Fighters Only

Issue 012

November -0001

Kickboxing and the art of Muay Thai are huge parts of many mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters arsenals. The famed Chute Boxe team from Brazil and the American Kickboxing Academy are two well extremely known camps that produce excellent strikers, and fighters such as Andrei Arlovski, Cro Cop and more are all well known for being equally proficient in knocking people out with their knees and feet as they are with their hands.

Being able to fight in a variety of ranges is an essential part of MMA, and kickboxing allows you to fight at not just arm’s length, but further still. Being able to effectively strike at long range is an extremely effective ability, and one team who have been impressing everyone with their sharp striking is the Nottingham-based Rough House.

Home to champions such as Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley and Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy, the Rough House guys have been making waves in both MMA and kickboxing. If you’re going to ask someone if kicking is effective in MMA, try CageWarriors welterweight champion Dan Hardy. Though originally coming from a childhood background in Tae Kwon Do, Dan has worked extensively with trainer Owen Comrie, himself a former Muay Thai champion, and is renowned for his kicking ability. As Owen explains “It helps if you have a background in either striking or grappling for MMA. We train to get up off the ground and use our strongest weapons- our striking.”

“We try to use techniques from Muay Thai that a MMA fighter might not think of, picking shots they won’t see, but that we’re used to. There are lots of little tricks that people don’t see,” says Owen. Apart from concentrating on fundamentals such as footwork and angles of attack, Owen also brings in things such as setting up shots from the clinch (a classic position in Muay Thai). “Cage fighting and Muay Thai can blend together well, there are lots of similarities. Its all about who is quickest and who has the best reactions.”

Owen uses the classic Muay Thai training tool of Thai pads to work certain techniques with Dan. “When working rounds of padwork, I’ll have him pucnhgin kicking and kneeing but every once in a while I might shoot in (while holding the pads, designed to check Dan’s balance and footowkr), or fake the shoot and he will counter with a knee.”

Owen says that it is the combination of attitude and technique that makes a good fighter. So what, in his words, is it that MMA fighters need on top of that? “The footwork is terrible in MMA, it is so important, and there’s not enough bodyshots!”

Technique 1

1 : Dan and Steve square off

2 : Dan level changes and feints a shoot

3 : But pops up with a lead left hook to the head

4 : And follows it with a rear leg roundhouse to the body

Technique 2

1 : Dan and Steve square off

2 : Steve attacks with a shoot

3 : Dan matches Steve’s level change and underhooks both his arms around Steve’s torso

4 : Dan lifts Steve up to standing

5 : And attacks with a knee to the body

Technique 3

1 : Dan and Steve square off

2 : Dan attacks with a straight right to the body

3 : He follows with a left hook to the head

4 : Dan then pivots on his lead leg and adjusts his stance so that he is at an angle to Steve

5 : And attacks with a rear leg roundhouse

Technique 4

1 : Dan and Steve square off

2 : Dan feints with his rear leg as if he is going to attack with a front kick

3 : Instead of completing the attack, he sharply brings his leg back

4 : He uses the momentum of C and pushes off his lead leg. Dan jumps slightly so that he leaves the ground and delivers a strong right punch.

Technique 5

1 : Dan has double underhooks (bodylock) on Owen

2 : Owen clasps his hands behind Dan’s neck and pulls hard, driving his shoulder into Dan’s chin

3 : At the same time Owen lowers his level slightly and pushes his hips back. The pain of his shoulder in Dan’s chin along with the motion of dropping his hips breaks Dan’s grip.