Advanced Striking Tactics of Kickboxing Boxing and MMA Masters

ADVANCED STRIKING Tactics of Boxing, Boxing, Kickboxing Kickboxing and MMA Masters

Jack Slack

Advanced Striking

To Rachel and Rosie

©Jack Slack

www.FightsGoneBy.com www.FightsGoneBy.com

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Advanced Striking

To Rachel and Rosie

©Jack Slack


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Advanced Striking

©Jack Slack


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Advanced Striking Table of Contents Introduction....................................................................................................................6 The Purpose of This Book .........................................................................................6 For the Boxing, Kickboxing or MMA Student..........................................................6 For the Fan .................................................................................................................6 How to Watch a Fight ................................................................................................7 A Note on Photos .......................................................................................................8 Badr Hari – The Golden Boy of K-1..............................................................................9 Switch Kick..............................................................................................................10 Right Straight to the Body .......................................................................................11 Head – Body – Head – Head....................................................................................12 A Second Variation..................................................................................................14 Drawing Hook..........................................................................................................16 Ernesto Hoost – Mr. Perfect ........................................................................................17 3 – 4 – 3 Low Kick ..................................................................................................18 Counter Low Kick....................................................................................................19 Knee Spike ...............................................................................................................20 The Diaz Brothers – Machismo Powered Volume Punchers.......................................21 Lever Punch or “Doubling Up” ...............................................................................22 Drawing Parry..........................................................................................................23 Window Stance ........................................................................................................24 Floyd Mayweather Jr. - The Pretty Boy.......................................................................25 Elbow Block.............................................................................................................26 Hook and Clutch ......................................................................................................27 Body Jab...................................................................................................................28 The Mayweather Cross Counter Variation ..............................................................29 Shoulder Roll Counters............................................................................................30 A Second Variation..................................................................................................31 Buakaw Por. Pramuk – The White Lotus.....................................................................32 Probing Lead and Teep ............................................................................................33 Step Up Knee ...........................................................................................................34 Teep Defence ...........................................................................................................35 Frankie Edgar – The Undersized Answer....................................................................36 Jabbing to Knee Tap ................................................................................................37 Knee Tap to Liver Kick ...........................................................................................39 Outside Low Kick ....................................................................................................40 Edgar Pivot...............................................................................................................41 Junior dos Santos - Cigano.........................................................................................42 Hands Low Stance ...................................................................................................43 Body Straight Counter .............................................................................................44 Left Hook – Right Uppercut ....................................................................................45 Andy Hug – The Blue Eyed Samurai............................................................................46 Hug Tornado ............................................................................................................47 Axe Kick ..................................................................................................................49 Round Kick – Rear Straight .....................................................................................50 Sugar Ray Robinson – Boxing's Smoothest Fighter ....................................................51 'Operation Left Hook'...............................................................................................52 Safety Lead ..............................................................................................................54 Shoe Shine Flurries ..................................................................................................55 Anderson Silva – The Spider at the Center of the Middleweight Web.........................56 Southpaw Takedown Defense..................................................................................57 ©Jack Slack www.FightsGoneBy.com 4

Advanced Striking Pursuing Right Hook................................................................................................58 Front Snap Kick .......................................................................................................59 Back Elbow..............................................................................................................60 Outside Low Kick Trap ...........................................................................................61 Inside Low Kick Trap ..............................................................................................62 Alistair Overeem – The Strongest in Seven Billion......................................................63 The Cross Counter ...................................................................................................64 'The Uberknee' .........................................................................................................65 Lunging Right Hand ................................................................................................66 Stepping Lead Uppercut ..........................................................................................67 Fedor Emelianenko – The Last Emperor.....................................................................68 Casting Punch ..........................................................................................................69 Right Straight – Left Uppercut – Left Hook ............................................................70 Zulu ..........................................................................................................................71 Inside Hand Trap......................................................................................................72 Joe Louis – The Brown Bomber...................................................................................73 Jab – Left Hook – Right Hook .................................................................................74 Braddock KO ...........................................................................................................75 Back-Step Jab – Uppercut – Left Hook ...................................................................76 Jersey Joe Walcott – The Savviest Man in Boxing ......................................................77 Side Steps.................................................................................................................78 Cakewalk..................................................................................................................79 'The Perfect Punch'...................................................................................................80 Manny Pacquiao – The Saviour of Boxing ..................................................................81 The Hatton Side Step ...............................................................................................82 Double Left Straight ................................................................................................83 Weaving Right Hook ...............................................................................................83 Weaving Right Hook ...............................................................................................84 B.J. Penn – The Prodigy ..............................................................................................85 Slipping Counter Jab................................................................................................86 Sean Sherk Running Combination...........................................................................88 Open Guard Cross Counter ......................................................................................89 Jack Johnson – The Galvaston Giant ..........................................................................90 Jabbing into the Clinch ............................................................................................91 The Jack Johnson Uppercut .....................................................................................92 Underhook Left Hook ..............................................................................................94 Roy Jones Jr. - Mr Unstoppable ..................................................................................95 Right Lead Stance ....................................................................................................96 Upper Arms Defence ...............................................................................................98 Step Back Lead Uppercut ........................................................................................99 Step Back Right Straight........................................................................................100 Jerome Le Banner – The Hercules of K-1 .................................................................101 Lead Low Kick ......................................................................................................102 Lead Low Counter .................................................................................................103 'The Millennium KO' .............................................................................................104 Giorgio Petrosyan – The Southpaw Doctor of Muay Thai ........................................105 Jab – Pull – Lead Hook ..........................................................................................106 Jab – Step Back – Cross Counter ...........................................................................107 Southpaw Knee Strike............................................................................................108 The Petrosyan Shift................................................................................................109 Against an Opponent..............................................................................................110 ©Jack Slack

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Advanced Striking

Introduction The Purpose of This Book The purpose of this book is not to reinvent the way the striking martial arts are viewed, nor is it in any way meant to represent a comprehensive guide to striking in boxing, kickboxing or MMA. Each of these disciplines could be the subject of numerous tomes, and many exist on each, this book, however, intends to focus on the unique strategies that make certain accomplished combatants so successful. It is important to remember that in the world of combative sports – no matter whether they allow kicks and grappling or not – few losses can be written off as dumb luck. Almost every loss is the result of a basic error being made, or of an opponent's game plan being implemented to success. This publication will attempt to pinpoint why, despite average physical abilities, some fighters are so far superior to their opposition. Many fighters will be featured in this book and some possess above average physical abilities in their field – such as the lengthy Badr Hari, or the seemingly tireless Diaz brothers. None, however, rely purely on their physical attributes to win contests and each apply techniques in their bouts which may be readily adapted and applied by casual and competitive stri kers alike.

For the Boxing, Kickboxing or MMA Student For the striking practitioner, whether he be the casual hobbyist or the hardened athlete, I hope this book can provide a few ideas for training. I would not go so far as to claim that this is an instructional, but rather a case study in the techniques utilized by those men whose brilliance is often written off as God-given talent. If thi s book can illuminate for young fighters and martial artist just a few new strategies for offence and defence, I shall be very pleased indeed. Sadly, and quite rightly, the best fighters in the world are not the best people to go to for advice on how they fight as they do. The majority of top fighters with books out now on striking technique tend to still be in active competition. Why then would they want to give away the certain techniques which make them so effective? Often, they instead choose to depict 200 techniques varying from useful to bizarre, which fail to illustrate to any degree why they themselves are successful. By highlighting the few techniques for each fighter featured in this book that I feel l ed them to a great deal of success, I hope to have eliminated the need for “filler” material.

For the Fan Fans of combat sports are often in search of better intellectual understanding of their chosen pastime, but unfortunately spend most of their lives being talked down to. Many boxing, kickboxing or MMA organisations are so terrified that fans will change the channel on the TV during a lull in action that their commentators spend the majority of the time talking about a fi ghter's personal background, emotional state, and screaming so loudly through any moments of actual action in the match that fans are left watching a different fight with the same comments over and over again. One can ask any NBA, NFL, football or hockey fan what they think a coach did wrong and they will give you a list of formation changes and substitutions which they believe were ineffectual. Speaking to a boxing, kickboxing or MMA fan, however, you will find that the general belief is in “establishing the jab”, throwing “punches in bunches” or “working the angles”. These are firstly, massive ©Jack Slack


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Advanced Striking generalisations, and secondly, phrases which people simply repeat from commentators who didn't properly explain them to begin with. It is my sincerest hope that through simple, step by step examination of a f ew of the most successful strategies employed by some of the best strikers in boxing, kickboxing and MMA, fans of these sports will finish this book with a greater understanding of their favourite pastimes.

How to Watch a Fight One thing that should be gained from this book is the knowledge that only suckers get knocked out without a set up or without making an error, and the vast majority of professional athletes are not suckers. They train their craft every day, have finely tuned reactions and an understanding of damage limitation. Whenever you watch a fight from now on, try to pinpoint why it turned out the way it did:

− What was giving the loser trouble? − What was giving the winner trouble – should the loser have used this tactic more readily?

− In the event of a knockout (or even submission) what made the hole for the technique?

A final point before we move into the tricks and techniques of some of the savvy masters of the last 150 years of combat sports, do not be deceived by techniques which fighters try to have you notice. In his book, Outfighting, the legendary British boxer, Jim Driscoll recounts how a young English boxer was having great success in the ring and made sure that his chopping punch to the kidney from within t he clinch was noticed by doing it constantly. Driscoll recounts how it was the fighter's intellect and skills which were winning him fights, yet because of the obviousness of the kidney punch almost all contests in Britain for the next two years devolved into bouts of kidney slapping in the clinch. If a technique seems 100 times more discernible than others, it is probably not responsible for a fighter's success, or his opponents would have adapted to it by the time that he reached the big leagues.

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Advanced Striking A Note on Photos Throughout this book models will be used to demonstrate the techniques of great Kickboxing, Boxing and MMA fighters. The reasons for this are two fold; 

The impossibility of obtaining all the rights to use photographs and stills from the many fights mentioned in this book.

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Clarity of understanding. Techniques are hard to see in fights as an opponent will be attempting his own techniques simultaneous to those by the fighter we are studying.

However, in addition to the demonstrative photographs, instances of the t echnique being employed will also be listed. Footage of many K-1, boxing and MMA matches is readily available on Youtube and other video sharing sites, and this is a golden age for the study of fight film.

My sincere thanks are extended to the two young men who posed for these photos per my instructions. They spent many hours enduring my rigorous demands from behind the camera, and it would have been impossible to produce this book without them.

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Advanced Striking

Badr Hari – The Golden Boy of K-1 Perhaps the most notable heavyweight in the last 3 years of the K-1 kickboxing promotion's existence, the talented young Morrocan burst on to the K-1 scene with a spinning back roundhouse kick knockout to avenge an earlier loss t o Stefan Leko. This kick has been variously called the most spectacular kick and knockout in K-1's history and led fans who had been unfamiliar with Hari to believe that he would be a flashy kicker through his K-1 tenure. Fans and some pundits did not expect Hari to develop one of the most dangerous boxing games in the entire kickboxing world. A gangly fighter, Hari stands 6'5” but fights with all the aggression and punching power of a young Mike Tyson. Hari went on an unprecedented run in K-1, an organisation which has seen the same few men pass around the titles since it's inception. Hari knocked out kickboxing legends Ray Sefo and Peter Aerts with seeming ease, going on to demolish the 6'11” Semmy Schilt in the first round in 2009. Hari's career has been marred by building stunning knockout streaks, then seemingly becoming overconfident and getting caught swinging. Much of his rapid improvement came through the rebuilding of his game – almost all of Hari's losses have come through sudden knockouts, this is no scratch on his chin, he fights huge punchers. Often it was through unpredictable techniques such as Peter Graham's “Rolling Thunder”, a rolli ng kick or “Kaiten Geri”. Consequently, Hari's style became one with an ultra tight guard, his gloves being held almost above his head, using his forearms to guard his entire head rather than his gloves. When Hari punches his other hand remains nailed in this position, having fallen victim to too many counter-punches, and his combinations are smooth but loaded with power. While the strengths of Hari's style are his characteristic aggression, power and sharp punching technique, his weakness is certainly his emotional fragility. The heavyweight division of both boxing and kickboxing are both full of giants who lack control over their emotions. Hari's anger issues have cost him much outside of the ring, as assault charges kept him from competing during much of 2011, but have also been responsible for many of his losses in the ring as he swings wide and gets caught on his jaw.

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Advanced Striking Switch Kick Hari often begins a match by throwing his lead leg switch kick. This is where he rapidly switches stance and throws a kick with his left leg (now behind him). This technique rarely causes severe damage to his opponent, but to block it they must square up their stance, which makes them vulnerable to his right straight.

Black faces White in stance

Black switches his feet, preparing a powerful left kick

Black unleashes a high kick which connects with White's forearm and forces his stance to square up in order to absorb the kick. This kick helps Hari create a square target for his powerful straights.

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Advanced Striking Right Straight to the Body As a fighter who spent much of his career fighting under Muay Thai rules, Hari generally likes to feel his opponents out for the first portion of a fight – though there have been some notable exceptions – going into a higher gear once he has started connecting his powerful pot shots and has an opponent trying to play catch up. One of his key techniques in the feel out phase of a match is the long right straight to the body, which he can throw as a lead or after a jab. Carrying a reach advantage into most matches Badr does not need to weave or duck out after throwing this long punch as the opponent cannot reach him with a hook and often has their hands up to deal with his substantial power and frequent attempts at head kicks. It is important to note that Hari changes levels to land this punch level with his own shoulder, where his reach is greatest.

Black and White face off, Black's high kicks have forced White to take a more squared stance – exposing White to long straights.

Black steps forward with his lead foot and changes levels. By dropping down he ensures that he can strike the opponent's solar plexus level with his own shoulder, maximising his reach. Any higher or lower than the shoulder will result in a loss of reach.

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Advanced Striking Head – Body – Head – Head One of Hari's go to combinations, this is often the first full combination he commits to and often stuns or drops his opponent. Hari throws a jab, his long ri ght straight to the body, followed by reverting to his upright posture with a left hook or uppercut and a right hook or straight. Hari's main variations use the left uppercut to lift the head and the right straight to floor the opponent, as he used on Errol Zimmerman, or a left hook to move the opponent into a tight right hook as he did against Hesdy Gerges.

Black and White face off.

Black pushes forward with a strong jab.

Black follows with a right straight to White's solar plexus.

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Advanced Striking

Black returns to an upright position with a left hook. Moving his right foot forward.

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Having turned White to the right with his left hook, Black unleashes a short right hook, stepping his left foot forward.


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Advanced Striking A Second Variation


Black pushes forward with a strong jab.

Black follows with a right straight to White's solar plexus.

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Advanced Striking

Black rises with a left uppercut, moving his right foot forward.

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Having lifted White's head, Black connects a right straight.


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Advanced Striking Drawing Hook One of the key features of Badr's career has been his ability to seemingly stun opponents in unclear exchanges. It is often difficult to see what exactly caused the damage to his opponent, which only helps to perpetuate the reputation of his ungodly punching power. One of the ways that he has stunned many of his opponents before putting them away is with his drawing hook. With his hands well up and his forearms reading to take punches, Hari uses his footwork to stand with his shoulders square to his opponent, in the range at which they can only hope to hit him with long, straight punches. When the lead is forthcoming, Hari takes it on his forearms before driving off of his left leg and throwing his left hook at their right temple. He is often able to catch his opponent cleanly with this counter punch even if they are properly guarding, due to the difficulty in fully shielding the temple and t he unexpected timing of the punch.

White attempts to close the distance with a jab, which Black takes on his forearms.

White closes the distance, recovering from his jab.

Black steps back with his right foot, reestablishing the distance, and “closes the door” for his opponent with a left hook to the temple as he retreats.

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Advanced Striking

Ernesto Hoost – Mr. Perfect Ernesto Hoost, as his Mr. Perfect moniker implies, is the protot ype of the modern, Dutch kickboxer. Making his professional début in the late 1980s, Hoost was already quite advanced in years by the time the K-1 organisation began hosting it's legendary Grand Prix; Hoost's career went through two distinct phases. In his youth he was a one note fighter who used a one size fits all game plan and drove it down his opponent's throat – throwing rapid fire punching combinations and punctuating with low kicks. But in his last years in the K-1 promotion, Hoost relied on his experience and intelligence en route to hospitalizing three top fighters in one night at the K-1 2002 Grand Prix. Many have commented on Hoost's ability to seemingly land his powerful low kick at will and this stemmed from his two main strategies of either; throwing a punching combo to distract the opponent, or throwing the kick as the opponent stepped forward, ensuring that Hoost's foe could not lift his lead leg to check the kick as his weight was moving on to it. The strength of Hoost's style has never been a secret, he has fast hands and incredible low kicks. Hoost was close to perfect technically but lacked power in his punches. When he was drawn into wild exchanges he occasionally ended up on the losing side, suffering several KO losses to fighters who lacked the technical ability that he possessed.

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Advanced Striking 3 – 4 – 3 Low Kick Hoost's trademark combination was his famous left hook, right hook, left hook to the body and low kick. This combination of four strikes thrown at three different levels was found to be overwhelming by almost all of Hoost's opponents. While not known as a power puncher, Hoost could hit hard enough to make his opponents have to set their weight to guard his punches, which made their lead leg a sitting duck f or his infamous low kick. Many of Hoost's opponents came in to matches against him focused entirely on checking his low kicks at all costs, and Hoost floored many of these men with the liver shot in this combination while they were standing on one leg!

Black opens with a left hook on to the gloves of White.

Black immediately follows with a straight right.

Finally a low kick, which can be delivered with a step outward to 45 degrees, or by performing a jumping pivot on the standing leg.

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Advanced Striking Counter Low Kick Ernesto Hoost is a remarkable case in kickboxing, in that he very, very rarely collided shin to shin with his opponents – despite them knowing his intention was to go fo r the low kick at every opportunity. To accomplish this he interspersed the tactic illustrated above of throwing a rapid combination with his hands and punctuating it with a low kick, and the tactic of kicking whenever his opponent stepped forward. When an opponent steps in with a jab, his leg is braced against the foor and unable to check the kick into his thigh muscle. Hoost would often back off, wait for his opponent to step in, and dive in with a kick. Notably he kept his rear elbow up, over his face, so that should the opponent throw another punch it would collide with his elbow and more likely break the opponent's own hand.

Black and White are squared up in stance.

As White jabs, Black parries with his left hand, covers White's right hand, and steps to the outside.

Black buckles White's leg with a hard low kick. This sequence is done in one motion rather than two.

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Advanced Striking Knee Spike Ernesto Hoost became the oldest man to win the K-1 Grand Prix i n 2002 on merit of his intelligence and skill alone. The positioning of his elbows mentioned above caused Bob Sapp to break his hand while swinging at Hoost and allowed Hoost to continue to the semi finals. There he met the younger, stronger Ray Sefo, whose leg he broke while defending a low kick! The secret to this is to check the kick not with a lift of the leg all the way up, catching it shin to shin. Hoost instead lifted his leg only so much that he was on the ball of his foot, causing Sefo's shin to collide with the top portion of Hoost's and his much, much harder knee cap. Sefo went down in agony and Hoost won the match. This old school Muay Thai block should be in the repetoire of every fighter who wishes to get by on more than athleticism and t oughness.

White and Black are squared up in stance.

As White throws a low kick, rather than checking it with his shin, black checks it with his knee, damaging White's shin bone.

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Advanced Striking

The Diaz Brothers – Machismo Powered Volume Punchers Nick and Nate Diaz have been competing in MMA since the early 2000s and have maintained interestingly divergent careers. While Nate Diaz spent time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship as a middling level lightweight, his brother Nick was dropped from the UFC after several unsuccessful showings and pursued his fortune elsewhere. After defeating an out of shape Takanori Gomi (then the best 155lbs MMA fighter in the world) in a back and forth battle, Diaz began to catch the public eye. Defeating many of the better strikers in the welterweight division, including Paul Daley and Marius Zaromskis, Nick has been credited with having some of the best hands in MMA. Many have critiqued his style, focusing their distaste on his relatively poor head movement, lack of power and seeming reliance on his excellent chin and cardiovascular ability. Diaz, however, routinely connects over two hundred punches a fight, often in spectucular combinations such as the string of nineteen punches that he unleashed on Scott Smith. The Diaz's style is largely shared, fighting as southpaws and using a volume punching approach whereby they throw their punches with 20 – 60 % of their power but often land almost one hundred punches a round. Both brothers turn their lead foot in to turn their shoulders and hips more side on when t hey jab, thus extending their reach. The strengths of their style are obvious to all those who have seen them fight, they grind down great fighters with the volume of their punches, confusing the opponent with the frequency of the punches where other fighters would become exhausted from throwing powerful punches. The weakness of their style is also shared, they are susceptible to low kicks as they fight with their lead leg tu rned in, this was ultimately taken advantage of by Carlos Condit against Nick Diaz.

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Advanced Striking Lever Punch or “Doubling Up” A staple of the Diaz volume punching game is the act of doubling up, or “lever punching”. Lever punching is the act of throwing two punches with the same hand th successively. Made famous by the 19 century pugilist Peter Jackson, the name comes from the way the technique opens up a hole for a punch with the opposite hand. Most opponents expect “left, right, left, right” if they receive “left, left, ri ght” the right can often sneak through the confused opponent's defence. In the Di az's case it opens the door for three or four more punches as they begin to overwhelm their adversary.

Black and White square off. Black is fighting southpaw.

Black leads with a jab.

A rear hook.

A lead hook to the body.

©Jack Slack

www.FightsGoneBy.com And a second lead hook, to the head.

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Advanced Striking Drawing Parry Nick Diaz's mugging toward opponents has become iconic – but it often serves a purpose. When chasing an opponent down it is hard to tell when he is going to defend and when he is going to attack. When standing in front of one's opponents with one's hands out, one may be fairly certain of what he is going to attempt. When Diaz's opponent fires at the seemingly wide open target, Diaz either pulls his head back and counter strikes, or parries the opponent's blow, holding behind the tricep, and lands two or three free shots with the other hand.

Black stands with his arms wide, inviting White to lead.

When White jabs, Black parries it over his shoulder.

And comes back with his own jab.

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Advanced Striking Window Stance The Diaz brothers, particularly Nick, when faced with a southpaw opponent (themselves being southpaws) utilize an arms extended guard. Placing the h ands up and in front of their head, open and palms facing the opponent, it i s easy for them to parry anything the opponent throws and land irritating slaps and short jabs. While it is hard to do much damage from this guard, with the arms so far extended already, it is certainly an intimidating way to fight, inspiring claustrophobia in an opponent as he backs on to the ropes. A look at Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi will reveal how this guard can be used to back up and frustrate even great strikers.

Black is in stance, holding his hands well forward of his head.

As White jabs, Black parries.

And counters with his own jab.

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Advanced Striking

Floyd Mayweather Jr. - The Pretty Boy Floyd Mayweather has proved a divisive figure through his decade long stint in boxing's top ten pound-for-pound list. Often avoiding southpaw opponents, and many of the best at welterweight despite his claims to be the best in the world at that weight. Mayweather has also, however, had some of the finest defensive performances in boxing history. His use of the shoulder roll, combined with his seeming to be one step ahead of the opponent at every turn has led him to lop-sided victories over many top fighters. Mayweather's most famous techniques are his unorthodox leads; choosing to lead with a left hook or right straight rather than the traditional jab, his blocks using the shoulder roll where most fighters use their gloves, and his choice method of evading punches; to pull his head back where other fighters would duck or slip. The combination of these methods, and his ability to tie an opponent up in the cli nch at will, make him the hardest fighter in boxing to hit.

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Advanced Striking Elbow Block Floyd Mayweather is notorious for his bending of rules. In a similar way that Evander Holyfield attempts to make his opponents “run on to” his head, Mayweather carries his lead elbow high in front of him when he feels an opponent intends to move into infighting range or a clinch. This can be seen amply in his fights with Shane Mosley and Ricky Hatton. While he is routinely warned for his use of the elbow block, he is not actively elbowing his opponents, they are simply moving on to it, making it a difficult charge to dock him a point for. By keeping the opponent on the end of his elbow, Mayweather also knows that he is in range to land a right hook or uppercut with ease and often unimpeded.

Black and White are squared up in fighting stances.

Black lands a powerful lead on White. White attempts to clinch.

As White moves in, Black holds his elbow out in front of him, allowing White to drive on to it, in hopes of deterring the clinch and opening a cut on White's face.

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Advanced Striking Hook and Clutch One of the main points of Mayweather's game which has raised so much criticism is also the factor which has kept him in such remarkable health for a man who has punches thrown at him for a living. Lacking huge punching power, Mayweather can add strength to his attacks by leaping into them, such as his leaping hook. To prevent a counter Mayweather will often fall into a clinch immediately after. In many cases Mayweather can even score points with the judges by landing his hook on his opponent's gloves.

Black and White are in fighting stance.

Black leaps in with a left hook. On this occasion it hits White's glove.

To prevent a counter-attack, Black initiates a clinch. Through clinching immediately afterward, A fighter can throw power punches without worry of being countered.

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Advanced Striking Body Jab Mayweather is a master of the body jab. Using it to the solar plexus, it is not a pleasant technique to receive and is not one which the traditional boxing arsenal provides a good defence against. When Mayweather's opponents begin modifying their guard to protect themselves from the body jab, he will go upstairs to their head with a lead hook or right straight.

Black raises his hands, to distract the opponent or draw an attack for a counter.

When no attack is forthcoming, Black drops level and thrusts a long jab, level with his shoulder, at the opponent's solar plexus. By committing to this technique early in a fight, the opponent's hands can be forced to drop whenever Black changes levels, allowing him to fake the body jab and throw a right straight to the head or a left hook.

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Advanced Striking The Mayweather Cross Counter Variation This technique beings with Mayweather establishing his stance just out of range and waiting for his opponent’s jab before leaning slightly back or to his left and throwing a right straight. It is obvious to viewers when Mayweather is preparing for this technique because he stands on the ball of his back foot, as if he is about to sprint forward – but his opponent cannot see this subtle preparation and so isn't prepared for the speed and power of his straight right.

Black raises his hands, creating a hole through the middle of his guard.

White attempts to strike through the gap with a jab. But Black pulls his head back.

As White draws his jab back, Black lands a right straight over the top.

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Advanced Striking Shoulder Roll Counters Mayweather is most famous for his “Philly Shell”, “Crab” or “Stonewall” defence – which hinges around use of the shoulder roll. By standing relatively upright, dropping his front hand and raising his lead shoulder to cover his chin, Mayweather can cause most punches at his chin to bounce off of his shoulder. The remaining targets, his eyes and temples, are taken away from their starting place by a turn of the hips and shoulders – making it hard to hit the already relatively small targets. Using the right hand to parry jabs and lead hooks, Mayweather reserves the front shoulder almost exclusively for defending right hooks and straights. When a right hook is thrown at Mayweather he shoulder rolls inside of it and comes back, most often, with a right uppercut or a short right straight. When a long right straight is thrown at Mayweather he will sometimes use his lead elbow on the tricep of the opponent's extended right arm to off balance them and turn them i nto his right straight.

Black and White are in exchanging range. Black keeps his chin tucked and his left shoulder high.

As a looping right punch comes in, Black rolls his shoulder to deflect the punch.

Then counters with an uppercut.

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Advanced Striking A Second Variation

Against a long right straight, the shoulder roll can be combined with a parry, performed with the elbow. By doing this it is possible to push the opponent off balance.

It is then easy to come back with a powerful right straight.

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Advanced Striking

Buakaw Por. Pramuk – The White Lotus Buakaw por Pramuk is considered one of the most accomplished kickboxers in the world, having won the K-1 Max Grand Prix title (devoted to the lighter weight classes) twice. With dominating victories over Masato, Yoshihiro Sato and Mike Zambidis, Buakaw defined Muay Thai in the K-1 kickboxing organisation throughout his run there. It is widely speculated that K-1's banning of extended clinch work was due to his domination of Japanese fighters with knees in the clinch. Throughout Buakaw's career he has relied on the traditional Thai front kick (or teep), stepping knees, and hard roundhouse kicks thrown in rapid succession. Though his boxing has improved exponentially since his K-1 debut, it is Buakaw's punishing work with his legs that has earned him his terrifying reputation.

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Advanced Striking Probing Lead and Teep Buakaw's opening strategy is one of calm, collected assessment. He uses a feeling jab, using the palm of his glove to cover the opponent's vision and to push against their head, occasionally mixing in some harder jabs with the intention of doing damage. While he is keeping his lead hand in the opponent's face, he begins committing to his long, lead leg push kick. Lifting his knee and driving the ball of his foot hard into the opponent's abdomen, Buakaw is able to score points behind his relatively safe probing technique. This commitment to the teep is not hugely damaging but begins to wind his opponents and force them back against their will, so they begin attempting to stand up to it. Buakaw's teep soon begins to force an opponent to rethink their strategy, as they are on the lose end of very limited exchanges. The teep forces the opponent's hands out of position over the course of the match as they become less mentally disciplined, struggling to defend against the irritating kick. It is then that Buakaw's jab finds more success.

White and Black are in fighting stances.

Black chambers his teep by raising his knee.

©Jack Slack

Black probes with his lead. Often it is useful to use the palm, as Buakaw does.

Black drives the ball of his foot into the pit of White's stomach.


33

Advanced Striking Step Up Knee Once Buakaw begins to find success with his teep and his jab, opponents will begin to move their head as he jabs at their face. As they slip his slow, probing jabs, Buakaw uses the extending arm to cup the side of their neck and anchor himself to them as they are bent over. Buakaw then steps his right foot forward and strikes his opponent with a left knee to the midsection. He is also known to do a fast switch of feet instead of stepping up.

After Black has established his teep and jab, White begins pushing forward and slips Black's probing jab.

Black presses down on the collar or neck of the ducking White. Then he switches feet (as above) or steps his right foot forward. Preparing for a left leg attack.

Pressuring the back of White's head, Black lands a hard knee to the solar plexus or floating rib.

©Jack Slack


34

Advanced Striking Teep Defence Buakaw por Pramuk, being a Thai fighter, is more than used to having his opponent throw front kicks at him. Many unfortunate kickboxers in K-1 Max found this out the hard way. Yoshihiro Sato was knocked down by Buakaw using this technique. Catching the lead leg teep, Buakaw drags it past his body, unleashing a left hook at the opponent who has no space to block as he is dragged on to the punch.

Black catches White's left push kick with his left hand underneath and his right hand over the top to prevent a kick to his jaw.

Black drags White's foot across White's body, stepping out to the right and preparing a left hook.

As White's foot falls past Black, Black throws a powerful left hook which connects easily due to the shortened angle caused by the position of both combatants.

©Jack Slack


35

Advanced Striking

Frankie Edgar – The Undersized Answer Frankie Edgar is an interesting case as a fighter in any sense of the phrase. Barely cutting weight to reach the 155lbs limit of the UFC's lightweight division, Edgar fights men much larger than him, going much against the grain of the traditional mindset of mixed martial arts, where weight cutting is king. Furthermore, at the time of writing Frankie Edgar is scheduled to rematch Benson Henderson which will mean that 7 of his 17 fights will have been against the same three opponents, a bizarre circumstance indeed. Edgar has, however, proved to be much more effective in rematches than in first meetings. After edging out BJ Penn for the lightweight title, Penn was gifted a rematch, which Edgar dominated. Immediately after Edgar scraped a draw against Gray Maynard who had previously beaten him, then knocked Maynard out in the rubber match. Edgar, traditionally, is recognised as a fighter whose game depends on his footwork. Due to his lack of finishing ability though, Edgar has never proven to be a large draw. His ability to beat bigger names has caused great interest around his style, however, which to the casual fan seems alienating and frustrating. Truly, Edgar's brilliance lies in his limiting of exchanges and his blending wrestling with striking. As the smaller man, he has shown to lack the power of many of the lightweights that he fights, and does not take a punch as well as he would at featherweight. Edgar spends much of the fight circling to prevent this, before attacking with jabs, a four punch combination into the clinch, low kicks, or his trademark knee pick.

©Jack Slack


36

Advanced Striking Jabbing to Knee Tap Edgar spends a great deal of time in his fights limiting the number of exchanges by using hyperactive movement. For the most part in the early rounds he will use a safety lead (circling to the left while jabbing) which often falls short, and will occasionally step in with a four punch flurry. Once he has established that he intends to jab, he throws his lead hand at the opponent's lead shoulder while hooking his right hand behind their knee, pushing forward and picking up the leg. From here Frankie is often able to grip around their neck with his lead hand, circle his ri ght foot back and dump his opponent to the mat.

Black and White Square off.

Black attacks with a jab.

Black and White square off again, White is prepared to defend Black's jabs.

©Jack Slack


37

Advanced Striking

Black lunges forward in a jab, but connects with his palm on inside of White's lead shoulder, from here he is able to push through and lift the weight off of White's lead leg.

©Jack Slack


By taking the weight off of White's lead leg, Black is able to pick it up with ease. From here he can switch to a single leg takedown or a leg sweep with ease.

38

Advanced Striking Knee Tap to Liver Kick Edgar's knee tap takedown from a striking distance is so unorthodox that he was able to take down BJ Penn, who is known for his ungodly counter wrestling, with it . Once he has hit it on an opponent once, however, they tend to compensate for it and stop him from hitting the knee tap takedown again. In this instance Edgar often takes advantage by using the knee tap to force the opponent into struggling to stay upright, then using a left middle kick as they hop backwards. Edgar has found a great home for his lead leg kick to the body in this manner, which is normally a difficult technique to land. In this manner Edgar was able to use BJ Penn's vaunted takedown defence against him.

Black has hit the knee pick detailed in the previous technique.

White hops back, freeing his leg and beginning to recover his balance. Black pushes White back and steps his right leg up.

Black connects a liver kick on White as White recovers his stance.

©Jack Slack


39

Advanced Striking Outside Low Kick Against Penn, Edgar was also able to land a significant number of low kicks on the notoriously kicking averse champion. By circling to the outside of BJ's left hand he exposed the champions' inability to deal with movement, and exposing the back of Penn's left leg as a target. From here Edgar was able to kick into Penn's hamstring, causing significant pain.

Black and White square off.

Black steps off line to White's left.

Black connects a low kick to the tender back portion of White's thigh, buckling his leg inward.

©Jack Slack


40

Advanced Striking Edgar Pivot Much has been made of Edgar's movement, though it is often for the wrong reasons. Edgar is perceived to be a brilliant striker because he moves so much, but the real genius lies in the fact that his movement frustrates opponents and disguises his low offensive output. One of the signature movements that Edgar employs is a clockwise pivot. From his stance Edgar will step his left foot forward forty-five degrees and end in a position similar to a Side Step (See Jersey Joe Walcott), following this he will pivot clockwise to return to facing his opponent but slightly left of his original position. It is hard to throw a punch at him confidently when he is using this sidestepping technique, and it forces the opponent to catch up with his lateral movement rather than focus on their own offensive output.

Black slips to his right.

Black steps out at forty-five degrees to the left.

Black pivots on the ball of his front foot, ending the movement to the right of his opponent.

©Jack Slack


41

Advanced Striking

Junior dos Santos - Cigano UFC Heavyweight champion, Junior Dos Santos sprung on to the Mixed Martial Arts main stage with a brutal knockout of the then top ten ranked Fabricio Werdum. Dos Santos has been heralded as the best boxer in the UFC heavyweight division, and it's certainly hard to dispute – he has produced a string of knockout victories using only his hands when his opponents were fully aware that his game plan was to do so. Dos Santos is not a traditionalist in his pugilism, eschewing the jab for the majority of his fights and preferring to lead with hooks or his powerful right straight (which he often uses to the midsection in a similar manner to Badr Hari). Dos Santos' accuracy and power are the basis of his striking – turning his hips fully through into every punch and throwing his hands from down by his chest – and the majority of his defence consists of footwork rather than head movement.

Another intriguing feature of Dos Santos' style is his fondness of striking with the heel of his palm, rather than with his knuckles. This is visible in the flurries of hooks that he threw at Stefan Struve, Gilbert Yvel and Mirko Cro Cop. A glance at his hands during the announcements before a fight will reveal Dos Santos' fondness for landing with the inside of his fist also, he chooses to heavily wrap his thumb joints, where most fighters wrap these parts of the hand comparatively little. The point of this wrapping was demonstrated in his famous knock-out victory over Cain Velasquez, photographs of which reveal that the knockout punch was landed with Dos Santos' thumb knuckle first, which is very dangerous for a fighter's hands.

©Jack Slack


42

Advanced Striking Hands Low Stance Junior dos Santos uses a peculiar stance when compared to most fighters in the UFC. When fighting, “Cigano” carries both of his hands low. This is for several reasons; firstly it gives him extra power in his punches – swinging them from below his waist ensures that they are more attached to his hip movement. Secondly, his punches are hard to see coming, particularly his jab which often enters through the blind angle below the opponent's vision. Finally, his hands being low allows dos Santos to automatically obtain an underhook on his left side when an opponent shoots a takedown at him – a useful trick as Cigano lacks the wrestling pedigree which many heavyweight mixed martial artists own. This stance can only be utilized effectively, however, because Junior Dos Santos has excellent footwork and maintains a distance between himself and the opponent where he can always step out of range when they attack but explode into range when he wishes to engage. To attempt this type of stance without advanced level footwork would be suicidal against competent punchers.

White and Black are in fighting stance.

White moves in to take Black down but his lead arm is already in position to secure the underhook.

Black removes his lead leg from White's reach, setting up a left knee strike.

©Jack Slack


43

Advanced Striking Body Straight Counter Dos Santos is primarily a head hunter in his fights, preferring not to commit too much to body punching – or even a jab for that matter. Although this is true, one of dos Santos' most effective and unique counters is his right straight to the body in counter to a jab. It puts him in position to come back upstairs with a left hook to the head of his winded opponent. This simple counter combination was responsible for dos Santos' destruction of Gilbert Yvel.

White and Black face each other.

As White jabs, Black changes level, slips to his left, and lands a right straight to the solar plexus or floating rib.

Black explodes out of his crouch with a left hook to the jaw. Junior Dos Santos often chooses to connect with the heel of his palm, rather than the knuckles, and this is shown here.

©Jack Slack


44

Advanced Striking Left Hook – Right Uppercut Junior dos Santos burst to the forefront of most fans' minds when he knocked out the top ten ranked Fabricio Werdum inside of one round, after taking t he fight as a replacement at short notice. While he likely benefited from Werdum's arrogance on the feet, he found a hole in his fellow Brazilian's game early on and immediately exploited. Noting Werdum's fondness or perhaps subconscious reflex to duck his head when blocking a hook, dos Santos exploited this by feinting with his left and following with a powerful right uppercut. Dos Santos also put this combination to work on Roy Nelson, a shorter fighter, also prone to ducking.

A second interesting variation on this technique that dos Santos uses is to use the left hand to cover the opponent's right, while stepping the right foot out to the right side and turning the right hip all the way through to deliver a short uppercut.

White is fighting defensively, covering up against Black's hooks.

Black fakes a left hook, and White reverts to his covering up posture.

©Jack Slack

Black backs off and reassesses his attack.

Black connects an uppercut, the force of which is amplified by White's ducking in to it.


45

Advanced Striking

Andy Hug – The Blue Eyed Samurai There are few more inspiring or tragic stories in competitive martial arts than that of Andy Hug. Born in Switzerland, Hug travelled to Japan to study karate under the legendary Mas Oyama “The God Hand”. After having brilliant success in Kyokushin rules karate tournaments (which allow bareknuckle punching to the body but not to the head, and kicks to head, body and legs), Hug made the step of transitioning to the K-1 kickboxing organisation. Despite not knowing much about boxing or Muay Thai – which proved costly in his first few matches – Hug worked harder than almost anyone in K-1 to raise his game. Hug eventually rounded his style out with a decent defence and good boxing technique, but maintained the quirks which made him such a difficult fighter to defend against; his axe kicks, his stance switches and his spinning back kicks. Hug won the 1994 K-1 Grand Prix, and continued to improve. His career ended on a 4 fight winning streak, containing many of the best performances of his career, when he was diagnosed with leukaemia just a week after knocking out Nabu Hayashi in 2 minutes. Hug died within two weeks of the diagnosis, but was remembered as Japan's favourite K-1 fighter, and the best Western karateka to date, earning him the nickname The Blue Eyed Samurai.

The secret to Hug's success, despite being the smallest heavyweight in K-1, was his unconventional movement and attacks. The weaknesses which plagued his career aside from his weak chin were his average boxing, and being undersized in the K-1 open weight Grand Prix.

©Jack Slack


46

Advanced Striking Hug Tornado A technique which has only really found success under Andy Hug, the Hug Tornado is a spinning back roundhouse kick to the opponent's leg. A southpaw, Hug utilized this technique most famously against his orthodox rival, Mike Bernardo. By circling towards Bernardo's right side, he was able to land hard, right legged kicks to Bernardo's lead leg, and to draw right round house kicks from Bernardo. When Mike Bernardo threw his right roundhouse kick at Hug, Hug spun on the spot and threw his Hug Tornado, landing with his heel above the knee joint on the weight-baring leg of Bernardo. This hyper-extended Bernardo's knee and led to the match being stopped. While the technique is difficult to throw, risky, and has not found success since Hug's death, the strategy is on film for young fighters to see. Stand in an opposite stance to your opponent, draw his rear leg kick by moving toward it, then spin and buckle his standing leg.

Black and White are squared off. Black is southpaw.

Black is circling to his left and steps up to prepare a kick.

Black's right low kicks are an effective offence.

©Jack Slack


47

Advanced Striking

Black's continued circling toward White's right encourages him to throw a roundhouse kick. As he does, Black steps across himself, preparing to spin.

Black completes the turn, connecting with his calf and heel to White's weight-baring leg, causing significant damage.

©Jack Slack


48

Advanced Striking Axe Kick Another technique which was a trademark of Hug throughout his career. He had many variations which he faked, threw while running and landed variously on the collarbones or heads of his opponents. The main two variations, however, are the axe kick rising on the same side of the body as the kicking leg, and th e axe kick which rises across the body, from the standing leg side.

While both are difficult to throw, they are often unexpected and do damage to t he opponent's collar bones through the weight of the limb and gravity working in the same direction. The only risk is straining a muscle executing this technique, or hyperextending one's own knee on the opponent's shoulder by locking the leg before bringing it down.

Starting Position

Rising on the Outside

©Jack Slack

Top Position www.FightsGoneBy.com

Rising on the Inside

49

Advanced Striking Round Kick – Rear Straight A trademark technique of the Andy Hug and fellow karateka, Lyoto Machida, this technique consists of throwing a rear leg roundhouse kick, followed by a short rear hand straight while the kicking leg is returning. It i s possible to catch opponent's through the small hole that is maintained in the opponents guard by their bracing against the force of the kick.

Black and White are in fighting stances. Black is southpaw.

Black steps his right foot outside of his opponent's left and throws a left middle kick to his opponents forearm.

Before his foot has returned to the ground, Black fires a left straight inside of White's braced uard.

©Jack Slack


50

Advanced Striking

Sugar Ray Robinson – Boxing's Smoothest Fighter If ever a fighter's style could be described as “textbook”, it was Sugar Ray Robinson's. Almost universally respected as the “Greatest of All Time” (a title which even Muhammad Ali bestowed upon him), Ray Robinson's impact on the sport of boxing was prolific. Born Walker Smith Junior, he took the name Ray Robinson when borrowing a friend's amateur boxing license, and the alias stuck. With 173 professional wins, 108 of which came by way of knockout, and almost all of which came against the best fighters of his day, Robinson's record is impressive to even the most particular of critics.

Robinson was known not only for having smooth footwork and a good jab, he has been likened to a small Joe Louis (one of his mentors) in his ability to throw powerful, rapid combinations. Robinson's stance was identical to that taken by Louis, though he used far more lateral movement, carrying his lead hand relatively low to jab with more power.

©Jack Slack


51

Advanced Striking 'Operation Left Hook' Robinson's match against the iron headed Gene Fulmer was finished by what has been called by many; the Perfect Punch. Fulmer was a ferocious puncher with his right hand, and Robinson realised that Fulmer's looping, powerful rights would leave the right side of his chin vulnerable to Robinson's left hook. Robinson was far past his prime when the two met, and Fulmer had never been stopped, yet Robinson was able to knock Fulmer out with one punch. In order to bait Fulmer into firing his right hand, Robinson winged a looping right hook to Fulmer's body, convincing Fulmer that he wanted to brawl. Robinson took a step back and as Fulmer pursued him, Robinson faked the same body shot with his right hand and threw a tight left hook. When watching the film it seems that Robinson gets knockout power while moving backwards – he achieves this by pushing off of his led leg and pivoting on the ball of his left foot in order to turn his lead knee in.

Black and White are fighting. Black is conscious of White's powerful right hand.

Black sneaks a looping right hand in to the midsection. Convincing White that he wishes to trade unches.

Black retreats to a safe range.

©Jack Slack


52

Advanced Striking

Black fakes a right hand, causing White to react with a right hand of his own.

Black “walks” to the right, stepping out with his right hand as he connects a powerful left hook inside of White's looping right. When Sugar Ray Robinson performed this technique against the iron jawed Gene Fullmer, he seemed to be moving backward when he knocked Fulmer out.

©Jack Slack


53

Advanced Striking Safety Lead Robinson had the habit of circling to his left, into his opponent's power hand, but was able to achieve this safely by maintaining a slightly hunched stance with his lead shoulder raised. Carrying his lead hand low he would fire it upwards into his opponent's right eye while stepping to the left with his lead foot. Keeping his lead toes turned slightly inward, Robinson could get significant power on his safety lead despite it's conservative nature. The secret of the safety lead is to hold the right hand in position to catch the opponent's left hook while stepping away from it, and to dip the head off-line to nullify the opponent's jab. It is also necessary to shrug the shoulder of the punching, left hand in order to deflect any right handed strikes from the opponent to the practitioner's jaw.

Black is searching for openings in White's defence.

Black steps his left foot outward at forty-five degrees to his left, turning it in. Turning his hip, he throws a jab, and raises his lead shoulder to cover his jaw as he does so. His right hand remains in position to block hooks and jabs.

Black pivots on his lead foot and recovers to the left of his original position. Edwin Haislet purports that the safety lead is the least risky technique in the boxing arsenal, and it seems to hold true.

©Jack Slack


54

Advanced Striking Shoe Shine Flurries One of Robinson's key manoeuvres was what has historically been called a “shoe shine”. This is a rapid fire series of punches which alternates hands and resembles the back and forth motion of polishing a shoe. Robinson often threw these flurries exclusively to the body, followed by a left hook to the head in order to break away and re-establish distance between himself and his opponent.

From infighting range, Black fires a right hook to the body, a left hook to the body, a second right hook to the body, a left hook to the head, then pushes with his left glove as he pivots to the left and re-establishes outfighting range.

©Jack Slack


55

Advanced Striking

Anderson Silva – The Spider at the Center of the Middleweight Web Anderson Silva has maintained an unparalleled run inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship. During his reign as middleweight champion of the world, other great fighters have come and gone, but Silva remains. Silva is known as perhaps the greatest striker in mixed martial arts, owning savage Muay Thai elbows, knees and kicks, and some of the best boxing in MMA history. Having a hit and miss career during the PRIDE era, Silva found success in the British Cage Rage promotion before making his way into the UFC. In his first match he knocked out top ranked contender, Chris Leben, who was not known as a competent striker, but was recognised as having the best chin in the division. This knockout remains the only one on Leben's record to this day. What is more impressive is that Silva knocked Leben down with punches while Silva himself was moving backwards. Following this 2006 victory, Silva immediately challenged Rich Franklin for the UFC middleweight title. Destroying Franklin in their first meeting and a rematch, Silva has continued undefeated in the UFC since his promotional début. Silva's dominance is rooted primarily in his excellent striking, which befuddles and frightens most of the men that he fights. Anderson is naturally right handed but often fights southpaw and will switch between the two stances effectively, confusing fighters who are limited to one stance. Further to this, Silva's excellent pushing and snapping front kicks are useful in controlling the distance and frustrating opponents hoping to take him down. Silva is often credited with having a brilliant jab, but it is not hugely important to his success. Silva is, for the most part, a counter puncher – often to the point of inactivity, choosing to fight with straights while retreating, or hooks. Silva's offensive arsenal is made up of kicks and knees for the most part, but the uppercut and over the top elbows that he util izes have also become iconic of his style.

©Jack Slack


56

Advanced Striking Southpaw Takedown Defense Anderson Silva is not a great wrestler. He is a passable one, of course, but he should not be able to defend the takedowns of men who have been grappling their entire lives, and yet he does. This is not down to flawless wrestling technique but due to the distance he keeps. Anderson Silva is not a natural southpaw, signing his autographs right handed and packing more power and dexterity in his right handed punches. Yet he fights southpaw for the reason that most wrestlers in MMA train to strike from an orthodox stance even if they wrestle from a southpaw one. The southpaw vs orthodox stance is a different dynamic from two men in the same stance meeting and the distance is greater. Anderson's southpaw stance effectively eliminates the opponent's ability to shoot a double leg takedown, and feeds them his right leg if they manage to close the distance enough to shoot. This means that Anderson only needs to work single leg takedown defense, which is not only easier than dealing with powerful double leg shots, but he can devote more time to training it as he encounters southpaw double leg takedowns so rarely. Chael Sonnen, the last man to decidedly outwrestle Silva, was a southpaw wrestler and shot double leg takedowns on Anderson with incredible ease, strengthening the theory that Silva's stance aids in his takedown defence.

©Jack Slack


57

Advanced Striking Pursuing Right Hook One of Silva's most beautiful tactical set pieces came against Forrest Griffin. Anderson is known as a counter puncher – to the extent that if an opponent refuses to lead, Anderson will do nothing. He had done this in his last two matches at middleweight and UFC brass decided to match him against the ultra aggressive but less than powerful puncher Forrest Griffin at light-heavyweight to rebuild some of the goodwill that Silva had lost. While Forrest played in to Silva's hands, just as UFC matchmaker Joe Silva likely intended, the first technique that Anderson hurt Forrest with was a masterful counter which he set up with an offensive flurry, an unusual move for the Brazilian counter-puncher. Charging Griffin down with a powerful double jab, Silva backed his opponent across the cage before stopping in range of Forrest. Knowing Forrest would attempt to jab and circle out, Silva slipped the jabs Forrest threw in panic. Forrest then circled to his left while jabbing but stood straight upright (without the shrugged shoulder or slight dip of the head which make a “safety lead” effective – see Sugar Ray Robinson). Forrest circled out at a considerable distance from Silva, so a “cross counter” (See Alistair Overeem) was out of the question, Anderson stepped out to his right with his right foot before throwing a lead right hook and catching Forrest clean as he circled. This excellent counter which Anderson Silva initiated with a rare moment of offence was far more impressive to the striking connoisseur than the show-boating in the rest of the match as Silva put Griffin away.

Black is pursuing White, who attempts to circle out to Black's right.

©Jack Slack

Black steps his right foot out at ninety degrees to cut White's escape off, and establishes a southpaw stance.

Black springs toward White with a right hook. Catching White while he is circling in to the punch will result in a much increased impact and a high probability of knocking him down or unconscious. www.FightsGoneBy.com

58

Advanced Striking Front Snap Kick One of Silva's most iconic knockouts came over Vitor Belfort as he threw a front snap kick which connected with Belfort's chin and crumpled him to the mat. This technique has been a staple of Karate and Kung Fu styles for hundreds of years but had never been used to great effect in MMA before. Differing from the Muay Thai Teep (See Buakaw Por Pramuk) in that it is a snapping kick and not a thrusting kick, this kick is usually thrown by coiling the heel of the kicking leg as close to t he buttock as possible, though Silva did not commit to this. Instead he disguised it a roundhouse kick by bringing it straight from the floor. It's efficacy can be seen in the slow motion replays which one can find all over the internet, as Belfort keeps his forearms out to defend the round kick, while raising his lead leg to check it. This created a completely clear path for Anderson to land the kick up the middle, and we have seen it used numerous times effectively since. Lyoto Machida, Josh Thomson, Dong Hyun Kim and Rousimar Palhares have all connected this kick in major promotions since Silva brought it to the forefront.

Black and White are in stance.

To obtain a fast and whip like kick, Black chambers the heel close to his buttock

Black snaps the ball of his foot up under White's chin.

Black snaps his foot back rapidly to prevent White from catching it as he reels from the kick. If the kick has been chambered properly it should sna back easil .

©Jack Slack


59

Advanced Striking Back Elbow Another technique which Silva was responsible for publicising is the lead arm back elbow. This technique, however, has not been replicated effectively by other mixed martial artists. Urijah Faber attempted it and got brutally knocked unconscious for his troubles by Mike Thomas Brown. Silva used it against the severely over-matched Tony Friklund and provided a highlight reel knockout for the ages. From a southpaw stance Silva covered Friklund's vision with his lead hand before dropping it below Friklund's vision and bringing it up, elbow first, underneath Friklund's chin. As a comparative viewing of Faber and Silva's attempts at this technique will show, it helps to be on the offensive against a hurt opponent when attempting the back elbow, rather than on the back foot and trying to surprise an aggressive one.

Black places his glove on White's lead glove, preventing a hook or jab.

Black drops his hand below White's vision, into the “Blind Angle”.

Black drives his arm back up, elbow first, under the jaw of White.

©Jack Slack


60

Advanced Striking Outside Low Kick Trap Silva rarely checks his opponent's low kicks, as such an act would be purely defensive and contrary to his philosophy as a counter-striker (unless he utilized the Muay Boran style knee spike – see Ernesto Hoost). Instead Silva chooses to take the kick, catch it and fire back a strike of his own. Against a kick to the outside of his lead leg this means turning his lead foot out and bending his knee so that the thick front of his quadriceps meets the blow and the kick rides up to his hip, where he can grip it with his lead hand, before firing back an assortment of counter blows. This technique was the only one he used in his short match against James Irving.

Black and White are searching for openings.

As White attempts a low kick to the outside of Black's left leg, Black steps out with his right foot, taking him away from the attack. This removes much of the force, and allows him to reach down and catch behind White's heel.

Pulling White's ankle up, and trapping it against his hip, Black fires a right straight at White's jaw. Anderson Silva was able to knock out James Irving in the first exchange of their match with this technique.

©Jack Slack


61

Advanced Striking Inside Low Kick Trap Against a kick coming to the inside of his lead leg, Silva will turn his knee intwards, against taking the kick on the front of his quad or on his knee, simultaneously catching the kick agaist his leg with his rear hand, and throwing a lead hand over the top elbow. This technique was able to put Chael Sonnen on his back rather spectacularly.

White steps up to throw a lead leg kick.

Black turns his thigh in to absorb as much of the impact as possible on the thicker portion of his quadriceps. He traps the kick with his left hand.

Silva's enormous height and reach allowed him to connect this on Sonnen without dropping the leg, but most practitioners will have to drag the foot forward, forcing the opponent to land on their over the top elbow.

©Jack Slack


62

Advanced Striking

Alistair Overeem – The Strongest in Seven Billion Alistair Overeem was the first man to win major titles in both mixed martial arts and kickboxing, owning the Strikeforce belt in MMA before conquering the K-1 Grand Prix in 2010 and winning the (largely ornamental) Dream belt to see out that year. Overeem began his career in Mixed Martial Arts as a gangly li ght heavyweight, fighting many of the best fi ghters in the world under the legendary PRIDE FC promotion, and often coming up short. After a chequered career at 205lbs, with losses to Chuck Liddell, Mauricio Rua, Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem opted to move up to heavyweight full time and had enormous success. After packing on enormous amounts of muscle, many were ready to write Overeem off as a brute. His technique, however, improved exponentially and he seemed an altogether different fighter following the change in weightclass. Overeem's signature knees have been a major part of his striking style since his early career, but in recent years he has improved his boxing many-fold, and now works from behind his powerful cross counter.

©Jack Slack


63

Advanced Striking The Cross Counter Alistair Overeem's hands were not highly rated even during his emergence in K-1, partly because the majority of his knockouts coming by way of clinching knee strikes. Once K-1 banned two handed neck clinches, Overeem demonstrated his boxing ability. Against Ben Edwards, Overeem countered Edward's jab by utilizing a right hook combined with a slip to his left. The resulting overhand which travels over the top of the opponent's jab was utilized by Joe Gans at the turn of the twentieth century and is referred to as a “Cross Counter”.

Black stands square to White, with his hands high, hoping to force his opponent to jab.

As White pushes forward with a jab, Black slips to the inside of it, simultaneously throwing a right hook which loops over the top of White's missed jab. This can connect flush on either White's jaw or temple and is one of the most dangerous counter punches in any combat sport.

©Jack Slack


64

Advanced Striking 'The Uberknee' Alistair Overeem's Uberknee has become the stuff of internet memes and legend. The variation which has proven particularly effective, most notably against Brock Lesnar, has been Overeem's step up knee. Stepping in to a southpaw stance, Overeem uses his right hand to check his opponent's left, and his left to check their right, before unleashing his left knee strike on their abdomen. He utilized the same technique to knock out the shorter Kazayuki Fujita by striking him in t he head.

White and Black square off.

To cover his entrance, Black smothers White's lead hand with his rear hand. This prevents him from being jabbed or hooked as he steps.

Stepping his right foot outside of White's lead foot, Black covers White's right hand, eliminating his offense altogether.

Black connects with the point of his knee. Here he attacks the solar plexus, as Overeem did against Lesnar, but against shorter opponents, or for the more flexible fighter, the head is a viable target.

©Jack Slack


65

Advanced Striking Lunging Right Hand Overeem is one of the few fighters to successfully utilize a lunging punch. He steps forward with his right foot and lands his right hook simultaneously. He then steps back into his original, orthodox stance. He utilized this punch to hurt Sergei Kharitanov in their second match. Though he went on to lose, it was visibly baffling the granite jawed Russian.

White and Black are searching for openings.

Black steps forward with his right foot, outside of White's lead foot. Turning this foot in, he thrusts a looping punch over White's left glove. From here, Overeem would step back the same way.

©Jack Slack


66

Advanced Striking Stepping Lead Uppercut Overeem is a major exponent of “shifts” or stepping punches – his most prominent being the stepping corkscrew uppercut which he unleashed several times on Peter Aerts in the K-1 Grand Prix Final. By stepping off-line with his right leg as he threw the corkscrew left uppercut, Overeem was able to take a slight angle. When he stepped back through with his left leg, he unleashed a right hook – stunning Aerts, and followed this with several more, damaging punches.

Black and White hunt for openings.

Black makes a right shoulder feint, seeming to load up for a left hook.

Black steps his right foot forward at forty-five degrees and drives a straight uppercut underneath White's chin. Overeem backed Aerts on to the ropes with this technique and followed with a salvo of punches that dropped the Dutch legend.

©Jack Slack


67

Advanced Striking

Fedor Emelianenko – The Last Emperor Fedor Emelianenko is unarguably the greatest heavyweight in Mixed Martial Arts' short history. Having emerged from the Russian mining town of Stary Oskol to climb the ranks of PRIDE FC as an underdog against Semmy Schilt and Heath Herring before meeting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – then thought to be the most perfect heavyweight to that point – and embarrassing the Brazilian in not one but three meetings. Going for over a decade undefeated, Emelianenko was considered a grappler on his emergence on the PRIDE stage, but soon proved to be as devastating on the feet as he was on the floor. Coming from a Judo background with boxing experience from his childhood, Fedor's true skill was using his powerful punches to flow seamlessly in and out of clinches from which he could use his throws and trips. When Fedor Emelianenko took on Mirko Cro Cop, the most dangerous striker in MMA, and beat the Croatian standing, he proved that through his craftiness he could stand with any man alive.

©Jack Slack


68

Advanced Striking Casting Punch Fedor Emelianenko was able to rag doll Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira around the ring with the use of his casting punch. Throwing a looping right straight to bring Nogueira's arms up, Emelianenko was able to weave his head under Nogueira's left armpit, following this up with a double leg scoop slam which left Nogueira on the floor and Fedor standing over him.


Black thrusts a looping right punch at White, turning his hand all the way over so that his thumb knuckle points downward, and slipping his head to the left.

Black ducks his head and weaves to the outside of White's right arm. If White has blocked it is easy to weave under his elbow. If White has been hit or attempts to counter, this will take Black under his left hook.

©Jack Slack


Black stands up into White and takes him over to the left. Dragging his legs out will slam him to the floor while Black remains standing over him as Fedor did so many times against Nogueira and even against the gargantuan Brett Rogers.

69

Advanced Striking Right Straight – Left Uppercut – Left Hook A useful combination which Fedor used against the southpaw Mirko Cro Cop was to strike the Croatian in the sternum with a right straight, forcing his head to come forward, before throwing a left uppercut and a hook with the same hand in order to catch Cro Cop cleanly with medium power strikes.

Black faces White. White is southpaw.

Black lands a hard right straight to the sternum.

Black rises from his crouch with a left uppercut.

Black catches White off guard with a quick left hook to the temple.

©Jack Slack


70

Advanced Striking Zulu The technique which has become known as the “Zulu” is a simple right hand trap, followed by a left hook. As the jab or left hook is the most concerning direct counter when leaping in with a left hook, taking that arm out of the equation with a hand trap reduces the opponent to a completely defensive role. Fedor then only had to concern himself with sneaking his hook around the opponent's remaining hand – often landing a punch on their neck. The name comes from Fedor's destruction of the gigantic Brazilian, Zuluzinho, in under a minute with the technique. Several years later, in his first performance state side, he floored and finished top 3 ranked heavyweight and former UFC heavyweight champion, Tim Sylvia in 26 seconds with the same technique.

Black and White are searching for openings.

©Jack Slack

Faking a right punch, Black slaps White's hand downward, eliminating the jab and allowing Black to leap forward freely.

Black leaps forward, connecting a hard left hook behind White's right glove. Against Sylvia, Fedor connected the punch on the side of Sylvia's neck – on the jugular vein. Striking this vein will often result in unconsciousness and is extremely common with high kicks in Muay Thai. www.FightsGoneBy.com

71

Advanced Striking Inside Hand Trap A technique which Fedor used to great effect throughout his career was to use his lead hand to clear the opponent's lead hand to the outside of their body and fire a right hand through the middle. Fedor used this to great effect against Nogueira in their third meeting and it has also been used rather effectively by Belarus' Andre Arlovski.

Black and White are facing off. White's lead hand is noticeably forward.

Black hooks White's hand from the inside and drags it outward.

Black follows through with a right hand.

©Jack Slack


72

Advanced Striking

Joe Louis – The Brown Bomber Joe Louis is considered the best heavyweight in boxing history and certainly the most successful champion. With an unrivalled 25 successful defences of his heavyweight crown against a mixed bag of talent, Louis maintained a knock-out percentage of 93% up to his first retirement. His ill-fated attempt at a comeback saw him knocked out by the significantly younger Rocky Marciano, but few pretend that Louis was anywhere near his best when this fight took place. Joe Louis, the first black contender for the heavyweight title since the outrageous Jack Johnson had challenged the white supremacy of heavyweight boxing thirty years earlier, also proved to be a true ambassador for African Americans in the face of unjust prejudice from white Americans. Louis' style was slow and methodical as he shuffled forward in his stance behind a solid jab. Often he would take a step back in order to bait his opponents on to his combinations. These combinations were some of the most rapid and certainly the most powerful in the heavyweight division up to that point. Louis could fire fi ve or six punches with knockout power behind each of them and continue this kind of output for 15 rounds.

©Jack Slack


73

Advanced Striking Jab – Left Hook – Right Hook Few men have landed a right hook as well as Joe Louis did throughout his career. The most memorable right hook which he landed was against Max Schmeling during their second match in this combination. Louis used his right palm to cover Schmeling's lead hand and fired a jab of his own. Schmeling's defence was as good as expected and caught Louis' jab, but Louis immediately hooked off of the same hand, sneaking around Schmeling's guard and stunning him, before Louis turned his hips through and landed a tight, jolting right hook, sending Max to the mat. This combination is so beautiful because it is far safer than most. B y covering the lead hand and doubling up with the lead it is possible to catch the opponent off guard while staying out of harm's way oneself.


Black immediately throws a short hook with his left hand.

©Jack Slack

Black attacks with a jab, which White checks, reaching simultaneously to cover White's own jab.

Followed by a powerful right hook.


74

Advanced Striking Braddock KO A rather unique knockout combination was the one which Louis used to win his heavyweight title from The Cinderella Man, James J. Braddock. Braddock's lead hand was away from his body, so Louis threw a left hook, connecting with the inside of Braddock's left elbow – deadening and throwing his arm out of the way simultaneously. A straight right hand followed immediately down the pipe and put Braddock on his back.

White and Black are searching for openings. White's lead elbow is too far from his body.

Black throws a left hook to the inside of White's left elbow joint. This gives him a dead arm and removes his defence.

Black follows with a powerful right straight on to the exposed chin of White.

©Jack Slack


75

Advanced Striking Back-Step Jab – Uppercut – Left Hook This is a combination that Louis used to stop Nate Mann. When Mann jabbed at Louis, Louis caught it in his glove and fired back his own. As Nate was coming forward when he jabbed, he continued moving forward, missing wild with his right hand as he had been stunned by the jab. He walked on to Louis' legendary right uppercut – left hook combination and was knocked out cold.

As White steps in with a jab, Black catches it and fires back his own. Black can step backward while doing this, as White will be moving on to his punch.

Black steps back again and White lunges forward, missing his follow up.

White walks on to Black's uppercut.

Black follows with a left hook. This uppercut, left hook combination was Louis' staple finisher, and when he connected both punches an knockdown was assured.

©Jack Slack


76

Advanced Striking

Jersey Joe Walcott – The Savviest Man in Boxing Jersey Joe Walcott's life was bizarrely twinned with the great Joe Louis. Both came from humble beginnings and rose to become world heavyweight champion, yet while Louis was picking up enormous pay days fighting his “bum of the month” club, Walcott was working shifts to feed his family and unable to train full time for his bouts. Even more interesting is the fact that Walcott was originally the protégée of notorious coach, Jack Blackburn, Walcott was dropped by Blackburn when a more promising prospect was brought to him, in the form of Joe Louis. Walcott fought Louis on two occasions and in both fights dropped the champion, making him look very average where before he had seemed invincible. Walcott did not have the punch, the combinations or the technical finesse that Louis did, but he had enormous quantities of savvy. His entire game was based around smooth, confusing movement. Dancing around the ring, switching stances gracefully and often, and throwing power punches and jabs from both hands. Walcott eventually got his dues, defeating Ezzard Charles for the heavyweight title, but failing to defend it when he was knocked by Rocky Marciano after putting on a boxing clinic for 12 rounds. Walcott's career is worth examining in detail because until George Foreman's comeback in the 1990s he was the oldest man to win a world heavyweight title in boxing, at 39 years old. Lacking the physicality of younger heavyweights made Jersey Joe Walcott one of the craftiest ring technicians of all time. For those strikers who lack athleticism but still would like to get the better of their stronger, faster sparring partners, his techniques are a wonderful way to slow down action, limit exchanges and counter whole combinations with a big punch or two.

©Jack Slack


77

Advanced Striking Side Steps Side Steps were the main technique of Jersey Joe Walcott's impeccable defence and also played a major part of his offence. From an orthodox stance (Walcott changed frequently) this consisted of a step with his right f oot between 45 degrees forward and right and 45 degree backward and right. The angle deployed depended on whether Walcott wanted to employ long punches or short ones. The side step which Walcott used against Joe Louis was backward and took Walcott's head out of reach of Louis who had to readjust his footwork. As Louis shuffled closer with a punch Walcott fired back a big right hand and dropped Louis to the canvas.


As White jabs, Black steps with his right foot to the right, dropping his lead hand but keeping his shoulder shrugged. He has now achieved a dominant angle on his opponent.

From here Black can connect almost at will. Walcott would usually throw a powerful looping right,just as he used to knock down Joe Louis twice.

©Jack Slack


78

Advanced Striking Cakewalk Walcott used to combine multiple side steps, moving from left to ri ght foot to confuse his opponents. It took his head from left to ri ght and made his opponents reluctant to punch at him, sometimes he would accompany the sidesteps with jabs and very often would end up in the opposite stance to the one he started in. It was through constantly changing the d ynamic of a match by switching stances that Walcott was able to drag younger, more athletic men into his foreign world of side steps and counter punches.

A series of right and left side steps, this move confuses and infuriates opponents, leaves one constantly in a position to counter, and can be turned into an offensive punching combination at any point. Moreover, it is fun to watch.

©Jack Slack


79

Advanced Striking 'The Perfect Punch' Joe Walcott's perfect punch came against Ezzard Charles – likely the greatest lightheavyweight boxer who ever lived. Charles had beaten Joe Louis and was severely out-boxing Walcott when the two clinched, were broken by the referee and returned to the centre of the ring. Walcott slipped to the inside of Charles' jab – an unorthodox and risky defence and it takes the head towards the opponent's right hand – before unleashing a hellish left uppercut/hook hybrid. Charles crumpled to the canvas and Walcott became the oldest heavyweight champion to that date.

Black and White face each other. Black attempts to draw a jab by lingering in punching range.

Black slips to the inside of White's jab. Walcott often accompanied this unorthodox defensive movement with a throwing out of both of his hands. Perhaps as a distraction, or perhaps simply to add to his eccentric reputation.

Black steps his right foot forward and out to the right, throwing a left hook / uppercut hybrid.

©Jack Slack


80

Advanced Striking

Manny Pacquiao – The Saviour of Boxing Manny Pacquiao has been called the most entertaining fi ghter of this generation, and HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant famously stated that if every division had a Manny Pacquiao, boxing would not be in the shameful state it is. Pacquiao is the antithesis of the problems that plague modern boxing; he doesn't quibble over weight divisions or spend long hiatuses seeking out tailor made opponents against which to achieve an easy pay day. Pacquiao has fought brawlers and boxers in eight different minor weight divisions, and has overwhelmed the vast majority of them with his ambidextrous punching power and rapid combinations.

Pacquiao uses a multitude of techniques to compensate for the often substantial weight disadvantage he carries into his fights. Against Antonio Magarito, for instance, Pacquiao gave up almost thirty pounds to the Mexican, and still brutalised him for twelve rounds. Often this is through Pacquiao's discipline in his movement. After any combination, Pacquiao immediately weaves underneath an opponent's counter, or side steps out to the left or right. It seems simple to remember to use head movement or foot movement after each combination, but the conditioning and mental discipline required to continue operating this way over ten or twelve rounds is truly something to admire.

©Jack Slack


81

Advanced Striking The Hatton Side Step Manny Pacquiao's counter to the relentless aggression of Ri cky Hatton was to side step the Briton's predictable attacks on a straight line. As a southpaw, side stepping would take Pacquiao into an orthodox fighter's power hand, except that Hatton's money punch was his left hook and so he stood almost square on – taking the power potential out of his right. This made the side-step a brilliant counter to Hatton's aggression. As Hatton rushed Pacquiao, Pacquiao side-stepped to the left and unleashed an overhand left hook onto Hatton's jaw.

White is pushing forward aggressively. Black is fighting southpaw.

Black sidesteps to his left, combined with a flicking jab to distract the opponent and obscure his vision.

Having achieved a dominant angle, Black throws an overhand left hook. The damage sustained through this counter effectively ended the durable Ricky Hatton's fighting career.

©Jack Slack


82

Advanced Striking Double Left Straight One of Pacquiao's staples as a southpaw is his left straight – both as a lead and as part of a 1-2. Often Pacquiao uses his left straight to the body as his first power punch – as he is measuring his opponent for his trademark flurries. Pacquiao also uses his straight left as a jab, and often has success by throwing a powerful straight to the body and using a jabbing straight with the same hand to t he head immediately after. This doubling up of the left straight is a unique strategy and rarely fails for Pacquiao.

Black steps outside of White's lead foot and lands a left straight to the body.

Drawing his punch back only half way, Black then lands a second left straight on White's face, catching him by surprise.

©Jack Slack


83

Advanced Striking Weaving Right Hook If an orthodox opponent has a particularly good left hook, such as Marco Antonio Barerra or Ricky Hatton did, Pacquiao often attempts to land his own lead, right hook and weave under their responding left hook. He had great success with this strategy against both men, and often his opponents overbalance from the force of throwing their own punch after being struck by Pacquiao's.

Black throws a right hook, which White blocks.

An experienced counter puncher, White immediately throws his own lead hook. Black ducks immediately after his own hook to avoid the most common counter punch. These movements make Pacquiao's reactions seem superhuman, when in fact he is just disciplined enough to move his head after every assault.

©Jack Slack


84

Advanced Striking

B.J. Penn – The Prodigy B.J. Penn is one of the most accomplished mixed martial artists in the history of that young sport. Having received his black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at a young age after less than five years training, he won the Mundials in the black belt division. Following this unprecedented feat he debuted in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and stormed toward a title shot against Jens Pulver. Following his loss to Pulver, Penn took a great many bizarre match ups in Japan, refusing to fight li ghtweights and instead choosing matches against larger men and members of the G racie family. Upon returning to the UFC B.J. Penn put together a win streak against top lightweight competition which was surpassed only by Takanori Gomi's in 2005. While Penn had made his début in the sport being known for his world class grappling, it was as a ruthless striker that he found massive success during his second stint inside the UFC. Despite his ability to get up from his back seemingly at will, Penn was never fond of kicking and instead dismantled his opponents with boxing, knees and elbows. While Penn was constantly heralded for his heavy hands, it was his unerring accuracy and simple, well timed counter punches which carried so much weight.

©Jack Slack


85

Advanced Striking Slipping Counter Jab Few men have done more for the reputation of the jab in Mixed Martial Arts competition than BJ Penn. Formerly known largely for his left hook, undoubtedly his money punch through the first half of his career, Penn's return to the UFC lightweight division and title unification match against Sean Sherk showed Penn's new pet strike to it's full potential. Abandoning his head on stance for a more side on one, every time Sherk attacked with his inferior reach, Penn slipped to his right and simultaneously threw a jab. Fans were stunned by the remarkable accuracy and frequency with which Penn landed his jab and many other fighters attempted to imitate Penn's success, to little avail. The secret to Penn's success in “establishing the jab” was his using it as a go to counter, backing his opponents up until they attacked him .

©Jack Slack


86

Advanced Striking

Black walks White down, in hopes of forcing White to lead.

As White obliges, and jabs at Black, Black slips to his right while throwing his own jab. He is now in position to throw power punches at his stunned opponent.

©Jack Slack


87

Advanced Striking Sean Sherk Running Combination The combination which Penn used to stop Sean Sherk was a thing of o f beauty. beauty. Penn chased Sherk down with urgency, urgency, clearly hoping to meet his own prediction of stopping the fight in the third round. When Penn's corner shouted at him to step up the pace he threw a left hook followed by a right ri ght uppercut, which landed cleanly and backed Sherk up. He then stepped forward and threw his left hand again, though it was now his rear hand and served as a powerful straight. From here Sherk fell against the fence and Penn sprang on him with a jumping knee and some uppercuts to finish the fight. The initial combination was a beautiful example of chasing an opponent midway through a salvo.

Black throws throws a left hook which which is blocked.

Black connects connects a right uppercut uppercut as White White retreats.

To continue the assault, Black steps forward into a southpaw stance, simultaneously throwing a left straight.

©Jack Slack


88

Advanced Striking Open Guard Cross Counter In striking, an open guard is where one man is in an orthodox stance and the other is in a southpaw stance. This mismatch of stances makes for a completely different dynamic of fight and often changes the emphasis of the match from head movement and combinations to footwork and speed. When facing the southpaw Diego Diego Sanchez, B. J. Penn could not have nearly nearly so much success with his slipping jab, so instead backed Diego on to the fence with pressure and awaited Sanchez's attack. When Sanchez rushed Penn with running punches, Penn took a shuffle back, then (while covering Diego's lead hand) changed level to duck under Diego's left hand and landed a clean right hook over the top. This open guard variation of the Cross Cr oss Counter (explained in Alistair Overeem's chapter) set the tone of the match and Sanchez never recovered, being forced to survive as well as he could until the fifth round when a cut on his head stopped the fight. In the sequence below, Black is playing the part of Penn, but is fighting southpaw. This technique works as a southpaw or orthodox fighter, providing you are fighting someone in the opposite stance.

Black is southpaw southpaw. Black walks White down until White is forced to attack.

White charges with a jab, which Black avoids with a step backwards.

As White follows with a right straight, Black ducks and fires a rear rear hook over over White's missed straight.

©Jack Slack


89

Advanced Striking

Jack Johnson – The Galvaston Giant Few sportsmen have caused the apocalyptic level panic in society that Jack Johnson th did when he defeated the formerly unbeatable Jim Jeffries on July 4 1910. The Galvaston Giant was forced to work for years to overcome the colour line which Jeffries maintained when selecting challengers for his title. Eventually he won the title in 1908, once Jeffries had retired, against a weak field of heavyweights. Destroying Tommy Tommy Burns in Melbourne for the title, Johnson was and always had been considered one of the smartest men in i n boxing. Occasionally this made for boring fights, as when he stopped Sam McVey McVey in the twentieth t wentieth round of their desperately dull fight. Once he had realised that his alienating style of fighting was preventing his heavyweight heavyweight title tit le challenge from achieving public support, however, he began knocking out contenders left, right and centre. Pursuing the Canadian, Tommy Tommy Burns, across three continents to obtain a title match, Johnson eventually found a backer backer willing to put up the money for Burns' extortionate fee to fight a black man. Considered a great scientific boxer, it was in the clinch where Johnson did his best work as he used biceps control and under-hooks to brutalise his opponents to a stoppage. Often, as against the severely mismatched Stanley Ketchel, a middleweight, Johnson would hold his opponents up once he had hit them to prevent them from taking a knee and recovering during the referee's count. Following his defeat of Jeffries in 1910, Johnson became public enemy number one as the American American public looked to punish him for humiliating humili ating their hero. Eventually brought before the court on trumped up charges of “white slavery” under the Mann Act (which Johnson was the first man to be tried under), Johnson fled to France before he could be incarcerated and boxing's heavyweight division became the weakest it had since it's inception.

©Jack Slack


90

Advanced Striking Jabbing into the Clinch Jack Johnson's strength was in the clinch, having only a 72 inch reach on a 6'2” frame he preferred not to outfight. In order to get into the clinch Johnson would carry his left hand low, slap the opponent's lead hand down with his right, and dive in wit h a jab. Then he would establish the clinch by pummeling his left underneath the opponent's right armpit, or cup his hands over their upper arms for biceps control. Johnson used this against Tommy Burns and Jim Jeffries almost at will despite their attempts to stay outside and to swing at him as he approached.

White and Black circle, Black wishes to infight.

And enters with a jab of his own.

©Jack Slack

Black slaps White's lead hand down, negating White's jab.

Before gaining biceps control on his opponent by gripping over White's biceps and keeping his elbows tight to his body.


91

Advanced Striking The Jack Johnson Uppercut Jack Johnson's uppercut at close quarters was a thing of beauty. Turning his hips so far that he was actually throwing the uppercut almost perpendicular to the opponent, Johnson was able to throw his uppercut in a much shorter space. One of the most common ways Johnson used this was from his bicep control clinch, using a cross face to create space and force the opponent to lean against him, amplifying the power of his punch. Tim Boetsch used this same technique to knock out Yushin Okami. Another variation was to maintain bicep control and create the space by pushing his forehead against his opponent's face, which he used numerous times against Tommy Burns.

Black and White are infighting. Black is preventing why from striking or grasphing him by controlling White's biceps and keeping his own elbows inside.

Sensing a lull in the struggle, Black brings his left arm inside and uses the blade of his hand to cross face White's head away from him.

As White pushes back toward Black, Black steps his right foot outside White's left foot. From here Black turns his hips all the way through and throws an uppercut in an extremely short space.

©Jack Slack


Another view of the uppercut. If Black doesn't turn his right hip all the way past his centreline, the punch will not be tight enough to infiltrate the small space the cross face has created.

92

Advanced Striking

Here is Jack Johnson himself, demonstrating the punch in the San Francisco Call. This photo was taken in 1909, in the build up to his fight with Stanley Ketchel.

©Jack Slack


93

Advanced Striking Underhook Left Hook The technique which Johnson used to knock out the undefeated and legendarily durable Jim Jeffries, this technique has more place in MMA nowadays than it does in boxing. Johnson pummelled his right arm underneath Jeffries' left armpit and gripped over his shoulder. Then using this grip as a handle he turned side on to Jeffries and unleashed three solid left hooks straight onto Jeffries' jaw. Johnson had used this sort of technique throughout his entire career to grind his opponents down, but as Jeffries was one of the few men near Johnson's height, it was particularly useful as Johnson could get underneath Jeffries' arm with ease.

.

Black has biceps control on White's left arm and an underhook on his right. Pushing with the left hand and lifting with the right, he off balances White. From here he lands short left hook to White's face. After a relatively restrained couple of rounds, Jack Johnson used this technique to hammer home three left hooks on Jeffries who had been lulled into a sense of inactivity www.FightsGoneBy.com in the fifteenth round of The Fight of the Century. ©Jack Slack 94

Advanced Striking

Roy Jones Jr. - Mr Unstoppable Roy Jones Jr. is one of those fighters whose fighting style has been almost entirely written off as due to ungodly physical talent, while his intelligence in the ri ng has been sadly and consistently under-rated. Jones, who began his career in the lighter weights and moved all the way up to win one version of the world heavyweight title after years of dominance as a middleweight and light-heavyweight. Jones, famously fond of cock-fighting, has credited many of his strategies as being inspired by techniques that he saw game cocks use in their life and death battles. After Roy Jones Jr. was robbed of a decision in a fight which everyone but the judges seemed to think he had won in the finals of the Seoul Olympic Games, he certainly competed with the urgency of a fi ghting rooster. Jones KO'd 40 of 47 opponents up to his move to heavyweight (which many feel was the beginning of his decline, as the weight gain took a noticeable toll on his body). Jones often eschewed the jab, checking his opponent's own jab with his right hand and leaping in with lead hooks and uppercuts. He was also famous for his showboating and his right hand leads.

©Jack Slack


95

Advanced Striking Right Lead Stance Roy Jones Jr.'s unique stance, standing with his left hand low and his right extended slightly in front of him, provided Jones with an entire system of landing power punches. Having his right hand extended toward the opponent's left, he was able to parry and catch the opponent's jabs with ease. If the opponent desired to hook with his left hand, it would have to travel outside of Jones' right hand and he would block it with his upper arm. If the opponent attempting to throw his right hand at Jones, Jones simply wasn't there as the right hand is so slow to reach it's target when thrown as a lead. Jones could jab, lead hook and lead uppercut to great affect from this position – either weaving out to his left or clinching up afterwards.

By carrying his lead hand low and swaying it back and forth it also made Jones' punches harder to see coming and harder to predict. He could interchangeably throw hooks, uppercuts and jabs to the head or body with his lead hand, without much being given away about his intentions. This technique can be seen in full force from Jones' olympic days, proving particularly baffling to his opponent in the semi-finals.

Black carries his right hand forward, prepared to smother White's jabs.

From here Black sways his hand back and forth. As he swings it out to his left he can easily bring it back toward his centreline in the form of a left hook.

©Jack Slack

Alternatively he can swing his arm out to his side then bring it in as an uppercut, inside of White's defence.


96

Advanced Striking

Here, Black demonstrates that White's jab will prove completely ineffectual if he attempts it against Black's right hand lead stance.

©Jack Slack


97

Advanced Striking Upper Arms Defence Jones proved himself to be a defensive genius, though his defence was not always attractive. One particularly ugly but effective move was to use his upper arms – biceps and triceps – rather than his forearms to defend himself from hooks. To do this it was necessary to extend his arm out in front, making it look as if he were a rank amateur, but defending with all the effectiveness of a boxing great.

The opponent's only choices for an attack are a telegraphed right hand, or a left hook. To perform the left hook White will have to circle his lead hand outside of Black's. This telegraphs the movement significantly, and Black can use his forearm to block or his triceps, from which position he can easily overhook White's arm and initiate a clinch.

©Jack Slack


98

Advanced Striking Step Back Lead Uppercut When retreating Jones often liked to post his right foot out behind him, in a sprinters style stance, square his hips up and leap in with a lead uppercut at the pursuing opponent. This same technique was also utilized to great ability by heavyweight 'Razor' Ruddock, who dubbed it “The Smash”.

White is pursuing Black, who is retreating.

Black steps back with his right foot, squaring his hips and loading his weight onto his legs.

As White moves in to fill the space formed by Black's step back, Black springs forward with an uppercut. This rapid change from retreating to attacking merited a great many knockdowns for Roy Jones Jr.

©Jack Slack


99

Advanced Striking Step Back Right Straight Similar to the previous technique, this would start with Jones Jr. retreating and posting his right leg behind him to push off of. Instead of squaring his hips, however, he would push his left hand out in front of him to obscure the opponent's vision, then fire forward a right straight. He floored Murqui Sosa with this technique when Sosa had never hit the canvas before.

White is pursuing Black.

Black steps back with his right leg as in the previous technique, but instead of squaring his hips, Black turns side on, extending his lead arm to obscure White's vision.

Black springs forward with a right straight as White moves in. This technique will often result in one of the hardest and cleanest punches it is possible for most fighters to land, due to the opponent's movement towards the punch.

©Jack Slack


100

Advanced Striking

Jerome Le Banner – The Hercules of K-1 Jerome Le Banner stormed the kickboxing scene in the early nineties, establishing himself as a regular feature in the final eight of the K-1 Grand Prix. His enormous build and strength made him a fan favourite in Japan, where gigantic men are always a draw, and skilled giants even more so. Le Banner is considered one of the finest K-1 fighters to never win a K-1 Grand Prix title, coming up short against men he had knocked out on other nights, such as Ernesto Hoost. Part of Le Banner's style, which was famously difficult to manage for his opponents, was to fight in a southpaw stance despite being right handed. This meant that his stronger, more dexterous hand was able to connect on the shorter, faster attacks, while his weaker left hand had considerable distance in which to accelerate and develop power. Le Banner's lead leg was also his stronger kicking leg, and the same rules applied. His powerful right leg connected more often as it was closer and easier to set up, while his weaker, left leg had power it otherwise wouldn't. The way Le Banner based his game-plan around the lead low kick was largely responsible for his success and is worth examining.

©Jack Slack


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Advanced Striking Lead Low Kick Le Banner's lead low kick was a brutal and effective method of forcing openings in his opponent's guard. By stepping his left foot up shortly behind his right, often concealed with a jab to his opponent's face, Le Banner placed himself in position to drive his lead hip through in a powerful kick. The short, easily disguised movement and brutal power (this being his stronger leg) meant that Le Banner could do considerable damage without putting himself in danger.

Black is fighting southpaw.

Black steps his left foot up towards his right, and out to the left. This movement can be combined with a jab, or a covering of the opponent's lead glove.

Black brings his hip through and connects a powerful kick to the thigh of White.

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Advanced Striking Lead Low Counter Le Banner also landed his lead low kick as an effective counter to an orthodox opponent's jabs. Often opponent's turn their lead leg slightly inward when they jab, so Le Banner's kick could fully collapse the leg of the opponent, rather than bite into the thick muscle on the front of the quadriceps. When his foe threw a jab at Le Banner's head, Le Banner would slip inside the punch while simultaneously throwing his l ead low kick. He successfully scored a TKO victory over his friendly rival Mike Bernardo using this same technique, Bernardo was unable to stand for some time after the bout had been called.

Black and White are facing off in fighting stance. Black is southpaw.

As White jabs, Black initiates his preparatory step and uses his lead hand to parry the jab downward and out to his right.

Black kicks and buckles the knee. This entire movement should be performed in an instant. This technique often proves extremely effective against classically trained boxers, who tend to turn their lead foot in when they jab, making the knee easier to buckle and injure.

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Advanced Striking 'The Millennium KO' The assault which Jerome Le Banner sustained upon his opponent's lead leg would result in even the lowest level kickboxer lifting his lead leg up i n an attempt to limit the damage. This effectively rooted him to the ground as it is impossible to move around the ring while on one leg. Le Banner would take advantage of this in numerous ways, perhaps with a high kick as he did to Gary Goodridge, or in the case of Francisco Filho, with an overhand left hook. Le Banner, faking his right low kick, used the step up with the left foot to close the distance between himself and Filho, before pushing off of his left foot and swinging his right hand on t o the chin of the Brazilian. Filho fell, tangled in the ropes and unable to answer the referee's count, and the knockout came to be voted by Japanese fans as the best knockout in K-1 history, The Millennium KO.

Black has already connected his lead kick several times, and White is looking to defend.

Black steps up with his left leg, setting up the kick. This can be combined with a jab. White lifts his leg to check the low kick.

Instead of throwing the kick, Black pushes off of his back foot, and throws an overhand left between White's arms. The step which would have set up the kick has served to close the range from a kicking one to a punching one, without the opponent realising.

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Advanced Striking

Giorgio Petrosyan – The Southpaw Doctor of Muay Thai Not many men have visibly flustered as many top fighters as the Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer, Giorgio Petrosyan has. Many southpaws, such as Giorgio, can find it difficult to find top tier opponents, due to the custom of avoiding southpaws. This is down to the awkward dynamic that an orthodox fighter will face if he fights a southpaw one. Petrosyan, however, is an excellent technical fighter on top of his southpaw stance, making him a nightmare opponent for many of the power punching knockout artists who are picking up large purses worldwide, such as Mike Zambidis. When Petrosyan met Zambidis in the K-1 Max Grand Prix, he manhandled the power punching Greek for three rounds, coming out of it completely unmarked. Petrosyan's greatness as a technical fighter can be seen by his sterling record. In over 70 matches he has lost just once, by decision, and has dominated marquee fighters such as Albert Krauss, Andy Souwer, Yoshihiro Sato, Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee and Artur Kyshenko. Lacking the big punch of his K-1 cohorts, Petrosyan has focused his abilities on getting hit as little as possible, while scoring blows strong enough to frustrate the opponent and get ahead with the judges. Petrosyan often begins his match by establishing his right push kick, then landing a couple of strong right jabs. Being a southpaw it is difficult for Giorgio to continually land the jab so after establishing one or two he will switch to throwing his jabs purely to instigate a counter, often deliberately striking the opponent's gloves. From here he will lean back or slip the opponent's counter and throw a counter of his own. Through this “counter-counter” method, Petrosyan is able to drag elite fighters out of their depth and clinically out strike them through the entire fight. Petrosyan's footwork is especially crafty and worth close study. One of his more flashy tricks, which the author has dubbed “the Petroysan Shift”, is covered in detail here, but to be truly understood should be viewed. Unlike many of the boxers and UFC fighters in this publication, Giorgio Petrosyan has fought all over the world under dozens of different promotions, meaning that there are hours of footage of his fights and training on popular video sharing sites. There are few more valuable exercises, outside of the traditional training regimen, than studying Petrosyan's tapes.

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Advanced Striking Jab – Pull – Lead Hook Giorgio Petrosyan's strategy often relies on liberal use of his lead leg teep, and establishment of several hard jabs. Once he has landed a couple of hard jabs he begins to use missed jabs to draw jabs from the opponent. Petrosyan jabs at his opponent's gloves, then leans back to evade the returned jab, landing his southpaw right hook over the top. Petrosyan out-struck the hard punching Albert Krauss with this technique repeatedly.

Black is fighting southpaw and has already connected a jab.

Black steps back with his left foot and pulls his head back as White attempts to return fire with a jab of his own.

©Jack Slack

Black jabs at White, knowing that White will block it.

White's momentum carries him in to Black's right hook.


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Advanced Striking Jab – Step Back – Cross Counter Another technique which Petrosyan uses once he has established the jab, is to jab at his opponents gloves, step back away from their return, and land a left hook over the top of their attack. He used this to great effect against the taller fighter, Yoshihiro Sato

Black and White are Square off in fighting stance.

Black attacks with a jab, which White blocks.

Black steps back and leans away from White's counter jab.

As White follows with a straight right, Black counters with a left hook, or cross counter, over the top.

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Advanced Striking Southpaw Knee Strike Petrosyan makes great use of his left knee strike. Often when an opponent has their gloves up he will reach his left hand forward, as if to throw a straight, but cover the opponent's rear hand instead. Covering their front hand with his own, he then throws a knee at their right floating rib before ducking out t o the side. Petrosyan was able to significantly out-point and hurt Mike Zambidis with this technique.

White is proving reluctant to lead.

Black covers White's lead glove and obscures White's vision with his right hand.

Black steps his right foot outside of White's lead foot, and pushes White's right hand into his head with his left.

Black, having neutralised White's hands and taken a slight angle by stepping out, fires a knee into the midsection of White.

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Advanced Striking The Petrosyan Shift A signature technique of Giorgio Petrosyan is his shift following a left straight. Giorgio leads with his rear left hand then skips his left foot up to where his right foot was, bringing him up beside the opponent. He turns 90 degrees inward to face their side, and steps his right foot out behind him. This whole movement is accomplished in one step and gives Giorgio and dominant angle from which he can throw lead left hooks to the opponent's face and solar plexus, and right straights and hooks to the opponent's temple and the back of his opponent's head. He then attacks the opponent from a 90 degree angle to their left. He was able to clip Sato with a powerful overhand right across the back of the head in the final round of their match using this technique.

Black stands in a southpaw fighting stance.

Black steps forward at forty-five degrees with his lead foot, as he would throwing a rear straight.

Black skips his left foot up and turns 90 degrees to the left.

Black drops his right foot back into an orthodox fighting stance.

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Advanced Striking Against an Opponent

White and Black face each other. White is flat footed.

Black steps out at forty-five degrees with a straight left punch.

Black skips his left foot up beside his right.

Then drops his right foot back so that he is in an orthodox stance.

©Jack Slack

From here, Black can throw lefts or rights at will. Petrosyan, against Sato, opted to throw a right hook over the back of Sato's head.


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Advanced Striking Tactics of Kickboxing Boxing and MMA Masters

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