Rote combinations vs. freestyle combinations

[Kung Fu Wang]

During fights what he looks for are the angles he wants to enter with the combo ...

From a wrestler point of view, if you have right side forward, when your opponent has his

1. left side forward (mirror stance), 75% of your techniques can work.
2. right side forward (uniform stance), may be only 25% of your techniques can work.

If you are a right side wrestler, when your opponent has left side forward, you can move in with hip throw without having to spin your back into your opponent.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

If one has never trained "hip throw, inner hook" combo before, do you think one day on the wrestling mat suddenly he can just do it? I know I can't.

If he has trained the "inner hook" from that position, then yes. Is he likely to? Only if he recognizes the position. The point is that each grappling technique needs certain things at the starting point. A combo is just using one technique to set another up (whether that's at the end of one technique, a recovery from the first one failing, or whatever). If the end of one technique puts your opponent in a position you recognize as the starting point for another technique, there's no reason you wouldn't chain right into that one.

 

[marques]

Rote combinations ‘against’ a bag, freestyle combinations against people. I train very little combos: 5-10 similar ones. Against people just add fakes, feints and angles/footwork.