attn: brad souders

[apoweyn]

Hey Brad,

Any chance of getting you to post that footwork thing you mentioned?

[Meat Shake]

Wait a minute..
isnt this like the 3rd thread like this?
*kicks apoweyn in the shins*

[Chang Style Novice]

Kick Brad! And bump up the ultimate footwork thread.

[yenhoi]

/action fakes a finger jab and teeps meatshakes nutz

:confused:

[Brad Souders]

Strategy War

Where does the most strategy play out in a mixed martial art fight? I’ve asked myself this a couple times and pondered where an athlete must be well versed for offensive or defensive? Where does the battle become a mental chess game stronger then anywhere else in the competition? To these questions I look to the war between a striker keeping it on the feet, and the grappler trying to get it down to the ground. This area is where both have equal advantages and disadvantages. If the grappler is out the striker can strike, and if the grappler is on the ground he can grapple. But none have the true advantage during the moments of clinch and takedown. So here is a look on the process of this strategy war.

First is the initial stage of this conflict. How does the striker keep him out and how does the grappler get in? Strikers are going to focus on footwork and ring/cage awareness. For a knock out artist the ropes/fence is their worst enemy. A striker being pinned to the back setting takes away his major hip movement on his power shots, and allowing him to avoid the incoming shots with side stepping and back peddling. One person I’ve seen do this sort of footwork the best was Igor Vovchanchin. Before ever seeing him fight I’d heard rumors of him developing an almost anti-shoot footwork. His main thought was that if an opponent is shooting in he usually attacks the closest object, take it away and replace it with a strike from the same side hand. In a sense the grappler’s target distance would be messed up due to the closest target being moved, and the punch even not being the most powerful would off balance the grappler. If the grappler continued in the feet would continue to move back one by one and be replaced by straight punches downward instead.

Another portion that strikers seem to get caught in is the leg kick. How do u stop a grappler from shooting in off the leg kicks. Most experienced grapplers seem to like the set up for coming in after these kicks obviously due to the unbalanced nature of their opponent. One theory I’ve found useful and can be seen most by Pedro Rizzo during his leg kick massacres is to have the grappler in a backward type motion. If a grappler’s momentum is moving backwards it’s harder for him to re-direct back into a shooting momentum. Though the striker needs to set-up the leg kick. If he just uses footwork to back the grappler up the leg kick is probably still in major trouble. Most kicks need to be thrown after a two or three hand combo. It is harder to change levels off a kick if your hands are way up protecting your face they must come the whole way down to drop. Usually just your basic jab-cross combo or stiff double jabs get the grappler “back on their toes” enough to land a good leg kick without to much fear of the shot. Also many strikers tend not to circle out after throwing a leg kick. Landing the kick then circling out away from the potential shot not only gives you distance to reengage the opponent but will also start to ware on the grapplers confidence on his ability to get to the striker.

Clinch work can also be a striker’s best decision. Who can argue with Silva’s knee attacks? Controlling an opponent’s body while clinching will give the striker the ability to disengage and strike or use close range weapons to knock out the opponent. Another position where footwork is essential as one can set up strikes by cutting angles on their opponent to expose a target. This part of the fight in my opinion is where the striker truly decides how the fight will go. Keeping his back off the cage/ropes in the clinch and constant motion on his opponent to blast his open targets could mean the difference in winning and losing the mental battle.

[apoweyn]

Originally posted by Meat Shake
Wait a minute..
isnt this like the 3rd thread like this?
*kicks apoweyn in the shins*

Yep. It is. But you can't PM Brad and I don't have his email. So catching him on a thread was the only way to do it.

Besides, repetition ain't exactly news here. :)

[apoweyn]

Great! Thanks Brad. Appreciate the read.