Fighting with the Knife and Fighting with your Hands may seem worlds apart. Make no mistake... the differences are vast, Yet in every expression of aggression... You can always find concepts that relate, with different training methods to enhance the preferred attributes. Like in the Above picture of NFL Hall of Famer Randy White training Filipino Martial Arts to better Elude the Defensive Line. Thinking you're qualified to fight in the cage with ONLY knife fighting knowledge is a little insane, But here is how training the Blade, Helped my fight game.
1. Switching Leads
Being an ambidextrous fighter is something I think everyone strives to be. Switching to the south paw stance can bring you closer to the lead leg for the shot or just shake up your stand up game up so much, that its hard for your opponent to follow. UFC Champs TJ Dillashaw and Anderson Silva did this with so much ease it was practically poetry. Where standard fight theory states that your power hand stay in the rear... The OPPOSITE is true in knife fighting. If you are right handed... It is essential you stand in the South Paw stance. This is because your body needs to rest behind the blade, in order to avoid being cut by your opponent. Though my punches aren't has effective in this stance as they are in my standard stance... I am very comfortable in throwing jabs... and even some pretty devastating kicks.
2. Redirecting Motion
A major part of grabbing the clinch or even wrestling, is what feels like a deadly patty cake over fighting for superior hand position. Training drills for the knife plays out like a ballet of hand fighting. Treating the knife or hands as a dangerous blade, brings a new level of honesty to what can practically be applied to hand fighting.
In the video below, watch as we use a basic knife flow drill to redirect motion. The blade in this drill serves to keep us honest. With a Knife in hand, we wouldn't dare force an angle that doesn't come naturally. As long as we commit to treating the blade as dangerous, we can obtain an honest flow that manipulates body position.
3. Fakes and Misleads
Fakes, Faints and Misdirects bring your Kickboxing came to a whole 'nother level. You're opponent has a hard time distinguishing what is real, and thus should be taken seriously... And what is not. With over 20 years of teaching experience its difficult to this day getting students to properly chain fakes together. You have to be an "Actor"... because the attack has to look believable, AND you have to be a "Magician" in the way you use Slight of Hand to accomplish the REAL move.
Knife fighting is good for this kind of training because of the sheer number of times you use the concept in one round. Since the goal of fighting with the knife is to CUT without BEING CUT, the first thing you need to do is get passed your opponents knife. This takes a lot of Trickery.
Check out the two Photo Progressions below. In the first we Use the Upward Slash to clear the blade and take the Leg Cut. In the second we use the exact same concepts with empty hands, to complete a shot.
Step 1. Face off. Step 2. Clear Hand with Upward Slash
Step 3. Drop Elevation to Full Squat. Step 4. Slash Opponents Leg.
Step 1. Face Off. Step 2 Close Opponents Arms with an Uppercut Threat.
Step 3. Change Elevation. Step 4. Take Shot.
4. FootworkIn the previous Section we talked a bit about how having a knife in the way of getting to your opponent changes the game. Well the same concept applies here. In knife fighting... You can't take hits. Im most cases, in a knife fight, if you get hit... You're dead. This means to be an expert Knife Fighter you have to have a Firm Understanding of angles and footwork to get anywhere. You have to be an expert judge of distance to know exactly how far is needed to to cut and not be cut and you have to be fast and bouncy enough to get in... and get out clean.
Lyoto Machida was a master of this elusive style of fighting. Watch the Video below of the Cold Steel Challenge. And imagine how you can apply those angles to fighting!
By the way... The 2015 Cold Steel Challenge is Sept 26 at the Ventura County Fair Grounds... you can Enter >>HERE<<
Mike O'Laskey is a Welterweight Champion MMA fighter and Owner of O'Laskey Martial Arts in Burbank, CA.
1312 W. Magnolia Blvd Burbank Ca
91506
818-480-7810
olaskeyma@gmail.com
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