Striking in the Demilitarized Zone (*EGADS!* From Guard!)

**Roidie McDouchebag** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 4:16am

When you're in someone's guard in MMA, forearm the body, lift your body weight an inch, then drop it on one side, then the other, back and forth. It bugs people, it's easy to do, and it makes'em squirm, and makes it harder for them to breathe. If they start moving around and forget you're going to hit them from contact-submission, you'll only force the air out of'em quicker.

It's not a high reward technique, but it allows you to keep your arms out of danger in the guard and still be offensive, and when they squirm a little too far, you go for the guard pass. The movement I'm talking about is like sort of like peddling a bike, with your arms, up and down forearms into the gut, constant rhythm.

As their arms come down to stop yours moving, slide your palm into their jaw, it should be a really short shot, no more than a couple inches if you've got your weight planted on'em in guard. Forearm, forearm, forearm, pop-to-the-jaw, their arms come back up, forearm, forearm, forearm...if their arms do not come up to defend, you can break into a flurry of short shots to the head.

Defending against someone GnPing from your guard, especially someone who isn't going for bombs, just short shots that are low-risk makes it really hard to do much. You have to be VERY tight and VERY controlling and VERY quick to stop, for example, those shots to the jaw. You also need to hit'em back or they'll be happy to keep hitting you

The same thing can work from the bottom to make some room, hold the head, then move the other hand, also on the head about an inch away, then clap your hands. Over and over until they do something about it. If they move much, they'll give you enough room to go for a sub, or throw an elbow.

The emphasis is always on staying safe, but delivering damage, low-risk, no one shot necessarily being a KO shot, but you start smacking someone in the head...if they can't do anything about it quickly, they'll start seeing stars, and you will get that KO or submission.

This is absolutely not a style bashing thread, but one of the coolest things about this strategy is, it fucks with BJJ guys. They want to be close...so do you, because then you pummel them as they try and look for subs that aren't there.

In an MMA match, you should not stop striking, once you're in range, unless you're blocking an opponent's strike or going for a reversal or submission, and even then, most are aided by adding strikes.

I think the boxing/MT influenced striking at a lot of places just doesn't address that fact. MMA is not about a long battle of attrition, because it isn't about avoiding shots, and moving in and out of range, it's about cornering your opponent in the worst possible position (for him) and unleashing the most devastating offensive you can, as quickly as you can, without puting yourself at unnecessary risk.

**Locu5** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 6:34am

Interesting. When you do this, your arms are essentially parallel with their body? How do you prevent the trapping of your elbow (and hence arm), for instance if he pushes your left elbow to his left hip, etc?

**Roidie McDouchebag** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 7:18am

You just keep as tight as possible while maintaining some impact with the forearm and always be ready to hit him in the jaw as soon as there's an opening. If he tries to keep your arms in too tight to strike with, or tries to pin an arm, you still have room to do this. If you're properly based and controlling his hips with your elbows, you can start doing it. You just base as deep as possible, flatten him, and start rolling your shoulders, just like you were throwing a continuous flurry of punches, but keeping your arms flat to his body and letting your elbows make the impact.

**saturnjunkie** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 1:26pm

Can you come setup a school in harrisburg, PA?

:-D

I like your style ;)

**SuperGuido** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 1:29pm

Last class I had an older, bigger, stronger guy try the old "fingers under the throat" method of gaining room when I was compressing through his guard. It ticked me off, so instead of resting my weight on his abdomen through my forearms, I alternated stacking my weight through one of my elbows at a time. I alternated between sternum, hollow, and stomach and just kept harassing while he kept poking at my face/neck.

It didn't really accomplish any goal except that he eventually laid off on the face/neck gouges.

**Tom Kagan** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 1:40pm

I think the most important part of what I Choke You is saying is the recovery of hand/leg positions back to neutral after the strike (just the same as from any striking position, really).

FWIW, from what I've observed of MMA fights at the regional levels, it's as if people have some sort of mode switch from wrestling/grappling to striking. (Especially in standup, I can usually read when one fighter wants to strike versus attempting takedowns - while sitting in the stands, anyway. :smile:

It seems to me I Choke You's forearm thoughts would be one relatively safe way to form the basis of a decent grappling centric exercise to help bridge the gap without your training partners crying foul.

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 2:08pm

Originally Posted by Tom Kagan

I think the most important part of what I Choke You is saying is the recovery of hand/leg positions back to neutral after the strike (just the same as from any striking position, really).

FWIW, from what I've observed of MMA fights at the regional levels, it's as if people have some sort of mode switch from wrestling/grappling to striking. (Especially in standup, I can usually read when one fighter wants to strike versus attempting takedowns - while sitting in the stands, anyway. :smile:

It seems to me I Choke You's forearm thoughts would be one relatively safe way to form the basis of a decent grappling centric exercise to help bridge the gap without your training partners crying foul.

I've seen the same things - and not just at regional shows either: pride,ufc, kotc, whatever. People have their best game (ground/standup) and to train the other aspects but transitioning from one to the other seems foreign to them.

**Greese** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 2:55pm

Wow, the best thread in the striking section are by a grappler.

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 2:58pm

Originally Posted by greese1

Wow, the best thread in the striking section are by a grappler.

NUTRIDING WINS AGAIN!

**Roidie McDouchebag** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 5:22pm

I think the most important part of what I Choke You is saying is the recovery of hand/leg positions back to neutral after the strike

That's the cool thing about it. You start and end in the proper, based, control position, if you're doing this properly. It's not like the regular body punch, body punch, punch the head, like I see so often in MMA, punching is high risk. You put yourself out there to get submitted and hit back. This is constant striking, with low risk.

In sparring, you can go mostly to the body, but even in harder sparring, you should get the feel for hitting the jaw, those are the important strikes that come out of this tactic, if you can land a few in a row, you will see an effect.