Part 3 – Getting your game on
You may be training in a gym or gyms and now you have decided that it time to start training for the big day….fight day. Now its time to step up your training and get your body ready for the battle that it’s about to go through. This is the time where the fight is won or lost so put down your KFC and pick up your gym bag.
So we need to start looking at how to get the most out of your training and start building some kind of game plan. Something I have learnt about fighting, or something that fighting has taught me, is ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN.
Now some people will say you don’t need a plan just train hard get in there and you will be ok. That’s all well and good, but by not having an aim or even an idea of where you want to take the fight then you are putting yourself at a huge disadvantage.
This all starts with your training. You need to plan your training so that it gives you the best possible preparation for the fight. If you are fresh meat in the sport then you have to start from scratch. It’s always good to have some kind of base in a certain area but this is not essential if you plan your training and work on the correct things.
A good way to think about training is to think about the stages of a fight. All MMA fights start with both fighters standing so moving into striking range is always the first (and sometimes last) thing that will happen. So in your training you need to deal with this area by working on boxing and kickboxing. I find the biggest thing with striking on your feet is confidence. So make sure you get plenty of sparring in and get confident on your feet because even if you not knocking everyone out, sometimes your going to be forced into stand up wars so be ready. Focus should be on keeping the chin down, hands protecting the jaw, straight shots and setting up low kicks off the jab.
The next range you will meet after striking is the clinch and takedowns range. For me this range is the key to winning a fight. If you can master this range then you can decide when you want the fight to happen. If you’re a master striking you can use the clinch defensively to keep the fight on the feet, and if your subs are slick as a mother fucker then you can use this to take the fight down to the ground to your domain. Practice, shooting for the legs, sprawling on shots, striking in the clinch, takedowns from the clinch and how to escape the clinch. Try to focus on maybe 3 good takedowns to work into your game. You may not want the fight down, but at some point you may have to take it there, plus takedowns are a excellent way to score points in a fight, especially at the end of a round to leave an impression in the eyes of the judges.
The final range you will find yourself in is the ground. The main thing here as a beginner, is to work on escaping submissions and positions. You only really need a couple of attacks to be successful. People worry too much about having loads of crazy attacks but when someone’s mounted on you dropping elbows into you ugly face then I am afraid that rolling calf crank into the twister doesn’t really mean shit. Try putting yourself in bad positions and even submission in training and try work your way out, once you start getting confident with your defence on the ground, then work on a couple of solid attacks and you will start to have a decent ground game.
Remember, you can move back and forward through the ranges very quickly so its important to put it all together with full MMA sparring as well as breaking it down into each area separately or even working specifics such as defending the takedown when your backs to the cage or setting up takedowns with boxing.
All this technical training and sparring has to be back up with some good strength and conditioning. I don’t really want to go deep into this topic as I have talked on this subject before. But a good sprinting session a week and a good strength session concentrating on power movements such as dead lifts, pull ups, cleans etc will do the trick.
As the fight looms closer, its time to start getting specific and looking at playing your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses. This is time to start making some kind of game plan. You need to look at your training and see what area/s you are doing well in. If you can find anything about your opponent then that helps with this process but at lower levels this is hard.
Now you can start with a general plan such as, you want them on the ground because your fancy yourself as a submission artist. But you need to look at how your going to get there and the options your opponent has too. Here is a quick example of a mini game plan, hopefully you will understand and start using the same idea.
Plan – Need them on the ground so I can work submissions from the top (lets say Kimura from the side is your money move)
How – Use boxing to set up double leg takedown, or clinch against the fence and take down, then get to side control and use set ups till I hit the deadly Kimura or take what he gives me.
What If
#1 – I shoot but he sprawls – work back up to my feet if not pull guard and try to sweep them onto their back, if that fails feet on hips push away and scramble back to feet
#2 – I take him down but he pulls guard – use strikes to open the guard and back away, pass the open guard to side control
#3 – I get to side control but his defence is too good – use strike to try open up his defence, if not step over to the mount and try to stop him with strikes
That’s a pretty simple plan and there is a lot of variation what can happen but by having a plan you will have more confidence in what you do and wont panic as much when the shit hits the fan.
I hope you understand what I am trying to get across, its only a basic overview of what you should be looking at for training but for those who are practising kata’s and breaking boards over their heads ready for an MMA fight then you fucking need this!
The more you bleed in the gym, the less you bleed in the ring aye Joe?
