The Importance of Training Ground Fighting

[Fighting Eagle]

Or "The Day I Popped my MMA Cherry"

It was a normal day at the kwoon, everyone training hard and having fun. After class, a training brother approached me and mentioned that he knew a promoter that was looking for amateur kick-boxers for an Kickboxing event in a local nightclub. It was very interesting to me because I have always wanted to fight at such an event where people paid to watch us showcase our skills in a nightclub environment. My only prior experience was local and regional sanshou in kung-fu tournaments.

I contacted the promoter and we went over everything and a fight was set. I was already training hard so it was great timing. Sifu and I put the focus on technique and footwork.

Finally the fight night arrived. It was held at a very popular nightclub in the heart of downtown. As I was driving, only 1-2 minutes away from the venue, I received a call from Sifu with "Good News and Bad News". I asked, "What's the bad news?" Sifu responds, "Your fighter didn't show up." I say, "OK Sifu, what's the good news?" He says, "The promoter has someone else you can fight, but..."

"it's MMA... and oh, there's a cage"

I'm like okkkkk, but Sifu persists, "you'll do fine, you'll do fine"

Very shortly after the call I get to the venue and sure enough, there's a cage in the middle of the dance floor. My heart is pumped, I'm excited and anxious but calm and focused. I know I will give it my all and have a chance to see what I'm made of.

The kwoon is just 15 mins away so we quickly gather some training brothers, go to the kwoon, lay down the mats and commence groundwork 101, just 1 hour before my first MMA fight. We went over evading takedowns, sprawling, bucking, shrimping and the likes. We had such a small amount of time we didn't go over submissions. I still felt confident, over the years with Sifu I learned how to fight with Kung-fu and transitioned from a "kick-punch" kind-of fighter into a technician with an array of kung-fu techniques at my disposal to be used in the ring.

We finished up and returned to the venue. People were starting to arrive, fancy clothes, fancy cars, fancy lights, ring girls, photographers, etc. It was awesome and I had some of my favorite people there to share the experience with me. A guy came in and went over the rules, the only one I remember is that since this was amateur MMA, "Ground and Pound" to the face was not allowed.

Outside of that night I had not really paid much attention to MMA or the rules. I didn't train for this but was up for the challenge. I weighed in (199lbs), sized up my opponent (198lbs) and started warming up to focus mitt feeds with my cousin. My striking was on point and it felt great. I was ready, and win or lose, I would represent my Sifu, my school and proudly show what Kung-fu is about in the cage.

Ours was the first fight of the night. My opponent was announced first, I was announced next and we went into the arena with a packed, excited crowd. As I was expecting a kickboxing match, I had my Muy Thai shorts on. My opponent was clearly a wrestler with his underwear resembling panties. We met in the center of the cage, both showing no fear. Our gloves touched, we made our way to our corners and the battle began.

My chi was sunk, I was poised, calm, focused and ready. I took my spot in the center of the cage and controlled the center area with my striking game. My opponent attempted to penetrate it unsuccessfully so he resorted to his specialty, grappling. He charged at my hips and I sprawled momentarily but found myself with my back to the cage. I pushed off with my feet and slammed my opponent to the ground. I secured a top mound and began punching toward his neck. The ref says, "you can't do that", so I lower my position on top of my opponent and without knowing where I could punch or what I could do, I stayed mounted on him until the ref broke it up and stood us up. I was happy, we were returning to my territory, my comfort zone. We traded strikes, he tried to stay with the striking game but found out soon he was outclassed. I landed a few strong punches to his face a hard kick to the ribs. He got a great right hook to the side of my head but I've been hit harder. He couldn't play this game much longer. The first round was over.

I went to my corner, everyone was so excited, I had clearly controlled and won the first round. I was excited too! This was fun! I was representing! The bell rang and round two began. My opponent charged, I sprawled and we reset. I attacked with some punches and kicks, we traded, he swooped in for a take-down, I evaded, sidestepped and landed a front kick to his face. In reality, this should have finished the fight but I pulled it. I'm still not sure why, perhaps because I didn't know the rules or perhaps because I was unconsciously training myself to pull powerful kicks in sparring. Either way, it was a clean technique but lacked the power to due any damage. He charged time and time again. Soon enough I found myself pinned to the back of the cage, and of all the spots, in his corner! I could hear his team telling him what to do, what to grab, where to position. I really was clueless on how to handle this position. He had all his weight pushed against my upper body and he was going for the take down. I used whatever natural instinct I had to avoid it, sink my hips, throwing knees, adjust my weight and it worked out well but eventually he got the leverage he needed and slammed me to the mat. I again tried to work defense and wrapped my legs where I could, but eventually he got into the mount. I bucked and bucked and bucked. It wasn't easy for him to secure anything. I tried to free up space so I could shrimp out but my lack of ground experience was clearly showing. I was trying to use strength to get him off of my but it wasn't working, in fact he was stronger. The bell rang, Round two was over.

I went back to my corner and everyone was yelling something to me, I couldn't even hear what Sifu was saying. This was a close round but I felt I controlled it despite ending up on my back. I knew I didn't want that to happen again. It was not comfortable for me and I really had no idea of what I was doing against an experienced wrestler. I needed to keep the game standing. The bell rang, it was the end of my final rest. The beginning of the last three minute round.

A round of applause was given from the crowd with the announcers prompt. We had made it an exciting fight, classic striker vs. wrestler, both experienced in our domain. We had made it to the final round, the time had come to seal the deal.

I could feel my strength leaving me, I was tired, this was a fight. I didn't want to end up on the ground again. My breathing was heavy, I was anxious to win this fight, my first MMA fight.

I left my corned excited. How was this to turn out? I marched to the center of the cage, the ref telling me to get back to the corner so we could begin. I stepped back and round three started. We touched gloves and booted up. My wrestling adversary charged at me unexpectedly and forced me again with my back to the cage coincidentally in his corner. I tried to get him off but just didn't know what to do. My knees were not making good contact and he was trying to catch my legs on each try. I sank my hips but he got what he needed and took me to the ground. Shortly after he secured a mount. I was again in the most uncomfortable position. How would I win when I am on my back with no techniques to save me? I bucked and kept him on a ride. Knowing that at this point I had one minute or so left to get back up or get on top, I tried everything and then came the mistake. I straighten my arms, again trying to force him off of me. It felt like it was working and I gained a little space each time. I could hear his corner screaming, ARMBAR ARMBAR ARMBAR, but I paid no attention and barely knew what an armbar even was. (After that day, I will never forget.) He secured my wrist, locked my arm and rolled into a delicious armbar that left me with no choice. I had to tap out.

Perhaps I could have resisted it for the last seconds of the fight but I wasn't about to. I had no business trying to fight a submission when I know nothing about how they feel or how to reverse it. On top of that, this was an amateur as well and he could easily broke my arm without knowing it himself. Sure I tapped but my arm was fine and only my ego was hurt. The cage announced the winner and we went our separate ways. As I left, everyone was approaching me to tell me how great that fight was and how good we did. People came up saying they wanted to train with me. As I stuck around for the rest of the fights, it was clear that ours was the best fight of the evening and that was something to be proud of.

I've been in a lot of street fights, starting when I was young, but to be on the ground against a skilled adversary is no where I ever want to be again. Sure, there are rules in the cage and I would employ necessary techniques in the street such as pressure points, throat strikes, eye gouges, etc. But the fact remains, If you want to be a better martial artist, you need to be skilled in as many areas as you can, including standing up and ground fighting.

Since then, I've started BJJ. Traditionally I train in Eagle Claw Kung-fu and we have numerous locks on every joint of the body. Now I am starting to see that I can employ these on the ground as well, the trick is finding the leverage. It's a real blessing and gives great satisfaction to blend the arts in this way. I'll always be TCMA and represent it proudly but after that night I see the enormous benefit as a martial artist to study both sides of the coin.

A year to the day of that fight, my Sifu passed. His legacy lives on with us and one day soon I will re-enter that cage and again represent my Sifu, my school and Kung-fu with pride... this time with a little BJJ to fall back on.

[Chadderz]

EPIC STORY!


So glad you shared it dude! And mega-props for stepping up! Rising to a challenge like that is always cool!

You are very lucky you found out the effectiveness of grappling in a safe environment like a cage, rather than somewhere else. Really wise of you to take up BJJ, and learn from your experience.

[Fighting Eagle]

Thanks Chadderz!

What you said is so true! I've never thought of it in that way either. I'm glad I learned what I did in the cage that night and not in the street. No doubt, the outcome would have been nasty.

It's fun to be wrestling again, brings me back to the wonder years.

[dirtyrat]

great story, thanks for sharing!!!

[sanjuro_ronin]

You got lucky dude.
Glad you learned something from it but not sure if you learned EVERYTHING from it.
Case in point this silliness here:

Sure, there are rules in the cage and I would employ necessary techniques in the street such as pressure points, throat strikes, eye gouges, etc.

[dirtyrat]

"rules" make it very relevant. you'll get hit with techniques that you haven't spend time training to defend against....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H7gB3Em1NU

[Fighting Eagle]

You got lucky dude.
Glad you learned something from it but not sure if you learned EVERYTHING from it.
Case in point this silliness here:

You could be right, but it turned out just fine. I could be wrong, many times I am.

[Dragonzbane76]

thanks for posting.

Doesn't sound all to unfamiliar with the traditional aspects going into a multiple mma area. Ground is important, and should be trained just as your standup is trained and the time spent on it as well. being comfortable in an area is something you gain with time and practice in that area. I've always had a background in groundwork. I later came into TMA's after the fact.

from what I've noted in most TMA's and TCMA's in particular is the fact of confidence in standup to negate the inside clinch to ground senario. Or that they think they have grappling like say wrestling/judo/BJJ has when in fact they have nothing similar in regards to fighting and movement on the ground, which leads to sort of the post you posted.

anyways congrats on stepping into the ring in the first place. It takes a lot to do that. You walked away from it with a mountain of knowledge concerning yourself and where you stand.

[viper]

Nice work dude. Impressed you went through it even though the setup was changed to a mma format.

[sanjuro_ronin]

"rules" make it very relevant. you'll get hit with techniques that you haven't spend time training to defend against....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H7gB3Em1NU

They are LESS relevant in MMA than any other combat sport and lets not forget one simple thing: Anything We can do, they can do.
The whole" I could have done this but it was against the rules" misses the point that so could your opponent.

People sometimes forget that rules level the playing field, giving more chances not less.

[sanjuro_ronin]

You could be right, but it turned out just fine. I could be wrong, many times I am.

I think you agree that taking a fight in an environment that is unfamilar VS an unknown opponent and, according to you, training an hour to get used to it, is NOT the way to go and that the outcome could have been for worse IF you had fought someone with more experience ( by your description it seemed that he was a rookie too).
Hence my view that you got lucky.

[dirtyrat]

They are LESS relevant in MMA than any other combat sport and lets not forget one simple thing: Anything We can do, they can do.
The whole" I could have done this but it was against the rules" misses the point that so could your opponent.

People sometimes forget that rules level the playing field, giving more chances not less.

my whole point is these guys don't normally train to defend against these attacks (which turned the fight around so quickly) so its not in their muscle memory....

[sanjuro_ronin]

my whole point is these guys don't normally train to defend against these attacks (which turned the fight around so quickly) so its not in their muscle memory....

I am not sure if you have competed so allow me to state this ( also for the benefit of those that haven't), you do something against the rules and a smart fighter will make you "pay for it".
Groin kicks, as anyone that has ever fought on the street will tell you, hurt but do NOT end a fight and the reason that in sport the "victim" falls down in "agony" is because it plays in his favor with the ref and judges.
Notice that when MMA ALLOWED groin kicks, there were NO fights won via groin kick ( the noticeble exception to groin attacks being Keith Hackney VS Joe Son).
As for eye attacks, same thing.
Notice that when eye attacks were allowed ( and in some places they still are), they do NOT change the course of the fight.
One must never confuse what fighters do IN THE RING with what they can do outside of it.
And anyone that has trained with fighters KNOWS hoe VERY dirty they can fight.

[Chadderz]

Only thing I've seen that should maybe be changed would be headbutts. I'd like to see headbutts (Rio heroes allows them, and there are a few knockouts).

[sanjuro_ronin]

Only thing I've seen that should maybe be changed would be headbutts. I'd like to see headbutts (Rio heroes allows them, and there are a few knockouts).

Rio allows pretty much everything, LOL!
IN the "heyday" of vale Tudo, pretty much everything went and the guys that won were the guys that would have won if those "controversial" techniques were illegal ( as they are now).
Sure the States made the UFC become more civil, but lets be honest here, does anyone think that if there were no rules that the top fighters in the UFC now wouldn't be at the top then?
Of course they would because less rules would just give the top fighters more ammo.