All MMA buffs...

[Imoutgoodbye]

I have a friend who recently took part in a King of the Cage promo...it was his first time doing something that was going to a pay-per-view later. Anyways, he lost for the first time to his opponent, the kid with the blue mohawk in the link I'm going to leave at the bottom.

Anyways, my friend came to me for advice. I taught him a couple submissions he didn't know and promised to look at some vids. However, when the guy wins by submission/TKO so quickly, this is the longest vid I could find and it's the best representation of how this guy wins.

1. Take down (this is the first fight I've seen him use kicks/punches, going instead of waiting. On my friend he used elbows, lots of elbows once mounted)

2. Wear down via mounted punch (or elbows)

3. Submission or TKO.

As far as I can tell, the guy doesn't have a good stand up game. However, my friend is only about 5'2, maybe 5'3, so he loses reach, etc...and my friend is a heavy hitter for being as short and light as he is.

Now, this guy, does, however have excellent ground game. His feet never cross if he circles. His stance is always shoulder width. When he goes for a take down he doesn't care if you have his head, etc...he's got your legs and his two primary focuses are keeping his base and putting you on the ground. His ground game is so...solid to me.

The only suggestion I've had for my friend is to train harder/up his ground game. He gets a re-match (possibly for this guys title) next month. Can you see any flaws in this guys game?

[Elfrosto]

Blue mohawk drops his head, and looks like he even closes his eyes when he goes in, a quick knee or two would be helpful. Also, when he went for the body kicks at the beginning he drops his guard a little. Have your friend try and exploit those, and he'd do pretty good I think.

[KRins]

Well... I noticed two glaring things from the first watch... 1. Where was the guillotine on that shot...he had the time, his hands were in the right place? 2. Where was literally any leg lock whatsoever when the other dude went to half mount and left his leg exposed like that? Stand up wise...Your dude needs to put in some time with a boxing coach. You can tell he understands he needs footwork, just not how to apply it.

EDIT: MY leglock comment comes from the 1:03 mark of the video, as your dude starts to work his hips out like that. Now that I look at it, the safer thing would probably be to just jump out the back door since the other dude doesn't have an amazing top base right there. But if he is a leg game man...He could really pick one of a couple of holds right there... I'd probably try to go back door straight to taking his back, but I think I see a heel hook absolutely screaming at me.

[Imoutgoodbye]

Thanks guys. I'll teach him the heel hook (ankle lock if the guy starts to escape) if he does go down, but you're right...guillotine. So simple I overlooked it. Gracie Ju Jitsu for the win.

[Atebos]

Knee to the jaw when he charges with a takedown. That will make him think twice about doing it again.

On watching the video noticed some other things. Your friend was scared when he got put against the cage and took some hits. And he was lucky that roundhouse kick didn't connect in the beginning.

Keep outside hand up to protect chin, inside hand to play middle game. When taken down he needs to maintain control of momentum, balance, and position. Tell him to be more aggresive as well, he has nothing to lose. The stupid Mohawk has a title to be taken from him.

[Croyvern]

Knee to the jaw when he charges with a takedown. That will make him think twice about doing it again.

Elbow to the eye, or even better base of the ear. Also, after the take down, I saw several chances for a thumb to the eardrum. But those wussy bastards are wearing gloves. In the USMC its all about making your opponent know he has chosen the wrong fight, I don't fight to kill my enemy, but you can bet he walks away maimed 4 life. He will look in the mirror every day for the rest of his life and regret that one time he pissed me off. Might chew off his nose had I been on bottom of this fight, damn blue mohawk would look silly with one ear too. Just a Real Warriors opinion. BTW Valek I my cousins boy is 23 fighting in these cage matches he has a record of 15 and 1, and the loss doesn't officially count because he started fighting when he was seventeen(against the rules) so 4 wins and his 1 loss do not count. God bless corn fed country boys, he has four older brothers, and they have always been afraid of him. I taught him when he was a boy, where the head goes, the body follows. A thumb behind the ear "controls" your opponents head, and if held long enough keeps him from standing, period.

[KRins]

I am so never fighting Croyvern... sober....

[The-Nameless]

His hands are lower than they should be, so a boxing coach teaching him to jab properly will help. I would suggest circling to caudills right 90% of the time, stepping in to jab, and stepping back out. When he goes for that shot, he does not have a great step, and his back is table topped. I would suggest going for the guillotine, or tossing knees. Also make sure your guy knows how to pull guard once he gets a standing guillotine. Really this guy seems to have a nice amount of aggression, but is vulnerable to stand up. If your guy has no real reach advantage, I would suggest circling to caudill's right, while staying inside his effective range, and applying pressure to caudill. Most of his shots just appear weak, as he is just bending over and reaching out for a leg. No drive or form to it, hence why he is struggling once he gets ahold of a leg, and ends up fighting his opp to the ground. When he goes down like that he is WIDE open for knees.

You have a video of your dude fighting perhaps? That would really help any advice you would be given.

[mya]

I noticed that he throws a lot of high kicks with his lead left leg.

You can probably predict this and hit his support leg.

It's bad footage, perhaps you can see a opening for a head kick...

[Imoutgoodbye]

Just wanted to put in that my friend is not in that video. That's Mohhawk boys title win. This is all amateur stuff. My friend couldn't record his fight because that particular King of the Cage is being released on pay per view later.

Also, my friend is the only one so far to go more than 1 round with the Mohawk boy.

I'll get my friend's fight put up later after the pay per view comes out.

[L-A]

After a few views of the opening (before takedown) the following seems obvious about Blue Mohawk (I'd need to see more footage of him fight to know which of this he did more often):

1) Those kicks at the start are slow. Very, very slow - in preparation and execution. Notice the back foot comes 'up' then the front foot moves? Dead set telegraph - the other guy should have seen it after the first one and done something about it.

If you're boy is a striker he'll have his hands up so its just a case seeing the telegraph, coming forward (hands up, you don't want to let his shin get you in the side of the head) - you get a couple of options: Two in the jaw (standing) may just do the job. You should get a follow up here if you stay on him if you need it. The other way is to take the remain leg out - he'll hit the ground flat on his back. Forward and follow and two in the jaw should get the job done.

2) At 0.25 where the white shots kicks low - freeze it and you can see the Blue Mohawk drops his hands - BOTH of them (see below for more on this). White's right hand is also behind him so he doens't have the shot but if it was up he'd have been able to follow with strikes straight into the head. Two hard shots and again I say the job is done.

With regard to Blue Mohawks hand position - I think its bad but I expect he's looking for a tackle/takedown option? This is important as you know what he's going to do as you close with him. A few have said have the knee ready as he's ducking into it - could be a good idea. Connect it and two in the jaw (becaues Blue Mohawk has his hands down....) and surely the job is done. Also, since he's looking for a take down you want to be very careful about kicking him - if you miss I'd be 9/10 times Blue Mohawk is going to come straight in for a tackle.

3) The whole fight Blue Mohawk is in control - espeically at the start the other guy backs off and Blue Mohawks starts delivering shots. There is no pressure applied by the White Shorts - this is a mistake. White shorts is not looking for a counter, he's not looking for a take down - he's just doing nothing and Blue Mohawk is happy with that. Without other fights to see how Blue Mohawk reacts to having pressure applied to him its hard to know what he'll do. However, its pretty obvious if you stand back he's happy to make you dance to his tune. Make him pay a price for every step forward he wants to take.

Cheers,

L-A

[L-A]

Double post.

L-A

[HBwillie]

I didn't take the time to read everyone's responses, but two things I did see. Mohawk likes to stay within striking distance to throw kicks. A jab would keep him at bay. Also, that shot was easily stopped, sprawling and pushing down on the head. If your friend gets taken down, use the cage to get back up. This guy has good control on the ground. Don't let him get there.

What are some of your friend's strengths and weaknesses?

[shadowjunkie]

Really hard to tell the mohawk guys weakness in this clip. The other guy made alotta mistakes. I still can't see how he got tsken down with that weak circling single. L2 sprawl bro. What would be infinitely more helpful to your boy is a quick narrative on what happened in his fight so we can go over his mistakes. Or link some escapes to that particular sitation.

[Rethrick]

Elbow to the eye' date=' or even better base of the ear. Also, after the take down, I saw several chances for a thumb to the eardrum. But those wussy bastards are wearing gloves. In the USMC its all about making your opponent know he has chosen the wrong fight, I don't fight to kill my enemy, but you can bet he walks away maimed 4 life. He will look in the mirror every day for the rest of his life and regret that one time he pissed me off. Might chew off his nose had I been on bottom of this fight, damn blue mohawk would look silly with one ear too. Just a Real Warriors opinion. BTW Valek I my cousins boy is 23 fighting in these cage matches he has a record of 15 and 1, and the loss doesn't officially count because he started fighting when he was seventeen(against the rules) so 4 wins and his 1 loss do not count. God bless corn fed country boys, he has four older brothers, and they have always been afraid of him. I taught him when he was a boy, where the head goes, the body follows. A thumb behind the ear "controls" your opponents head, and if held long enough keeps him from standing, period.[/quote']

Your in the Corps?

[shadowjunkie]

If I had a nickle for every time I'd heard about a Marine getting roflstomped attempting to use their combat system in a fight, I'd have about 6 shiny nickles.