UFC fighters vs Marine Corps martial arts experts, guess how it plays out

You train how you fight and you fight how you train.

I ran across this video in an article on Business Insider's website today (which is a reprint of the original article on We Are the Mighty that shows 3 UFC fighters, and Dana White, spending a day at the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence (MACE), in Quantico, VA. UFC veterans, Forrest Griffin, Marcus Davis, and Rashad Evans went through a training lane where they'd have to fight their way past marines in a 'no rules' scenario of combat survival. Watch the video to see how they pan out. Spoiler alert, not well for the UFC guys.

What can we take away from this video? Combat sports and military/high risk operator skill sets serve two very different purposes.
 
Military and high risk operators train to achieve a completely different goal from what MMA and tournament & civilian martial arts train for. And that becomes very apparent at the 5:18 mark of the video. UFC fighter, Gabriel Gonzaga approaches two enemy marines.  Right away, he makes two critical tactical mistakes: 1. he puts himself between both opponents, exposing his back to one of them, and 2. he focuses his attack on one opponent. And he immediately paid for it.

In fact, each of the MMA fighters made the same mistake when fighting multiple opponents. They all focused their fight on one enemy while ignoring the other active opponent, and that's why they were each killed in the exercise.

Fighting in the cage/ring/mat against a single opponent is very different from what happens in a combat situation. But what's more relevant to us civilians, is that what happens in a combat situation is more aligned to what happens on the street. Odds are that the guy you get in a fight with has friends, who are not going to wait their turn for you to beat them up.  Environmental conditions will not be ideal (see how everyone was slipping around in the snow on the video), weapons can be pulled and used, and there is no referee or coach to enforce rules or call the fight.

Training MMA is training for sport, against a single opponent in a fairly safe environment. If you do train MMA or any other combat sport (muay thai included), it's very important to remember that the objectives of your style aren't the same as the objectives of an armed assailant or a crew that picks fights for fun. The dynamics change outside of the gym.

Here are just a few tips to keep in mind:
1. If you do end up in a situation outside the gym, assume that there's more than one bad guy.
2. In the street, never, ever take the fight to the ground, that's the quickest way to get your head stomped.
3. If/when you find yourself going to the ground, get up, fight your way back to your feet.
4. Keep moving, don't focus on one single individual opponent. Tunnel vision kills.
5. If this is a real concern for you, seek out a local school that trains reality-based self defense where multiple/armed opponent tactics & group psychology principles are applied. Check out one of the following:

•  Krav Maga - not my first choice, but given the Krav franchise, its the most widely available option. 
• If you're near a Senshido school, go there. 
• Better yet, if you can train directly with Richard Dimitri, take advantage of that. 
• If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out the Muay Thai Academy International (shameless plug, it's where I teach, and this stuff is what we cover).

Either way, check out the video. It's entertaining, and the exercises the UFC fighters went through looks like a lot of fun.

This video was originally posted on You Tube in 2011. Video credit, HarryBank99

MyMuayThai asks if MMA is bad for muay thai

Muay thai blogger, and a leading resource for news on ring style mauy thai, MyMuayThai.com posted a contributed article  earlier this month arguing that MMA actually hurts muay thai. I, for one, am stoked that other muay thai bloggers are waking up to this reality.  I've made this point in previous posts, and received a fair amount of flack from the TapOut crowd. Thank you Mai for keeping the discussion going.

Here's a link to the article on MyMuayThai.com. It's fairly short and worth a read.


Donnie-

Source: MyMuayThai.com
http://www.mymuaythai.com/archives/is-mma-counterproductive-to-muay-thai/

Learn muay thai at home? Yeah, right.

I receive many emails from a lot of people from around the world who have the same problem - either they don't live anywhere near a gym, or local martial arts schools don't offer muay thai. In the face of this challenge, many turn to the Internet to learn from home.

I certainly sympathize with those of you who've reached out to me asking for advice on how you can train from home, however, I have a hard time subscribing to the theory that one can learn a martial art from a book or a video. It's pretty hard to find a video online that really breaks down the muay thai techniques for the purpose of actual instruction. I myself am guilty of throwing up videos in which I speak fast, I throw fast, and I don't lay out the mechanics of a given technique.

But recently, a YouTube subscriber of mine sent me a video of himself throwing shadow kicks that he had learned by watching my videos. And I was impressed. Maybe there is something to this whole idea of learning through video. Sure you don't get the feedback, and there is no way to tell what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong, but by allowing me to watch his technique, I was able to provide him with detailed critiques and tips to help him improve.

So with that in mind, let's try an experiment, shall we? I posted a video that covers the basic mechanics in the old style muay thai round kick. It lacks the cool sound effects, and bag bashing, and the graphics, but it has the meat and potatoes that go into successfully knowing this technique.

If you choose to try it out, here's a few other tips to consider:

1. Open up your hips by turning your heel inward.
2. The pivot is the most important part of the kick.
3. Go slowly, it's harder that way, but you'll build the muscle and you'll develop better habits than rushing.
4. Spin all the way through. Go with the momentum.
5. It's alright if you feel off balance, you're actually supposed to be off your center.

Dead Man Fighting

In a streetfight you must be able to move smoothly and quickly without hesitation on your part.

You must be explosive with your punches and put your weight behind each strike for maximum power output. You don’t want to be spending all night kicking someone’s ass; you want to get it done as quickly as possible.

So the worst thing you can do to hinder your survival in a streetfight is fight from a “Dead Stance”. A dead stance is one that lacks explosive power and is weak in movement and intent.

A streetfight can be very chaotic, dangerous and unpredictable, so when you need to move, you need to do it instantly. Your fighting stance needs to be spring loaded and ready to explode into action. If your fighting stance can’t produce this for you then you’ll be fighting and moving like you’re stuck in mud.

Now being explosive and spring loaded doesn’t mean that you should be dancing or bouncing around your adversary, never do that in a streetfight unless you have a death wish. What I am saying is learn to spring load your stance so that you only move when you need to. And that means training to “Load” your stance to make it explosive and powerful. Here are some ways to load your stance to make you more explosive when you fight.

· Squeeze your inner thighs slightly. These are the muscles that help drive power into your punch.

· Sit on your punch. Bend your knees slightly to give your legs more spring and lower your center of gravity.

· Squeeze your butt cheeks and anal sphincter slightly. This will engage your posterior chain of muscles which will help drive your body forward.

· Grab the ground with your feet. Paw the ground with your toes to help drive the body explosively.

· Push off with the big toe of your foot. This powerful muscle will help get you moving.

· Drive from the hips. Explode from your center to bring your whole body into the movement.

· Raise the rear foot slightly off the ground. This will help to propel you forward more quickly. Just make sure you push off the ground as you move.

Use this information to load your stance and become a more explosive fighter. But a word of warning; while being explosive in your movement is very important, so is being able to control it. But that’s a subject for another time, just be aware of it.

In closing I’ve given you enough information to resurrect your dead stance and make it more dynamic and explosive. It’s up to you now, add these skills to your streetfighting arsenal and don’t ever get caught being a dead man fighting.

Daniel Sambrano

www.SuperHeroSystems.com

Hand wraps for muay thai, boxing, and MMA...my way.

Everyone has their own way to put on hand wraps. Hell, most fighters have their own favorite type of hand wrap, it all depends on the style they practice. I used to train with boxers who swore by old school gauze hand wraps. There are Mexican hand wraps, standard boxing hand wraps, and muay thai hand wraps (which are longer than the typical Everlast wraps you'd find at Sports Authority). Muay thai hand wraps usually come in lengths of 180 inches, where are western boxing wraps come 107 - 110 inches in length.

A lot of people use hand wraps to protect the knuckles, I prefer to use my hand wraps as wrist protection. Since I train for street combat, my emphasis is on wrist protection, as I'll most likely never wear boxing gloves for a night out on the town.

There isn't really any one single "silver bullet" method, but there are some best practices in regards to protection. Here are some things to consider when it comes to wrapping your hands:

1. Keep the wrap tight, but not so tight to where you're cutting off circulation to your hands.
2. Make sure you maintain good wrist coverage. Wrist injuries have longer lasting effects than knuckle injuries.
   
3. Listen to your instructor, but it's alright to try different methods of wrapping.
4. MMA gloves do not provide better wrist protection than well wrapped hands. If you're going to do more than a couple rounds of striking on the heavy bag, wrap up!
5. Hand wraps, like boxing gloves are for protecting you during training, and there's a huge difference between striking wrapped up and striking bare knuckled.
   
6. If/when you ever get into a fight out there in the real world, remember this: if you throw punches, don't aim for the face - it's the best way to break your hand. Hard weapon to soft tissue.
   

In the video below I goof up. I think I said that I use 107 inch wraps. WRONG! I use muay thai wraps in order to get extra wrist protection. Whoops-a-daisy.





Here's another way to wrap up, however, I do not in any way approve of those lame, seriously lame shorts.

Another MMA Fighter Shot and Killed This Year

Hey guys just wanted to give you all the heads up, sadly another MMA fighter was killed this year.

His name was Justin Eilers, he was shot and died shortly after on Friday morning, the day after Christmas.

In an apparent domestic disturbance at an acquaintance's home in Canyon County, Idaho.

The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the chest, the bullet punctured his lung before exiting his body.

Justin Eilers was 30 years old.

The shooter James Robert Malec, 48, was arrested and charged with second degree murder in relation to the shooting.

Justin was a heavyweight fighter who fought for the UFC Heavyweight Championship against Andrea Arloski at UFC 53 in June 2005.

He also fought for Elite XC in 2008 for a title shot against Antonio Silva.

What I wanted to point out was his killer wasn't a big heavyweight MMA Fighter or a tough thug, but a 48 year old man who wasn't a fighter but someone who became deadly due to the use of a firearm.

This tragic death could have been avoided but unfortunately wasn't, what started out as an argument ended deadly.

For all you MMA Fighters or Martial Artists out there you need to be careful what you do outside the gym, that secret stand up combo or new jiu jitsu move won't work against a committed individual willing to kill you with a weapon.

When real violence enters your life you may not be able to make it tap out or be able to knock it out!

What you really need to know doesn't involve strength or sweat, a punch or a kick.

What you need to learn is awareness and deescalation skills and tactics to deal with this type of situation, no amount of kicks or punches will help when the bullets start flying.

Also if you're not training in how to deal with weapons of any kind then you're training is incomplete and needs to be reevaluated.

So take off the gloves and get up off the ground and start learning how to protect yourself from this type of violence, at the very least you'll have some options that may save your life and those of your love ones.

Take care and be safe.


Daniel Sambrano
"Keep It Simple and Savage"
www.SuperHeroSystems.com