MMA Street (diary entry)

27.05.15 The tenth and final lesson of CCMA’s course on Mixed Martial Arts for martial arts cross-training looked at entirely at self-defence tactics. All of the material in this class had been previously covered in my client’s self-protection course as well as the concluding lessons of his courses in Boxing, Muay Thai, Clinch and Submission Fighting. However, I added in some new situations, such as multiple attackers, and looked at what MMA had brought to his experience.

Attribute training must serve as an enhancer to the main path of training, in this instance we are discussing self-defence. It must not be simply welded on and expected to be utilized without being adapted. MMA offers comprehensive training in all ranges of unarmed fighting. Cruicially it teaches the art of transitioning through these ranges or postures. We began with a series of exercises that emphasized transitioning whilst striking. We then went to the heavy bag and drilled striking multiple attackers and offline attacks.

Next we went back over the cover. This was first trained prioritizing striking from various different angles. Then we trained clinching from high, mid and low attack lines. These were overlapped on the focus mitts and pressure-testing from a corned position and using the code-white approach. We then went to the ground defending in asymmetrical and symmetrical positions, from guard and under a pin. The lesson finished with an exercise for multiple attack defence on the ground. I noted several new and relevant options acquired by my client. This included using a single leg takedown position in order to regain his footing in an asymmetrical ground-fight. Photography by Charlotte Von Buelow Quirk featuing Tony Hughes and Steve Nicholson