Taking Shoot Boxing to the Wall - MMA Personal Training

19.01.2026

MMA Personal Training

My couple of clients moved into their eighth hour of their bespoke shoot-boxing MMA Personal Training course. Last week, we integrated everything into the stand-up-to-clinch range of MMA fighting. We also addressed some of the challenges both my clients individually faced and isolated them into some constraints-led games. This lesson, we began with the full shoot-kickboxing range of techniques - punches, elbows, knees, kicks, and takedowns - and sparred with them for three rounds before assessing what still needed further work.

MMA Personal Training: Mastering Shoot-Boxing Techniques Against the Wall. Discover more at clubchimera.com/blog.

Takedowns in MMA

Firstly, we looked at the importance of landing a takedown and defending against them. I encouraged using punches to set up shoots as well as controlling the upper body in the clinch to set up a throw. However, it was only with the battles we had on the wall that I saw an opportunity to isolate this aspect of sparring for them both.

The Wall

We switched our sparring to an objective-based game against the wall. One fighter began with their back against the wall. The other fighter's goal was to take them down. To keep the defender's goal challenging and proactive, we decided not to just settle with trying to escape, but to turn their opponent into the wall. Even with this specific goal, after six rounds of all three of us playing both roles, we agreed that the person with the takedown goal had the most difficult job!

Next lesson we will look at beginning in takedown positions against the wall and even bringing in head cages to see how (controlled) knee strikes to the head might change things.

MMA Personal Training