Another video showing good technical sparring..

[Frode Falch]

This is how sparring should be done. @spacetime could learn a thing or two from watching videos like this.

 

[j123]

How it should be done? No, this isn't sparring. Sparring is when you bring your ego to training and try to take your partner's head off every time he pulls up a kick to save your melon. I mean, neither of these guys got pissed off even once. After all, sparring is competition. These guys look like they're just working out or maybe refining some strategy or technique. For crying out loud you'd think that they were helping each other train or something. Sparring, yeah right.

No KO = not sparring = ballet

 

[biscuitsbrah]

If you’re doing kickboxing/Muay Thai/mma and you don’t have a fight coming up then you probably shouldn’t be sparring hard.

I think for boxing it’s a little different but I don’t think you need to be going hard every session either

 

[SaiWa]

How it should be done? No, this isn't sparring. Sparring is when you bring your ego to training and try to take your partner's head off every time he pulls up a kick to save your melon. I mean, neither of these guys got pissed off even once. After all, sparring is competition. These guys look like they're just working out or maybe refining some strategy or technique. For crying out loud you'd think that they were helping each other train or something. Sparring, yeah right.

 

[j123]

If you’re doing kickboxing/Muay Thai/mma and you don’t have a fight coming up then you probably shouldn’t be sparring hard.

I think for boxing it’s a little different but I don’t think you need to be going hard every session either

Naw bud, bang in, bang out

 

[Uchi Mata]

I wish I could get more guys to spar with me like that. Everyone good just wants to bang (probably because I train with a bunch of MMA guys).

 

[j123]

I wish I could get more guys to spar with me like that. Everyone good just wants to bang (probably because I train with a bunch of MMA guys).

You're conditioning your chin to go from plastic to granite so its good in the long term

 

[Uchi Mata]

You're conditioning your chin to go from plastic to granite so its good in the long term

Though I know you're joking, it isn't all bad because it does mean that I'm pretty used to dealing with pressure and it definitely forces you to be defensively sound. It just makes it hard for me to ever get into my own offensive flow against anyone good because I'm always playing defense. And my chin is fine, it's actually usually body shots that drop me if anything. Dem kicks...

 

[j123]

Though I know you're joking, it isn't all bad because it does mean that I'm pretty used to dealing with pressure and it definitely forces you to be defensively sound. It just makes it hard for me to ever get into my own offensive flow against anyone good because I'm always playing defense. And my chin is fine, it's actually usually body shots that drop me if anything. Dem kicks...

That's a big problem actually, you end up not being able to work and drill material you should be doing. The only plus to wars is you end up improving your cardio and athleticism. Only a rare few can make very good progress steadily doing wars all the time.

body shots are the real gem in all combat sports, got dropped recently as well, stung like a mofo, and it was a well timed one as well, got me as I was breathing in.

 

[Uchi Mata]

That's a big problem actually, you end up not being able to work and drill material you should be doing. The only plus to wars is you end up improving your cardio and athleticism. Only a rare few can make very good progress steadily doing wars all the time.

body shots are the real gem in all combat sports, got dropped recently as well, stung like a mofo, and it was a well timed one as well, got me as I was breathing in.

Like I said, I'd prefer to have more technical sparring. And there are smaller and newer guys who I spar lighter with mostly because they can't scare me off like the pros do and I have more power to set the pace, but I do wish that some of the better people wouldn't just light me up the whole time. It's a tough gym, my coach's mindset comes from training high level MMA fighters (he used to coach with Trevor Wittman back when Grudge had guys like Shane Carwin, Pat Barry, Rashad Evans, etc.), and his advice to me on getting beat up was to hit them harder so they wouldn't feel so free to tee off. I mean, lots of technical stuff about movement, defense, staying in stance, etc, but what it kept coming back to was 'make them respect you'. Ok I guess, but these guys can keep it a lot more real than me so I'm torn between really letting my hands go and then getting beat up worse, or continuing to mostly just play defense.

 

[freaky]

How you train is how you fight. If you spar like that, you will fight like that.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

I wish I could get more guys to spar with me like that. Everyone good just wants to bang (probably because I train with a bunch of MMA guys).

yeah I've had that problem. The answer is straight knees.

 

[Uchi Mata]

yeah I've had that problem. The answer is straight knees.

You know, I've had very good luck with check knees and clinching in general. It's been extra rough lately because we've had a few guys getting ready to compete in a promotion that disallows knees, so we've just been kick/punch sparring, and I am really a lot less effective if counter knees and clinch knees aren't an option.

 

[Jimmy Jazz]

You know, I've had very good luck with check knees and clinching in general. It's been extra rough lately because we've had a few guys getting ready to compete in a promotion that disallows knees, so we've just been kick/punch sparring, and I am really a lot less effective if counter knees and clinch knees aren't an option.

I'm not familiar with check knees. the term i mean. One time this guy was bobbing and weaving and I caught him in the solar plexus with a straight knee and he had to take a break. good times.

 

[Uchi Mata]

I'm not familiar with check knees. the term i mean. One time this guy was bobbing and weaving and I caught him in the solar plexus with a straight knee and he had to take a break. good times.

Check knee just means to throw a knee at a guy who's moving in, similar to a check hook. But yeah, if you can catch a guy ducking under your punches with a knee...that hurts.

 

[j123]

his advice to me on getting beat up was to hit them harder so they wouldn't feel so free to tee off. I mean, lots of technical stuff about movement, defense, staying in stance, etc, but what it kept coming back to was 'make them respect you'. Ok I guess, but these guys can keep it a lot more real than me so I'm torn between really letting my hands go and then getting beat up worse, or continuing to mostly just play defense.

That's the cold hard truth with striking. Its why coaches will always tell their guys to retaliate ASAP. Really its learning how to fight, and not a technique or tactics thing. Just grit down and being comfortable. Look at it as a game as this guy has just hit you, so you are now deeply insulted that he would even attempt that, so you punish him for the fact he even had that idea in the first place. return 3 for every 1 you got hit with.

There's also the fact that the longer you wait to interrupt their flurry, the worse the last strike will be. Could be a flying knee, liver kick, body rip, etc. and the last thing you'd want to do is to let the competition gain confidence when both of you are already nervous as shit (I'm referring how it goes down in an event).

You know, I've had very good luck with check knees and clinching in general. It's been extra rough lately because we've had a few guys getting ready to compete in a promotion that disallows knees, so we've just been kick/punch sparring, and I am really a lot less effective if counter knees and clinch knees aren't an option.

Knees being banned has really thrown a wrench in your direction. Unless they say to you no knees to this guy, then still work the clinch. Maybe you can't knee in there, but the clinch game is great esp. to those that do not know how to do it. From the sound of it, your gym is more boxing and Dutch oriented (striking wise) than MT. If they don't know how to clinch, even spinning them, dumping them, and off-balancing them will mess with their breathing and tank big time.

When in doubt

Spoiler

ground and pound

 

[aerius]

Knees being banned has really thrown a wrench in your direction. Unless they say to you no knees to this guy, then still work the clinch. Maybe you can't knee in there, but the clinch game is great esp. to those that do not know how to do it. From the sound of it, your gym is more boxing and Dutch oriented (striking wise) than MT. If they don't know how to clinch, even spinning them, dumping them, and off-balancing them will mess with their breathing and tank big time.

Yup, the clinch is still very useful even if you can't use knees & elbows. Enough clinching will keep an opponent from getting into a rhythm and frustrate them, and you can still punch in the clinch & dirty box which can be pretty sucky for the other guy. Throws & dumps will wind them and cause even more frustration, and spinning or otherwise off-balancing them into a strike is often good for a free hit or 2. If you have clinch superiority over your opponent and can get to the clinch with decent success, you can keep him stuck in 1st gear so he never gets his game going. I've been on the wrong end of a clinch game and let me tell you, it sucks hard.

 

[j123]

Yup, the clinch is still very useful even if you can't use knees & elbows. Enough clinching will keep an opponent from getting into a rhythm and frustrate them, and you can still punch in the clinch & dirty box which can be pretty sucky for the other guy. Throws & dumps will wind them and cause even more frustration, and spinning or otherwise off-balancing them into a strike is often good for a free hit or 2. If you have clinch superiority over your opponent and can get to the clinch with decent success, you can keep him stuck in 1st gear so he never gets his game going. I've been on the wrong end of a clinch game and let me tell you, it sucks hard.

Oh yeah. I still remember when I first started clinching and was wiped, I got dumped flat on my back, and it killed 1/2 my tank from just that. Literally the fuel left soon as I hit the mat. And people not knowing anything about clinching will try to muscle though stuff holding their breath, which is the one way road to gas sapping city.
Then you got the ones that try to straight arm block your leg from kneeing and you can set up a wonderful stuff from it like Push off + hook / headkick

Ragdolling is going to really put people in "oh shit!" mode, I've learned from years in how to do it, and even if I'm not hitting the guy, their balance is off, and their instincts kick in to try to brace it, which ends up being abandoning everything. Its actually the GOAT time to knee. But you work with what you have, and either way they're not able to mount and offense while I can.

Clinching imo is its own martial art

 

[Frode Falch]

You can spar harder in boxing. Even thais spar kinda hard when they do pure boxing sparring.

When you ad kicks and knees. Its hard to get a good flow going at full contact.

 

[Inquisitus]

When they spar kicks, they just let it go.