The defensive fighter

Folks,

It has been a long time. I feel like I have abandoned you. I am sooo sorry. Anyway, anybody who has been in the fight business, or a fight fan long enough has heard something like this," He doesnt fight. He just runs away. He is scared of (insert fighter here). He only won because the other guy got tired of chasing him" Sound familiar? Well right now, I am going to speak about the "defensive fighter."

The defensive fighter is the fighter that is not aggresive just for the sake of aggresion. The defensive fighter is usually, but not always a counter striker. They lure their opponent in by giving brief openings in their defense, only to close them and strike when the opponent advances.

In combat sports, like boxing, kickboxing, and mma, people often frown on the defensive fighter's tactics. Fans love to see a good old blood and guts brawl. Just think of how popular the Hagler/Hearns fight was. Or the Ward/Gatti trilogy. In the mixed martial arts world, the UFC was essentially saved by the back and forth onslaught of Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar. Not very technical, but tons of heart and offense. Not very often, is the defensive fighter given credit for having any heart, or even possesing the skill to NOT get hit.

But let's look at this closely. What is the point of a match or fight? Isnt it to do damage while not taking any in turn?I know that people equate a back and forth battle with having a big heart. But I am here to tell you, that since we cannot regenerate brain cells, "stick and move" is an excellent plan. Let's look at this historically. The point of evasive footwork was NOT to avoid a punch or kick primarily. It was to avoid a weapon: a sword, a staff, a spear or nunchucku. It behooved the individual to be able to strike and not be struck. A blow from a samurai with a katana was all it took to end the fight, and your life. Lyoto Machida, the shotokan expert said that he always looked as punches and kicks as swords, you dont want to be near them. With that philosoply, Lyoto has taken less punches than anyone in UFC history. His ability to dash in and dash out after inflicting damage is, wait for it, wait for it........LEGENDARY! ( Thank you Barney Stinson)

But back to it, people are not really keen on defense. As a matter of fact, it is a lot harder to have impeccable defense than it is to have a ferocious offense. As a matter of fact, most of the legendary fighters become legends on the strength of their scary offensive skills: Sonny Liston, George Foreman, Joe Frazier, Roberto Duran, Ernesto Hoost, Miguel Cotto, Felix Trinidad, Mike Tyson, Ernie Shavers,Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves, Wanderlei Silva, Terry Norris, the list goes on and on.

The list of defensive legends is much shorter: Roy Jones jr., Willie Pep, Muhammed Ali, Lyoto Machida, Floyd Mayweather jr. and Pernell Whitaker. There are more, but these are a sampling of folks who made a living NOT getting hit.

Ask yourself, how many times have we seen someone get tagged after their offensive onslaught has failed? We saw Ali rope a dope Foreman, we have seen Willie Pep win a round without throwing a single punch. We saw Anderson Silva embarass Forrest Griffin with a scary display of defense before he dropped a much larger Griffin. And in the early days we saw a 176 pound Royce Gracie out-savvy and submit a 250 plus pound Dan Severn.

Face it folks, defense is extremely important. It is often over-looked due to a lack of discipline. The drills are not as fun, and not nearly as satisfying in the gym. Folks respect the sluggers, not the dodgers :)

That said, buck up folks, move your feet, move your head, and just stay the heck out of the way in general.