An Introduction to MMA Sparring - Closing Thoughts

 by Bill Easlick
This post on the "Introduction to MMA Sparring" topic is really just my final thoughts and an attempt to wrap up for any loose ends and questions that people have asked me about my posts.

"Bill I wanted to know how you connect the appropriate sparring gear to the levels of sparring contact  and the sparring methods you use in your classes."

Great point, and this is something that I planned on addressing, so here goes.

	Standup	Clinch	Ground
Cup	L/M/H	L/M/H	L/M/H
Mouthguard	L/M/H	L/M/H	L/M/H
Headgear	H*	-	-
Boxing Gloves	M/H	H	-
MMA Training Gloves	L	L/M	L/M/H
Shinguards	L/M/H	-	-

L - Light Sparring
M - Medium (Controlled) Sparring
H - Hard Sparring
* - Special scenarios or conditions


"Hey Bill, in my gym we wear headgear when we spar. Why don't you?"

- I think I covered my thoughts on headgear pretty well in my equipment article. If someone wants to wear it, I'm completely cool with that, but ironically, I'll almost expect that people will be striking extra hard at this person's head. Like a moth to a flame; it's just our nature.

"Isn't it silly to give a % of contact used in sparring ?" 

- I think it is when you're talking about things like 40% vs. 60% etc, but in my articles, I tried to be as clear and descriptive as possible and each was tied to more "instinctual" feelings rather than a meaningless percentage.

You weren't expecting a Will Smith reference!

"I can't get my sparring partners to slow down when doing "light sparring" Every round ends up sparring hard."

I know. Sucks right? As I mentioned in the article, I believe this is the hardest area to teach new students and others may pshaw it, but I think their problem lies in ego (whether they realize it or not). It requires, no, demands a removal of ego. Both partners have to let go of winning and losing and play the skill game: striking with good intent, but at a slower pace to keep the contact down. People don't like to lose, and their ego says "aww hell nah!" and they raise the speed and contact level until they're on top again, completely missing the point - creativity, developing reactions and building "fight intelligence" (more on that process in an article I'm already working on.)

The best advice I can give you is to try to find like-minded partners who understand your goal.  (Send them the link to my articles if you think it will convey the message to them!) And remember, almost everyone will get worked up at some point, even the experienced guys. The difference is they realize it, reset, and go back to the methods. I'm very fortunate that I had a core group of my first students come up under this approach, and as they advance they mentor the new students and now it's just part of our training "culture" at Fairfax Jiu-Jitsu.

Thanks for reading,

-Bill