Tag Archives | Mixed martial arts

Knee-Shield Continued (diary entry)

January 25, 2023 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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23.01.2023 The final hour of my couple client’s Mixed Martial Arts Ground Fighting course continued our work on defending with the knee-shield. We covered two sweeps. Both sweeps diverge at the dog-fight position. In the previous lesson we looked at shooting from this position. This time we looked at what can be done when an opponent attempts to counter the shoot. An obvious response is to block the shoot by posting out with a wider base kneeling position and to […]

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Teaching with Iain Abernethy (diary entry)

December 18, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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17.12.2022 I met Iain Abernethy 18 years ago at a seminar run by “The Way of the Spiritual Warrior”. After writing review of the seminar for a magazine, Iain and I became fast friends. He appeared on two of my DVDs and we’ve had some great discussions on our respective podcasts, not to mention endless epic length telephone conversations. It seems ironic that out of all my martial arts colleagues I found the most shared common ground in terms of […]

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Turtle Attack & Defence (diary entry)

December 13, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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12.12.2022 My couple client’s fifth hour brought them onto the turtle position and we covered Mixed Martial Arts attack and defence tactics. We went through five attacking tactics. This began with punches, taking the form of swings and hammer-fists. Of all the attacks this is the most simple and least compromises the attacker’s position. Next we moved onto elbow strikes, which are a little more restrictive and demand some degree of creativity due to MMA rule-sets. After this we moved […]

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Guided Sparring (diary entry)

December 6, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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05.12.2022 Hour six of my couple client’s MMA ground-fighting saw a complete review of ground ‘n pound/stack ‘n pound drills followed by sparring. We covered various details including applying more pressure in drills to test defence from the bottom position and structure from the top position. Other points included striking selection from the top and positioning from the bottom. We also looked more at the recovery positioning in the lumberjack sweep counter. The lesson finished 2 x 5 minute guided […]

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Overhand, Cobra, Superman & Bizarro Punches (diary entry)

November 28, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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18.11.2o22 & 25.11.2022 Hour seven and hour eight of my client’s basic Mixed Martial Arts course looked at three punches thrown over the guard and one extra. The overhand punch has its origins as a fairly raw swing over the top of the guard, usually thrown with a lot of power. Like the other three punches, it is a high risk/high reward technique. We used level changes and jab slipping to set it up on a 45 degree angle, attacking […]

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Stand-up to Clinch Fighting Extended Session (diary entry)

November 11, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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09.11.2022 On Wednesday night I was honoured with a visit from Holstebro Taekwondo’s chief instructor, Mikael Oddershede and senior instructor Kim Frandsen, to teach a private three-hour session on stand-up to clinch fighting. These are the two Danish instructors I helped in the development of their sparring programme via virtual teaching consultancy last year. Having first met Mikael when I taught for Jan Drachman’s  Hinnerup Karate in November 2019 (my second teaching visit to Denmark), I have been happy to assist […]

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Striking to Arm Triangle & Cuban Combinations (diary entry)

November 3, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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02.11.2022 My third and fourth sessions on Wednesday were my junior Mixed Martial Art and my senior boxing lessons. The junior lesson looked at ground fighting where we used punches from side control and scarf-hold to set up the arm triangle. This is set up in response to the opponent trying to shield strikes with a single arm whilst their other arm is trapped. We finished the class with 2 x 2 minutes of attacking from the top position sparring. […]

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MMA School Project (diary entry)

August 21, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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19.08.2022 Friday night’s second session was booked as part of a mixed martial arts project my new client is conducting at his school. We went through several ideas on how to proceed. When a new client comes to me with the mandate to teach them mixed martial arts, my usual advice is for them to go through the composite discipline course of boxing, muay Thai, wrestling and submission grappling before learning mma in earnest. On certain occasions I have just […]

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Butterfly Guard Basics (diary entry)

August 2, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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01.08.2022 The first hour of my couple clients’ new course on Submission Grappling/Ground Fighting looked at the butterfly guard. We covered three sweeps, including two different types. After our normal specific warm-up and muscle activation we moved onto the fundamentals of the butterfly guard. Having covered some posture work in our warm-up, I specified the importance of a concave back so that the core was fully engaged and it was difficult for an opponent to flatten a fighter out. We […]

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MMA & Rubber Guard Revision (diary entry)

June 9, 2022 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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08.06.2022 My last lessons on Wednesday were my junior MMA and senior Submission Grappling. In the former we went through boxing, kickboxing and a new strategy on the ground. In the latter we looked at linking up the basics of Eddie Bravo’s Rubber Guard in a flow pattern. The first lesson began with our normal warm-up specific and muscle activation exercises. We then went straight into boxing. After some assessment on my client’s defence against straight rights and some basic […]

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Junior & Senior War! (diary entry)

October 5, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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04.10.2021 Tonight my junior and senior private lessons were combined as uncle and nephew had a fun session of sparring and conditioning in MMA. This is the first time the junior client has sparred under full MMA rules (light contact). During each two minute round the student not sparring or working pads shadow boxed, reacting to the targets and openings they watched. Round 1: Focus mitts – MMA punching with kick and grappling defences Round 2: Focus mitts – MMA […]

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Saddler & Zale in MMA (diary entry)

September 24, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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22.09.21 Wednesday night’s training was a junior and senior MMA lesson. The first looked at using the half-guard and the second also covered this, but also used the combinations of the great sluggers, Sandy Saddler and Tony Zale respective nemesises of Willie Pep and Rocky Graziano. Half-guard has evolved to become an important part of ground-fighting in MMA. The knee-shield and the lockdown are particularly important parts of this guard that can be used to better control someone fighting from […]

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Striking Set-ups for Takedowns (diary entry)

September 2, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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01.09.21 Wednesday night’s 1.5 hour lesson continued my client’s MMA work from the previous week. We are exploring eight set-ups for double-leg takedowns. Each of tonight’s four alternated between right and left double leg takedowns. Combination 1: This one was a nice continuation from the single combination we explored last week. After leading with a jab, the fighter feints a single leg takedown with an inside leg tap from the same side that is used to set up an overhand […]

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Trapping with Sticks & Tricks with Kicks (diary entry)

May 17, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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12.05.21 My first client continued work with single and double stick fighting. We went through some more angles of attack, looking at extra stabs and then at one stick versus two stick sequences. The latter involved side checks to the head and I emphasised rebounding off intercepting strikes. Next we moved onto trapping with the sticks, making use of the butt end of the stick. My second client continued on the focus mitts with rhythm and flow combinations 11 and […]

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Deconstructing Basics (diary entry)

March 5, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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02.03.21 Work continues in my teacher consultancy regarding the progress of sparring/pressure-testing for grades, especially but not exclusively to child students. As my progressive and proactive client suggested, we began at the beginning and looked at where and how sparring should be introduced. Key things to consider would be that gradings would not be a test for everything. A club does not have to have sparring in the first grading and yet students by this stage can be accustomed to […]

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Combination 3 Partner Work (diary entry)

March 3, 2021 | Diary / Training Notes [ssba]
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01.03.21 Monday evening began with hour five of my client’s course on stand-up pad-work. As previously mentioned these are both lockdown partners, one of which is on the road to recovery from a knee injury. The previous course took them through the 14 Muay Thai combination for rhythm and flow. Now we are taking each combination and applying them to the focus mitts. Having a lockdown partner allows for me to coach pad work whilst not holding pads and it […]

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