Zahabi and Rory showing some angles

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Skip to 3 minutes if you just wanna see the padwork.

 
Cool vid. That dude made short work of his attackers.
 
Excellent stuff, Zahabi is underrated as a coach nevermind as an MMA coach.

It's good to see at least some MMA camps are starting to take the footwork stuff just as seriously as being able to put combinations together.
 
Zahabi's videos are excellent.

I really loved his tutorials on Ground and Pound:

He is great at explaining very thourougly but doesn't go overboard:



 
Zahabi's videos are excellent.

I really loved his tutorials on Ground and Pound:

He is great at explaining very thourougly but doesn't go overboard:





Yea I just found his channel, I'm really enjoying it! I was actually about to watch those videos next too :D
 
Excellent stuff, Zahabi is underrated as a coach nevermind as an MMA coach.

It's good to see at least some MMA camps are starting to take the footwork stuff just as seriously as being able to put combinations together.

Yea I'm a big fan of Zahabi. He was great on heavy hands and did a fantastic interview with Pat Wyman:

http://heavyhandspodcast.com/episod...er-rory-macdonald-georges-st-pierre-interview

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/OneonOne-with-Firas-Zahabi-Part-1-77855

I really hope to see some of this in Rory's game. He's often been one to hop straight back when attacked. If he starts taking angles on defense and punching off those angles, he might just turn into the best boxer in MMA.
 
In that street fight vid the boxer pivots left after his hook which Zahabi calls great technique. It looks like it actually puts him in a worse position to fight the 2nd attacker even though he adjusted and it ended up not mattering...
 
That pivot left hook is something I've been playing with in sparring lately and I am having some pretty good success with it so far. I just wait until I see an attack coming and pivot off to the left and throw the hook over. This is one of my more successful means of landing clean left hooks.
 
In that street fight vid the boxer pivots left after his hook which Zahabi calls great technique. It looks like it actually puts him in a worse position to fight the 2nd attacker even though he adjusted and it ended up not mattering...

That's a good point. If the other guy was closer or more aggressive, he could have pivoted into a bad spot.
 
That pivot left hook is something I've been playing with in sparring lately and I am having some pretty good success with it so far. I just wait until I see an attack coming and pivot off to the left and throw the hook over. This is one of my more successful means of landing clean left hooks.

Yea it's a good punch. Many people have no idea how to deal with it.

Edit: Masvidal used it very well against Iaquinta this afternoon. He was able to mostly control the pace of the fight with it and his jab.
 
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So I have a question, when is it right to back up on an angle vs. backing up straight?

Is the foundation of defensive footwork to always be going in and out?

Should an angle always be taken?
 
So I have a question, when is it right to back up on an angle vs. backing up straight?

Is the foundation of defensive footwork to always be going in and out?

Should an angle always be taken?

In my personal opinion, the only time you should go straight back is if you're trying to draw the other guy in. Of course it doesn't work out like that in reality, but that's what to strive for.
 
Zahabi's videos are excellent.

I really loved his tutorials on Ground and Pound:

He is great at explaining very thourougly but doesn't go overboard:





That second one showing the stack against the high guard was exactly what GSP did to completely neutralise BJ's ground game when they fought.
 
In that street fight vid the boxer pivots left after his hook which Zahabi calls great technique. It looks like it actually puts him in a worse position to fight the 2nd attacker even though he adjusted and it ended up not mattering...

Thing is when he pivoted he might not have even been aware of the second attacker. Luckily he reacts quickly, has enough room because he moved away with his check hook and squares to land the right. Normal rules go out of the window when fighting multiple attackers. After he gets the second guy he walks right into the middle of a bunch of guys and turns around to survey his fallen opponents. He could easily have got a knife in the back at that point.
 
In my personal opinion, the only time you should go straight back is if you're trying to draw the other guy in. Of course it doesn't work out like that in reality, but that's what to strive for.

Do you always try to angle back if you're evading a shot in your own sparring?
 
Do you always try to angle back if you're evading a shot in your own sparring?

Not always. Whether or not I angle, move back or stay in place depends on a lot of things like how aware I am, how fast the opponent is moving, where the opponent is stepping (if at all), what specific attack is coming, etc.
 
Not sure if anyone else in MMA, or Muay Thai has encountered this, but have any of you had training partners point out you're moving away too much?

It's an infuriating mindset as people are way too set in their ways, gets me questioning if I'm doing the wrong thing.
 
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Im having trouble angleing to my left after throwing a combo (to the inside angle in orthodox vs orthodox), since I keep getting my left leg kicked on the way out, it seems its right on the path of my opponents right kick. Im gonna try going the other way now like Rory in the video, hopping back diagonally and to the right after the right hand. Any other suggestion dealing with this? Ive thought about catching the leg but dont want to get faked and thrown to the head, altho dunno if the distance would be right for that... I wish I was a southpaw lol, they can get the outside angle so easily
 
Not sure if anyone else in MMA, or Muay Thai has encountered this, but have any of you had training partners point out you're moving away too much?

It's an infuriating mindset as people are way too set in their ways, gets me questioning if I'm doing the wrong thing.

I haven't been told that, but I have had opponents who did move too much. But what I'm talking about is on open mats, guys who lean back and backpedal away really quickly and constantly move off the mats, into other people, etc. Provided that you're not doing that, aren't running and are still firing back, you should be fine. Some people don't like things that are different, have a conversation and let them know it's something you wanna try out and stress that you personally enjoy it.

Edit: Movers get shit in every sport though.
 
Im having trouble angleing to my left after throwing a combo (to the inside angle in orthodox vs orthodox), since I keep getting my left leg kicked on the way out, it seems its right on the path of my opponents right kick. Im gonna try going the other way now like Rory in the video, hopping back diagonally and to the right after the right hand. Any other suggestion dealing with this? Ive thought about catching the leg but dont want to get faked and thrown to the head, altho dunno if the distance would be right for that... I wish I was a southpaw lol, they can get the outside angle so easily

If you catch the kick, take your head offline to the right and push your knees apart. You should be very hard to kick in the head with the right leg from there. Hell, you can even roll under the head kick. Not that I recommend it, but I've seen boxers who got into MT do it on accident against some pretty experienced kickers lol. You can also step in with a 1-2 as you pivot, but throw the jab to the chest. Smaller pivots too. If you keep them tight enough, you might even be able to do them fast enough to still check. In any case make sure you're attacking.
 
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