MMA Linker

[beastman4]

I am training striking a lot and the question came to mind: What's better? Mastering the basics or have a big arsenal of different attacks to use as far as striking goes? Any thoughts, experiences?

[MidNightClub]

well if you don't know the basics then how are you gonna be able to anything else.

[beastman4]

True, but I just talking about taking the time to just learn the basics really well or learn a variety of moves and get better at them in time. With lots of moves I think you would be more unpredictable

[irishmike357]

There is a great quote floating around some place that goes something like this. "I do not fear the man that has practiced 10,000 kicks once, I fear the man that has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times".

That is the truth. Work on one thing really really well and that is what you will do when the time comes to use it. I had a friend that started boxing and he went to the gym and would work on 100 different combos of punches because he wanted a large arsenal. Then he got in the ring and was punched in the mouth one time and could not remember how to throw any combo.

I have a couple punches that I throw really well, and have combined them into 3-4 combos and that is all I work on. I figure having a few things I do really well is better than having a bunch of things I do not so well.


Also the Bill Parcells quote about the '90-'91 Giants comes to mind. "We have about 26 plays in the offensive playbook. Everyone knows what we are going to do, they still have to go out there and stop us". I think they literally had 6 passing plays and 20 running plays and were won of the best teams ever.

At the end of the day you don't want to have to think about what you are doing in there, it should just happen on its own.

[Fearless6691]

I understand where your coming from with the confusion. The owner of my gym is a hardcore TKD guy but he is old and worn out. He is oldschool and doesn't know anything about MMA, he still thinks he can beat Hoyce Gracie and shit lol. He always yells at me to mix up my kicks, and I just want to be like, yeah I'm not a TKD BB so I am not going to do a back spinning round kick leading to a front kick and crazy shit like that. Our head MMA coach tells us not to do that gay shit lol.

I work on my 1-2 no joke, 20 min. Just sit there, 1 - 2, 1 - 2. It is the basics, you might not get to do that back spinning round kick in an actual fight, but you know your going to do the 1 - 2 a million times. Samuris use to drill the same move for hours, and who is more badass then a Samuri.

[Nigelthegreat]

mastering the basics has led so many great fighters to rise into stardom

Boxing has shown this over the last decade.
European fighters have spent their careers mastering the basics and keeping balance and have conquered their North American counterparts who for a long time embraced a more unorthodox style (think Roy Jones jr.) that requires a lot of athletic gifts. And the Europeans have been quite dominant, guys like Kessler, W.Klitschko, Sturm and Adamek who have shown dominance throughout their careers and in some cases beating guys 1 punch, the jab, which all those guys have great ones.

So i'd definetly say Mastery>Diversity.

[Dancefusion]

mastery every time, the best don't think....literally, then DO NOT THINK...their bodies reach based on stimulus and conditioned response to specific scenarios they have drilled. The reaction time and engagement to target in top level combative practitioners is in the fifth-eighth of a second range...so fast that they are not calculating as they engage rather they are on auto pilot. That requires drilling. The science of this is well documented (see hick's law or the ooda loop). An example is a locust that can fly in packs of millions flying in dense clouds three dimensionally at 25 mpg and never collide, but how they have the simplest form of brain which is essentially just a simple nervous system. They can drive/fly better than any human and can't even think...how is that possible? Because they don't bother thinking about stimulus they just react in the moment by making simple adjustments in real time. Mike Tyson wasn't a genius, but was impressive because he reacted with simple efficient movements.

Point is less is more...do something well and direct and it won't matter they can ponder the fancy moves they were planning on using while they are coming back from the concussion the simple fighter gave them.

[beastman4]

Kewl, Thanks for the advice.

[beastman4]

I understand where your coming from with the confusion. The owner of my gym is a hardcore TKD guy but he is old and worn out. He is oldschool and doesn't know anything about MMA, he still thinks he can beat Hoyce Gracie and shit lol. He always yells at me to mix up my kicks, and I just want to be like, yeah I'm not a TKD BB so I am not going to do a back spinning round kick leading to a front kick and crazy shit like that. Our head MMA coach tells us not to do that gay shit lol.

I work on my 1-2 no joke, 20 min. Just sit there, 1 - 2, 1 - 2. It is the basics, you might not get to do that back spinning round kick in an actual fight, but you know your going to do the 1 - 2 a million times. Samuris use to drill the same move for hours, and who is more badass then a Samuri.

True, there were none more elite than the Samurai

[JonB]

Definitely master the basics. THEN if you have time, you can learn a few new things to add to your bag of tricks.

Having said that, we have to remember that everyone is different. Just because person A is not good with technique x doesn't mean person B is the same. With the unpredictability of standup in general (Not to mention MMA), I see no issue with finding a few unorthodox techniques to throw in. But you have to train it like the basics, and learn how to use it.

So I would say master the basics, but if you can learn something unorthodox to throw in, then more power to you. It may not be wise to have an completely unorthodox style from the get go without experience though.

[beastman4]

Definitely master the basics. THEN if you have time, you can learn a few new things to add to your bag of tricks.

Having said that, we have to remember that everyone is different. Just because person A is not good with technique x doesn't mean person B is the same. With the unpredictability of standup in general (Not to mention MMA), I see no issue with finding a few unorthodox techniques to throw in. But you have to train it like the basics, and learn how to use it.

So I would say master the basics, but if you can learn something unorthodox to throw in, then more power to you. It may not be wise to have an completely unorthodox style from the get go without experience though.

Yeah, I've noticed that there are a few guys that are making the unorthodox thing work for them: Lyoto, Rashad, etc. I agree with you though, basics with a few unorthodox moves thrown in seems to work the best though.

[joemoe]

There is a great quote floating around some place that goes something like this. "I do not fear the man that has practiced 10,000 kicks once, I fear the man that has practiced 1 kick 10,000 times".

That man was Bruce Lee. He is also very Right.