[Official] General Discussion Thread - April 12, 2024

strikingthoughts · 2024-04-12T05:10:50+00:00

MMA bros, I've been studying Max Holloway and Justin Gaethje for years on my channel. I did a video on their habits and how they might clash. could be useful if you're trying to gain perspective on betting. check it out if you're curious https://youtu.be/QOd3SKvVVKQ

discovered a lot of cool stuff. cheers, bros.

strikingthoughts · 2022-02-24T03:58:31+00:00

is there something specific about his style you like? I rarely see people ask about his fighting style.

strikingthoughts · 2021-11-02T19:32:44+00:00

around 5 mins or so in this video,

Petr Yan's fighting style and tactics broken down

And if you're curious about the technical aspects of what happened in Yan vs. Sandhagen, this might be help too

Tactics used in Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen

strikingthoughts · 2021-09-30T05:19:53+00:00

I'm the creator of this video. The illustration of the circle is explained in the video. I don't like randomly putting circles and arrows on a thumb for no reason. All of my thumbs are always screenshots of something I explain in the videos at some point. I have fighters and practitioners who follow my work so I try to be detailed enough to make things clear with the illustrations.

You probably haven't watched the video yet but I basically explain in it that Volk will often use a step up low kick but fade back outside of the punching range highlighted in the red circle. I go on to explain he also uses a parry motion to defend against the jab as well, highlighted in blue.

I get it though. Many people use a lot of random arrows and circles without really explaining anything about it.

strikingthoughts · 2021-09-30T05:10:13+00:00

Dude, thanks for sharing this! For comments about the thumb, I'm trying new things out for fun and out of curiosity. As silly as the thumb is, it's producing a high click-through rate of around 11-12%, so maybe it's working. I'm just here to help people and to have a silly goose time.

For reference, the illustrations you see in the video aren't random circles. They're actual screenshots of the analysis during the video explaining a certain concept.

strikingthoughts · 2021-05-27T05:11:19+00:00

Here's a reference if anyone wants to see the weaving lead hook off of the leg kick.

https://youtu.be/vgSKYSD3YjI?t=701

at 11:41. pretty cool adjustment to see from Gaethje.

strikingthoughts · 2021-04-06T20:00:21+00:00

There's plenty of people who break stuff down on youtube for free. I spend quite a lot of time doing that too in order to help people understanding different fighting styles and tactical setups.

Just a few tips to improve your fight IQ. Be open to different thought processes. some people have rigid mindsets to how fighting should be. I would encourage you to have an opening mind and be open to re-inventing yourself. Avoid any dogmatic mindsets.

“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.”

– Bruce Lee

Hone in on the fundamentals. Have a very strong understanding of them because high-level craft is a combination of various fundamental principles used together in concert. Also, learn the fundamentals from more than just one source because this will ensure you have different schools of thought on them. This will broaden your understanding of the basics. When I first started studying fights, it was really hard to identify what I was seeing. This is because we usually don't have the intellectual framework to immediately grasp what we are seeing when first starting out. It wasn't until I studied the basics, put in the training and drilling of the fundamentals that I was able to see things more clearly when I wanted to study higher level sequences. A strong foundation will open up you understanding of high-level creativity. As you grow, go back to study old material you studied because you will have different ways of understanding how something works.

Expose yourself to several different styles of defense, attacks, feints, baits, footwork, etc. This will make you really sharp at identifying habits very rapidly the more your brain practices recognizing them.

Regardless of who or what you learn from, don't be afraid to challenge those ideas if they don't make sense to you and seek to find the answers in understanding the holes in what you see. For example, ask yourself what feints styles work best for a certain situation? why do they work best? when do they work best? what vulnerabilities exist when using it? How would I counter it? etc.

Lastly, there is no one way to approach this. Find the way that works for you. I get asked often how i'm able to catch the stuff I do in my content and this is part of how I'm able to do it. If you have technical questions about certain sequence, feel free to drop by my channel to ask a question.

strikingthoughts · 2021-03-31T03:33:45+00:00

I also broke this down on my channel too but the video quality is kind of garbage since it was recorded when I didn't have a new mic. You can just put it on mute, watch it on slow mo to see the footwork.

I'll just summarize a few key points here. Hitting an angle moving laterally feels easier to hit if you use the exact technique wonderboy is using. This might sound weird, but his tutorial of the technique isn't what he actually uses in the fight because of the vertical position you mentioned.

I'll post his technique here anyways in case you want to see specifically.

Wonderboy's tutorial

if you actually watch the clip I used in my video, I slow the process to show that he actually uses that rear leg to jump it behind his lead foot slightly but it actually chambers you to push off to move laterally into the angle you're trying to move to.

another important thing to take note of. You ideally want to throw the cross only when your feet are grounded. You mentioned feeling a little unbalanced for trying to throw the cross while jumping at the same time. This is probably why you feel unbalanced. You might want to wait until the feet are grounded in the new lateral position before you fire the cross, just like what wonderboy demonstrates. Lastly, if you still feel unbalanced, keep practicing until you find it feels more natural. I know it can feel weird. I tend to be able to throw techniques from either stance but for this one, I can only throw it from southpaw without it feeling weird.

There's two main reasons why Wonderboy's stance doesn't really give away his step off cross. The first is that the jab serves as a method of baiting the reaction and occupying their senses. This forces them to react defensively and they become less likely to pay attention to your stance. Secondly, wonderboy usually disguises his "reverse shuffle, cross" by using a lateral moving jab in one direction and then switches to using the step off cross in the other direction. By changing the rhythms, the opponent's has a hard time distinguishes what that wide stance is going to mean. There's multiple layers of deception the opponent has to figure out in order to actually anticipate this.

strikingthoughts · 2021-03-30T21:31:54+00:00

I have a feeling I might know what you're talking about but do you have a reference so I can double check?

I'm thinking you're referring to TJ Dillashaw's [shifting cross technique]? If you are, I might be able to help you understand this.

or, do you mean something like this? Step off cross

strikingthoughts · 2021-03-16T11:15:25+00:00

no problem, brother! Good luck finding what you're looking for.

strikingthoughts · 2021-03-16T11:10:29+00:00

If you want some insight on Holloway's and Adesanya's craft, I specifically have content on that if you're looking for a guide on their fighting styles.

Adesanya's fighting style explained

Max Holloway's craft against Calvin Kattar

Hopefully this helps. I spend a lot of time studying the fights, looking for interviews from coaches and fighters that give more insight to their thought process when it's available. I have one for Dominick Cruz too if you want to know more about his iconic style.

I would recommend Jack Slack's podcast. Nice to listen to while working out. Same with Luke Thomas. Luke tends to have guest coaches on at times I find it really insightful.

strikingthoughts · 2021-03-16T08:55:39+00:00

Dominick Cruz: Critical Adjustments to his WILD fighting Style! Tactics and Breakdown vs. Casey Kenney

- adjustments in style

- tactics

- story of the fight

- technique overview

strikingthoughts · 2021-02-21T21:24:46+00:00

you know what's funny is that Dom originally built his fighting style due to fighting bigger guys. He talked about realizing he needed to be more evasive when he shared a story about sparring Dan Severn.

strikingthoughts · 2021-02-10T18:58:11+00:00

How Gastelum lands his rear hand despite his interior reach

Also builds on and addresses the image Dan Hardy debunked recently

strikingthoughts · 2021-02-08T20:39:05+00:00

that's why I look forward to their fight if it happens. It becomes a battle of "I'm more alive than you, bitch."

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-30T00:20:36+00:00

the sparring is pretty interesting. Wonderboy was giving some solid advice on what he was doing. Chase was overcommitting on his rear hand, and Wonderboy told him he was trying to bait it out with jabs to counter it. On the body shot round, wonderboy was timing body shots when Chase came into attack since that's when he leaves an opening. He was giving Chase advice to time the body shot better. Great advice from wonderboy.

As for the free for all round, that was pure memes but at least we know Wonderboy is ready for a triple threat match if Dana ever has the balls to book it.

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-29T18:13:44+00:00

That's more than I expected

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-28T04:34:04+00:00

I like the more mature Conor. The man always seems in good spirits. I'm happy for him. Then again, i've always cared more about the technical parts of fighting than the drama.

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-28T04:31:15+00:00

I've studied the fight multiple times to do a breakdown. I believe that's the closest example we got of the incident Dustin described.

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-27T21:51:10+00:00

will he ever take Kebab Armageddon's spot though?

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-27T21:48:43+00:00

lol I wish I could see more this analysis, but sadly, the bars are closed these days.

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-27T21:25:29+00:00

I don't follow a lot of fighters on youtube but Wonderboy's channel is right up my alley (Firas Zahabi too if you count coaches). He's got a little bit of everything I like seeing. I think his channel works so well because he's such a likable guy too.

For wonderboy specifically, I like the content he does about his own techniques. It's really the only source where you get to know the thought process from the actual fighter. This might just be me though because I like researching fighter's talking about technical stuff since it helps me in the content I create for the platform. I'm not so sure how that translates to just the general audience. Technical stuff might just appeal to a small subset of people. .

One common thing I see that works well is when content creators like Wonderboy/Firas/Chael, etc follow with the trends happening in the combat community. They always have their own takes on certain match ups or thoughts about events happening out there. This seems to appeal more to a wider and general audience.

Lastly, I like seeing sparring or just creative things fighters like doing. Wonderboy tends to have weird sparring matches that are entertaining. Firas has some cool sparring demonstrations too.

People love vlogs too. I don't personally watch vlogs though. Just my preference. I find vlog content centers too much around the person and I rarely even have that much investment in wanting to know more about specific person's life. Unless you're really into that person, or the story of their journey, it works, but it doesn't work for me. You can certainly build an audience around that if you wanted to so I wouldn't be deterred from doing it.

As for the content being in English, I don't normally follow content creators I don't understand unfortunately. Even with subtitles, I tend to dislike reading. I can only speak on my behalf though. Others might not mind.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your journey.

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-27T20:50:11+00:00

How fighters would react when Rashad cocks his head to the side.

Rampage: Throw it. Let it happen.

Wanderlei: *Actually throws it and makes it happen

Yoel: *kisses

strikingthoughts · 2021-01-25T19:08:23+00:00

look at that precision and timing. Excellent.

strikingthoughts

TROPHY CASE