MMA Striking: Kick Boxing, Muay Thai, Ground and Pound
Stand-up fighting, involving fighting styles on the feet such as boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai, karate, tae kwon do, and more. Striking is one of the essential pillars of MMA combat. Mixed martial arts fighters must know how to strike so that they can cause damage to their opponent, interrupt their opponent’s rhythm, and end a fight with a knockout.
Strikes can be kicks with the foot and shin, punches that are similar to boxing, knees borrowed from Muay Thai and karate, and elbows. Fighters who are most proficient in striking will naturally want to keep the fight in a stand-up position. Often, these fighters will find themselves threatened by their opponent’s takedown attempts. It is therefore in their best interest then to defend from these attacks and keep the fight on their feet. For this reason, many strikers train to knee their opponent as their competitor rapidly closes the distance for a tackle. Timing for this move is especially important, and sometimes it is better to sprawl, or kick the legs back whilst grabbing an opponent’s upper body, rather than trying to imflict damage to an opponent right away.
Unique to mixed martial arts, striking while either opponent, or both, are on the ground is also an essential strategy of winning a fight. When both fighters are working from the ground, they will find themselves within range of short-ranged punches and elbows. This style of fighting, in combination with grappling, most notably wrestling, is commonly known as ‘ground and pound’ and was popularized by MMA veteran Mark Coleman.
Lately, the importance of striking from the clinch has been an area of focus, as fighters not proficient in this technique have found themselves in great trouble when placed in this situation. The techniques used in the clinch are borrowed from Muay Thai kick boxing, and usually involve one fighter wrapping his hands behind an opponents head, and pushing their head down while delivering a knee to the face. As you can imagine, this technique can quickly end a fight if not defended properly. Due to strikes to the head, and accidental strikes to the groin, it is imperative that all fighter’s wear proper MMA equipment like groin protectors and mouth guards.