Hey guys, I've been avoiding writing about Lyoto for a while, wanting to do him justice. I could only avoid it so long however, as he's my most requested fighter! I hope my karate background can add a little something to my analysis on this one. Fair warning, there's a bit more Traditional Martial Arts philosophy in this one than usual ;) Cheers, Jack
Lyoto Machida is as fine a striker as has ever stepped into the octagon. A master of movement and timing despite his limited move set and technically mediocre kickboxing, Machida has shown how much of striking is in the intangibles and not in how pretty one's technique looks on it's own. [B]In my humble opinion,*Lyoto Machida's*performances against*Thiago Silva*and*Rashad Evans*are the two striking performances*which came closest to true perfection[/B]. Against elite level competition Lyoto left both matches almost untouched and with knockout victories on his record - no-one can argue that this isn't the objective of traditional striking martial arts.
As a passionate karateka since infancy, I have had the pleasure of training with a great many of the Machida family's competitive opponents and have been saving my thoughts on Lyoto Machida until I feel I can begin to do his style justice on paper. I even excluded Lyoto Machida from my first ebook,*Advanced Striking, with the intention of saving a detailed examination of his technique for a second volume - simply so that I could articulate his style as completely as possible. With his meeting with heavy handed wrestler,*Ryan Bader*approaching, I felt that it was time I broke down some of the subtlety of*karate*to Bloody Elbow readers.
The first thing to establish is that in*karate, the reverse punch is king. This is the right straight for an orthodox fighter or the left straight for a southpaw fighter (often mistakenly called the "cross"). The reverse punch is known as gyaku-zuki in Japanese, and landing it is the single most practiced facet of Shotokan karate. Training at the Japan Karate Association headquarters in Tokyo, I must have been counted through well over two hundred thousand reverse punches by various instructors in my brief few months there - not to mention in my private training.
Gyaku-zuki*is seen as the heart of karate-do, and it is*certainly*the heart of Lyoto Machida's fighting style. A strong reverse punch alone does not make a good fighter however, and I have encountered dozens of*karateka*in my travels who have believed themselves to be competent martial artists but have fallen apart terribly when movement and "aliveness" is added. Indeed, many karateka do not even engage in*Jiyu Kumite*or free sparring all that often.
The genius of Machida lies in his timing - which can usually be defined under the Japanese concepts of*Go-No-Sen*or*Sen-No-Sen. Go-No-Sen is the act of taking the initiative after an opponent's attack, blocking the opponent's strike and striking back as they recover - such Lyoto famously used against Sam Hoger, or even as Rampage used his block and hook against*Wanderlei Silva.*Sen-No-Sen,*however,*is the highest level of skill in*karate*and all striking arts - the act of taking the initiative by attacking*simultaneously*with the opponent.
Photo courtesy of Esther Lin / MMAFighting Fedor Emelianenko has just surprised no-one by knocking out a much aged and worn down Pedro Rizzo, but Rizzo is still no slouch on the feet, and the The Last Emeperor's striking discipline continued along it's upward trend. While many of his hardcore fans, myself included, would like to see Fedor return to his varied striking to grappling style, Fedor did fight exactly as he should now that he is past his best. Fedor fought intelligently, in a measured manner, and out thought Rizzo. Fedor looked every bit the technical striker, even hooking off of the jab. The finishing combination was a perfect example of a set up immediately paying dividends, and effective set ups are something we see far too little of in MMA. If you haven't read my piece on Fedor's striking, please check it out.
Fedor threw a hard low kick at the Brazilian, coincidentally a man known for his own, powerful low kicks. ThenFedor lifted his foot, faking the kick but instead stepped in with a powerful right hand. Similar to a superman punch, but accomplished with a step forward rather than a hop into the same stance. The act of establishing the low kick (a fairly safe technique when thrown appropriately), then using this to set up meaningful punches is one that is still underutilized in Mixed Martial Arts. Rizzo was circling away from the Russian's legendary right hand, and yet the appearance of an approaching low kick made him lift his leg to check, allowing Fedor to strike him down.
After the Jump we'll look some gifs of Fedor and at Shogun's excellent use of low kicks to impliment his punching game
Hey folks, I have been promising another installment of the southpaw guide for quite some time but my other commitments have prevented me from devoting the time necessary. I came home late last night and was suddenly hit by the energy to do this, so I have pushed this piece out in an hour or two. Switch hitting is an enormous passion of mine, and a great part of any training day is spent practicing my switches and shifts. This is a basic level overview of the ideas at play in switch hitting, and if there is as good a response to this piece as there has been to the others I would love to write a full southpaw guide ebook. If that would interest you please let me know, because there are so many details that stills from fights can't explain, and a great many stance switching methods that I haven't even touched on such as Bas Rutten's teeps to the ropes or Karate's "cheat punch". I don't think there's a man alive who couldn't up his game with a few switch hitting techniques. Cheers, Jack
Switch hitting is an enormously useful tactic to employ and one that is grossly under-estimated by traditional boxing and kickboxing coaches. When watching high level boxing matches one will notice that both fighters get hit a lot and come out bruised. A boxer will have 20 - 50 fights in his career and finish it with slurred speech and slowed movement, whereas a switch hitter such as Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva or Prince Naseem Hamed gets hit relatively little and leaves the sport with most of their wits in tact.
Switch hitting is largely frowned upon in boxing circles because it is done exceptionally poorly by most of those who attempt it. Many fighters switch stance where they stand, with an energy expending hop, and get nailed with a powerful straight as they change stances. Switching stances by hopping where you stand leaves an instant where neither foot is planted, and a moment either side of this where you are focused on the stance change more than your defense. Switching stance should be effortless and serve to confuse everyone but the man switching stances.
There are several ways to change stance intelligently. One can change stance while circling away from the opponent's power hand, thereby limiting their offence to the one, weaker hand. Or one can change stance in the midst of a technique or combination. An excellent example of how shifting stance during an attack will serve to bring the strike from a confusing angle can be seen in the first meeting between the Hercules of K-1, Jerome Le Banner, and Ray Sefo. Sefo, fighting against the southpaw Le Banner, performed a switch step and struck a hook with his right hand - changing it from his rear hand to his lead hand. This drastically shortened the distance it had to cover and changed it's angle of entry. Southpaws do not expect to have to deal with a lead hook from another southpaw stance, preferring instead the game of outfighting based on hand fighting, footwork and rear hand leads.
This right hook, known as the Balmoral Special (Balmoral being Sefo's hometown in New Zealand) is a signature of Sefo's style, and variations of stance switching hooks, stepping forward or backward, have been utilized by many of the fighters Sefo has trained such as Jay Heiron and Vitor Belfort. It is certainly an excellent way to press home the significance of stance switching. It is, however, simply a trick and does not prepare you for the change of game that comes from a stance switch.
Notice how Sefo, an orthodox fighter against the southpaw Le Banner, draws his left leg back, steps forward with his right leg into a southpaw stance and lands a right hook. Because the right hand becomes his lead hand as he changes stance, his hips are already moving to an angle that makes the right hook a short, lead hook, rather than a long, looping blow as it would be if he stayed orthodox. This type of stance switching punch is known as a "Shift", and only a few men have made a specialty of them. Benny Leonard used to utilize a ducking or "drop shift" from orthodox to southpaw, and the great middleweight Robert Fitzsimmons won the heavyweight title of the world from Gentleman Jim Corbett with his famous "Fitzsimmons Shift", a switching left hook to the body which felled Corbett in a single blow.
Some truly amazing fighters have made extensive use of stance switching, and it hasn't simply been a gimmick, it has served as a confusing offense AND as a deterrent of the opponent's offense as he has to re-assess the dynamic of the bout due to the change in distance and lead side. Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Alistair Overeem, Takanori Gomi, Jersey Joe Walcott, Marvin Hagler and Jersey Joe Walcott are all great examples of fighters who spent a great deal of time switching from stance to stance until they found a power punch (or kick) as their opponent played catch up.
To change stance correctly from an orthodox stance against an orthodox opponent, it is best to side step to their lead side. Taking a 45 degree step forward and to the right with the right foot, then pivoting around it, bringing the left foot in behind it and establishing a southpaw stance. If changing from a southpaw stance to an orthodox stance these directions are, of course, reversed. Against an opponent in the opposite stance to oneself, it is still best to circle to their weaker, leading side. The important point is that rather than shift on spot, you find a way to bring your feet level, then pivot or step in behind the one that you wish to lead with.
Here Anderson Silva is facing fellow southpaw Yushin Okami. Anderson spent a great deal of this match switching stance, and most of the time was circling away from Okami's left hand. While Okami is not a power puncher with his left hand, by circling to Okami's lead side Anderson gave Okami one hand to attack with rather than both. In the top left frame Anderson (right) is orthodox while Okami is southpaw. Anderson draws back his left foot squaring up his stance (top right still), then side steps to the left (bottom left still). After a change of camera angle Anderson draws his right foot up in a southpaw stance (bottom right still).
The most important part of this sequence is that Anderson changes stance while moving. Lateral movement is enormously important to changing stances effectively. It is vital to circle and limit the opponent's attacks so that you can switch stances safely. Furthermore, changing stances facilitates lateral movement. As one squares up it is easier to side skip around the opponent, stepping back into a stance as one wishes to engage. It is very easy to circle with the feet level (as in the top right and bottom left frames) and leap straight back in with a left or right straight from either stance. Willie Pep was a master at this, circling away and then jumping back in with a straight from either stance as his opponent caught up.
Jersey Joe Walcott had a different approach to stance shifting. He circled in the direction of the opponent's power hand, but he did so while moving forty five degrees backwards. Notice here, Walcott squares up his stance while circling (top left and top right stills), then steps across himself while firing a right lead to bewilder his opponent, then steps through with his left to establish a southpaw stance. The entire time he is traveling to his left, but he is moving back rather than into the opponent's power.To make this more impressive, his visibly flustered opponent is Joe Louis, the greatest heavyweight who ever fought, and a man who made a career out of knocking men unconscious with a cross counter as they circled into his powerful right hand! It was stance shifts like these, combined with rockback counter right hands and left hooks that allowed Joe Walcott, an average physical specimen, to become the oldest man to win the heavyweight title of the world.
As we have discussed, the open guard (left vs right stance) is a completely different game to closed guard (left vs left or right vs right stance). It relies on hand trapping and rear hand leads, while the jab is virtually useless except when tailored for specific instances. Switching to and fro between stances will confuse even decent boxers as to what they should and shouldn't be throwing. It is in this confusion that they often fail to commit to attacks fully, which allows a switch hitter to throw power punches or counters freely. It is even hard to anticipate the angle an opponent's attack will take to attack while his feet are squared, as demonstrated by Willie Pep here.
Notice how Pep (black trunks) is in a closed guard position with his opponent, both leading with their left foot. Pep steps his lead foot back and outward, level to his rear foot (a typical move of Pep, top right still), as his opponent pivots to face him (bottom left still) Pep steps in with his right foot leading and uncorks a body shot that the other fighter can only curl up and take (bottom right still). Whether it was the body shot or the straight left to the face, circling left and coming in with the right foot forward was a typical feature of Pep's style and was responsible for a disproportionately high amount of his offense. Sadly this skill is overlooked by conservative coaches who write off switch hitting as a gimmick. Notice in this highlight how many times Pep utilizes the same squaring of his feet, circling, then diving into a southpaw stance.
There are dozens of techniques to switch stances correctly, and each will leave you in a different position with strikes that travel different distances and through different angles from your original position. Furthermore, switch hitting stifles an opponent's defense and facilitates the movement of a fighter to new angles of attack. Defensive geniuses such as Willie Pep, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Jersey Joe Walcott had most of their success because they switched stances so frequently and effectively not in spite of it.
There is a great deal left to be said about fighting from open guard, and on switch hitting techniques and footwork. Much of this will be covered extensively in my upcoming ebooks should I receive the same support for this technical article that I have for others. At any rate, it is an excellent idea to invest the time studying tape of the best switch hitters - a great many of whom were / are very inactive fighters, but stellar knockout artists. I will conclude by re-affirming what I said at the opening - bring me any good one stance fighter and with just a few safe, scientific stance switching techniques and the previously established southpaw principles, he could up his offensive options and reduce the number of times he gets hit significantly. There is no martial artist alive who cannot benefit from learning just a few of these skills.
If you wish to support Jack Slack and learn more about the tactics of 20 of the world's leading strikers, with over 70 techniques demonstrated in full instructional photography, pick up the ebook Advanced Striking: Tactics of Boxing, Kickboxing and MMA Masters.
Hey everyone, it's been a bit more than a week that I've been back now, and the response I've received has been absolutely brilliant. I've got a lot of stuff in the works (almost too much!) and there will be tons of new stuff coming out. I haven't forgotten about the Southpaw Guide part 3, but am writing pieces for Bloody Elbow at an incredible rate.
The number of book sales and emails I have received suggests that people want to see more in depth analysis of fights and martial arts principles, but have simply never had the chance. Everyone who visits regularly has already supported me an enormous amount, but if you could share me with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or over email I would be enormously grateful!
I have lots of fighter analyses coming up, as always, and they'll be out so soon it doesn't seem worth giving a preview of what's to come for Bloody Elbow.
My second book is also coming along excellently and I am currently writing sections on how to build my suggested jabbing tactics into functional and effective combinations (or set-ups, a term I prefer). I have received a great many emails on this subject and I hope that I do it justice!
Will keep you all updated and thanks again for your support!
Hey guys, Managed to get this together and publish it the morning after UFC On FX 3. If it goes down well I'll do it after every event.
Cheers, Jack
UFC on FX 3 brought little in the way of striking clinics, but one of the stand out performances on the feet of the event was Eddie Wineland's masterful dismantling of the dangerous wrestler and one time top contender,Scott Jorgensen. Of course Wineland benefited from a height, reach and experience advantage in the striking exchanges, but he also benefited greatly from Jorgensen trying to jab his way forward technically rather than just running in swinging. Of course no coach is ever going to tell his fighter to abandon the jab and swing, but Jorgensen's misplaced discipline in sticking to the clearly ineffectual jab even when he was being countered violently was severely damaging to his performance in this match.
As a general rule, technical fighting is entirely based on the jab. Good offensive fighters tighten up their methods of landing it cleanly and following up on it. Good counter fighters work specifically on ways to counter the jab more than any other punch. If the jab, as it is taught today, were anywhere near as safe as coaches lead their charges to believe it is, counter punchers would not have such success dropping and stopping their opponents off of the jab. Men like Anderson Silva would have half their game taken away from them if their opponents devoted as much time studying new ways to lead as Silva spends designing counter attacks for standard offenses.
Last night Scott Jorgensen was a victim of this cult of the jab. A short fighter, with a reach disadvantage, he plodded forward behind single jabs, with his body upright. It is fine to move in behind single jabs, but a certain form is required to do it successfully. If attacking with a jab it is important to dip to one's right, taking one's head offline of the opponent's straights, and dipping the head below the lead shoulder to prevent an overhand swing or "Cross Counter". Notice the difference in posture between Wineland while jabbing on the left side of the storyboard (moving his head off line), and Jorgensen on the right side (upright, lead shoulder low and lunging out of his stance to connect).
This is a piece I did a couple of days ago for BloodyElbow, been resting a bit and writing my new book in the meantime so I forgot to put it up here! Please go check it out; it's my first UFC piece using storyboards and I think this format is going to be the future - no legal hold ups and real pin point analysis.
Will have some information for you on my new book soon! Cheers, Jack
Anderson Silva is legitimately argued to be the greatest MMA fighter to date. This is, of course, subjective due to level of competition and questionable performances such as his refusing to engage Demian Maia. He is, however, hard to dispute as the most elite striker working at the top levels of MMA today. Something that people tend to forget, especially those who lack a pedigree in striking martial arts, is that unlike UFC Undisputed - striking is not simply a fixed attribute in the real world. Every exchange must be thought out, and no man can sit back and coast - no matter how much he tries to make it look that way. Anderson Silva then is anything but infallible - and he certainly makes mistakes - but to the educated fan, this makes his technical clinics even more impressive.
Anderson Silva, like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, is one of the few professional fighters in ANY discipline who has the mental discipline and physical endurance to mind his Ps and Qs 90% of the time. When Anderson enters with a flurry, it is rarely without a jab, hand trap or feint preceding it - eliminating the opponent's direct counters for an instant. When he is done with his attack, he almost always dips, slips or sidesteps on his exit - rather than simply standing up and stepping back. His rigorous conformity to what I (for lack of an official term) teach as The Pattern of Offense (Pre-Entry, Entry, Strike, Exit) has made him one of the least hit MMA fighters of all time, while simultaneously one of the most prolific knockout artists in UFC history.
Knowing how to do this is one thing - many fighters do not - but even those who do, get sloppy from time to time. This week I've been examining Fedor Emelianenko, whose technical trickery borderlines genius, but whose discipline in the pocket has been known to waver when he smells blood. Anderson's discipline and the demands he places on himself throughout the fight almost make it seem as though the thought of losing to his opponent is less offensive to him than the thought of striking incorrectly.
There is so much to be said about the striking and overall game of Anderson Silva, and believe me, I will try in vain to say it all over the coming months and years. Today, however, we will focus on my favourite two facets of his most recent performance against Yushin Okami. These will be:
The overwhelming attention and positive feedback I received from my first piece pushed me to get the second one out on time and not simply leave the series hanging as I have done some times before! Here is an examination of some of Fedor's ground and pound techniques. This is my first piece on grappling, and I am by no means an expert in that, so it is written very much from a striking perspective, but then I feel that this is how Fedor approached groundwork. Hope it goes down well.
Cheers,
Jack
Fedor Emelianenko is, to my mind, the most rounded fighter to have ever competed in MMA to date. Very few men can claim to have olympic alternate level judo and still able to out-strike the best kickboxer in MMA history. What Fedor will always be remembered for by fans who saw him compete in his prime, however, was his revolutionizing of ground and pound.
Ground and pound had existed since the early days of MMA - and Mark Coleman found his way to the UFC belt through holding men down and mauling them with short strikes from the top position. The difference between the ground and pound utilized by a Mark Coleman or Matt Hughes type fighter and Fedor is significant. I would call the majority of wrestlers' ground and pound techniques Static Ground and Pound, in that their job is to hold a man down and hit him while he cannot move.
Fedor Emelianenko, on the other hand, brought a unique brand of Dynamic Ground and Pound to the fore. I refer to Fedor's ground and pound as dynamic for two main reasons. Firstly, he moved routinely between being postured up and broken down in his opponent's guard when he sensed his opponent changing grips or loosening their hold. Rather than struggling to post up against his opponent's strength, or staying down and throwing muffled strikes, he would stay down, and bait them with a hand to the mat, then punish them by posturing up and landing a pair of strikes while they changed grip.
Secondly, Fedor's best work was done while changing positions. He is remembered for bouncing Nogueira's head off of the mat with 4 successive power punches from the guard, but a great many of his more punishing shots were landed when:
He was passing guard.
His opponent was attempting to recover guard.
Traditionally these are situations in which the top player holds on for dear life, but Fedor actively preferred landing damaging shots to maintaining forward progress through the positional hierarchy. This flies in the face of the traditional BJJ mindset, but his punishment of men such as Nogueira and Herring as they recovered guard really underlined that the punches he landed while they did so were far more significant than the act of recovering guard.
Over the course of this article we will look in detail at some of the subtleties Fedor Emelianenko used to landed his dynamic ground and pound. Some will be spectacular visually, and others will seem mundane, but the devil is in the details. Fedor was skilled on the ground, but he was no Jiu Jitsu master, just as he was no master kickboxer. Yet his bag of tricks was enough to stifle both such fighter groups and can, with some practice, be emulated by men who lack the physical ability so often (and foolishly) credited as Fedor's only reason for success.
