Thursday

Some Keys to Winning a Fight

Whether it is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, or MMA, there are some common keys to winning a fight.

The best defense is a great offense.

Whether you are sparring for fun or competing at the highest professional level, it is very important to have a great offense. The logic is simple. If you are attacking, it means that your partner is defending. Having a great offense does not mean attacking recklessly without thought. You definitely do not want to be a "dumb competitor" and just attack mindlessly. You should be attacking with combinations and rhythm. In BJJ, black belts often possess attacking combinations of 5-6 moves. In Muay Thai, it is similar. Ideally, your body and mind will have these combinations automatically. To have a great offense means that you can automatically execute 5-6 moves in a row without thought. The combinations must be reflexive and you must be able to flow into them. So how do you get good? Practice, practice, and practice. If you train the same combinations over and over, you will inherit muscle memory and your body will be able to do it automatically.

Break your opponent's rhythm.
In all combat sports, there is a thing called rhythm. You have a rhythm and your partner/opponent will have a rhythm. The key is to be able to recognize the patterns that your partner/opponent most favors. When you catch onto a particular pattern, your objective is to disturb it. This action causes your partner/opponent to get flustered. Often times, you will be able to create a mental block for a split second. A split second in Muay Thai or MMA can mean a knockout. There are many ways to break someone's rhythm. We will post how to break a person's rhythm on a future post.

Use the unexpected.
If your opponent is used to seeing you throw 1-2 punch combination followed by a low leg kick, then change it up. If you always use the armbar, triangle, omoplata combination, then change it up. The point is to have 1-2 techniques up your sleeve to surprise your opponent. It can often change the outcome of a match dramatically. The important thing is to understand that you have to SURPRISE your own rhythm. Get out of your comfort zone and do something new and crazy. You will see that your game will improve dramatically.

Have endless cardio.
Fitness is your engine. Of course, training at Evolve will give you great cardio. If you cross train across different martial arts at Evolve, your cardio will be even better. And if you work on cardio in addition to your martial arts training, your cardio will be fantastic. If you have great cardio, you will be able to attack endlessly. You will be able to break someone's rhythm more easily. You will be able to apply a surprise technique more frequently. Having great cardio is a CRITICAL ingredient to success in the martial arts.


Evolve Mixed Martial Arts. Achieve Greatness Within.