As I mentioned in the introduction to movement, you should always attempt to evade your opponent’s strikes rather than block them. Although blocking oftentimes works, you absorb a good portion of the impact, risk your opponent’s small glove wrapping around your blockade and striking your body and face, and make yourself vulnerable to his follow-up strikes. If you wrap your arms around your head and go into cover-up mode, it’s only a matter of time until one of his punches connects solidly and puts you down. For this reason, don’t ever let more than one strike go answered. If you block an opponent’s punch, hit him before he can throw another.
TIP #25 BREATHING FOR STRIKING
When you strike, you always want to quickly exhale your air. In traditional arts, they call this something like “releasing your chi.” I always thought releasing your chi was something else entirely, so I’m just going to call it smart. In addition to maximizing the power of your strike, it also prepares your body for counterstrikes. If your lungs are full of air and your opponent lands a strike to your chest, it can steal your wind and remove a large portion of your will to fight. To break the habit of holding your breath, every time you punch the mitts or kick the Thai pads, release a semiviolent shout that takes your air with it. You’ll sound like one of those meatheads that try to get everyone in the gym to witness how much they can bench-press by grunting, but it will pay off when you step into the ring.
TIP #26 CLINCH-PUSH AND-PULL
When tied up in the clinch, you can always generate a reaction out of your opponent by either pushing into him or pulling him into you. If you push, almost a hundred percent of the time he will resist by pulling back, which allows you to release your pressure and immediately execute a forward throw or takedown. If you pull, he will almost always resist by pushing, which allows you to release your pressure and execute a backward throw or takedown. However, in order to effectively pull off either setup, you must develop an amazing sensitivity to your opponent’s reactions. The instant he resists your push or pull, you must release your pressure and execute your offensive technique in the same direction as his resistance. If your timing is off, your opponent will be able to recover or launch an attack of his own.
MUAY THAI CLINCH
Moving into close range, I cup my right hand around the back of Neil’s, and then cup my left hand over my right hand. To disrupt his balance, I pull his head down with my hands, and to prevent him from securing a body lock or shooting in for a takedown, I pinch my elbows together and drive them into his shoulders. From here, I can deliver power knees to his midsection.
TIP #27 GRECO, THAI, AND DIRTY BOXING There are three primary clinching positions that are important for every mixed martial artist to learn—the Greco clinch, the Muay Thai clinch, and the dirty-boxing clinch. The Greco clinch focuses on upper-body control, which allows you to utilize attacks such as throws, body locks, and takedowns. The Muay Thai clinch focuses on head control, which allows you to off-balance your opponent and land brutal strikes with knees and elbows. The dirty-boxing clinch involves securing a collar tie with one hand to keep your opponent off balance while at the same time using your free hand to land repeated punches to his face and body. In order to be effective from the clinch, you must not only learn the basics of each of these clinching styles, but also learn how to blend them together in such a way that you can transition back and forth between them.
GRECO: DOUBLE UNDERHOOK BODY LOCK
CORRECT
To secure a body lock, I dive my arms underneath Neil’s arms, clasp my hands together in the small of his back, and then pull his hips into my body. From here, I can execute a number of effective takedowns.
INCORRECT
This is not a body lock. This is man love at its finest. I know, very little difference. It’s all in hand positioning. If your hands are clasped together, consider it a Greco-Roman clinch. If your hands are open, gently caressing your opponent’s back, consider it extremely gay.
DIRTY-BOXING CLINCH
To establish the dirty-boxing clinch, I wrap one hand around the back of Neil’s head and drive my elbow into his shoulder. To cause damage, I use my control to push and pull him off balance, circle around him, and repeatedly sock him in the face with my free hand.
TIP #28 INSIDE CONTROL
No matter which style of clinch you are playing—Greco, Thai, or dirty boxing—you always want to position your arms to the inside of your opponent’s arms because it gives you dominant control. This is often a difficult chore. If your opponent is an experienced fighter, he, too, will attempt to secure inside control. Whoever wins this battle will be able to cause more damage with his strikes and execute more effective takedowns. There are many ways to secure inside control, such as obtaining double collar ties, double underhooks, or inside biceps ties. In addition to knowing how to secure each position, you must also learn how to escape each position should your opponent get the upper hand.
TIP #29 ALWAYS ON YOUR SIDE
You never want to lie flat on your back because it allows your opponent to control your body and punish you with strikes. By turning onto your side, you create space, and that space allows you to move and create openings to escape.
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I’m lying flat on my back, which seriously hinders my mobility. If my opponent can keep me pinned in this position, he’ll have a greater chance of landing effective strikes and locking in submissions.
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To increase my offensive and defensive options, I turn onto my right side.
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I come up onto my right elbow, increasing my mobility even more.
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I post my right hand on the mat. From this position, I can escape back to my feet, execute an assortment of sweeps, or transition to a more dominant position.
TIP #30 SUBMISSION, SWEEP, OR GET UP
When you’re stuck on your back with an opponent between your legs in your guard, you should have three things on your mind—submission, sweep, or get the fuck up. If you lie there thinking about how you forgot to feed your dog, you’re pretty much locking yourself into an ass kicking. You have to remember that mixed martial arts is not a grappling match—your opponent can beat the living hell out of you. This should give you a sense of urgency and force you to move until you accomplish one of your three goals. Over the coming pages, I demonstrate several submissions, a couple of transitions, and a technique that you can use to escape back to your feet.
KIMURA SUBMISSION
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To prevent Neil from posturing up in my guard, I wrap my right hand around the back of his head and grab his right arm with my left hand.
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As Neil attempts to break my head and arm control and posture up, I slide my left hand down to his right wrist, plant my right foot on the mat, turn onto my left side, and reach my right arm over his left arm.
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Maintaining a firm grip on Neil’s right wrist using my left hand, I dive my right arm under his right arm and grab my left wrist with my right hand, establishing a figure-four grip.
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Scooting my hips toward my left side, I drop to my right shoulder, pull down on Neil’s right arm using my right arm, and drive his right wrist up using my left hand. To prevent him from passing my guard, I have once again hooked my feet together. With a tremendous amount of pressure being applied to his right shoulder, he has no choice but to tap. Obviously if you suc
cessfully execute this in a no-holds-barred street fight, “tap” actually translates into your opponent screaming, “YOU’RE GONNA BREAK MY ARM!!! SWEET JESUS, YOU’RE GONNA BREAK MY FUCKIN’ ARM!!! I WEAR SKIRTS
OMAPLATA SUBMISSION
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I have Neil in my closed guard. In an attempt to break my head and arm control and posture up, he places his hands on the mat and pushes off.
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I turn onto my right side, scoot my hips toward my left side, throw my left leg over the back of Neil’s right arm, and position my foot in front of his face. Notice how I have my left arm pinned to his right arm to prevent him from pulling it free.
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I pull my right leg out front underneath Neil’s body, rotate my body ninety degrees, and wrap my left arm over his back to prevent him from escaping the submission by executing a forward roll.
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I wrap my leg tightly over Neil’s right arm and begin sitting up.
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Sitting all the way up, I pin Neil’s right shoulder to the mat by applying downward pressure with my right leg. To lock in the submission, I grab his right wrist with my right hand and drive it forward toward the mat. Do this right, and I hope the submitted has a willing love partner, because unless he’s left-handed, masturbation will seem like climbing Everest in a blizzard.
OMAPLATA TRANSITION TO BACK
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I have Neil in my closed guard.
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Turning onto my left side, I place my right foot on the mat, scoot my hips toward my right side, and drive my right hand into the left side of Neil’s head to disrupt his balance.
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I attempt an omaplata submission by throwing my right leg over Neil’s left arm, but he defends against the submission by pulling his arm free.
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Instead of returning to the guard position, I use Neil’s compromised positioning to post my left hand on the mat and reach my right arm over his back.
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Before Neil has a chance to reestablish his base and balance, I come up onto my left knee and secure a body lock by wrapping my left arm over his left shoulder and under his body, wrapping my right arm around his right side, and clasping my hands together. From this position, I have numerous offensive options.
UNDERHOOK GET UP TO BACK
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I have Neil in my closed guard.
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As Neil postures up to strike, I post my right hand on the mat, sit up with him, and dive my left arm underneath his right arm, securing an underhook.
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As I drop down to my right elbow, I turn onto my right side, scoot my hips toward my left, and drive my left arm downward into Neil’s right arm, forcing him to lose balance and plant his left hand on the mat.
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Posting my right hand and right foot on the mat, I come up onto my left knee and wrap my left arm over Neil’s back.
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I slide my body and head out from underneath Neil’s right arm, reposition my body over his back, and secure a body lock by clasping my hands together.
GET UP
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Neil is in my closed guard.
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To create space, I place my right hand on Neil’s right shoulder and drive him away from me. At the same time I turn onto my left side, post my left elbow on the mat, and move my left foot toward the front of his right hip.
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Planting my left foot on Neil’s right hip to maintain space, I place my right hand on the back of his neck and post my left hand and right foot on the mat.
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Pushing off the mat with my right foot, I drive my right hand down into the back of Neil’s head, support my weight on my left hand, and leap my body out from underneath him.
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I plant my feet on the mat. From here, I will either back away or launch an attack. If this is a street fight, your decision will determine whether you’re a martial artist or a fighter—I ain’t judging.
TIP #31 POSTURE CONTROL
When your opponent postures up in your guard, he creates space between your body and his body. This is not good because it gives him the distance he needs to throw powerful strikes or work on transitioning to a more dominant position. To limit your opponent’s offensive options, every time he sits up you want to immediately eliminate the space he created. This can be accomplished one of two ways—break him back down into your guard or sit up with him.
FULL GUARD TO BUTTERFLY GUARD
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Neil is in my closed guard and I’ve secured head and arm control to keep him from posturing up.
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Neil breaks my head and arm control and postures up. To hinder him from throwing downward strikes, I immediately turn onto my right side, slide my left knee across his stomach, plant my right foot on his left hip, and grab his left arm with my left hand.
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Using my left grip on Neil’s left wrist, I sit up into him, grab the back of his left triceps with my right hand, and slide my feet between his legs to secure the butterfly guard.
4
Maintaining my right grip on Neil’s left triceps, I dive my left arm underneath his right arm to secure an underhook. Securing the butterfly guard in this fashion has given me all sorts of sweep options (i.e., ways to put the motherfucker on his back).
TIP #32 REAR NAKED CHOKE
Chokes are the most dangerous submissions because rather than threatening your joints, they threaten blood flow to your brain, which can result in death, shitting yourself, or both. To protect your neck, always keep your chin pinned to your chest. If at any point your opponent should obtain a dominant position and apply a choke, immediately latch onto his choking arm with both hands and rip it away from your neck. Do not make the mistake of trying to escape the position before blocking the choke because it only takes a few seconds to pass out. Once you have removed your opponent’s arm from your neck, that’s when you focus on improving your position. If the roles are reversed and you are in a position to choke your opponent, immediately go for the finish (sweep the leg, Johnny). If your opponent’s defenses are extremely sharp, instead of wasting energy trying to lock it in, move on to strikes or another submission. As soon as you have your opponent distracted, return to the choke.
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I’ve taken Neil’s back and secured over-under control. If you should find yourself in Neil’s shoes, you should immediately protect your neck by grabbing your opponent’s choking arm with both hands and pulling it downward.
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Neil fails to protect his neck, so I immediately begin transitioning to the rear naked choke by cupping my right hand behind his left shoulder to secure my arm in place and pulling my left arm out from underneath his left arm. Although it looks like I’m pinching his nipple in this photo, this is not a part of the technique. If you attempt this, it will either anger your opponent or lead to heavy moaning.
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To secure the rear naked choke, I grab my left bicep with my right hand and cup my left hand around the back of Neil’s head. To cut off the blood flow to his brain, I drive his head downward using my left hand and squeeze my arms tight.
TIP #33 NEVER LET YOUR LIMBS STRAY
Always keep your limbs drawn tight to your body. If you get into the bad habit of reaching for your opponent or straightening your limbs, you give him an open invitation to transition to an armbar or leg lock.
ARMBAR FROM MOUNT
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1) I’ve secured the mount position on Neil and begin striking him repeatedly in the face. 2) Neil breaks a cardinal rule by extending his right arm into my body in an attempt to push me off of him. 3) The instant Neil extends his right arm, I wrap my right arm over his right arm and then grab my left forearm with my right hand, securing his arm to my body. At the same time I post my right foot on the mat, rotate my body in
a clockwise direction, and drive my left knee across his face. 4) I step my left foot to the left side of Neil’s head and drop down to my butt. Notice how I have slid my right hand up to my left biceps to keep his arm pinned to my chest. 5) As I drop to my back, I straighten Neil’s right arm by sliding the crook of my right arm up to his wrist. To finish the armbar, I pull his right arm toward my chest, drive my legs into his face and body to keep them pinned to the mat, and elevate my hips. Tap, tap, TAP!
Got Fight? Page 17
