Issue 095

December 2012

Whether you’re in mount, guard or side control, developing lethal ground strikes is key to success inside the Octagon – just ask Tito Ortiz

Elvis Sinosic, Forrest Griffin and Ken Shamrock all know. After all, they’ve each got the battle scars to prove it. Yes, perhaps aside from the ‘Godfather’ himself, Mark Coleman, no other fighter in UFC history has utilized the destructive force of ground ‘n’ pound quite like Tito Ortiz.

When Coleman first coined the phrase, ground ‘n’ pound, the UFC’s first heavyweight champion probably didn’t suspect it would become part of the vocabulary of MMA. Yet the ground fighting style has become an essential component of every mixed martial artist’s game. It’s a style of fighting that not only took Ortiz to the very top of the sport, but into the Hall of Fame too.

One of today’s foremost G&P coaches is Greg Nelson, owner of The Academy in Minnesota, Minneapolis. The coach of multiple UFC stars, including former champions Dave Menne, Sean Sherk and Brock Lesner, Nelson revealed to Fighters Only his secrets to developing an unstoppable ground assault. 

GROUND ‘N’ POUND PRINCIPLES: MAINTAIN A DOMINANT TOP POSITION

“The understanding of proper weight distribution, maintaining balance and having the ability to either completely control your opponent [like most wrestlers] or ride and transition your top control is absolutely necessary,” says Nelson. “You then have to have the confidence to open up and drop the bombs. If you are confident in your ability to stay on top, you can then find the opportunity to time a solid strike or a flurry of strikes.”

AN EFFECTIVE TOP STRIKING GAME

Nelson says: “There are a lot of fighters that have a great top game, but they cannot effectively strike. Many times they simply hinge their arm and give the fighter on the bottom some noogies; knuckle bumps. Just like you have to develop your striking skills on your feet, you have to do the same on the ground. It’s a different type of striking: you have to learn how to properly drop your weight with each shot, hit with precision, while at the same time distribute your weight to maintain control of the opponent on the bottom.”

FILL THE SPACES

“If the top fighter is constantly looking for openings and filling those with leather-covered knuckles and bony elbows, the bottom fighter has to divide his attention to focus on both covering up and trying to escape. To escape the bottom, you have to create space. Once the bottom fighter drops his guard to push, the top fighter must immediately respond with an effective strike. I will yell, ‘Fire for effect!’ meaning, ‘Drop those bombs to do as much damage as possible,’” Nelson reveals. “Now, how do you [train] this reaction without injuring your fighters? First, the top fighter must mentally and physically imitate the strike, look at the target and with pinpoint accuracy initiate a full-out attack, but pull just on impact. You have to have the mentality that you are sparring on the ground, just like on the feet, you are attempting to time your strikes and make the bottom person move to where you want them, then pull the trigger. Having a striker’s mentality on the ground is necessary, and just like Muay Thai fighters and boxers, there must be drills that allow the fighter to hit with full power. This is where the different pad drills come in.”

GREG NELSON’S GROUND ‘n’ POUND DRILLS  

PART 1

Nelson says: “The Motion Master, or any other ground bag, is a great tool. As a heavy bag is to boxing, the ground bag is to ground ‘n’ pound. And just like working a heavy bag, your goal is to use movement and work around the bag,” Nelson says. “This means a lot of positional changes coordinated in with your strikes. The more movement, and the faster you transition from position to position, dropping effective and powerful strikes as you move, the more endurance is required.”

PART 2

“Another drill we favor is done with a kicking shield. The bottom partner is against the wall and for different specified times. The top partner is striking as hard as possible while the bottom person moves to get away. When I yell, ‘Switch!’ the bottom partner explodes with an escape and then they switch roles as smoothly as possible. With this drill, the top fighter is learning how to hold a strong position while really hitting full out, the bottom person is learning how to watch the top fighter and then set up his position to explode and time an escape, immediately establishing a strong top striking position and letting their hands go.”

PART 3

“We have drills that allow the top fighter to learn how to properly and effectively throw strikes from the various top positions: mount; half mount – it is half-guard when you can’t strike, but half-mount when you can; three-quarter mount; cross body – with different hand positions; knee-mount; inside closed guard; butterfly guard; standing in open guard. The bottom partner has a strong defensive position and then makes a move to escape, dropping a hand to create space while holding a pad with the other. As soon as the bottom partner’s hand drops, the top fighter has to drop hard onto the pad.”

PART 4

“A great drill that works your balance and precision is when we use either two Thai pads – the bigger the better, or a basketball – any ball of similar size will work, and a Thai pad. One of the pads or ball will represent a person’s body and you attain knee mount, the other pad is the head for striking,” Nelson says. “Using pads which can move and turn on you, if you do not hit accurately, forces you to focus on hitting with very precise and well-placed strikes. Meanwhile, the ball or Thai pad that you are kneeling on also moves around, especially when you transition to the other knee. Now you have to hit with accuracy and move with proper balance.”

PART 5

Nelson adds: “Finally, another unique drill is using an ABS ball, which allows the fighter to use a different pressure while hitting a ball that gives another feel to their striking.”