If the question was how do you fight someone who is faster than you I would say avoid striking combat and try grappling. But sparring is a different kettle of fish.
How do you spar someone who is faster than you?
How do you spar someone who is faster than you?
Old saying said,
- "Knowing beat fast.
- Fast beat slow.
- Slow beat not knowing."
So what's knowing? IMO, knowing is the understanding to use the right key to open the right lock.
In order for your opponent to attack you, he has to shift weight onto his leading leg. If you can prevent that from happening, your opponent won't have any chance to attack you.
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That's how I see fighting. Identify when something will happen and then "throw a wrench in the gears". It's like seeing a child with that look on their face when he or she gets the idea to do something bad.
My son used to be amazed with me doing that. I just grin a say "I used to be your age and had the same look before doing something I shouldn't "
Somebody faster than me, I tackle. Guess you can't do that in boxing, though.
Mike Tyson bit off a guys ear. Tackling seems pretty reasonable in comparison.
Seriously though, when someone is faster than me and tearing me up at my preferred range, I tend to swarm them. Get as up in their grill as I can, where their superior speed doesn't give them a power advantage, and just rip shots to the body while moving forward into them as hard as I can. Worked better when I was a fireplug, now that I've lost 60 pounds, not as easy.
I might well do the same, especially if they've got reach. If I do, I might choose instead to try to stay just out of their range. Hard to hurt you if they punch air.
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This is one of the things I like about my sweeps, they seem to work really good against someone moving faster than me.
Some time speed will get you nowhere faster. Work timing, technique and foot positioning.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
Well to be totally fair, Evander used a head butt twice before he got bitten. I’m not suggesting any of that was good sportsmanship. Tackling wouldn’t have been much better.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
Always been my fave. I like the look on their face when they leave earth for a second.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
Timing and footwork! That’s where it’s at.
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Lol better them than me. I would hate to hit concrete after being swept. I've seen many head bounce when hitting the ground.
Wing Woo Gar
Senior Master
I almost always catch people On their way down. I don’t want to give anyone a sub dural bleed. I’m not a fan of prison cells.
I think you are already on to the solution, in general, to fighting a quicker opponent. That is to come up with a strategy based on the opponent's tactics. There are two black belt friends of mine that ended up sparring each other in several tournaments. One was tall, long-limbed and very quick. The other was a bit shorter, powerful but not so quick. Still, he managed to beat the quicker fighter occasionally, though not always. He was a bulldog fighting a rattlesnake, so to speak.
Even better than that... is the look you get when they realize that they are no longer in contact with the earth and they have no idea how long they have been in the air... all they know is that the ground came up out of no where and is going to make contact fast and hard, NOW.
Those are the good sweeps... where they don't even know that they have been swept until they are about half way to the ground, with their feet up in the air...
jayoliver00
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would be pretty funny to all of the sudden, start grappling someone in a kickboxing class or boxing gym.
No it wouldn't.
jayoliver00
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He's just better than you. Probably in every way; that's why he's one of the Instructors. If he's faster w/strikes then he's prob. faster w/counters & everything else. It depends on your level. If you're a beginner or an intermediate, and you're equal to an Instructor of similar size; then that gym prob. sucks.
