Mike. I've been trying to implement a lot of your stuff and a lot of it especially dirty boxing stuff has been working wonderfully, one day when I make enough money from all of these muggings I've been doing I'll buy each of your teachable courses 10 times. Oss.
how about a video on how to get max practical self defense out of least amount of effort you can have with you for as long as possible, pref life? my recomendations: start lifting weights 2-3 times a week until easy gains are over (about a year), then take it a bit more easy with the lifting and start some boxing or grappling for a year and switch, i learned kickboxing and quit, i cant kick anymore but i can still do boxing quite well (atleast last i tried), avoid kicks cause you depend on regular painful stretchouts. I also did some tae kwon do where they had a self defence course where we grabbed and bent wrists etc (police-type grips), that was effective! Outside of that I have 0 experience with grappling and it looks so intimate im not sure i want to start, but you guys would know alot about this! for EDC, handguns arent legal anywhere i live, its a level of defence for enthusiasts, but pepperspray is legal even in much of europe and takes little training, and then theres the tactical flashlight. that puts the level of training, goals etc within range of mosts and not just enthusiasts and crazy people. Lots of cool stuff on this channel but im yet to see a lazy mans guide to self defence!
Seth and Mike together just makes me imagine some cartoon sitcom about a big, friendly, chill Great Dane who just wants to be friends with a small dog that's just all like "YO COME AT ME BRO, FUCK YOU UP LIKE DYNAMITE!"
Love the collabs with Sensei Seth! You guys work so well together, despite being almost the opposite of each other in terms of personality. The contrast is excellent, and very entertaining.
This beats the bike video as your best one. 1. Dealing with the guy who forgets what you JUST demonstrated. 2. Pressure fighting is not solely for people that walk forward 3. There’s levels to defense. Great shit as always
NGL you two almost have an older brother / younger brother kind of vibe going on when you do these collabs with the faces, jokes, eyerolls, etc. Makes it entertaining as well as informative, kudos to you both.
Two major takeaways from this video: - Those two have the comedy genius of Laurel&Hardy. - Sensei Seth is a target rich environment. Keep up the good work! :-)
I said it in a message on your podcast when Sensei Seth was back in Dallas, you're a great comedy team. Your (Mike) ability to communicate your lesson is amplified with Seth around. You gave a great explanation of the pressuring that more advanced players should be able to implement to help novices. That's a real gift!
I love the videos of you two. The differences in size and style really show a lot- even to someone like me who didn't do MA in the last 15 years and won't be able to do for the next 2-3yrs... Keep it going :)
"New guys that want to be counter fighters are just running away" Icy Mike with the cold truth. Appreciate it 🙏🏽 Sincerely, A New Guy Who Is Also A Counter Fighter 🤣
I imagine that was the point of the old Chinese military martial art footwork systems; how to step into & off of a line. Integrating more footwork drills to these sparring sessions is offering great value to us weekend warriors. Thanks again
As one of the older guys at my Muay Thai gym that tends towards pressure fighting (because I'm not going to be able to do the evasive thing with asthma against people 15-20 years younger than me), parrying and countering is a big part of my strategy in sparring. This especially applies to younger but newer people. Once I've answered their jabs with kicks and crosses a few times, they become more hesitant to throw and I have more opportunity to close into my preferred knee and clinch ranges. Works a lot better than just trying to Leeroy Jenkins my way in.
Excellent video, I can’t wait to drill more lateral movement during sparring because I’ve noticed I can get into that tractor mentality you’ve mentioned.
this explanation makes a lot of sense to me, thank you Mike! I've recently found some great succes using pendulum stepping to invite agression on my terms while keeping range with sparring partners. Now i finally understand why it has been working so well for me, appreciate it!
Lomachenko is a pressure fighter. High volume and great defense. He DOES counter some punches, but he initiating most exchanges. Floyd is a counter puncher, he uses his IQ to download his opponent. Than he removes their most dangerous tools with adjustments, and focuses on what's left. He forces them to things HIS way, which allows him to counter things much easier.
this concept of forcing action, is really key to kendo - it's called seme in that context. It's interesting to me that fencing in all forms really teaches this type of pressure game - you don't need to worry about loading up for power or anything, it's just that interplay
- Pressure fighting is about defence. - opponent will hit you - find their pattern of shots - take a few to give a few - set a target for opponent to hit. Hand position high lvl force Mid lvl predict Low lvl react - They're going to adjust to you and try and stop you - ex. Kicking you too keep out of range. - stay just out of range, use missed kick tk come in - if they're backing up when in close, use side to side movement to cut angles to follow them - OODA observe orient decide act - moving constantly fucks up their ooda - if what your doing stops working your nit wrong it just means you need to move to the next step in the system.
its so common for people to get stuck using the same weapons and they think mastering one thing actually means they are a master 😅. I love how you teach how to be a versatile fighter 👏 🤗
This is awesome! I never in a million years would have guessed that Icy Mike would be teaching people footsies and how to whiff punish buttons IRL! Lol
Yo this was dope. One of my main friends who i spar with is way taller, has a way longer reach and is legitimately a better fighter than me. I can barely land anything cause when i would try to pressure to get in close, he'd just back up and pick me apart because his reach is so much longer and id only be moving forward. By the time i get close enough to land one shot, I've eaten 4-5. The only way i can find myself landing hits is when i throw body kicks, feint a kick, then when he drops his hands, i step in and land a couple
When tall fighters learn how to use their height, it becomes a great advantage . To counter this if you’re a shorter opponent is to feint more as you said. Also learning how to grapple better will help.
also DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSEEE!! parrying is a great option. use it, don't just watch theory videos, watch fighters who do this, study Winky Wright for boxing, Marlon Starling, John Scully, Canelo, watch how these guys parry and block. Study the long guard as well, contrary to what people think, it can be great for pressuring while staying safe. Study Buakaw, Saenchai, and believe it or not RODTANG(people don't notice his great defense because of highlights of him taking shots, always study full fights and stop the tape to see how they perform these techniques, good way to see exactly what they're doing. and then drill, drill and drill like your life depends on it. It literally does.) for Muay thai, Kickboxing, Mike Zambidis is a great example. Amazing guard. The fact that he can guard so well while being in the line of fire nearly all the time being so short he had to get good at that. Study his explosive in and out footwork, all of these things will help you not get hit while you close the distance. You will get hit regardless, it's going to happen, but if you can mitigate the amount that you get hit, it's gonna mess up the taller guys. They just expect you to rush in and take 5 shots to give one, don't give them that luxury. Keep your face looking like a face moving forward. Petr Yan for mma is also a great fighter to study, beautiful guard. Chito Vera in his prime as well had a beautiful guard, despite people thinking he took shots, he parried a shit ton of them, then people were like "his face looks so clean after his fights he must have such a good chin" he has a good chin, but his defense was a thing of beauty, that's why his face is so clean. Hands up, chin down my friend, never give up you can destroy these bizzare taller goblins that have spears for arms and legs. good luck.
Very cool explanations of these apparently notions that can become very strong tools. I also like how Seth seems so humble about taking tips, even though we know that if he went serious on someone with a karate move, he could very well knock their entire dentures out. Good job you guys!
Mike, When you are doing the sort of "everyone on the mat" soft sparring that you do and most MMA gyms do, how do you make sure people stay aware of and keep using pressure and volume fighting tactics? I find it difficult to do because soft sparring kind of trains you to point fight because you feel like if you come forward and throw too much you are more likely to let a hard shot go by accident and the constant resetting contains a false impression that being evasive works better than it actually would in a fight, causing both partners to favour that tactic more. Could you do a video on this?
I'm not a trainer but I have been sparring for years. Solution for my gym is definitely finding the sweet spot for power and really emphasize hand speed. You can't go 40% power and expect pressure to work right. You gotta go atleast 70% for someone to realize these shots they are taking would push them back in a real fight, but 70% still isn't hurting anybody
@@vaughnordakowski8774 sure this helps the individual who is consciously choosing to pressure fight, but what I'm looking for is how to encourage the whole gym to do it more. Always resetting to not bump into other people and equipment means basically once the pressure fighter gets in (as seen in the video you may need to eat shots to get in) it won't be long until you the fight resets and he loses his advantage, which means people stop doing it and stop learning to defend against it! This is a huge problem IMO for sparring that is not done in a ring or cage
@@0n344 oh I see. Thats always a problem, my coaches emphasize acting like the mat square is a ring but that is occasionaly a problem for bumping into others. We do have a wall that people get backed into and a corner spot that you can definitely get cornered in. Tbh the only solid solution for that is buying chest high foam boxes and literally making a makeshift ring for cheap 🤷♂️.
The thing is, i had some pressure fighters who thought they are good in this style because i was not hurtig them with my shots. But when i notice they go 90% power and i did 90% back, they were no pressure fighters anymore. I am one of the jumpy footwork fighters. Because imo its all about hit and dont get hit, like tyson Said. 50% offece 50% counter So you are NOT a real pressure fighter unti you „like“ to get full power shots to the Face and still always go in. And i think you should only do that if you can earn big money in the ring in a short time.
@@bibabutzemann5661 that is a thing that happens sometimes, I won't deny it. A person just keeps coming forward because they're not getting punished the way they would in full power and perhaps become a pressure fighter in a false ineffective way. I still think what I've said happens a lot more. But they're both arguments against soft sparring
If I may also add, work on keeping your balance when attacking. It makes a huge difference! Don't overextended to try and "hit harder". You'll hit hard enough. :) Love the videos!
Thanks! I was one of those new guys thinking I wanted to be a counter fighter, hah! Then I realized that my personality is much better tuned to being a pressure fighter, but I thought I had to throw a lot of offense to do it. This video was perfect for where I'm at, ~1 yr of classes and a bit of sparring.
reading Bruce's "Jeet Kune Do " at the moment and he's talking about breaking the opponent's timing, by forcing the opponent to go on your timing. Obviously the point is to control the fight. Speaking of which, every strike (even blocks are strikes!) in Wing Chun is Offensive, with no backward movement whatsoever. Some of the parrying here is somewhat reminiscent of this philosophy, of disturbing the opponent's balance, by placing them in unfamiliar territory; so that you may begin to set pace as a human metronome with your own strikes (while they attempt to recalibrate to a position they're familiar with or regard as "comfortable"). Of course this is all philosophical, and perhaps my absolute favorite aspect of martial arts. Lee himself wasn't the first to discuss the importance of Timing, as you may know, Miyamoto Musashi also spoke of this... and who knows how many before him. The "ways to get there" are perhaps infinite in variation. This presentation does get one to think a lot about it. Great video.
Mike could you make a full guide on minimizing cte. I know u arent an expert on neurons and that stuff but have lots of experience in training so can probably offer a good perspective. Please
My coach in muay thai calls my style pressure fighting. I agree with him. I've always been REAL serious about making sure my head and face(and ribs) were well defended. From my own experience; its more about cutting off the other guys options than just mindlessly moving forward. Moving forward is definitely part of it but only it has to be done in a skillful way(if you don't wanna get hit more than necessary anyway). And with my style; and prob a ton of other guys with similar styles do this too; you wanna block their shots while moving inside on them, so you can land some hard hooks on the side of their head(or their ribs if that isn't open or not considered an optimal target). The ultimate goal in pressure fighting is to make them panic, or come close to panic, with how much you are moving in on them and deflecting their shots with ease and bombing on them. The shots are gonna be softer in sparring; but you can still very easily get dropped with a shot to the face or head even in sparring, even with headgear on. Ive done it plenty of times; and also its been done to me before a handful of times. I attack on the off beat, off the rhythm they think I'm gonna stick to, this is an enormously useful asset in fighting. Even if you're technically slower than them you will still hit them square if you throw in this way. You NEVER take your eyes off your opponent, ever, even if they are throwing combos at your face you use the best blocks or parries or head movement/footwork to evade, you wanna make sure you STAY in hooking range with a high guard once you get there; you wanna use leg kicks quite often too esp as setup strikes to begin(and/or end) your punching combinations; and you wanna force them into a corner of the ring ideally, though the edge of the ring, near the ropes, is also good since it cuts off backpedaling. In short, make them play YOUR game. That's what its about. That's what I think of as "pressure fighting". Since I use it myself I have a very high opinion of it and the results it gets.
so much of this relates to dueling with sharp weapons. The pressure fighter who has a perfect defense and forces/ draws the op's counter attacks to take advantage of them is the true master.
Hey Icy Mike I have a video idea for you. Fighting in motorcycle gear. Like a road rage incident where one person is a car driver with regular clothes against a guy in full motorcycle gear. Maybe even test if pepper spray works on someone wearing a helmet.
Fantastic video. This is how you become a dangerous striker. This is I think the absolute essence of being a good striker. And I thought I was clever because I’m beginning to understand this lmao this video sums up in 12 minutes like 9 months of progress for me! Mike question, when you understand this what do you believe is the next level beyond this? Or does it become more so a physical thing at that point?
@@hard2hurt that’s what I’m thinking too. I think this is the point where people really start to get the most out of drills. It’s good to do beforehand but until you understand this sparring is going to feel chaotic. At least it did for me. I hated drilling just in the sense that I would go spar, then get pieced up and think to myself…”what good is all this padwork and bagwork?” It’s for when this truly clicks. After that my thought is progression becomes about sharpening and expanding your personal style.
When I trained in jkd about 20 years ago, we had a full body suit(foam). To get our assistant instructor certificate, we had to fight 3 guys at one time. 3v1. They came in hard and we had to fight for real. Only 1 minute though. It felt like 10. How about seeing a full contact training fight. The suits were cool cos it was obvious that the guy doing the exam would get a beating. Sometimes. respect dude. Love the channel
Mike -- were you a Marine? Marines love the OODA loop (even though the creator of the concept was an Air Force officer). I love how cerebral your channel is. Great stuff.
@@hard2hurt You should check out Edward Luttwak's "Strategy: The Logic of Peace and War" and Thomas Schelling's "Arms and Influence". (Schelling won a Nobel prize for it.) They were written about big war, but the principles apply to any conflict including one-to-one fighting and self-defense.
I think this will help me a lot, simply because my defense is good moving backward using head movement or parrying but it's very rare I'm moving backwards, I always try to be the aggressor in the center of the cage, but recently I've been getting peppered on my way in and after seeing this video I think it's because my head movement as the aggressor is poor so I should be parrying but I don't have my hands up, so maybe instead I should be having my hands up and parry on my way in and save the head movement for being on the backfoot or in their pocket after parrying to get there
I'm a wannabe pressure fighter but I'm pretty tall for my weight class so I'm very good at playing a long range counter based game. I really like the pressure based agressive style but idk if my attributes are fit for that. What should I do?
It just depends. You can move forward even if you're taller... you just have to make sure you are moving to the range that you have selected and you're not being tricked into doing half the work for the shorter guy.
Hiroki Akimoto from ONE Championship is a great example of this IMHO. He's like a pressure fighter and counter striker wrapped up into one and it's beautiful to watch.
I didn't want to be a pressure fighter, but I sure waded into a lot of punches when I first started kickboxing thinking that if there's a lull I should go forward and be the aggressor.
I think another question is can new fighters be counter fighters? Nobody starts out in that capacity because to know how to counter demands quite a bit of experience of the mechanics of fighting, especially when we take it outside the realm of just sparring. Also knowing how to create opportunities from your defensive also requires experience. Even simple concepts like timing and distance require experience through training and pressure to get it down to be able to use it effectively.
Well earned. Besides strong understanding of MA, and a unique ability to express that understanding, his videos are to the point, well edited and have excellent entertainment value. One of the best TH-camrs around.
It would be cool to see a video on people that are more capable than they appear. Example, I'm a pretty large guy but I'm agile and flexible but people don't expect it. And I've faced smaller people that are much stronger than they look. Or even unexpected levels of aggression
I just figured this out myself, and here's TH-cam recommending this video. Funny how that works. I used to think counter-fighting was too difficult for most of us with typical reflexes. If you wait for your opponent to throw a punch, you're mostly going to get punched, right? Being aggressive seemed to be the easiest way to gain the upper hand for a while, but my sparring partners have come to expect it, and I found myself running face-first into punches all the time. I realized that I needed to work on countering and timing, and that if I'm more strategic about my aggression, I can get my opponent to react and then counter it, instead of running into it. Some good tips here on doing that more effectively👍
so i am a pressure fight but i can trade quite well even with larger men and i can counter fight decently as well BUT i noticed early on that my pressure game is very good like naturally even before i started training.
Reminds me of how ippo moves when he's trying to do a dempsey roll in Hajime no ippo, he pressures by diagonally pressing forward and literally driving the opponent back by intimidating movements and checks, and when he has the opponent mentally fucked he just straight up digs into their liver and spleen with the dempsey roll.
Im usually sparring with bigger people, so the stakes for me are usually higher. One punch from them can be a lot more dangerous than of mine, which makes me less agressive and looking for that perfect counter which sometimes doesnt come.
If you prefer more detailed instruction, I have a couple of in-depth courses up at hard2hurt.teachable.com
Mike. I've been trying to implement a lot of your stuff and a lot of it especially dirty boxing stuff has been working wonderfully, one day when I make enough money from all of these muggings I've been doing I'll buy each of your teachable courses 10 times. Oss.
How do you have a six day old comment on a 3 day old video?
how about a video on how to get max practical self defense out of least amount of effort you can have with you for as long as possible, pref life?
my recomendations: start lifting weights 2-3 times a week until easy gains are over (about a year), then take it a bit more easy with the lifting and start some boxing or grappling for a year and switch, i learned kickboxing and quit, i cant kick anymore but i can still do boxing quite well (atleast last i tried), avoid kicks cause you depend on regular painful stretchouts. I also did some tae kwon do where they had a self defence course where we grabbed and bent wrists etc (police-type grips), that was effective! Outside of that I have 0 experience with grappling and it looks so intimate im not sure i want to start, but you guys would know alot about this!
for EDC, handguns arent legal anywhere i live, its a level of defence for enthusiasts, but pepperspray is legal even in much of europe and takes little training, and then theres the tactical flashlight.
that puts the level of training, goals etc within range of mosts and not just enthusiasts and crazy people. Lots of cool stuff on this channel but im yet to see a lazy mans guide to self defence!
@@someonethatisachristian train while you build athleticism. It's good to know what it's like to get ragdolled, lots of lessons in that.
@@Samuel-cu9vothat’s a great question…..
Seth and Mike together just makes me imagine some cartoon sitcom about a big, friendly, chill Great Dane who just wants to be friends with a small dog that's just all like "YO COME AT ME BRO, FUCK YOU UP LIKE DYNAMITE!"
It's a fair comparison
the rock and kevin hart
@@hard2hurt Pretty sure he just called you Scrappy Doo.
@@justamelodystan Did you compare Sensei Seth to Dayne The Pebble Johnson? That dude is washed up, give Hart a real action star!
This is good
"Pressure isn't necessarily being hit, but the threat of being hit, and pressure makes a person tired"-Cus D'Amato
Love the collabs with Sensei Seth! You guys work so well together, despite being almost the opposite of each other in terms of personality. The contrast is excellent, and very entertaining.
They joke and riff well with each other. Always fun to watch. 👍
ren and stimpy
Bromance of the year
Their collaboration is ALWAYS my favorite
That's why it works so well, they're the other ones foil lmao
This beats the bike video as your best one.
1. Dealing with the guy who forgets what you JUST demonstrated.
2. Pressure fighting is not solely for people that walk forward
3. There’s levels to defense.
Great shit as always
NGL you two almost have an older brother / younger brother kind of vibe going on when you do these collabs with the faces, jokes, eyerolls, etc. Makes it entertaining as well as informative, kudos to you both.
Two major takeaways from this video:
- Those two have the comedy genius of Laurel&Hardy.
- Sensei Seth is a target rich environment.
Keep up the good work! :-)
Seth is an incredibly good sport
You’re right I’m very good at most sports
@@SenseiSeth I was thinking the same thing. I love your collaboration videos!
Those hips don't lie.
I said it in a message on your podcast when Sensei Seth was back in Dallas, you're a great comedy team. Your (Mike) ability to communicate your lesson is amplified with Seth around. You gave a great explanation of the pressuring that more advanced players should be able to implement to help novices. That's a real gift!
Another beautiful installment of practicing the things you don’t wanna do to allow you to do the things you want to do!
I love the videos of you two. The differences in size and style really show a lot- even to someone like me who didn't do MA in the last 15 years and won't be able to do for the next 2-3yrs... Keep it going :)
Thanks
"New guys that want to be counter fighters are just running away"
Icy Mike with the cold truth. Appreciate it 🙏🏽
Sincerely, A New Guy Who Is Also A Counter Fighter 🤣
You forgot the quotation marks around that lol
I imagine that was the point of the old Chinese military martial art footwork systems; how to step into & off of a line. Integrating more footwork drills to these sparring sessions is offering great value to us weekend warriors. Thanks again
The interplay between you two is seriously entertaining. :)
As one of the older guys at my Muay Thai gym that tends towards pressure fighting (because I'm not going to be able to do the evasive thing with asthma against people 15-20 years younger than me), parrying and countering is a big part of my strategy in sparring. This especially applies to younger but newer people. Once I've answered their jabs with kicks and crosses a few times, they become more hesitant to throw and I have more opportunity to close into my preferred knee and clinch ranges. Works a lot better than just trying to Leeroy Jenkins my way in.
Woooow, amazing concepts. I never thought 🤔 about pressure like this. Thank you. And you all work very well together too
Thank you. Sometimes you just have to take a step back from the problem.
3:13 reacting, predicting, forcing (parrying and head movement)
6:31 absolutely love this concept of "ooda loop"....thank you!!!!
"Fuh dis, me fight good too!"
- Icicle Michael 2022
U R NO IT
Excellent video, I can’t wait to drill more lateral movement during sparring because I’ve noticed I can get into that tractor mentality you’ve mentioned.
this explanation makes a lot of sense to me, thank you Mike!
I've recently found some great succes using pendulum stepping to invite agression on my terms while keeping range with sparring partners. Now i finally understand why it has been working so well for me, appreciate it!
I just started utilizing pressure fighting, amazing timing😁
Do it right.
Thanks!
No, thank _you_
1:26 set an expectation & rhythm 3:25 defense levels 4:39 go 5:20 bait 5:39 side to side moving6:19 7:00 ooda example 7:50 win quote 9:08 Hip swivel9:50 10:31 Mess with their timing 11:05 he going fwd 11:50
This was a great episode
Reminds me of many training sessions in the past and gives pretty good drill/sparring ideas to include in the future
Lomachenko is a pressure fighter. High volume and great defense. He DOES counter some punches, but he initiating most exchanges.
Floyd is a counter puncher, he uses his IQ to download his opponent. Than he removes their most dangerous tools with adjustments, and focuses on what's left. He forces them to things HIS way, which allows him to counter things much easier.
this concept of forcing action, is really key to kendo - it's called seme in that context. It's interesting to me that fencing in all forms really teaches this type of pressure game - you don't need to worry about loading up for power or anything, it's just that interplay
I love when you and sensei Seth collab! Keep the content coming you guys are awesome 💪🏽
No, we are going to stop now.
@@hard2hurt Enough is enough, right. ;-)
Dope ass gloves Seth!!
0:06 best connor mcgreggor imitation ever 🤣🤣🤣🤣
- Pressure fighting is about defence.
- opponent will hit you
- find their pattern of shots
- take a few to give a few
- set a target for opponent to hit. Hand position
high lvl force
Mid lvl predict
Low lvl react
- They're going to adjust to you and try and stop you
- ex. Kicking you too keep out of range.
- stay just out of range, use missed kick tk come in
- if they're backing up when in close, use side to side movement to cut angles to follow them
- OODA observe orient decide act
- moving constantly fucks up their ooda
- if what your doing stops working your nit wrong it just means you need to move to the next step in the system.
its so common for people to get stuck using the same weapons and they think mastering one thing actually means they are a master 😅. I love how you teach how to be a versatile fighter 👏 🤗
This is awesome! I never in a million years would have guessed that Icy Mike would be teaching people footsies and how to whiff punish buttons IRL! Lol
Just don't let your hands slip and accidentally hit the taunt button.
@@hard2hurt You must've slipped up at 10:19
@@hard2hurt he knows
Yo this was dope. One of my main friends who i spar with is way taller, has a way longer reach and is legitimately a better fighter than me. I can barely land anything cause when i would try to pressure to get in close, he'd just back up and pick me apart because his reach is so much longer and id only be moving forward. By the time i get close enough to land one shot, I've eaten 4-5. The only way i can find myself landing hits is when i throw body kicks, feint a kick, then when he drops his hands, i step in and land a couple
When tall fighters learn how to use their height, it becomes a great advantage . To counter this if you’re a shorter opponent is to feint more as you said. Also learning how to grapple better will help.
also DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSEEE!! parrying is a great option. use it, don't just watch theory videos, watch fighters who do this, study Winky Wright for boxing, Marlon Starling, John Scully, Canelo, watch how these guys parry and block. Study the long guard as well, contrary to what people think, it can be great for pressuring while staying safe. Study Buakaw, Saenchai, and believe it or not RODTANG(people don't notice his great defense because of highlights of him taking shots, always study full fights and stop the tape to see how they perform these techniques, good way to see exactly what they're doing. and then drill, drill and drill like your life depends on it. It literally does.) for Muay thai, Kickboxing, Mike Zambidis is a great example. Amazing guard. The fact that he can guard so well while being in the line of fire nearly all the time being so short he had to get good at that. Study his explosive in and out footwork, all of these things will help you not get hit while you close the distance. You will get hit regardless, it's going to happen, but if you can mitigate the amount that you get hit, it's gonna mess up the taller guys. They just expect you to rush in and take 5 shots to give one, don't give them that luxury. Keep your face looking like a face moving forward. Petr Yan for mma is also a great fighter to study, beautiful guard. Chito Vera in his prime as well had a beautiful guard, despite people thinking he took shots, he parried a shit ton of them, then people were like "his face looks so clean after his fights he must have such a good chin" he has a good chin, but his defense was a thing of beauty, that's why his face is so clean. Hands up, chin down my friend, never give up you can destroy these bizzare taller goblins that have spears for arms and legs. good luck.
Very cool explanations of these apparently notions that can become very strong tools. I also like how Seth seems so humble about taking tips, even though we know that if he went serious on someone with a karate move, he could very well knock their entire dentures out. Good job you guys!
Mike,
When you are doing the sort of "everyone on the mat" soft sparring that you do and most MMA gyms do, how do you make sure people stay aware of and keep using pressure and volume fighting tactics? I find it difficult to do because soft sparring kind of trains you to point fight because you feel like if you come forward and throw too much you are more likely to let a hard shot go by accident and the constant resetting contains a false impression that being evasive works better than it actually would in a fight, causing both partners to favour that tactic more. Could you do a video on this?
I'm not a trainer but I have been sparring for years. Solution for my gym is definitely finding the sweet spot for power and really emphasize hand speed. You can't go 40% power and expect pressure to work right. You gotta go atleast 70% for someone to realize these shots they are taking would push them back in a real fight, but 70% still isn't hurting anybody
@@vaughnordakowski8774 sure this helps the individual who is consciously choosing to pressure fight, but what I'm looking for is how to encourage the whole gym to do it more. Always resetting to not bump into other people and equipment means basically once the pressure fighter gets in (as seen in the video you may need to eat shots to get in) it won't be long until you the fight resets and he loses his advantage, which means people stop doing it and stop learning to defend against it! This is a huge problem IMO for sparring that is not done in a ring or cage
@@0n344 oh I see. Thats always a problem, my coaches emphasize acting like the mat square is a ring but that is occasionaly a problem for bumping into others. We do have a wall that people get backed into and a corner spot that you can definitely get cornered in. Tbh the only solid solution for that is buying chest high foam boxes and literally making a makeshift ring for cheap 🤷♂️.
The thing is, i had some pressure fighters who thought they are good in this style because i was not hurtig them with my shots. But when i notice they go 90% power and i did 90% back, they were no pressure fighters anymore.
I am one of the jumpy footwork fighters. Because imo its all about hit and dont get hit, like tyson Said. 50% offece 50% counter
So you are NOT a real pressure fighter unti you „like“ to get full power shots to the Face and still always go in. And i think you should only do that if you can earn big money in the ring in a short time.
@@bibabutzemann5661 that is a thing that happens sometimes, I won't deny it. A person just keeps coming forward because they're not getting punished the way they would in full power and perhaps become a pressure fighter in a false ineffective way. I still think what I've said happens a lot more. But they're both arguments against soft sparring
If I may also add, work on keeping your balance when attacking. It makes a huge difference! Don't overextended to try and "hit harder". You'll hit hard enough. :) Love the videos!
Thanks! I was one of those new guys thinking I wanted to be a counter fighter, hah! Then I realized that my personality is much better tuned to being a pressure fighter, but I thought I had to throw a lot of offense to do it. This video was perfect for where I'm at, ~1 yr of classes and a bit of sparring.
Wow congrats on the 441k subscribers Mike! Can't believe the growth!
I think, that was the video with the most take aways for me. Thank you very much indeed! 🙏🏻
This is the Mutt and Jeff team, you guy’s make learning and watching these vids that much better.
reading Bruce's "Jeet Kune Do " at the moment and he's talking about breaking the opponent's timing, by forcing the opponent to go on your timing. Obviously the point is to control the fight. Speaking of which, every strike (even blocks are strikes!) in Wing Chun is Offensive, with no backward movement whatsoever. Some of the parrying here is somewhat reminiscent of this philosophy, of disturbing the opponent's balance, by placing them in unfamiliar territory; so that you may begin to set pace as a human metronome with your own strikes (while they attempt to recalibrate to a position they're familiar with or regard as "comfortable"). Of course this is all philosophical, and perhaps my absolute favorite aspect of martial arts. Lee himself wasn't the first to discuss the importance of Timing, as you may know, Miyamoto Musashi also spoke of this... and who knows how many before him. The "ways to get there" are perhaps infinite in variation. This presentation does get one to think a lot about it. Great video.
Mike could you make a full guide on minimizing cte. I know u arent an expert on neurons and that stuff but have lots of experience in training so can probably offer a good perspective. Please
1:28 Jesus look at that vein on Seth's forearm looks like it wants to come out and wave to the camera 😂😂
He exercises that thing a lot I guess.
Probably the only vein I have in my whole body
This is some next level business, right here! I learned a lot from this one! Thank you kindly!
There’s some serious gems in this video. Great video
I used to be a counter striker on TH-cam comments, but then I realized I could write whatever I want and not have to answer for it.
So now you're a world champion, then?
@@hard2hurt Let's just say Francis knows I better not ever see him in the street.
3:23
reacting to, predicting and forcing exchanges
Definitely will seek to retain this information in my next sparring session.
1:30 good thing you ... SETH the expectations early in the vid!!
I'll show myself out
Probably one of the best boxing videos I've seen thank you
OMG!
Sensei Seth and Icy Mike sparring!
This is awesome!
1:07
Mike: "I know you go both ways."
Seth: *doesn't deny it*
Me: "So you're saying there's a chance?"
My coach in muay thai calls my style pressure fighting. I agree with him.
I've always been REAL serious about making sure my head and face(and ribs) were well defended. From my own experience; its more about cutting off the other guys options than just mindlessly moving forward. Moving forward is definitely part of it but only it has to be done in a skillful way(if you don't wanna get hit more than necessary anyway). And with my style; and prob a ton of other guys with similar styles do this too; you wanna block their shots while moving inside on them, so you can land some hard hooks on the side of their head(or their ribs if that isn't open or not considered an optimal target).
The ultimate goal in pressure fighting is to make them panic, or come close to panic, with how much you are moving in on them and deflecting their shots with ease and bombing on them. The shots are gonna be softer in sparring; but you can still very easily get dropped with a shot to the face or head even in sparring, even with headgear on. Ive done it plenty of times; and also its been done to me before a handful of times.
I attack on the off beat, off the rhythm they think I'm gonna stick to, this is an enormously useful asset in fighting. Even if you're technically slower than them you will still hit them square if you throw in this way. You NEVER take your eyes off your opponent, ever, even if they are throwing combos at your face you use the best blocks or parries or head movement/footwork to evade, you wanna make sure you STAY in hooking range with a high guard once you get there; you wanna use leg kicks quite often too esp as setup strikes to begin(and/or end) your punching combinations; and you wanna force them into a corner of the ring ideally, though the edge of the ring, near the ropes, is also good since it cuts off backpedaling. In short, make them play YOUR game. That's what its about.
That's what I think of as "pressure fighting". Since I use it myself I have a very high opinion of it and the results it gets.
Well Seth's neck is seriously well-muscled.
Torso neck
I'm really happy someone said this
Icy Seth and Sensei Mike...it's gotta ring to them. Lol. Thanks for the information man. You really help me out quite a bit.
What about pressure fighting for kubaton weilding Aikido practitioners? Or southpaw ground fighters?
You're fired.
@@hard2hurt 😆😆 Made me laugh thank you H2H. Your channel is one of my favorites.
so much of this relates to dueling with sharp weapons. The pressure fighter who has a perfect defense and forces/ draws the op's counter attacks to take advantage of them is the true master.
this is so entertaining to watch!! I smiled the whole time. Great!
Helpful video brother. Thank you
OHHHH Seth's Cap America gloves!!!!
GREAT VIDEO!
Dude!... that was too good! 👏🏼
This video was top tier, the dance of rhythm & timing
Hey Icy Mike I have a video idea for you. Fighting in motorcycle gear. Like a road rage incident where one person is a car driver with regular clothes against a guy in full motorcycle gear. Maybe even test if pepper spray works on someone wearing a helmet.
Everyone keeps talking to me about motorcycle gear... i will have to look into it.
@@hard2hurt I think the pepper spray will actually work against the helmet. I think it will obscure the visor and seep in through the air vents.
Fantastic video. This is how you become a dangerous striker. This is I think the absolute essence of being a good striker. And I thought I was clever because I’m beginning to understand this lmao this video sums up in 12 minutes like 9 months of progress for me!
Mike question, when you understand this what do you believe is the next level beyond this? Or does it become more so a physical thing at that point?
Yeah once you mentally grasp this, the next step is definitely to ensure that you are physically capable of backing it up.
@@hard2hurt that’s what I’m thinking too. I think this is the point where people really start to get the most out of drills. It’s good to do beforehand but until you understand this sparring is going to feel chaotic. At least it did for me. I hated drilling just in the sense that I would go spar, then get pieced up and think to myself…”what good is all this padwork and bagwork?” It’s for when this truly clicks. After that my thought is progression becomes about sharpening and expanding your personal style.
100% of the game is 90% mental -Sensei Seth
When I trained in jkd about 20 years ago, we had a full body suit(foam). To get our assistant instructor certificate, we had to fight 3 guys at one time. 3v1. They came in hard and we had to fight for real. Only 1 minute though. It felt like 10. How about seeing a full contact training fight. The suits were cool cos it was obvious that the guy doing the exam would get a beating. Sometimes. respect dude. Love the channel
that's good stuff. In russian it is called "rocking the boat", meaning get/impose the rhythm to either break it or use it.
Great video, thanks!
LOL... 13 minutes of Icy Mike explaining working angles and slipping... LOL Love this!
This was a great video! Loved all the advice, don't tell Shane but I definitely watch your channel more these days 🙊
Super helpful tips. Love it!
Mike -- were you a Marine? Marines love the OODA loop (even though the creator of the concept was an Air Force officer).
I love how cerebral your channel is. Great stuff.
No. But I think about this stuff constantly, so I have plenty of time to put all this together.
@@hard2hurt You should check out Edward Luttwak's "Strategy: The Logic of Peace and War" and Thomas Schelling's "Arms and Influence". (Schelling won a Nobel prize for it.) They were written about big war, but the principles apply to any conflict including one-to-one fighting and self-defense.
they push the OODA loop heavy in business school too. I heard it there before I ever heard it in martial arts or state police training
Please shoot me the link to find them boxing gloves
I think this will help me a lot, simply because my defense is good moving backward using head movement or parrying but it's very rare I'm moving backwards, I always try to be the aggressor in the center of the cage, but recently I've been getting peppered on my way in and after seeing this video I think it's because my head movement as the aggressor is poor so I should be parrying but I don't have my hands up, so maybe instead I should be having my hands up and parry on my way in and save the head movement for being on the backfoot or in their pocket after parrying to get there
Is it “Hard-Tohurt? Or “Hardto-hurt?” 😂🤚lol fantastic video. I liked the interplay between you and sifu Seth.
I'm a wannabe pressure fighter but I'm pretty tall for my weight class so I'm very good at playing a long range counter based game. I really like the pressure based agressive style but idk if my attributes are fit for that. What should I do?
It just depends. You can move forward even if you're taller... you just have to make sure you are moving to the range that you have selected and you're not being tricked into doing half the work for the shorter guy.
Hiroki Akimoto from ONE Championship is a great example of this IMHO. He's like a pressure fighter and counter striker wrapped up into one and it's beautiful to watch.
I didn't want to be a pressure fighter, but I sure waded into a lot of punches when I first started kickboxing thinking that if there's a lull I should go forward and be the aggressor.
I like the sneaky "you go both ways" you snuck in
I think another question is can new fighters be counter fighters? Nobody starts out in that capacity because to know how to counter demands quite a bit of experience of the mechanics of fighting, especially when we take it outside the realm of just sparring. Also knowing how to create opportunities from your defensive also requires experience. Even simple concepts like timing and distance require experience through training and pressure to get it down to be able to use it effectively.
Mike, having just watched your videos on tomahawks and axe, I was wondering if you've ever tested or tried kukris?
Not personally, but they definitely look a pretty serious weapon.
I feel like Mike is coming at me. I'm trying here dude🤣
Everytime I see Mike's sub count it trips me out. It doesn't feel like that long ago he only had a couple thousand subs.
Same
Well earned. Besides strong understanding of MA, and a unique ability to express that understanding, his videos are to the point, well edited and have excellent entertainment value. One of the best TH-camrs around.
Somehow, I got into this channel looking for flashlight reviews, and here I am. I'm obsessed.
It would be cool to see a video on people that are more capable than they appear. Example, I'm a pretty large guy but I'm agile and flexible but people don't expect it. And I've faced smaller people that are much stronger than they look. Or even unexpected levels of aggression
I just figured this out myself, and here's TH-cam recommending this video. Funny how that works.
I used to think counter-fighting was too difficult for most of us with typical reflexes. If you wait for your opponent to throw a punch, you're mostly going to get punched, right? Being aggressive seemed to be the easiest way to gain the upper hand for a while, but my sparring partners have come to expect it, and I found myself running face-first into punches all the time. I realized that I needed to work on countering and timing, and that if I'm more strategic about my aggression, I can get my opponent to react and then counter it, instead of running into it. Some good tips here on doing that more effectively👍
I find it hilarious that the Ads before an Icy Mike video are ALWAYS for those Bullshito Scam self-defense systems. 😂
so i am a pressure fight but i can trade quite well even with larger men and i can counter fight decently as well BUT i noticed early on that my pressure game is very good like naturally even before i started training.
im not even a fighter and i just watch this shit cause you two are entertaining.
Reminds me of how ippo moves when he's trying to do a dempsey roll in Hajime no ippo, he pressures by diagonally pressing forward and literally driving the opponent back by intimidating movements and checks, and when he has the opponent mentally fucked he just straight up digs into their liver and spleen with the dempsey roll.
LMFAOOO 2:07 was the origin story of Seth’s head movement video he just posted
Sensei Seth in the background at the end had me dying. Actually laughed out loud
i'm totally guilty of this and this video will help me a whole ton , Thanks Guys !
This video is excellent!
Chuck Liddell was one of the greatest counter punchers in ufc he dealt with pressure fighters very well
Im usually sparring with bigger people, so the stakes for me are usually higher. One punch from them can be a lot more dangerous than of mine, which makes me less agressive and looking for that perfect counter which sometimes doesnt come.
This is good stuff!