By: Rich Bergeron
Combat sports can be very dangerous for those who are courageous enough to step into a cage, ring or any other fighting venue to square off against an opponent. It is all the more risky when participants enter a fight without basic, fundamental training in the art of defense.
The crowds at team sporting events often chant "Deeeefense!" over and over again, but it's never a regular occurrence at fights. Sometimes even a fighter's own corner fails to give any valid instruction in terms of being more defensive in a particularly difficult fight.
Consider Bernard Hopkins and his impressive victory over Beibut Shumenov on April 19th. Shumenov and Hopkins both displayed techniques that included keeping at least one hand low at times. The difference between the winner and the loser of this bout was defense, plain and simple. Yet, how could Hopkins win a fight where he kept at least one hand by his knees most of the bout? The answer is head and body movement and a mastery of defensive strategy. While Hopkins danced around, changed levels, and adjusted beautifully to Shumenov's awkward stance, Shumenov stood straight up and stiff, not moving his head or his body while keeping one hand by his chest or even lower throughout the majority of the fight. I never heard his corner tell him to keep his hands up.
There is something called the "upjab" in boxing, and it can be very effective for those who know how to use it properly. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. is considered to be the best pound for pound fighter in the sport right now, and he uses an upjab in combination with a "shoulder roll" defense. It's been his bread and butter for his entire career. There is no reason to totally abandon anything that works for any one particular fighter, but if a fighter feels he or she must keep that one hand low, it should be part of a more complex defense as a whole.
Hopkins compensates for the low hand by always trying to be a moving target and keeping his opposite hand high in case he needs to block with it. Mayweather's shoulder roll, combined with lots of bobbing and weaving, allows him to get through most of his fights with minimal damage. During his interview after the Shumenov fight, Hopkins explained his natural ability. "I'm special, in a way that is good," He said. "I don't have to
explain special. There is no definition for special. Special speaks for
itself."
So, the bottom line is you need to maintain a hands up defense if you aren't as much of a defensive specialist as Hopkins, Mayweather, or any other fighter who keeps one hand low as part of their boxing defense.
Mixed Martial Arts is also no stranger to poor defense. One of the most miserable examples of a lack of defensive prowess in recent months occurred at Bellator 116 in what was thankfully
Vladimir Matyushenko's final fight of his career. He fought Joey Beltran in the ugliest slugfest I've seen in MMA this year. Both men likely ended up with serious concussions by the time Beltran dropped Matyushenko with some punches and then quickly locked up a North-South Choke submission just over 3 minutes into the third round. Neither man showed particularly effective defense, lumbering after each other throwing one haymaker after another in a bout that rarely hit the mat until the very end. Matyushenko's face took the brunt of the punishment in the fight, though Beltran took his fair share of head shots, too.
To some MMA fans this kind of fight is exciting and entertaining, but it made me absolutely sick. If Beltran hopes to have any decent brain
function when he decides to follow Matyushenko into retirement, he needs
to go back to the defensive drawing board. Both fighters spent the bulk of the fight with their hands held low, utilizing very minimal head movement, and abandoning all defensive strategy to engage in a sloppy toe-to-toe war that would be more at home in an alley than in a professional MMA cage.
Now, I do understand that martial arts is a unique animal when it comes to defense. The traditional hands up approach does not work all the time in the MMA cage or ring, because a fighter has to be wary of takedowns and body kicks. The act of kicking on offense is also something that fighters tend to do without their hands up by their faces. It's a matter of balance, leverage and habit. Still, when two MMA fighters are engaging in a kickboxing or Muay Thai style fight without going to the ground, the hands up approach should be employed as much as possible.
There are also other alternatives to defending punches and kicks, and looking at the history of boxing is a big help. Take a look at the George Foreman/Archie Moore defense:
This defense, featuring crossed arms, would be particularly effective for mixed martial arts, and some fighters do utilize it without even knowing that these boxing legends lived by this technique. The thinner MMA gloves would make a punch that hits an opponent's elbow especially painful. The same defense could be just as effective against head and body kicks, because knocking a kick away with an elbow could also hurt pretty badly for the kicker. Foreman also tended to duck inside his crossed arms, leaving only the top of his head exposed. It is this defense that helped Foreman compete so effectively, even in his late 40s.
Another two boxers that should be mentioned for their unique defenses are
Mike Tyson and
Rocky Marciano. Tyson's Peek-a-boo style (conceived initially by Cus D'Amato for Floyd Patterson) featured a defense that had Tyson's hands almost always glued to his chin when he was not punching his opponents or blocking their punches. The same principles that made that style so palpable on offense also helped keep Tyson from getting rocked early in his career. It makes sense, mainly because there is such a minimal range of movement of the hands required to block any shot to the head or body.
Marciano's defense could also be considered just as important to his offense. Rocky fought from a crouch throughout his career, seen at first as awkward and lumbering by Trainer Charley Goldman. Still, Goldman didn't have to change much when he saw how Marciano could still land thundering blows from that stance. Marciano fought much taller, much larger, and much heavier opponents throughout his undefeated pro career. His own weight typically fluctuated between 185 and 189 pounds while fighting in the heavyweight division. The reason he was able to get away with the weight and size discrepancies was that crouch. A taller fighter can't generate as much leverage when punching down to such a low level. At the same time, as Rocky proved against Jersey Joe Walcott, Rocky could generate tremendous power with his right by springing out of the crouch position.
For more fascinating takes on defensive tactics (including tips on how to make the skin tougher to avoid cuts), check out
this amazing article about some of the boxing legends who fought long before Marciano and Tyson.
Getting back to mixed martial arts, there are a few more fights worth mentioning to hammer home why defense is so important. Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum at UFC on Fox 11 is a particularly egregious case of piss poor defense, but only on one fighter's part this time. Werdum did a masterful job mixing it up in the fight with kicks, punches, elbows, and knees. Yet, he didn't have to work that hard to land shots to Browne's face since the towering heavyweight rarely put his hands up in time to block anything but a stray head kick here and there.
The most puzzling aspect of this whole fight is the fact that Browne comes out of Jackson's MMA, which is widely considered one of the best Mixed Martial Arts training camps in the universe. How could his corner not get the point across to him that he needed to defend himself better? Also, the UFC is considered the top tier MMA league in the world, so how does a fighter get to that level and fight in a main event without knowing how to defend himself properly?
The Browne vs. Werdum fight is also not the only example of a main event UFC fighter lacking in fundamental defensive skills. Consider the May 10th UFC Fight Night performance (or lack thereof) of Erick Silva against Matt Brown. Instead of blocking with his hands after a back and forth first round, Silva's defensive strategy was to backpedal and run. The tactic failed miserably, and Brown capitalized on Silva's poor defense by stalking him all around the cage and landing one bomb after another. All the while, Color Commentator Kenny Florian (a formidable fighter himself in his UFC heyday) continued to talk about what a fantastic fight everyone was watching. I couldn't disagree more with Florian. A great fight is a competitive one, and beyond the first round this fight was extremely one-sided. Silva left the cage on a stretcher that night, proving how downright dangerous a lack of a sound defense can be.
For the final example of a fickle defensive approach, we need to take a look at a more recent event: UFC 173. No, I am not talking about the main event. We'll get to that topic later. I'm actually referring to an undercard fight between Tony Ferguson and Katsunori Kikuno. Ferguson won the bout by KO with just less than a minute remaining in the first round. Though Ferguson can be dangerous on his feet, he's even more dangerous when his opponent comes at him with his hands down as Kikuno did. Kikuno kept both hands down by his chest throughout the short fight, throwing mostly 1-2 punches in an awkward style that only seemed effective for a few moments at the beginning of the fight. Ferguson did take a few shots early on, but once he found his range and saw that Kikuno was not defending his face, he unloaded with his best shots and put his opponent on the canvas to end the fight.
Again, as in boxing, even an MMA fighter can get away with keeping his hands low if he compensates with an element of style that minimizes the danger of doing so. We only need to look to the main event of UFC 173 to see a perfect example of this.
T.J. Dillashaw absolutely dominated the main event against Renan Barao by using multiple tactics on offense and defense that confused and frustrated his opponent. Dillashaw had the look of an Irish step dancing Mexican bullfighter in the cage that night as he remained light on his feet and used head movement and footwork to stay away from Barao's most effective weapons. As Commentator Mike Goldberg quipped toward the end of the fight: "The best defense is a good offense."
There is no other MMA fight I've seen personally where this principle rings so true. Dillashaw not only put his hands up whenever Barao waded in close enough to hit him, he also managed to put himself in position to throw punches that gave Barao no way to counter. He'd lure Barao in, step to the side, and strike. By the time Barao could even think of striking back, T.J. was standing at an angle where he was untouchable. Dillashaw also used strategic body, head, and leg kicking to keep Barao guessing and constantly on guard. As excellent as Dillashaw's punching proved to be, it was a head kick that actually brought about the end of the fight and resulted in Barao crashing to the canvas where Dillashaw finished him off with some ground and pound.
Dillashaw did end up taking some facial damage in this fight, but that's inevitable when you face a fighter of Barao's caliber. Even the best defense can't be perfect in the fight game. Still, the lumps, bumps, and bruises T.J. suffered were minimal. Just in case you weren't lucky enough to watch this fight yet, here is a link to the video:
http://mmashare.crazyko.com/2014/05/barao-vs-dillashaw.html
I'm sure any fight fan reading this can think of plenty of their own examples of both excellent and extremely bad defense. More importantly, this article is geared toward fighters themselves. The message is clear. If you don't value defense or work on it as much as you can, you're going to pay for it in the long term. Not only will you lose fights because of failing to appreciate defensive strategy, but you could also shorten or end your career. You could also end up suffering from dementia when you finally retire.
Piss poor defense is funny in cartoons (Like
Homer Simpson's battle with a Mike Tyson look alike above), but in real life it can only be described as extremely sad. Either fighters need to go back to the drawing board and learn to defend themselves better, or fight fans attending fight cards need to start up the "Deeeefense!" chants when they see a fighter forgetting that blocking shots effectively can be the difference in the fight.
(L-R) - Bernard Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov
Beibut Shumenov
(L-R) - Bernard Hopkins and Beibut Shumenov
(L-R) -- Peter Quillin and Lukas Konecny