My first cage fight

[lunghushan]

Right on, Ray. It's obvious that you've put a lot of time into this. I'm just guessing, but I'd venture that you'd have beat the hell out of most of us.

Yeah, backseat driving is easy. LOL

[hung-le]

Well done...consider it a win in the "thinking part of the game " and rack it up in the "I now have real experience dept" too.

[David Jamieson]

everyone who enters makes a good effort.
but you need someone to coach you on the ground stuff ray.

mind you, I can't stand that crap in any venue.

My view is that if you can't get a tap on the ground then you should be broken and start again.

too much time on the ground with little apparent actrion makes for dull viewing. mma needs to bump hip to that.

[Ray Pina]

I definitely need to work on my ground game, but believe it or not, I do have one. The mistake I made was getting away from my type of ground game (keep structure and wait for an opportunity) and pushed the action to an area I had no business going..... I also have no idea why I was rolling away from him when we first went down I don't understand what I was doing there, don't remember either. The last one, was I saw his arm and said, "fu(K it, let me see if I can do something with this." Obviously, I didn't.

I was surprised at how well he held onto side mount. Very powerful in side mount. He left no room. I know he trained MMA before starting with Coach Ross and that was his 3rd cage fight. But he felt strong on the ground. Got to give Coach Ross credit. His guys looked good and they were all there for each other. I wish I had that type of camaraderie.

As for hands down, that's my style. At a certain distance your hands aren't an issue, but your legs are. As I aproach, my hands come up, but I still like to leave them somewhat down to give you a target which I can intercept from below (most everyone I play with is taller).

Thanks for the feedback. Since I lost, I don't have to worry about a perfect amatuer record and am now much more relaxed. Win or lose, I'm going to use this new venue that has opened up as a training/testing ground.

Peace
Ray

[TaiChiBob]

Greetings..

Ray: You are consistent with the talk AND the walk.. Kudos.. In the side mount we try to force the opponent's move with knees/pressure to his side, too.. he will either move or pull his elbow down to protect his ribs.. you looked relaxed enough, good work there.. where was the venue?

OT: did Ernesto reward you with any surf? we got some 6-8' clean swells for a day, then it dropped to 4-6.. the jelly fish were everywhere, though

Be well..

[Ray Pina]

I heard the day of my fight it was huge, 15 feet+ but breaking nearly a mile out with a crazy rip. No one went out.

I paddled out Sunday, it was about 2 feet overhead with a crazy bump on it because of the west winds (I face south) but kind of fun. By Monday it was waist to chest, with the same bump but fun longboard waves.

Water's getting chilly. Had to wear the shorty. Sun's been MIA for days. Rain and Wind.

[MasterKiller]

The mistake I made was getting away from my type of ground game (keep structure and wait for an opportunity)

I'm not as experienced on the ground as guys like MerryP, so I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will pipe up.

In my experience, that type of game plan works if you are in the dominant position. But since you were in the inferior position, you should have worked to create space and made your own opportunities. Otherwise, the guy in control will just elbow/knee you and wait for you to mess up enough to submit you.

The analogy we use is to be a "paint mixer." You know that machine they mix paint colors with at the hardware store that shakes the bejesus out of the can? When you are on your back, you have to move move move and keep moving until you can escape. If he is constantly adjusting position to keep you down, he can't hit you. And if you have enough space to be moving, there is a good chance you'll escpape. At least that's how I've been trained.

[Ray Pina]

Yea, in hind sight, I should have pushed on his hips and worked a knee between us. But I remember him feeling realy tight against me. And my knee felt far away.

I remember thinking, I don't think he wants to stand with me but he isn't hurting me, so just let him keep spending energy. I should have stuck with that plan. I don't know what got inside of me to do what I did. It was more emotion than reason, pride. I should have just waited it out. I wasn't taking any damage.

At one point he was using his forearm to choke me. That was a problem I had to get rid of. Then I saw the arm. Thing was, I could make that mistake and recover against 85% of the guys I play with. I couldn't against him. He deserves the credit for capitalizing right away on what I gave him.

The overall lesson I learned is patience, keeping the big picture in scope. You don't have to win every battle, you want to win the war.

Also, no matter how sloppy some people looked in the cage, their overall level (evident by their pre-fight training) is miles above your average player. I spent some time talking to the folks at Pitt Pen. Some of them were pros. Good people. Great coach. One of their guys was supposed to fight the guy who broke my nose in Dec. He got hurt and couldn't fight. Turns out he was already fighting pro MMA on the day I faced him in amatuer San Da. That made me feel better, and made a whole lot of sense.

But anyway, these guys had awesome ground technique.

[PhilDunlap]

Ray

Fighting is way differnt than practice. I tell my guys half of what the do in training including conditioning will evaporate in the ring/cage. Watched the video and all in all it was a great first effort especially without any "real " rinside help.

A good corner can make a huge differnce as when you are in there things are much faster than they seem outside

[SevenStar]

The man with the balls of steel! This is the first time I've seen someone post their own fight. You walked the walk! ****, I'm impressed.

ST00 posted one of his fights a couple of months ago.

[MasterKiller]

ST00 posted one of his fights a couple of months ago.

Wrong. MK posted ST00's fight because St00 probably wasn't going to post it here.

[SevenStar]

I'm not as experienced on the ground as guys like MerryP, so I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will pipe up.

In my experience, that type of game plan works if you are in the dominant position. But since you were in the inferior position, you should have worked to create space and made your own opportunities. Otherwise, the guy in control will just elbow/knee you and wait for you to mess up enough to submit you.

The analogy we use is to be a "paint mixer." You know that machine they mix paint colors with at the hardware store that shakes the bejesus out of the can? When you are on your back, you have to move move move and keep moving until you can escape. If he is constantly adjusting position to keep you down, he can't hit you. And if you have enough space to be moving, there is a good chance you'll escpape. At least that's how I've been trained.

yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

this gives me something else to keep in mind when rolling ... as a noob i need all the help i can get.

[lkfmdc]

the guy who broke my nose in Dec. He got hurt and couldn't fight. Turns out he was already fighting pro MMA on the day I faced him in amatuer San Da.

That isn't true Ray. Cloud was an amateur with 0-0 record when he fought you. He then did a USKBA amateur Muay Thai card and went 1-1 in a 4 man tournament. He got his rib busted in that event in the first fight. He then turned pro and now has a pro record of 0-2.

[Ray Pina]

If that's the case, sorry. Just repeating what the guys at Pitt Pen were telling me. One of their fighters said he was already fighting pro MMA at that time. IS there a separation, where you can be a pro MMA and fight amatuer San Da?

Either way, he's pro now, a few months later. The best fighter I've ever faced. That guy had it all. He moved so well.

Anyway, congrats on your fighters win. He had a strong side mount.