# First Muay Thai Fight !! TIPS PLEASE



## watermelon96 (Aug 20, 2013)

Hi guys, i recently had my first muay thai fight over the weekend.. 
Was hoping I could get some feedback from some guys that know what there talking about, as too what I did right, what i did wrong, what I should work on more etc..
I have learnt a few things from this fight to work on and get better at but would love as much feedback as possible.. Ive only had time to put a short clip up of the final minute of the round, my goal was to just stay calm the whole fight let him tire himself out then attack at the end, as for the first round it was 50/50 he got a takedown but i got a few strikes etc..

Anyway please let me know what you think guys  !!!
P.s Im the guy with the shirt on


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## Tony Dismukes (Aug 20, 2013)

Which one is you?


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## watermelon96 (Aug 20, 2013)

Oh sorry I am the one wearing the shirt!


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## jks9199 (Aug 20, 2013)

Keep your hands up.

Have a plan and purpose for each strike; don't just throw something to be throwing it.  You did a nice job, for example, at about 20 seconds of using jabs/punches to open up for a kick.  But way too often, you were just popping a hand or foot out there hoping it would do something.

Learn to move in, deliver, then get out.


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## Tony Dismukes (Aug 20, 2013)

First off, congrats on the win.  Obviously you had your opponent tired out and intimidated, which means you were doing some things right.

Suggestions: 

Hands up.  You got away with dropping your hands a lot because your opponent wasn't doing a good job with his punches.  Against a more experienced opponent you could get knocked out.

Turn your round kicks over more.  You were just swinging the kicking leg straight up without any real pivot.  If you step out, pivot on your support foot, and turn your kicking leg over as you kick you can get literally 3 times more power into those round kicks than you are delivering.  

Try a little more moving in and out of range combined with lateral movement instead of just walking forwards all the time (especially since it looked like you had the longer reach).

Did the rules allow for clinching/knees?  I saw some good opportunities for plum work there that neither of you attempted to take advantage of.


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## watermelon96 (Aug 20, 2013)

great advice, seriously just what i needed, I like to see the positives of everything but I lose site of small things I'm doing wrong where in a different situation could go very bad for me.. 

Jks9199 - couldn't agree more, I was told going into the fight to really use that jab because it works well for me sparring, however I haven't really practiced much combos following the jab, is this what you mean? I mean I seem to land it pretty good using my reach but at the moment I just keep throwing that jab out there with no real combo after it, maybe the right hand comes here and there but thats it.. so should I be looking to throw that jab and finish with longer combinations of punches and kicks?

Tony Dismukes - I think keeping my hands down is the worst habit I have at the moment, is there any good drills that can help with keeping them up more? or just keep them up as much as possible when i train?

As for turning my kicks over more, thats what my coach has been teaching for the past couple weeks to me actually, I started to understand what is meant with it and have been developing it a bit better, but when i fought I went back to my old self of just throwing the kick out there with no real turn of the body.. Ill keep working on that!

What is meant by lateral movement sorry? But yes I have the longer reach so by moving out of range sometimes will I be looking to counter his attacks using my reach? then coming back in and attacking, then out countering? is this what you mean?

As for the rules there was clinching and only knees to the body, In the first round we clinched up twice the first time he tripped me up, then the next i got a couple of knees but still didn't feel very comfortable and very well postured/stable in the clinch, so tried to stay out in the last round to avoid getting taken down more, any advice on how to train my clinch better?

Thanks a lot for your help guys so much to work on !


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## Brian R. VanCise (Aug 20, 2013)

When I kickboxed way back in the day I always went in to impress my will on the other person. I never wanted them to feel confident or comfortable.  

I always pressed the pace and made sure I was always in phenomenal condition.  

Keep your hands up just like jks9199 and Tony Dismukes mentioned!

Being calm is very important but.... do not take punishment that you can avoid.  Many a good fighter has lost because they thought they could take punishment and then dish it out!

Hope a little insight helps and congrats on the win!!!


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## watermelon96 (Aug 21, 2013)

Brian R. VanCise said:


> When I kickboxed way back in the day I always went in to impress my will on the other person. I never wanted them to feel confident or comfortable.
> 
> I always pressed the pace and made sure I was always in phenomenal condition.
> 
> ...




Love this, this is what I felt was best going into round 2, I looked to apply so much consistent pressure on the opponent that he would rarely get the chance to attack back, and by staying calm whilst throwing my strikes it gave me the energy to keep going..
However I see that going up against a more experienced guy can change the situation and maybe constant pressure and attacking could lead to an unexpected counter attack, so guess thats where what your saying comes into play, as much attacking as I'd love to do I have to be weary of the counters a more experience fighter could impose on me?
And at the same time keep those hands up!!!

haha cheers mate


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## Tony Dismukes (Aug 21, 2013)

watermelon96 said:


> Tony Dismukes - I think keeping my hands down is the worst habit I have at the moment, is there any good drills that can help with keeping them up more? or just keep them up as much as possible when i train?
> 
> As for turning my kicks over more, thats what my coach has been teaching for the past couple weeks to me actually, I started to understand what is meant with it and have been developing it a bit better, but when i fought I went back to my old self of just throwing the kick out there with no real turn of the body.. Ill keep working on that!
> 
> What is meant by lateral movement sorry? But yes I have the longer reach so by moving out of range sometimes will I be looking to counter his attacks using my reach? then coming back in and attacking, then out countering? is this what you mean?



Keeping your hands up consistently in a fight is hard.  Everyone struggles with it.  A good trainer will hold the focus mitts for you and tag you when you drop your hands.  Sparring helps also.

The point about using your superior reach is that you ideally would like to stay in the pocket where you can hit him but he can't reach you.  If you continually move forward it means that you will be walking into the range where he can hit you.

Lateral movement means going side to side and cutting angles rather than just moving forwards and back.  Practice moving in, landing a combination, then stepping to the side so that his counter-strikes will miss.

Clinching is a whole study in itself.  You should definitely be doing lots of clinch-only sparring.  Work on your posture and your grips first, landing knees second.  What does your coach have you doing to train the clinch?


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## jks9199 (Aug 21, 2013)

What I meant by having a purpose for each strike or kick goes beyond throwing combinations, though that's part of it.  

You say you have a good jab.  Where are you trying to hit with it?  Why are you using it?  Are you using it to set up another technique, or to jam your opponent's attempts to get their own techniques off? 

When you kick -- have a target.  If you're kicking the thigh, every kick should be intended to do more damage to the sciatic nerve and surrounding muscles, so that the opponent's leg fails.  A front kick to the stomach might be pushing an opponent back before they can get something off (like a jab) -- or trying to catch them and send their abdominal muscles and diaphragm into spasm so that they lose their breath...


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## grumpywolfman (Aug 21, 2013)

... and _KEEP YOUR HANDS UP!!!_


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