Strikers, maybe grapplers if you wish to answer to.?

Question

Me and my friend are gonna spar tomorrow MMA style, and we have one extra rule added to the list, no punches to the face since it's gonna be bear knuckle, but kicks yes.

My friend is 220 and more fat then muscle which is good since muscle weighs more. I'm a trained martial artist, i have had almost one year of experience. I use to do Kempo karate mixed with BJJ and Muay Thai for about half a year until my school closed and now i take Wing Chun, 2nd month into it.

My friend isn't necessarily trained, he just spars with his dad a whole lot because his dad's an MMA freak and he studies what he watches from fights and lately my friend has been getting better.

His profession is ground game such as chokes with his little experience. His fav is rear naked choke.

His weaknesses are standup.

As for me, I'm more of a overall striker and clincher, but i suck at take downs and trying to do that with him is probably suicide.

My question is...

Answer 1

well obviously if your a good striker you should stay on your feet,also only a fool goes to the ground unless they have no choice.you should easily be able to beat him if youve had the amount of training you say(even on the ground).its impossible to learn ma from watching mma/ufc on the tv.

you seem to lack confidence for someone who SAYS hes had what sounds like a fair bit of ma training?

Answer 2

Strikers vs grapplers have always been a huge debate and the more weapons you have in your arsenal the better you will be. I think the 90% of fights end up on the ground is highly exaggerated but remember 100% of fights start standing up. I played in a band back in the 80's and unfortunately saw some drunk idiots in barfights and none went to the ground except for the guy that got knocked down.  Everyone knows if you go to the ground in "real life" you will get nailed with a bottle, pool cue etc by one of your attackers buddies or worse yet stabbed as you're rolling around.

As far as take down defenses go, I like the sprawl and the side step.  Sprawling is thrusting your hips back and initating a counter strike as the opponent rushes you and side stepping is just that, removing yourself from the angle of attack and countering.  If you watch UFC 4, Keith Hackney used the sprawl several times against Royce Gracie and could have beaten him if he would have stayed offensive instead of defensive, just my opinion.  Hope this helps

Answer 3

Move your legs around when you fight so he doesn't get you. If he goes for your legs back up and nail him in the head. If he does get you use your knees/elbows to try and get out of it.

Answer 4

the first rule i learned about sparring is that it isn't a competition....view it as a learning experience. try to take him down and figure out ways to do it, and prevent his takedown attempts. sparring is a laboratory for study and practice...not a tournament or real fight. so experiment.

as for takedown defense....learn to sprawl...period.

stop him with your hands or forearms on his shoulders, if he gets past that use your head (change levels)...or step to the side, if he's as big and heavy as you say, he probably can't shoot very fast...that's a disadvantage for him. if he gets under you or you don't feel you can stop him by moving out of the way...sprawl. it's the most often used and most often successful takedown preventor.

obviously the entire point is to make him fight your fight, in your range...you want to keep him striking, so keep your distance (and dont try to trap him too much wing chun style) and move alot so he can't get a bead on you and take you down. and if he's a grappler, you already know half of his game plan most likely...he's going to try to take you down.

Answer 5

Like someone else said .....SPRAWL! I know you said you like to clinch. But dont in this case, if hes good at grappling. If you decide to clinch, make it quick on dont latch on for too long. One rule in grappling is to stay busy, if he grabs you, dont stop until you can get away, your conditioning will be better since your a trained martial artist. Dont dont forget to work that leg kick from your muay thai training, weak legs makes a bad grappler. use your wing chun to fend off those CQC encounters. Good look.

Answer 6

There's really only one word you need to know:

SPRAWL!

make sure you know how to sprawl... and if he shoots and gets a leg, just make sure you get into guard or if you have space, scramble to your feet.... what ever you do, do NOT give up the back!

Answer 7

first you mean your sparing pancration style ha ha

im a bjj/grappler and also boxing/muy thai fighter but im alot better at the whole ground game so to answer your question the best way to not get taken down is to first stay away from him using jab leg check push kick what ever just keep the fight at your distance at all times but if they do try a take down sprawl then brawl to get out of the situation till your back at your distance but try try try an try to keep the fight at your distance using everything you  got if you really want to keep the fight standing up.