issue 219

July 2025

Ray Klerck breaks down the science-backed training shift that’s turning one-dimensional fighters into multi-phase finishers.

The era of punch-pause-pray is over. Fighters who win now train in full-flowing sentences, not single words. A flashy new June 2025 study in the Journal of Physical Education and Sport found that fighters who trained using multi-phase combo drills, such as a punch–takedown–ground, landed attacks 18% more often, finished them 16% better, and did it all 13% faster than those using standard training. That’s not some sort of over-inflated marginal gains. That’s a performance overhaul that’s less about flash and more about flow. It also means one of Bruce Lee's ideas may have finally become outdated when he said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” While that is true, research is suggesting that if your training doesn’t mirror the chaos of a real scrap, you could be shadowboxing with your own delusions.

WHAT COMBO TRAINING CREATES

String together a pair of punches, dump your partner to the mat, and slide into side control, and your brain is doing more than just remembering choreography. It’s adapting. The study, which included 80 experienced fighters from MMA, combat sambo, pankration, and hand-to-hand combat, revealed that combo-based training leads to improvements in both simple visual–motor reactions (SVMR) and complex visual–motor reactions (CVMR). What does that mean for MMA-loving humans? Well, these reactions are how fast your brain processes what it sees and then translates that into action. When they get faster, your attacks become crisper and your transitions smoother. The experimental group saw up to 14.2% faster reaction times under fatigue. That could be the difference between scoring a takedown and being sprawled on like yesterday’s lunch. 

THREE HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE MAGIC

The traditional approach to MMA and most striking sports tended to break things into tidy little boxes. Stand and bang, then shoot, then roll. But real fights don’t come with neat little dividers. The new combo-focused model demands integration. Fighters in the study drilled punch-grip-throw, strike-double leg-ground control, and throw-submission sequences. It was less about repeating moves and more about training adaptability, transitions, and tactical decision-making at full speed. After just 12 weeks, fighters using these integrated combos slashed their phase transition time by 25%, making them slipperier than a buttered eel in a wrestling singlet. Translation? Less predictable. Harder to counter. Far more dangerous in every phase.

YOUR JAB IN THE MIRROR IS LYING 

Turns out, drilling a jab in isolation might be about as useful as practicing a pickup line in the bathroom mirror. Looks sharp. Probably fails in real life. Research in the Journal of Combat Sports & Martial Arts wired up MMA fighters with accelerometers and found that the exact same movements, such as jabs and takedowns, produced totally different physical loads in live sparring versus solo drills. Takedowns hit the body harder than strikes, but the real takeaway is that context is king. Even a successful takedown in sparring didn’t differ in load from a failed one, because it’s the decision-making and reactive chaos that cranks the dial. So, if your training resembles a TikTok tutorial that’s staged and stress-free, you’re not preparing for a fight. You’re rehearsing a fantasy.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN TRAINING

The program in the 2025 study that cooked up those results ran over 12 weeks and was broken into three clear phases, where each one built up new layers. 

Weeks 1–4: Base Phase

This is where you set down the groundwork with light resistance and low stress. Fighters drilled combos like punch–grip, grip–throw, and throw–ground, without any counterattack. Think mitt work, shadowboxing, and getting your accuracy on point. Add reaction drills with flashing lights or quick cues. 

Weeks 5–8: Integration Phase

Here’s where the training gets spicy. Resistance bands come in, sparring gets added, and drills start reacting back. Fighters practiced transitions, such as stance–grip–ground, while adapting to time pressure and unpredictable partners. You’re not just throwing hands anymore, you’re solving problems.

Weeks 9–12: Competition Phase

This is the final form. Full-speed sparring with tactical missions, like landing a 3-stage combo before the buzzer. Fighters also broke down their own footage to spot errors and upgrade decisions mid-camp. Less about brawling, more about beating people with better information.

It’s not just hard work. It’s clever work that gets results. More combos. Better timing. Reactions fast enough to make a hummingbird flinch.

THE BRAIN BEHIND THE BRAWL

Reaction time isn’t just a reflex you were born with; it’s trainable. When you drill multi-stage combos, your nervous system learns to make decisions faster because it’s recognizing familiar patterns. The study found high correlations between SVMR and attack effectiveness (r = 0.82) and between CVMR and phase transition time (r = 0.80). That means faster mental processing equals better fighting. Add fatigue to the mix, simulating a real fight, and the advantage gets even bigger. Fighters in the combo group performed better even after exhausting work. 

The most effective combinations in the study ended in control or submission. These weren’t flashy spins or high kicks for highlights. When building your sequences, start from the ground up and think about how you want it to end, then work backward. This reverse-engineering tactic wires your brain to hunt finishes, not just volume. The study confirmed what elite coaches already knew because combinations create faster thinkers, more adaptive fighters, and measurably better performance under pressure. The old model of isolated drills won’t cut it. Train in complete sequences. Think in transitions. Fight in layers because tapping out is also a three-movement combo, just not one you want to rehearse.