Good or Great Fighter
What’s the difference between a good and great fighter.
What makes a good fighter.
1. Athletic ability
2. Speed
3. Effective Combinations
4. Good Blocking Skills
5. Good Reactions
What Makes a Great Fighter – A Great Fight must possess all of the above but much more.
1. Athletic ability, obviously training and being more fit will add in making a better fighter.
2. Speed, quickness and explosiveness is often hard to increase but if you learn how to use your weight distribution you can move much faster than others think possible.
3. Effective Combinations
a. Learn a few really good combinations
b. In combos less really is more, practice a few and get great with them
c. Be able to change, add or detract from the same combos to give a different look.
d. Be able to do each combo on both sides of your body and then you automatically double your combo tool box.
4. Good Blocking Skills
a. Practice blocking with a partner. Block all sorts of combos.
b. When fighting sometimes play defense to develop your blocking skills.
5. Broken Rhythm
a. No patterns.
b. No continuous unbroken bouncing up and down or in and out.
c. Regular motion in a broken pattern that can’t be predicted. Even if it means just looking jerky. Never let them know when you are coming.
d. Many fighters get hit later in a fight because they begin to set a pattern that their opponent sees and learns and predicts where they’ll be at.
6. Timing
a. Timing counter attacks
b. Timing a persons rythmetic movements (hit them when they are bouncing upward or inward)
c. Setup timing, watch where they move to when you juke them and then hit them once you have them figured out
d. Freeze timing, make a slight move that freezes your opponent then hit them (juke & go)
7. Knowledge of the Rules
a. Know the how much each stike is worth, sometimes scoring is different for punches and kicks and or spin and aerial kick.
b. Know what you are allowed to do or you may soon be losing.
c. Sometimes you can get back in the game by just running your opponent out of the ring.
d. Sometimes you may get penalized for an improper sweep.
e. Always know the rules.
8. Ability to use the Ring Effectively
a. If you are a rabbit you need to know where the lines are so you don’t run out of the ring unexpectedly
b. If you are a tiger or bull you need know where the lines are so that you can run the rabbit out of the ring. Often judges will award points if someone runs out.
9. Fakes – Throw an attack to one area and then hit another
a. Strike at opposite areas, hi lo, right left, hi right followed by lo left and so forth. (Make them block too many opposites and eventually you will find an opening)
10. Jambs – When Fakes, Feints and Combinations fail to create your desired openings, then a jamb or simple pushing, grabbing and/or forcing your opponents guard out of the way to create an opening.
11. Having a game plan or I usually call it a track. I’ll outline a track you can use.
a. Almost every fighter starts with a jab.
b. A jab sets up a reaction that should create an opening for the next reverse punch to the stomach.
c. After setting up the high low combo, you can use a rolling backfist and it strikes the opposite side of the head.
d. Then they are ready the next time you deliver the next combo you can choose after the jab, reverse punch, backfist, then utilize either a round house and or a sweep.
e. You can add a reverse punch and so on and so on.
f. The idea is one techniques will score and once they learn what you did then you need to change it to make it effective again.
12. Have a backup game plan or plan B, just in case the first one doesn’t work.
a. A back up could be as simple as just switching sides. Learn combo on both sides. South paws are hard to figure out.
13. Vary your types of fighting.
a. Rabbit – Runner, runs like a scared rabbit. Gotta watch they’re usually an opportunist. They’ll run until they can get off guard.
b. Tiger – Aggressive ferocious attacker. Usually scares the opponent an hits an wins a lot as a Novice.
c. Cobra – Strikes out with a quick unexpected strike. Watch out for the rabbit that turns into a snake.
d. Mongoose – A Mongoose can tire a cobra with their quick jerky head movements making their opponent miss and will often confuse and defeat their opponent.
e. Bull – Overruns their opponent, usually big guys, they just keep coming and the other fighter usually ends up on their back.
f. Bull fighter – Stands confidently and allows the Bull to attack and deftly steps out of the way and counter attacks
14. Intimidation.
a. Tigers and Bulls use this. Hit the other guy so hard that he doesn’t want to get close to you.
b. Tigers and Bulls can be intimidated when the bullfighter takes advantage on his predictable attacks and hits him hard on the counter.
c. Cobras or rabbit can intimidate the other types when they attack quickly and unexpectedly and the opponent can’t answer the problem.
15. Knowing your opponent
a. If you have some idea who you are fighting, prepare for that fighter and their particular strengths and weaknesses
b. Watch your opponent warming up. Often they will warm up with their favorite techniques. If you watch them you will see how they move and what kind of movements and techniques the will use. Often they will warm up with a partner and actually practice what they will do in the ring.
c. Observe what style, school or instructor they are with.
i. Certain styles use particular techniques and you can expect to see those. Learn a little bit about every style and what they do.
ii. Certain schools will have a certain style of fighting which almost everyone in the school may adhere too.
iii. Instructors within the same schools sometimes will teach students differently and if you watch who is warming up with your opponent, you may see something about what type of fighter they are.
16. Fake you emotions or type of fighter or fighting style.
a. Warm up with hands when you prefer kicks and visa versa.
b. Act intimidated to lure your opponent in then counter.
c. Act as if you are attacking like a tiger and back off and become a rabbit and then if possible become a bull fighter when they come after you. Great for running out the clock.
17. Above all, don’t show fear.
a. Often the Bull or Tiger (Big guy), expects you to be scared of them. If you attack them out of character as a Tiger you will throw off their game plan.
b. Confidence, Mushin (mind like water), is hard to read.
c. Zanchin, (to utterly defeat), Tigers are great at this. This will produce intimidation if the person is subject to it.
d. Unfazed reaction to a heavy hit. If you show no emotion, pain or otherwise act unaffected by an obvious heavy hit, your opponent may become reversely intimidated because he hit you with his best and it didn’t faze you.
18. Know the amount of time left.
a. Don’t attack when you are in the lead with seconds to go.
b. Don’t be a rabbit if you are losing and no time left. Be a Cobra. Get that point.
This is just a few things that I feel can take a person up to the next level fighter. You may add or delete what you like. Also, there are many styes of karate and types of fighters and you can call them what you want but these are some basic types of fighters that I’ve been about to identify. The best fighters can fight like any number of types of fighters.
There are many more ideas but not all are needed each time you fight. These ideas are primarily geared towards point fighting but many of them can carry over into other venues and even the street.
I hope some of these may be helpful some of you.
If you have any added suggestions, please share them so that we all can gain from them.
Perry Culver 6th dan
