# Help!  I'm Cornering a Fighter



## crushing (Feb 7, 2008)

I have been honored with opportunity to corner a fighter in an amateur MMA cage match this Saturday.  The fighter has some MMA experience and knows that I don't.

Any suggestions for a first timer like me cornering a fighter?  I'm not even sure of my responsibilities other than if I think he is going to get killed I throw in a towel.

I appreciate any help.  Thanks!


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## Tez3 (Feb 8, 2008)

Crushing, I've just come in off night shift and am off to bed but I will post up when I get up. I corner pro fighters as well as semi and ams, it's a bigger job than people imagine, you go a long way to helping your fighter win!


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## crushing (Feb 8, 2008)

Tez3,   I'm looking forward to your advice.  Thanks!


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## MJS (Feb 8, 2008)

crushing said:


> I have been honored with opportunity to corner a fighter in an amateur MMA cage match this Saturday. The fighter has some MMA experience and knows that I don't.
> 
> Any suggestions for a first timer like me cornering a fighter? I'm not even sure of my responsibilities other than if I think he is going to get killed I throw in a towel.
> 
> I appreciate any help. Thanks!


 
Well, I've never cornered someone, but off the top of my head, I can think of a few things.  First, as you said, one of the responsibilities is his well being.  You're another set of eyes in addition to the ref, so if you honestly feel that he's in some sort of danger and the ref is not stopping, then toss in the towel.

Second, you could offer him suggestions in between rounds.  You see this all the time on the UFC.  There may be some opening or weak spot with the other fighter that your friend isn't seeing.  That would be a good time to offer up some tips.  Of course, your friend may be leaving himself open to shots, submissions, etc, so it'd be good to make him aware of that as well.

I hope that was of some help.   Good luck and please post the results!! 

Mike


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## kidswarrior (Feb 8, 2008)

MJS said:


> Second, you could offer him suggestions in between rounds. You see this all the time on the UFC. There may be some opening or weak spot with the other fighter that your friend isn't seeing. That would be a good time to offer up some tips. Of course, your friend may be leaving himself open to shots, submissions, etc, so it'd be good to make him aware of that as well.


I agree that beyond the obvious, this is probably most important (my experience goes back to the heyday of boxing, not so much MMA). Stuff like where is your man leaving himself open, and what is he not seeing about the other guy's openings? Keep it simple, tho. I've heard some corner men give a string of four or five instructions between one set of rounds and thought to myself, he just insured his fighter won't remember _anything_.

Is there a second corner guy who will handle cuts, etc., or...?

As Mike said, let us know how it goes. Also looking forward to Tez' reply.


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## kailat (Feb 8, 2008)

As a corner-man/woman details are as follows:
  I used to kickbox and i've been in the ring and on the side of the ring. (never had anything to do w/ the MMA circut but im sure the principles are the same)

1) Main goal is the safety of your fighter!  Is he tired? exhausting quickly? cut or bruising? 
  a) if he is getting the bejeezus pounded out of him the two of you have to understand your to throw in the towel if you see foul play or if you see serious injury coming on.
  b) between rounds you need to massage his shoulders make sure he's relaxed, mouthpiece is cleaned off.  Sponge him down or towell him down to cool him off.  If he's cut you need to use the vaseline to protect the cut.  (u need a sponge bucket, vaseline, clean waterbottle or 2or3, possibly an extra mouthpiece, lots of towells, tape for the gloves.  You need to make sure his gloves are taped down.  ( DO THEY DO THAT IN MMA FIGHTING?)  again alot im not sure of in that area.  

2) Keeping your fighter motivated and positive! Coherse him in the right direction.  Your his eyes & ears.  
  a) You need to make sure no matter what is going on in all the commotion and the yelling of the crowd, be there and talk him through a quick 5 to 10 second excerpt of the last round and what to expect in the next round.  Keep him positive even if hes losing, give him props for what he's doing right.  Briefly touch on what he needs to be aware of that he's doing wrong.  Look for his and his opponents weak spots.  He may not notice them during the exhaustion of the fight.  Depending on his skill level and time fighting.  

b) as i said your his eyes/ears listen to the crowd see what side he is on.. cheer side or boo side is he a crowd favorite?  Is he the underdog?  U need to know all this is all going on between rounds in a matter of 45 sec's to a minute depending on how long they have between rounds.  U gotta work fast and efficient. 

 If this is your first time in the corner Id say you need to watch a few or set back and help on a few before u get tossed to the wolves so to speak..  Its a large responsibility.  Just keep cool and if u mess up, cause u will we all do.. over look it and chalk it up as inexperience and when your done think about what you done and could of done diff and better.  Its all apart of it.. Its alot of stress really.   I actually would rather not take on that responsibilty.. I was recently asked to corner some fighters at anMMA fight and I personally *happily declined as I just don't wanna have to handle all that excitement..  

  there is so much more to it, but at this time thats all i can think of.. again ive not been a part of the MMA scene and don't really want to.. But best of luck to you and I wish you well..  Good luck to your fighter as well.


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## Tez3 (Feb 8, 2008)

Ok, the first thing is you must check the rules, now if possible. Many MMA fight rules don't allow throwing in the towel in the middle of a round. Also check whether head shots to the head are allowed or not, what locks etc are allowed. Also check how far round the ring/cage corners are allowed to go, it's usually only halfway round either side from your own corner, you could get your fightr penalised by going too far.
On the day of the fight your job is to 'nurse' your fighter so all he has to do is concentrate on fighting. Get his food sorted, his kit checked making sure his groin guard, gum shield,entry music, shorts and gloves are there. You will need stop watch, Vaseline, tape for gloves, bucket ( sponge too if he wants one) if heads shots allowed get an old fashioned ice bag and secure a supple of ice or borrow some boxing irons, I also take some cotton wool or lint pads to deal with cuts. Do not put water on cuts, it makes them bleed more. Very firm pressure on cut should stop bleeding then a dab of Vaseline (petroleum jelly if you don't know the trade name) Pro cut men have other things to stop bleeding but it may be illegal for where you are so I won't elaborate. Take a bottle of water and also a spray for water and a towel. Take a kick bag and some focus mutts.
Make sure you get to the venue on plenty of time, find out when the medical and the rules meeting are. His coach may do all this but you do it too. After the weigh in make sure he eats and is hydrated, keep him calm and focused. Get a programme and find out the order of fights and the approx time he's fighting and which corner he's fighting from and how to get from the changing room to that corner. If he has entrance music get it to the DJ/sound people marked with his name and corner plus what track. check how many rounds there are and how long they are.
The time between the weigh in. medicals etc and the time to warm up should be spent chilling, keeping his confidence up and with you looking after things. 
Warm up, don't warm up too early, don't let him bang the pads hard, don't let him rehearse moves at this point, the warm up should be just that, warm the muscles up and a good stretch, some light pad work. this isn't the time to impress people with the power of your punches. check everything is comfotable, shorts, groin guard etc. He may want gum shield in them or wait until in the ring, whicher make sure you wet it first. check what he wants done between rounds, although make sure he has water. Some like to be towelled down, others like ice on back of neck. Sort all this out before you go in. It's whatever makes him fight better.
When they are ready for you a runner will come and tell you. then wait to be announced and for the music to reach the bit you want to walk out to, don't rush out, walk out with confidence. If ring, lift ropes for him to enter, falling flat on your face not a good look. 
Normally before a fight we've worked out the words we will use to signal moves we may see coming or think he should do, this may be difficult for you if you have no MMA experience. However you still may see things he can't so watch very carefully so you can pass the info on. for exaple, his opponent may always drop a hand just before he kicks, may always kick with same leg that sort of thing.
In the ring before the fight starts, remove t shirts etc. The ref will check gun shield, groin guard, soles of feet and gloves. If your fighter needs his hands taped pm me and I'll go through it. The ref will also check for grease, water etc on the body however it's usually permitted to smear a small amount of Vaseline around the ears and over the eyebrows. If your fighter is nervous keep him facing away from the centre of the ring and looking only at you, this is the time you tell him very forcefully that this is what he's trained for, that the training is the hard bit and this is the pay off, the good bit. It is actually easier to fight! Make sure before fight starts that if he's had water it's not spilled on the canvas, check before rounds start each time otherwise ref gets peeved! At the bell start the stopwatch, let him know when he has a minute left and then 30 secs, an extra burst in the last 30 secs can win the round/fight.
During the fight make sure you behave well! Keep any advice short, he won't be able to hear much. Between rounds don't tell him anything other than is pertinent to his fight, he doesn't need to know anything about the crowd, don't tell him he's dong anything wrong word it so he doesn't lose confidence. You will have rehearsed in your head what you are doing between rounds so it should be realatively easy, place water etc exactly where you know you can put your hands on them. 
'Throwing in the Towel' as I said check the rules, many MMA fights don't allow throwing in the towel as it's the ref's responsibliity to  stop the fight if one fighter cannot intelligently defend him/herself and while many people argue that fights are stopped too soon most refs get it right. the ref will stop the fight to check any cut and will either send the fighter back to his corner to sort or get the doc in to check. whatever though it's unlikely that in an amateur fight you'd have very much to worry about with your fighter being hurt.
After the fight, win or lose, your fighter will need cooling down and rehydrated, watch too for adrenaline dump or just being miserable at losing! Keep them up if they are down, if they won you'll have to listen to the fight time and time again lol but hey that's fun! Hope this helps
Good luck!
If you have any questions pm if it's uregent ot just post I can always get more advice of others!


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## Tez3 (Feb 8, 2008)

Apologies for spelling mistakes! Realised I should get it done quick as there's a big time difference between you and me lol!


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 8, 2008)

I got to tell you when I first saw the title of this post &#8220;Help! I'm Cornering a Fighter&#8221; I thought - he is in a fight trying to corner the other guy and STILL has time to post here to ask for help, DAMN he's good. :uhyeah:

I must admit I was a bit confused 

Good luck as the corner man


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## Tez3 (Feb 8, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> I got to tell you when I first saw the title of this post Help! I'm Cornering a Fighter I thought - he is in a fight trying to corner the other guy and STILL has time to post here to ask for help, DAMN he's good. :uhyeah:
> 
> I must admit I was a bit confused
> 
> Good luck as the corner man


 
Rofl! Sat with his laptop balanced on his bucket surrounded by a noisy crowd and his fighter going wtf!

Just a thought, a handy skill to learn in MMA is how to get a gumshield out of an unconcious persons mouth.(put them in recovery postition then push your fingers in up to the side of his top jaw along the gums and push down then pull out)


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## jks9199 (Feb 8, 2008)

One definition to help folks: "gum shield" equals "mouth guard" or "mouthpiece" to us Americans...  :grin:

Also: ask the fighter; he should be able to tell you what he's looking for.  It may be as simple as holding the spit bucket and handling the stool while his coach does the rest.  Or it may be as complicated as what some others have posted.  

Generally, your corner team in my experience consists of at least 2 people; many more, and you get in each others way.  ONLY the coach should give advice (or even encouragement, depending on the fighter); too many voices are just confusing.  Teamwork is important, because a lot is happening in a very short time.


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## Brian R. VanCise (Feb 8, 2008)

I have had good and bad people corner me. (way back in the day)  The worst things ever done were not to give advice, sit on the stool at the end of the round, poor hand taping job, failing to get the mouth piece out, etc. (yes I still managed to win that fight)  Some of the best things that a corner ever did for me was in telling me to focus on my cross as my opponent was a lefty and I fought in an orthodox stance most of the time. (so the right cross was lined up)  That bit of simple adivce after the first round ended up in the other guy getting knocked out quick.  Another thing that a corner did for me that really jump started a fight when I was having a lackluster performance was after sitting me down, getting the mouthpiece out and allowing me to swig and spit he had a bottle of ice cold water handy and pulled my pants forward and you guess it dumped it onto my groin area.  Cold water + groin = Brian waking up quickly.  That little bit of corner work and telling me to get after the other guy ended up in a knockout of my opponent in the next round.  

*Good Corner's* have to do very little but they can make a huge differance in the right moment!


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## Tez3 (Feb 8, 2008)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> I have had good and bad people corner me. (way back in the day) The worst things ever done were not to give advice, sit on the stool at the end of the round, poor hand taping job, failing to get the mouth piece out, etc. (yes I still managed to win that fight) Some of the best things that a corner ever did for me was in telling me to focus on my cross as my opponent was a lefty and I fought in an orthodox stance most of the time. (so the right cross was lined up) That bit of simple adivce after the first round ended up in the other guy getting knocked out quick. Another thing that a corner did for me that really jump started a fight when I was having a lackluster performance was after sitting me down, getting the mouthpiece out and allowing me to swig and spit he had a *bottle of ice cold water handy and pulled my pants forward* *and you guess it dumped it onto my groin area*. Cold water + groin = Brian waking up quickly. That little bit of corner work and telling me to get after the other guy ended up in a knockout of my opponent in the next round.
> 
> *Good Corner's* have to do very little but they can make a huge differance in the right moment!


 
I was cornering with my instructor when he did that to our fighters lol! His eyes nearly popped out of his head! did the trick as Brian says ( funnuly enough our fighter was called Brian too) 
Once and this isn't to be recommended unless you really know your fighter I slapped an amateur fighters face! It was a two round fight and while he wasn't winning he was holding his own, he'd had a lot of personal issues with his weight, upbringing etc and this fight was a hige step forward in life for him but after the first round he started to panic and said he didn't want to carry on so I slapped him a bit, made him focus and sent him back in. He lost the actual fight but won his own personal war. He was on top of the world afterwards and thanked me profusely. As I said you have to know your guy and I knew that he would never forgive himself afterwards if he'd given up. 

Thanks JKS for translation lol! I posted everything a corner should do as  I didn't know whether the fighters coach will be there or not and anyway it's always good to have the full picture.


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## crushing (Feb 8, 2008)

Thanks everyone for all the advice.  I just hope I can put your suggestions into practice and do the right things.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Once again, thanks!


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## crushing (Feb 8, 2008)

Xue Sheng said:


> I got to tell you when I first saw the title of this post Help! I'm Cornering a Fighter I thought - he is in a fight trying to corner the other guy and STILL has time to post here to ask for help, DAMN he's good. :uhyeah:
> 
> I must admit I was a bit confused
> 
> Good luck as the corner man


 
This new BlackBerry they gave me at work is really handy!  LOL!


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## Bodhisattva (Feb 9, 2008)

crushing said:


> I have been honored with opportunity to corner a fighter in an amateur MMA cage match this Saturday. The fighter has some MMA experience and knows that I don't.
> 
> Any suggestions for a first timer like me cornering a fighter? I'm not even sure of my responsibilities other than if I think he is going to get killed I throw in a towel.
> 
> I appreciate any help. Thanks!


 
A fighter needs a _more experienced _cornerman than he himself.

Because the corner man is telling him where the openings are and what he should do.

If you don't know Jits, you aren't going to be able to advise him on the ground.

If you don't know boxing, you aren't going to be able to advise him in stand up.


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## Tez3 (Feb 9, 2008)

Bodhisattva said:


> A fighter needs a _more experienced _cornerman than he himself.
> 
> Because the corner *man* is telling him where the openings are and what he should do.
> 
> ...


 
Firstly when we fight we fight 'standup' not boxing, this standup is karate, TKD, CMA, Muay Thai etc, to call it boxing is misleading. It's the same with the groundwork, calling it 'Jits' whatever that's supposed to be is also misleading as it can be Judo, BJJ, trad Juijitsu, grappling or wrestling. From Crushing's profile I think you'll find he has experience enough to do the job well.
Corners ( btw not all people cornering fighters are men you know) don't have to be _more_ experienced at all, it's obviously easier to see what's going on anyway when you're not fighting but telling your fighter where openings are etc is easier said than done.The adrenaline when fighting makes your hearing shut down plus there's the noise of the crowd so shouting complicated instructions are out, shouting 'code words' can work but remember what you are shouting at your fighter can probably be heard by his opponent who will then close up the gaps you've just shouted out lol!


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 9, 2008)

crushing said:


> This new BlackBerry they gave me at work is really handy! LOL!


 

I guess I better stop fighting them in my office over issuing me a Blackberry then


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## Cruentus (Feb 9, 2008)

Here is a good article on the topic:
http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=9813

Good luck!


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## Tez3 (Feb 10, 2008)

Cruentus said:


> Here is a good article on the topic:
> http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=9813
> 
> Good luck!


 

That's a good article, pro fighters have very tight teams where everyone is focused and knows their job. Amateurs should if possible always have their coach/instructor as their chief corner, someone who knows them and thier abilities.


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## crushing (Feb 10, 2008)

Bodhisattva said:


> A fighter needs a _more experienced _cornerman than he himself.
> 
> Because the corner man is telling him where the openings are and what he should do.
> 
> ...


 
I certainly don't have more experience than my fighter.  My fighter's BJJ coach was at the fight and basically took over being the corner man.  I stayed in the corner as a second and for moral support.  He hasn't trained with this coach in a few years, but he was definitely much better than I at it and I'm glad he stepped in.

As for the result. . .

Unfortunately, my guy lost in a decision.  The first round went to the other guy as he got take downs.  My guy was close to a triangle choke, but just couldn't get his legs locked around the other guy.

The second round my fighter dominated, but just couldn't put him away.  He had his back, but just couldn't sink the choke.  He pounded the sides of his head pretty good.  I think if he wouldn't have tried so hard to put him to sleep he may have had the energy to pound the guy for a ref's stoppage.

The third round was pretty even both trading some punches and my guy getting in some good kicks to the legs and side until about 15 seconds before the end of the fight when my guy took a pretty hard right that impressed the crowd and the judges and I think was the difference maker.

Thanks again everyone!


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## crushing (Feb 10, 2008)

Oh yeah, Butterbean v local guy was at the main fight on the card and what a disappointment Butterbean turned out to be.

I think he thinks he can just stroll into small towns and beat what they have to offer.  With his celebrity he was also able to get the rules modified where the ref had to stand them back up after 10 seconds on the ground.  One of the cool things about having a coaches pass was that I was able to see some of the things going on behind the scenes.

Anyway, a tough local boy stepped right up to Butterbean and started pounding the hell out of him and within seconds Butterbean is complaining of a groing strike after taking a few knees to the gut.  The ref separates them and local boy starts pounding the crap out of him again, immediately Butterbean starts jawing about low blows.  Anyway the match ended up in a double-disqualification and a really pissed off crowd.

I don't know how the guy fighting Butterbean could find Butterbean's groin.  I don't think Butterbean couldn't find it himself with three mirrors and a spotlight.


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## crushing (Feb 11, 2008)

Here is the local paper's write up about the Butterbean fight.

"Fans, area fighter deserved better"

http://www.mlive.com/sports/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/120264212033960.xml&coll=8&thispage=1

The reporter does mistakenly call the organization putting on the event "UFC", rather than the conveniently similiar "UCF".


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