Question again is:
1) what would you do differently from what the losing opponent was doing.
2) what strategies would you employ?
3) if you want to what techniques against which moves (specify) would you use?
First, I want to point out that I'm a kenpo fighter, so my answers are colored by my own experience.
1) what would you do differently from what the losing opponent was doing.
1. Be a better fighter. The loser is clearly outmatched in this fight. His stances are unstable, his hands are undisciplined, and he fails to use distance and angles to his advantage. That doesn't make him a bad fighter, or a bad person, but it is clear that his opponent is simply better.
2) what strategies would you employ?
2. First, I'd recognize that the winner in this match has one combination of strikes that he uses repeatedly. Jab, cross, roundhouse kick. Nothing wrong with that, but he doesn't vary it up much. Occasionally he varies the level of the roundhouse from mid to high, or vice versa, but that's pretty much extant of his adjustments. Once you understand that, you can pretty easily predict the flow of his attacks.
Secondly, I'd set up my strikes and use more combinations. The loser tends to throw one isolated technique, unsuccessfully, and then pause. That is what lead directly to him eating that spinning backnuckle at 9:25. His opponent knew he'd throw one isolated roundhouse kick, and so he just stepped in and hit him with the spinning strike.
Thirdly, I'd keep my hands much more disciplined. He throws wide strikes, he keeps his hands in the same zone, and on occasion, he even lets his head get in front of his hands. You're shield can't protect you if you run out in front of it.
Lastly, I'd use my stances better. He squares up to his opponent a lot. In fighting, I always see this as an open opportunity to punish my opponent. Front kicks, side kicks, and body punches. If he's going to give me the broad side of a barn, I'm going to hit it. When he squares with his opponent he not only makes himself more vulnerable, he also diminishes his potential striking power, his mobility, and his deceptiveness. Bladed stances exist for a reason.
Ultimately though, all these are the basic instructions I would give to a beginner sparring student. The winner in this match doesn't seem supremely skilled. He throws one basic combination repeatedly, he only moves in a linear fashion, and he swings out wide on several of his lead hand strikes, leaving his face and body open to counterstrikes. Any decent intermediate student should be able to defeat him. He won this fight because he was more aggressive, and his opponent was even worse.
3) if you want to what techniques against which moves (specify) would you use?
3. The first thing I'd do is move circularly. Both fighters only move forward and back. One of the first things I taught my students was circle walking. All of our fighters learned to move circularly and use angles to their advantage. By moving only forward and back they eliminate any opportunity they would have to use angles offensively or defensively.
Next I'd vary my techniques much more. Are knee or elbow strikes allowed? What about guard or leg sweeps? It seems kicks to the legs were allowed, what about strikes to the opponent's arms? I'm going to assume that grappling, either stand up or ground, was illegal in this competition, although some of the earlier fights did demonstrate those techniques. Assuming then that only striking was allowed here, I'd focus on combinations. High and low. Inside and outside. Circular and linear. Those techniques have to be set up if you want them to be successful.
Specifically, I'd counter his jabs and crosses with a front thrust kick, and I'd move inside his roundhouse kick with hand strikes. Are kicks to the groin allowed? Some of those high roundhouse kicks are begging for a hard kick to the jewels. Once he eats one or two of those, he'll be a lot less aggressive.
Speaking of aggression, in my experience when a fighter is very aggressive, he usually is used to people reacting by backing away. If you move in instead, you can often throw an aggressive fighter off his game. Many of them spend so much time on offense due to their aggressive style, that their defense is sloppy at best. This seems to be the case in this fight, as the winner demonstrates little use of evasive or defensive technique.
In the end, this seems like a fight between two relatively low level fighters. One was better, and spoiler alert, he won. A well trained fighter with good combinations and use of angles, as well as stance and hand discipline, would be able to eat either of these two alive.
-Rob
