Trapping Concepts in MMA (diary entry)

The seventh lesson in CCMA’s course on Mixed Martial Arts for cross-training in the martial arts delved much deeper into coordinating grappling with striking. Trapping is an area of training that primarily seems to be discussed in Wing Chun and South East Asian martial arts, and their derivatives. My guess is that it is because of this association few people in the MMA like to address the term or concept, and yet it is intrinsic once distance is covered in MMA fights. I appreciate that trapping can be become complex and even over-complicated. Some systems even regard it as a range unto itself and everything can get very abstract. However, when one looks at the clinch and ground ranges in MMA it is easy to see where the concept of trapping as, at least, a vehicle for manoeuvring comes into play. My view on trapping is that it has a very incidental nature in the melee of the fight, occurring as limbs clash and as the need arises to remove obstructions. I introduced it into our training model following the below progression:

1. We warmed up with some basic Western Boxing freestyle work on the focus mitts wearing MMA competition gloves (as opposed to the sparring variety). Towards the end of this phase, I emphasized more close range and angular shots to the body and over limbs.

2. Specific pad-work was introduced at the next phase whereby the fighter had to remove obstructions to strike. This is usually a self-defence method, but it works well as a restrictive Boxing exercise and to coordinate gripping and hand-striking. From here we can layer trapping techniques or various wrist controls whilst striking.

3. Using the belly-pad and head-cage (here is where a version of the Bullet-man helmet might come in handy!) the coach clinches the fighter’s head in a solid plumb position. The fighter strikes to the body. The coach drops his grip and seeks to control the body shots. The fighter pre-empts the move and targets the head with touch-contact strikes. To over-lap this area of training for higher contact, the client practises on the heavy-bag using the shoulder-contact rule (one shoulder must be pressed against the bag along with the crook of the neck and side of the head at all times), striking first to the body and then rising up to the head and breaking away with a full combination.

4. Using the belly-pad, the coach puts the fighter in a double under-hook hold. The fighter uses short and fast hook strikes to the ribs and arms, remembering to drop the hips back and to stay vertical (using the wall if necessary). This close-quarter hooking is a useful tool when it is difficult to get the body behind the strike. We used it keep mobility, so that the fighter can access a single under-hook and then continue striking with one hand or look to set up for a takedown.

5. In the guard under-hook position, the fighter repeats the hooking tactic to create distance and then strikes down to the unprotected head.

6. We then looked at covering closing the distance into the clinch and from the guard. In the guard position the fighter trapped a downward hammer-strike and gripped the arm in a figure-of-four position and set the coach up for an arm-bar or oma plata (triangular entanglement) shoulder lock. We then looked at the ankle-lock option from the oma plata position.