Strategies for Keeping the fight in the stand up against good grapplers?

Question

I was watching the amatuer pankration tournament this weekend. The stand up guys were at a severe disadvantage because the could only strike to the body. Some of the contestants were clearly over matched on the ground. To make matters worse is some of the relied exclusively on kicks. They would kick get taken down and struggle to get up, if they even made it up they got taken down. The stand up seemed to last when both fighters wanted to keep it standing up. So what are the keys to keeping the fight on the stand up mode. I know one thing I was taught was if you wanted to be elusive was to always stay to one side of an opponents head. What else?

I should have stated this question differently. Don't look at this question like the stand up is because the person can't fight at all on the ground. Look at it like the fighter has a huge advantage standing up and maybe equal on the ground. How do you exploit the advantage. Chuck Liddell is great on the ground but he is awesome at the stand up. How does he keep the fight standing up so he can utilize his strategic advantage?

Answer 1

I often tell people that if I had it to do all over again, I would learn to ground fight. Back in my day, MMA didn't exist, or at least I never knew about it. I was a Muay Thai kickboxer and we never fought on the ground. If I were in my prime today, I would learn to ground fight and would couple that with my kickboxing skills and take it into the ring as a MMA fighter.

The fact is that in order to compete in the MMA realm, you have to be able to fight on the ground. If you can't, then you shouldn't even be in there... PERIOD!

I'm not saying that a stand up fighter can't win. I'm saying that sooner or later someone is going to take you down. THEN you'd better know how to ground fight.

Now I understand what you are looking for, "How do I force a ground fighter to stand up?"

I don't have any first hand knowledge in this area, but I've seen a lot of guys be very successful at keeping the fight in the stand up. It seems to take one key ingredient: QUICKNESS. Your reflexes have to be very sharp and your ability to quickly move to avoid a takedown is critical. Sprawling (as others have noted) is one way. In wrestling they call it pancaking. The other is to counter a takedown attempt with a knee strike or kick to the head as the opponent dives in for your legs. Again, this takes reflexes and quickness, but no more than sprawling or pancaking do.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Welcome to the reality of fighting. People here usually say they would NEVER end up on ground no matter what and say it's so easy to avoid take down. Those type of people are the type who have never trained or spar with someone who really know what they're doing. So when they got taken down, they're usually in for a big surprise.

To avoid getting take down, you would have to work on it a lot! It's not that easy to avoid take down most of the time. You can try sprawl but it isn't that easy plus even if you did sprawl, they still can sweep or throw you.

So... stop try to look for short cut and bite the bullet and take some kind of grappling because that's the best way to learn.

Answer 3

Chuck is a great wrestler and grappler but he is a much more dynamic striker. He focuses a lot of his training on sprawl and bouncing up to his feet every time someone attempts to shoot at him. He doesn't throw many kicks, although when he does watch out (babaloo).

You really need to learn how to fight on the ground if you are going to be competing in any mma. Once you start getting comfortable working on the ground then start figuring out what techniques work to allow you to get back up on your feet again.

Mma is one of the hardest sports to master because you need to constantly upgrade your skills to be successful.

Answer 4

Low leg kicks & throw a knee when a grappler shots in on you. Rules state you cannot knee an oponent on the ground, but it doesn't say you can't knee them as they are coming in for your legs.

Answer 5

1- S-P-R-A-W-L

2- SPRAWL SOME MORE

3- SPRAWL EVEN MORE

That is how you avoid a takedown.

To avoid bieng thrown you need to learn defence for that. Once taken to the ground, they need to work on escapes so they can get to thier feet.

EDIT:
4- then get off your *** and do some more SPRAWLING!

Answer 6

by no potential cheer on fights, I mean if its a slapping pastime to verify who can take care of the most slaps, thats different. combating is extremely risky and would bring about a homicide case.