An Introduction to MMA Sparring - Part 2.

by Bill Easlick

( I'm Sorry for the delay. I know many of you were looking forward to a PROMPT follow-up to my last blog article and I sincerely apologize for the delay. Life has been kicking my butt lately! My day job; My family; Preparing some of our fighters for MMA fights; Travel; Seminars ; etc., all take precedence over my blog writing. In the future I plan on writing smaller and much more frequent updates. Mea culpa...)

Transitions

M.C. Escher understood the artistry of the transition.
Seamless transitions put the "art" into Martial Artist.

One of the most appealing and realistic aspects of MMA is the openness of the rules. Fighters can use hundreds of techniques from striking, clinching, wrestling and groundwork in order to win fights, most often by maximizing the fighters area of expertise. However, the current reality is that as the sport of MMA evolves, so do its fighters and their skills. The days of the BJJ or wrestling-based fighter doing a lunging takedown on a kickboxer who has no clue how to defend are long over. 



One of the most important things in being a successful MMA fighter today is being able to transition between ranges and tactics, but yet I’m always very shocked when I look at other gyms and see how many fighters are still training without transitions in their sparring. Many gyms still train boxing or muay thai for striking, train wrestling or judo (maybe) and train no gi BJJ/submission grappling; each as individual and sport-specific classes. That is not MMA folks! In my opinion there is a better way.

The problem with that approach to training lies in the lack of transitions that occur in each of those sports. Each has a fairly limited rule set and techniques compared to MMA, and their training is always done within those rules.

For example:

• A fighter goes to boxing class and he works on striking another like-minded striker to the head and body with his hands. There are no kicks, no knees, no elbows, no clinch, and certainly no fear of getting wrestled to the ground.

• A fighter goes to BJJ class where he spars with another submission-oriented opponent in an attempt to choke or joint lock each other. There may or may not be takedowns, and there is no striking.

Is that the best way to spar for MMA? Absolutely not. A modern MMA fighter must be able to transition, flowing smoothly and technically from different aspects of the fight. The fighter needs to train a transition as an actual sport-specific skill. He needs to integrate these separate arts into his MMA training, not specialize and compartmentalize them in isolation, otherwise he will never "bridge the gap" between techniques with success.

*(Please note that I fully understand that there is a time when a MMA fighter needs to train in sport-specific areas of his game, but for the novice-amateur fighter, this training should be supplemental to his fundamental MMA training if he's part of a well-rounded complete program. This will be the topic of another blog, much sooner this time, I promise!) 

• To be able to strike effectively in MMA, a fighter must be able to stay on his feet and control the free standing position, which can be very difficult because this often means his success in striking (and the damage it causes) will often cause his opponent to attempt to clinch or take him down to nullify the strikes. A MMA striker must be able to clinch and counter wrestle.
• To set up a shot, a fighter must be able to time his opponent’s strikes or create his own pressure by throwing strikes to set up the shot. He must also be able to transition from the takedown into ground work as well without putting himself in poor position to get submitted or swept.
• To end the fight in a submission, the fighter must get the fight to the ground and will need to make several transitions through the standup and takedown phases in order to get the fight to the ground putting him in a favorable leverage position.

"So how do I spar for MMA?"

So you can see that as a MMA fighter, it's critical to learn and train transitions. Including transitions in your sparring training to make each fighter work their skills in the format that closest resembles how they will actually fight. To do so we divide all of our MMA sparring at Fairfax Jiu-Jitsu into 3 major categories.

Standup Sparring -

Techniques: kicking, punching, knees, clinching, dirty boxing, takedowns, throws, standing cage tactics

Transitions: boxing and kickboxing striking and standup grappling including muay thai clinchwork, greco and judo and wrestling

Format: Fighters spar using almost all of their skills available on their feet including strikes clinched knees, pummeling, dirty boxing, takedowns (shots) and throws. The "action" does not stop until the round ends or someone is taken down and there is a clear position achieved. - Standing, side control, guard, back etc., in which the fighters will stop and reset standing again.

"Be like water" - Bruce Lee

This is the launch pad for all of our striking and for much of our clinching and wrestling skills in MMA. This is where our students begin to fully understand the relationship that striking and grappling have. You're a good striker? Try it against someone actively seeking to take you down (ie. BJJers and wrestlers - 2/3rd of the people you may encounter).  You're a good wrestler? Try it against someone who is going to punch or knee you as soon as you move towards them.

What changes? - the transitions of course! Setting up your takedown, timing a strike, the amount of pressure you give your opponent, making the level change, throwing a knee in the clinch, etc. Dozens, if not scores of tactics unique to MMA must be addressed to succeed on your feet in MMA.

Dirty Boxing/Clinch -

Techniques: knees, punches, clinch, takedowns, throws, standing cage tactics

Transitions: striking and standup grappling including muay thai clinchwork, greco and judo and wrestling

Format: Fighters begin in a neutral clinch position (ex. Over/Under or a Collar Tie/Bicep) near the cage wall or padded wall and work to these to strike and position into control and or a takedown

Hey..Wait a minute!.. Isn't this just a sub-set of the standup sparring? Yes it is (see if your students/fighters figure this out), but over the years I've found that it is so important that it's worthy of it's own sparring time during training for two important reasons.

The frequency that two fighters will find themselves in the standing clinch should make it an area that every fighter should be comfortable and knowledgeable. The standing clinch is often the gateway in a fight. - the fighter who can control the clinch often decides where the fight occurs - continuing to fight on their feet, or down on the ground - transition! This is exactly why we focus on this sparring, working on the balance of strikes and control to score.

The second reason is the proximity of the cage and it's importance in sparring. The cage is a game changer! This full length physical barrier has major impact on positional control, takedown defense and movement. All MMA fighters need to train on the wall; both offense and defense and all the transitions in between. (this goes for all 3 formats)

Speaking of transitions.. When you begin to spar in this format you will notice another type of transition that's very sport-specific to MMA -The transitions of the clinch itself, flowing from pummeling and positional control to striking. In any given minute you could go from a Greco bodylock, to an underhook and straight arm pike to the face into a Muay Thai knee into another pummel  battle into a Judo inside leg trip, etc., etc., in an infinite loop and combination of techniques. This is unique to MMA and why we say that there is not a "muay thai clinch" or a "wrestling clinch" in our program, it's just "the clinch".

Groundwork -

Techniques: Positional control, striking, submissions
Transitions: Positional grappling with striking

Format: Fighters can begin in various positions to begin to work groundwork positions attempting various goals including, submissions, strikes, reversals, and escapes

This sparring format is the foundation of the groundwork in our MMA program. The goal is to get fighters to use effective groundwork in an environment that includes striking. When fighters spar on the ground in an isolated grappling-only format, this can lead to many bad habits that can hurt them during an MMA fight. 

One of the most common, and obvious shortcomings is not being adept at defending punches being thrown by a person who may be more than willing to remain inside their guard or a side control position as long as they are causing damage and winning in the eyes of the judges.

This has a major impact on the guard position in MMA. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt Mark Jones had this to say about the guard in MMA. "The rules of each sport (BJJ and MMA) have made the complexities of the guard serve different purposes. The guard work of MMA has to be more functional.  Keeping tight when in danger, getting back on to your feet or capitalizing immediately when opponent makes a mistake in the top position."

On the other top side of this position, a fighter must also learn how to maintain posture and pressure to strike, safely avoiding submissions and sweeps and use striking to setup his transition to a better position such as passing the guard. He must learn to balance striking with positional control or the referee will stand the fighters back up.

Mark brings up a very MMA-critical skillset that is trained in this area - standing up and disengaging from groundwork. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the goal of isolated sparring is often narrowly defined. In fact, disengaging from your opponent in BJJ is frowned upon, however, in MMA, learning how to get back to your feet while avoiding damage could change the fight, particularly for a striker.

One of the biggest transitions we work in groundwork is the starting position. While we feel that a fighter should know how to fight from every position on the ground, it's important that he works on perhaps one of the most critical position in MMA - taking someone down and maintaining control after the takedown to enter groundwork in the dominant position. To do this we'll often begin groundwork sparring from our feet with a "no strikes until someone hits the ground" guide. This puts the pressure on each fighter to get the takedown and start the sparring in the dominant position (and keep it).

These are the 3 types of sparring that we do do develop our fundamental MMA skills on our team. Each of these formats integrating a major transition in their sparring which is key for success as a MMA fighter.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the blog article and I promise that I will switch to smaller and more frequent posts in the future.  As always,  I'd like to hear any comments or questions you have about my writing.  I am not the final word on this subject, This is just my opinion based on my experience as a student, fighter and coach.  Thanks.