Tall lanky southpaw counter and disruptive technique advice

[Muay Thai Hackney]

Ok, so at about 6,2, i'm one of the taller members of my club. Been doing Muay Thai again for just under a year and have really been enjoying my develop. However, i'm still finding it hard to counter with certain things.

Counters to punches seem really slow. It's like i've yet to develop the muscle memory needed for that. But what are some good counters for a southpaw??? I know that my left mid kick is my main weapon. But since i'm tall, people try to rush me with a barrage of swinging punches and the like - what are the best counters?

I think i've got the hang of disruptive techniques more - my go to disruptive weapon is the teep (an overlooked technique that's becoming more and more useful as I spar) but what about others?

Any advice is appreciative, thanks lads.

 

[drop bear]

Your left foot needs to be on the outside of their right foot. Use your cross more. And initiate more.

The obliqe kick to the leg is pretty nice for a tall guy as well.

Think about this.
You have range you are going to hit first why are you countering?

Have a look at nick trask in the blue gloves. He has the reach so he bushes the pace. What he doesn't do is get sucked into the pocket.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=upifi6nIoXQ

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

Your left foot needs to be on the outside of their right foot. Use your cross more. And initiate more.

The obliqe kick to the leg is pretty nice for a tall guy as well.

Think about this.
You have range you are going to hit first why are you countering?

Have a look at nick trask in the blue gloves. He has the reach so he bushes the pace. What he doesn't do is get sucked into the pocket.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=upifi6nIoXQ

Hi Drop bear bear...

Um, I should clarify that it is ME who's the tall lanky southpaw

I guess i'm countering because my coach emphasis counter fighting in our technical sessions. I have thought about it after your post though..maybe I shouldn't worry about countering if i'm the one with the reach. BUT...I do need to concentrate on disrupting my opponent before he attacks. So what are some good disruption techniques?

 

[Touch Of Death]

Hi Drop bear bear...

Um, I should clarify that it is ME who's the tall lanky southpaw

I guess i'm countering because my coach emphasis counter fighting in our technical sessions. I have thought about it after your post though..maybe I shouldn't worry about countering if i'm the one with the reach. BUT...I do need to concentrate on disrupting my opponent before he attacks. So what are some good disruption techniques?

I am a south paw, right hand people are always open for that sweep with the lead leg.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Think of your self on a clock and work on moving your back foot, not around, but directly from 6:00 to 3:00 whilst executing a back knuckle.

 

[drop bear]

Lol. Fine OK so you have just let him walk through your range into his and then punch first.

Off the jab parry with your right slip left cross. Right hook left straight.

For the right round kick the left cross will work as a counter as well.

 

[donnaTKD]

parry their jab, left cross , right body uppercut, low kick to their front knee -- oughta give em summat to think about

coming at you swinging --- jab, uppercut to the body, uppercut to chin, low kick to knee, mid kick or knee to abs.

don't get sucked in with your reach you can afford to play it on the outside picking your shots and executing them better cos you'll have the time to choose what's coming next -- also you can dictate what's going to happen and when

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

parry their jab, left cross , right body uppercut, low kick to their front knee -- oughta give em summat to think about

coming at you swinging --- jab, uppercut to the body, uppercut to chin, low kick to knee, mid kick or knee to abs.

don't get sucked in with your reach you can afford to play it on the outside picking your shots and executing them better cos you'll have the time to choose what's coming next -- also you can dictate what's going to happen and when

That's sound advice, donnaTKD. Your right, in theory, i'm the one who can dictate what's going to happen. Unless of course you get those bazerka short sods who just want to get inside and haymaker you to death. I think i've found a solution to that problem though - my (Yodsaenklai Fairtex style) left kick to their right arm

Lol. Fine OK so you have just let him walk through your range into his and then punch first.

Off the jab parry with your right slip left cross. Right hook left straight.

For the right round kick the left cross will work as a counter as well.

bear bear! I'm not saying that I allow people to get into my range on purpose...I do often keep people at range, and I think that I am getting better at since I have no facial bruises to tell the story - however, I need to make sure I have a strong counter for somebody who does get in on me, and lets face it, you can't keep your opponents away forever, can you? As tall people, sooner or later, a short **** is going to find his range and attack.

I like the parry jab with the left cross. It's a beautiful move.

 

[donnaTKD]

being a lefty i parry with my left and shoot a right cross

other point - short **** (like me) getting on the inside --- you've got knees with a decent reach haven't you ????? and hopefully you've been trained to deliver a decent front kick again ought to give them something to think about

to stop or parry body shots - try a high cross knee so they hit your leg not your body

as the little sod launches at you -- you just lift and drive your knee across your body so your knee ends up covering your kidneys and abs it'll also give you a low side kick option so you can then drive your leg down onto his thigh/knee causing him more pain --- it'll also score points as well

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

being a lefty i parry with my left and shoot a right cross

other point - short **** (like me) getting on the inside --- you've got knees with a decent reach haven't you ????? and hopefully you've been trained to deliver a decent front kick again ought to give them something to think about

to stop or parry body shots - try a high cross knee so they hit your leg not your body

as the little sod launches at you -- you just lift and drive your knee across your body so your knee ends up covering your kidneys and abs it'll also give you a low side kick option so you can then drive your leg down onto his thigh/knee causing him more pain --- it'll also score points as well Lol. Fine OK so you have just let him walk through your range into his and then punch first.

Off the jab parry with your right slip left cross. Right hook left straight.

For the right round kick the left cross will work as a counter as well.

Left cross after he throws a right cross you mean? Yeah I can see myself parring with the left for the right cross, but it's difficult to parry the right with left.

Anyway, the knee advice you gave me sounds really solid. Yeah I have got reach on the knees due to having long legs. I'll give those a try, though I have to work on setting up my knees more as I don't knee much in class even though my instructor would prefer I did because of my height and reach. So the next time a Wolverine wannabe wants to get in, i'll give those knees a try, thanks mate

I've worked quite a bit with my southpaw teeps. They are becoming more and more of a useful weapon, as is the southpaw straight left to the body. Love that one. Everything from the left side seems very effective.

One problem I am having these days is my left kick is getting caught a lot more recently, even with newbies. It never used to be the case, but maybe I need to throw it harder and with more conviction. I do through it rather lazily out of fear of injuring a sparring partner...

 

[donnaTKD]

how long have you been training muay thai ?????

just curious cos between us we've given you an advanced crash course in this

are you planning on fighting ????? if so ring or cage ?????

 

[donnaTKD]

other point is that you said the short **** comes at you swinging - there's his mistake and it's very easy to break his front leg cos he's concentrating on planting his fist on you. you'd be covered up anyways so it's really easy to administer the low side kick straight onto his front leg you just gotta love my coach that came up with this one

don't worry about hurting people - ffs - you're training muay thai a total combat "sport" --- you gotta throw everything, kicks, punches, knees, elbows the lot as hard as you possibly can or else you're gunna get caught and stuffed or if you don't then you're gunna get injured bigtime

just summat for you to consider

 

[drop bear]

Also if you are tall you don't always need to set up that knee so much as just throw the thing. I know guys who can lean back away from punches and still drive that knee home.

Pivot the supporting foot and you get a good long range knee. Parry their right cross with both hands throw that knee and they will fall into it.

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

how long have you been training muay thai ?????

just curious cos between us we've given you an advanced crash course in this

are you planning on fighting ????? if so ring or cage ?????

I did a few lessons here and there when I was 23-24, but never went regularly.

I started Muay Thai full time, 3 days a week last October..so a little under a year.

I didn't really plan on fighting, I just wanted good self defense really. However, I am thinking about doing an inter club fight later this year.

Lol, I know you guys have given me some pretty high level advice, and I very much appreciate it. I'm a slow learner but I will implement these advice and see if they will be to my benefit.

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

other point is that you said the short **** comes at you swinging - there's his mistake and it's very easy to break his front leg cos he's concentrating on planting his fist on you. you'd be covered up anyways so it's really easy to administer the low side kick straight onto his front leg you just gotta love my coach that came up with this one

don't worry about hurting people - ffs - you're training muay thai a total combat "sport" --- you gotta throw everything, kicks, punches, knees, elbows the lot as hard as you possibly can or else you're gunna get caught and stuffed or if you don't then you're gunna get injured bigtime

just summat for you to consider

You mean like an oblique kick just above the knee like Anderson Silva and all them people do??? Boy, I can see how that would be a nasty technique. I guess if somebody gets all super aggressive it would be OK to do something like that.

Yeah, I guess you are right. I think i'm way too nice to people when I spar, even those who are aggressive. To my credit, I don't get hit in the face much, as I do use my reach a lot better than I used to. Not concentrating on covering up helped. Everytime people were like 'hands up!' but when I first started out and concentrated on having my hands up I got the **** beat out of me. Now my hands are low, I get hit a lot less. Having your hands up all the time is overrated imo..but that's for another thread

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

Also if you are tall you don't always need to set up that knee so much as just throw the thing. I know guys who can lean back away from punches and still drive that knee home.

Pivot the supporting foot and you get a good long range knee. Parry their right cross with both hands throw that knee and they will fall into it.

Thanks drop bear, i'll try to implement that in sparring on friday. I really need to use those knees as I know they can be a big advantage. I guess i'll just have to be more random with it like you suggested.

 

[donnaTKD]

don't worry about it

i've been training and fighting muay thai since mid nineties - not sure how long drop bear been doing it but i think it might be longer than me plus he cross trains mma we're more than happy to help use the suggestions we've thrown at you on friday and then on friday night / saturday morning tell us what happened

when you're sparring on friday remember to focus - it doesn't matter what else is going on in the room the only thing that matters is you not getting hit cos of a distraction

good luck with it on friday

 

[donnaTKD]

here's another one for you to try

guy coming at you --- feint a jab, very hard knee to sternum (disrupts blood flow to heart and brain), very hard knee to nose / chin as he collapses, followed by a downward cross as he's falling down

if you can do it fast enough you won't get penalised for the downward cross

 

[Muay Thai Hackney]

don't worry about it

i've been training and fighting muay thai since mid nineties - not sure how long drop bear been doing it but i think it might be longer than me plus he cross trains mma we're more than happy to help use the suggestions we've thrown at you on friday and then on friday night / saturday morning tell us what happened

when you're sparring on friday remember to focus - it doesn't matter what else is going on in the room the only thing that matters is you not getting hit cos of a distraction

good luck with it on friday

Whoa, that's almost 20 years, mate! You guys must be killers.

Yeah, i'll use them, make no apologies for using them too. I am sick of pussy footing around, especially considering that when I first started out I got the **** beat out of me at a previous gym. Was not happy about it and put me off Muay Thai for about a month. Came to this other gym and haven't looked back, specially using a lower hands stance.

What you said about focusing in the gym and not being concerned with anything else is EXACTLY what my coach says. I'm definitely taking that to heart. It's easier said than done but I will make an effort.

I'll be sure to tell you guys how it goes on fridayC

 

[donnaTKD]

me a killer prolly could if i needed to but there's a time and a place for everything

i started training muay thai cos the training was more like circuit training which i absolutely adore and it just continued - i did a pads class after the circuit class and just fell in love with the whole thing and now my own training is circuits and bags/pads, full contact (no protective gear) and for me cage fighting --- i prefer the cage to the ring even though it's more claustrophobic - it somehow feels safer cos no one else can get involved

i also found that by cross training boxing i got a lot more skills which when combined with my muay thai skills gave me a bit more to paly with

hoping that it all goes well for you