This is your fist event, so I'll tell you something you might not be happy to hear, but its kinda the truth.
Technique is little in terms of winning the fight. Its just a supplement to it. You will have to learn how to fight "dirty". Dirty as in gritty and sacrificing "perfect" technique. When a technical guy faces pressure from a very aggressive and pressure-heavy guy, most of the time (at this stage) they break and lose out on the pressure.
At this stage + the build up leading to it, its a fight, and there's no sugar-coating that will make it different. For this, you have to learn how to fight.
- Aggression
- Ring control
- Volume
If there is one thing to focus on, it would be breathing. How to breathe during the round, and how to breathe during the recovery period.
New fighters are EXTREMELY terrible at distance management, the stuff you hear about seasoned boxers or strikers talking about using the end of your punches and that great stuff. Yeah, not gonna happen. What will happen is you both will press forward, no one backs down, and you end up in the clinch for awhile. If you DON'T breathe properly, you will gas within 30 seconds. Not a joke.
Especially since you are new, you need techniques that are ready at an instinct to pull off, which is why the most simple and basic techniques will be used. Forget about something like 1,2, angle, 3,2 slip, 6. Ain't gonna happen, and it'll cause you to shut down.
- 1,2 kick
- basic clinch pummeling to secure double collar + go to town
- press forward for ring control
3 x 1min rounds is a damn sprint, do no underestimate it thinking 1min is nothing. Where I competed, its always been 2min rounds, and after 25 seconds in, it feels like an eternity.
Ring control (RC) is tied into aggression so losing on RC means you lose 2/3 judging criterias. Everyone wants to go for the finish, but ammy fights are numerously ended in decisions. You could be a bad-ass beating the guy with your back on the ropes, but to the eyes of the judges you're losing since your opponent is pressing forward and by their definition is more aggressive.
So what you should be focusing on is
- combos as your offense
- combos as your defense (interrupt their flurry ASAP, no longer than 3 strikes landed on you)
- basic clinching
- be aggressive to maintain the center of the ring
Combos
Combination striking is key, and when I say that I mean mixing both punching and kicking. If all you do is just 1,2,3,2. Its difficult to get through, but when you diversify your striking, it'll get through. You will have to learn to throw majorly bullshit strikes with a real one at the end. If you throw kill shots in everything, you will gas, that is a fact. No one can go long with that much intensity in everything, not even top level pros.
So, something like 1,2,3,kick. The kick is the main strike, 1,2,3 is pure fluff. Sell the 1,2,3 like real strikes to get them to respect it, then slam the kick with everything.
You both are gonna be nervous as shit, the last thing you want to do, is to let him get confidence back. big no no, make sure he doesn't get there. The longer you wait in his combination to retaliate, the more comfortable he's gonna get, and when he gets comfortable, he is gonna throw things that hurt, like liver shots, heavy knees, etc.
Get into the mindset that when you get hit, even if its a light jab, feel gravely insulted that he even thought it was a good idea to do so, and punish him badly for that insult. Likewise, he's gonna do the same to you.
The coaches will tell you that its an inter-club, go "lighter" than a real fight, but lets be real, its a real fight. Both you guys have adrenaline surging, nervous, been holding this emotional rollercoaster for 8+ weeks, and don't wanna make your team look bad, and don't wanna be humiliated in front of a crowd which likely includes your friends, and girlfriend/wife; So you guys are gonna go
110% regardless. Remember that. Don't go in there thinking its gonna be a light, fun, intense sparring session only to get cracked then playing "catch up", and that will cause your breathing to be irregular, meaning you'll gas ALOT faster.
Breathing in between rounds
This is probably the hardest thing to do. You will have to prevent yourself at all costs from hyperventilating. Take a big big big breath in, then basically hold it at the peak for a second, then SLOWLY pew out little bit by bit, and repeat. Slowing your breathing down will slow your heart rate down, this is the entire plan for the recovery round. If you hyperventilate all round, while your opponent has been slow breathing, you've wasted a min, while he's been recovering. Really when done right, you can recover near 60-70% of your tank.
This is very hard, because its not natural at what you want to do, this is a fight itself, but once around the 40 second mark, you'll thank yourself you did it. I suggest practicing this for anything cardio intensive from now on.
If your corner makes you talk while you're focusing on breathing, they're pricks! This is your round to recover, the most you should be doing outside of recovering is a simple nod so your corners know you got the cue from their advice.
Clinching
If you done grappling before, its the exact same in terms of position before submission. The only difference is strikes, which does change the dynamic alot. BREATHE when here, don't hold your breath, doing so makes it the gas tank sapper.
I won't go into the details of clinching as your coaches should be the ones to do that, but remember the goal is to make them be off-balanced, then strike, since their instincts is to get footing back after being off balanced, they won't brace for impact, and slamming your knee into their body will be much more effective.
Overall have fun, its a great step to take your first event.
