Inspire Technique
Important Notice, visit my new website for updated and new content. This site won’t be maintained.
My new website: https://strikethoughts.com/
Welcome to my blog where I bring you in-depth concepts and breakdowns of technical MMA skills with a primary focus on stand up. With my combat experience and eye for detail, I do my best to bring you thorough breakdowns with an emphasis on strategy and technique. I’ve received lots of great feedback from various MMA communities and channels where fighters and fans have enjoyed my content, so I hope you enjoy it too.
If you’re interested in expanding your knowledge about striking or just learning about your favorite fighter’s signature habits or various unique fighting styles, this place is for you.
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.”
– Bruce Lee
Also check out my youtube channel to get a look at what I discovered about a fighter’s growth, their habits and interesting insights. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2417MBGZ1-cUp6itHs-N3Q
Technique Breakdowns
Full Fight Analysis
Technique breakdowns
If you enjoy my analysis work/writing, feel free to leave a donation. Any contribution is very much appreciated.
Analysis Work
More analysis on the next page…or browse the direct links below
- KenanK TV, the Youtuber who Plagiarized my Breakdown Analysis
- Plagiarism is not ok and not worth it. You’ll stain your credibility and reputation. It is unethical to take other people’s analysis work and pass it off as your own.
- Reddit post to the community about the issue
- I don’t enjoy addressing these kinds of issues but I won’t shy away from confronting these actions. I would hope that people do the right thing and put in the effort to produce the work based on their own merits.
Breakdown list of all my work
- Dominick Cruz: Critical Adjustments to His WILD Fighting Style! Tactics & Breakdown vs. Casey Kenney
- Top 5 Signature Tactics of TJ Dillashaw (High-level Footwork Secrets explained)
- These Critical Adjustments Allowed Dustin Poirier to Finally Defeat Conor McGregor! (Breakdown)
A Fighting Style Guide of Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya (Updated guide)
Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski 2: The Crazy Growth in a Challenger - Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson: When a Fearless Man Faced a Relentless Storm
- Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski: Signature Moves and The Story of Epic Battle
- Max Holloway vs. Brian Ortega: The Beauty of Chaos (Technical breakdown)
- Israel “The Last Style Bender” Adesanya: The Art of subtlety (Technical fighting style breakdown)
- Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Guillermo Rigondeaux: How an Undefeated Puzzle Was solved (Technical Breakdown)
- Michael Bisping vs. George St. Pierre: The Show of Wisdom (Technical Breakdown)
- Cody Garbrandt vs. T.J. Dillashaw: The New King of the Bantamweights (Technical Breakdown)
- Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Rose Namajunas: Brief Technical Aftermath (Breakdown)
- Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson: Fighting Styles and a Match up Clash (TECHNICAL Pre-Fight BREAKDOWN)
- Forum discussion (MMA Reddit), (TheMMACommunity)
- Gavin Tucker Vs. Sam Sicilia: The Arrival of an Interesting Prospect (Technical breakdown )
- Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt: How Cody Won The Title (Technique Breakdown)
- Doo Ho Choi vs. Cub Swanson: A War of Boundless Heart (Fight Breakdown)
- CONOR MCGREGOR VS. EDDIE ALVAREZ: FIGHT BREAKDOWN OF THE NOTORIOUS LEFT HAND
- MICHAEL BISPING VS. DAN HENDERSON 2: EXPLORING THE TECHNICAL CRAFT (BREAKDOWN)
- Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 2: Post Fight look at Technical Adjustments (skill breakdown)
- T.J. Dillashaw vs Raphael Assuncao 2: Changes since their first fight (Skill breakdown)
- JOSE ALDO VS FRANKIE EDGAR 2: POST FIGHT LOOK AT TECHNIQUE AND STYLE (BREAKDOWN)
- Stephen Thompson Vs Rory MacDonald: Post Fight Technique and Strategy (breakdown)
- Dominick Cruz vs Urijah Faber: Understanding Dominick’s Cruz’s fighting style and Footwork (Finished)
- Thomas Almeida vs Cody Garbrandt: A Look Into Their Fighting Styles
- Junior Dos Santos vs Ben Rothwell: Cigano’s Victory with Measured Boxing (Skill Breakdown)
- Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz: Post Fight Technical Breakdown
- Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz: How their Styles Clash
- Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping: The Breakdown of Fighting Style and Creativity
- Why Fighters Should integrate kicks into their striking game
- Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson: Fighting Style Breakdown
- How Dominick Cruz Won Back the UFC Title (techniques)
- TJ Dillashaw vs Dominick Cruz: The Truth About Their Style Differences and Flaws
- How TJ Dillashaw Fights (Breakdown)
- How Dominick Cruz Fights (Breakdown)
- Nate Diaz vs Michael Johnson and the Stockon slap
- Overeem vs Dos Santos — The Growth of Overeem
- Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor, The Keys To Victory
- Conor McGregor’s Fighting Style Breakdown
- Jose Aldo’s Fighting Style Breakdown
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My work aims to highlight the fighters’ craft to build an appreciation for their skills. These breakdowns are for educational purposes and aim to follow WordPress’ guidelines for fair use. I spend a lot of time studying fights on my own often watching them numerous times to gain various perspectives in fine detail. I study all the work myself from scratch so that I can give you my own unique perspective about fighters, so it takes me a while to cover matches. If you enjoy the work, it’s very much appreciated if you share with your fellow MMA enthusiast. This blog is a bit of a journey for me to not only teach but to also learn as well.
Follow me on twitter for updates My Twitter feed
You can also find me around MMA reddit, The MMA community, Bloody elbow. My work has been seen numerous times through these channels and you can often find me sharing my ideas there.
Recent Breakdown Discussions (not always updated)
- Forum Discussion on Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz Post fight
- Forum discussion on Thomas Almeida vs Cody Garbrandt: a look into their fighting styles
- How Alistair Overeem’s Style is Changing
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Short background: I picked up kickboxing around 2009 and migrated my focus between boxing and Muay Thai to develop a diverse sense of range, rhythm, footwork, etc. Now I’m spending more time training/exploring in MMA. It’s an ongoing process I’ll continue to enrich my martial arts journey. I tend to spend more time developing striking so that’s the domain I analyze most.
Was just sent here by a friend, beautiful work! Really enjoyed it, do you have a Facebook group or account posting this? I don’t have twitter
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Thanks my man. Unfortunately I don’t have one at this moment. I’ll definitely consider if it’s easier for my usual readers to keep up to date.
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Think you will do one on horiguchi?
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For sure. I appreciate his skills. I have notes accumulated over the course of several of his fights to show some of his signature habits. Just haven’t found the right timing to write about it yet.
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can’t wait for dominick/urijah article…
You should do a Rory Mcdonald/Stephen Thompson too 😉
Keep up the good work, love what u do!
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Thank man. The piece is all finished now. I want to see how Rory vs Stephen plays out.
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Great work man I discovered your posts looking for Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw’s footwork , can never get enough of that
Could you please do the following :
Giorgio Petroysan: (I usualy fight in a stance oppisite to my oppenent so I try to study Giorgio
Nieky Holzken: i like liver shots and the guy is good , his set ups would be appreciated , finding ways to set up the liver kick , that would really help ,
Mighty Mouse : If you feel he can add to your readers as much as Cruz or Dillashaw , the guy is good but how good is his footwork
Last thing if my lead foot is outside my oppenents
Is it wise to jab , i feel weird doing it , as i have to twist towards them then jab
But if i place my lead foot in the jab feels natural , but when i wanna follow up with a cross do I throw it with my lead foot on the inside of my oppent’s lead
Or do I simply drag my foot across there lead foot so i get the dominant angle then throw the cross
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thanks for your comment. What you’re describing is a bit hard to picture, but as a general practice, it’s good to step outside of the opponent’s lead foot when you’re a southpaw fighting an orthodox fighter. If you use proper footwork, your body should be aligned to fire the cross right from the stance. See these examples below:
Example
Notice as Petrosyan steps outside the lead foot to jab, his rear foot slides over to adjust his hips where he’s aligned to fire the cross. His lead foot remains outside the opponent’s lead foot. You just have to adjust the back leg in order to align your linear strikes.
Example
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Can you do one on Doo ho choi please. It would be much appreciated
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You should do one on Doo ho Choi. It would be much appreciated
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I love this site man. Can you do one on one of Doo ho Choi please? much appreciated
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Man please do the korean superboy Doo ho choi, seems talented and great to study
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Currently a work in progress my man. It’s a bit challenging since he finishes his fights so quickly.
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Hi, I know i already asked you for Doo Ho Choi but I honestly hope you will make McGregor vs Alvarez breakdown, i know Conor was again doing something suspicious with his timing but i Dont understand what, i watched closely for THE examples of his Hand fighting a manipulation of rhytm, but i didnt spot it, it was something different, please i hope you will in the future find some time to explain.
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Thanks for the feedback my friend. I appreciate the comment and made sure to cover your request about Conor’s left hand in my recent breakdown of that fight.
As for Doo Ho Choi, I’m still debating about finishing this piece. We’ll see how he does against his next opponent.
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Thanks for everything you do, you see things differently than most of us.
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I have to say is good work and keep it up. It would be cool if Lawerence Kenshin and you paired up to do a strike analysis. You both seem highly skilled in analyzing the stand up game.
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Thank you!
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Thanks all my wishes came true. I know you have a lot of work with the articles you plan to release. However i have been repeatedly watching your Dos Santos breakdown and later watched Mcgregor fight with Dustin Poire. Tell me do you see what I do? Dos Santos kill the rhytm of Rothwell with feinting the jab and then exploiding the defensive pattern with cross, lead hook or real jab and i just watched the highlight of Mcgregor vs Poirer and i find his strategy the same as Dos Santos´s or am I wrong and he did difefrent things? And one more question…when you intend to follow the jab with cross is it better to use flicker jab or throw hard jab? Because I watched some Tommy Hearns and he had an amazing right hand so do you think that for sake of the momentum of the right hand it is better to use a flicker jab, because Mcgregor mostly flicks the jab as well and knocks quys with his left. Really appreciate your reply and admire your work.
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It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed Dustin vs. Conor fight, I think they could be similar.
As for using a flick jab or hard jab, either should work fine. I don’t think either are wrong answers. The most important tool to use is the one that lets you get the job done, and that can easily be either jab styles, as long as it can disrupt their rhythm. As far as generating momentum, the cross generates momentum independently from the jab, which is why you see Conor able to generate lots of power despite using a flick jab. So either styles won’t necessarily affect the cross.
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Hey Buddy Loved your Connor Mcgregor vs Eddie alvarez Left hand articles
If you could do something on The Traditional Martial Artists more like comparing Lyoto Machida , Stephen Wonderboy Thompson , Micheal Venom Page , and Yair Al-Pantera Rodriquez
I saw your write ups on Wonderboy nothing to make your mind open up like these articles on Dynamic Strikers
p.s Georgio since he isn’t active as of late maybe that could make you compile a good write up ?
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Thanks for the feedback. I’ll definitely keep this in mind. I have a lot of write ups to catch up on atm.
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Hi i have got a question, I have just watched Mcgregor vs Max Holloway and his tricks when he gets him to hand reaching and then breaks it with jab through the guard or hook around the guard and i couldn´t see very well if he while using his hand fighting tricks always tries to estabilish his lead foot dominance or if again fighter with almost same reach it is better not to. Thanks if you could explain to me his lead foot dominance.
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Max generally moves laterally when going on the offensive, even after hand fighting. He naturally moves outside the lead foot as a result. Using lateral movement is a common principle fighters follow when going on the offensive against fighters of any size. It allows you to bypass strikes doing your centerline.
I have more examples showing his footwork to demonstrate his movement outside the lead foot against fighters like Pettis and Lamas.
Example: Max moving outside the lead foot
I’m going to try to get around covering his fight against Pettis then move to do a piece about Max vs Aldo, their footwork and how they match up.
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yeah and another question while simply hand reaching is it always important to try to get your lead hand into the top dominant position even if i don´t want to imediately parry it down. Thanks for your answers
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You don’t have to necessarily get top hand control when hand fighting. Some fighters will simple hand-reach just to measure and/or bait out their opponent’s hand. It’s sometimes used as a way to control where they want the hand to be. You’ll notice that some fighters don’t even touch the opponent’s hand.
Be careful of getting the opponent getting the top hand control. You’re usually left to surrender your reach because you’re left having to reset by retracting the hand. You could reset by moving back out of range, but if you’re pinned close to the cage, you won’t be able to re-position and will be stuck in striking range. There’s an example of it in my piece on McGregor vs Alvarez.
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Thanks i really appreciate that, another question while breaking the hand reaching with jab throught the guard or lead hook around in southpaw vs orthodox is it always important to estabilish lead foot dominance or when i break the hand reaching it doesn´t matter where my lead foot is? It kinda confuses me. Thanks for your advices.
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The best answer I can give you is that fighting is an art. You can take whatever creative direction you wish to take. If you can create the rhythm and produce the scenario for opening up chances to land your shot, you can do whatever you like. Just be aware of the benefits you acquire from good positioning.
If you know you can breach through the hand reaching to connect your shot without getting the lead foot dominance, than go for it. I personally like to keep my movement lateral and take the lead foot dominance. If for some reason they happen to attempt a simultaneous counter while you breach through, that dominant positioning will be your first line of defense in case things go wrong. As you move outside their lead leg, it makes it harder for their counter to connect.
I don’t want to say you always have to move that direction because it’s possible to move into the inside angle as well if you know how to manipulate the range and have solid technique. Moving to the outside angle is generally a good tactic.
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Hi, just found your work and learning a lot so thank you for your knowledge. Also, may I ask what your thoughts on mighty mouse are?
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Much appreciated. There’s a lot to say about Mighty mouse. He’s an excellent well-rounded fighter. His approach has changed a bit since his move to flyweight.
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Do you think there’s anything in particular that makes his striking unique, or is it only just his well founded understanding striking that makes him successful? And also what do you mean his approach has changed? Growth in striking and iq is evident but I’m not sure I quite see your point of a changed approach. Thank you for replying!
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His striking use to resemble an approach similar to Dominick Cruz. He was small for bantamweight and had to rely on his technical ability to do damage and escape it. Now he’s in an appropriate division where he doesn’t have to worry about being undersized. He’s more willing to take the fight everywhere and do more work on the inside now that he’s less likely to be at a physical disadvantage.
What makes him so good is his versatility. He change change rhythm so frantically on opponents and adapt according because of it.
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Do You like to fight in an Orthodox or Southpaw stance more
I usually fight in a stance opposite of my opponent no matter what he picks ?
I am just sold more on the benefits even though I can and do switch mid fight
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I started out in orthodox and brached out into southpaw. Now I use both. I generally try to mirror my opponents stance when I fight.
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I did that because I noticed most great or interesting strikers were Southpaws , I researched it a little and joined the Bandwagon as it seems smarter to me
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Hi, I wanted to ask you a question. Do you always have to step slightly to your left side with your jab or is just stepping forward all that´s neccessary and when throwing one-two combination is it best to slightly step to side with your jab for the following cross to take an angle or it just doesn´t matter?
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In the grand scheme of things, what matters most is how you execute your jab. You can move any direction, but keep in mind, the key lies in how you manipulate your opponent’s perception of where you will be. You can make them believe you’ll be one way but move with your jab the other way. So you can move either left or right.
Stepping slightly at an angle helps because you move your head laterally from the centerline in case the opponent tries to throw a straight counter. You could also easily move forward with a slipping jab instead to move away from the centerline.
you can throw your one-two however you like as long as you keep in mind to make sure your targets are out of the opponent’s aim in case they try to time a counter. Using angles, head movement, and footwork will help achieve that.
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This is one of the best site to learn about the strategies and techniques of the fastest evolving sport. I would like to see an analysis of GOAT JON JONES striking game. And your ability to explain what you have understood is second to none. You are a great teacher… Thanks…
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Thank you so much. I’m glad to take part in helping others learn.
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Come on man. So many interesting fight happened. Give us your insight on them i beg you.
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I’ll see what I can do. Trying to balance other things atm. I still haven’t fully flushed out the piece I’m working on with Lomachenko vs. Rigondeaux.
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Looking forward to that. What about Stipe vs Ngannou or Lemieux vs Billy joe saunders? Anyway everything from you is appreciated.
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Hey Strike Thought,
Your articles are enlightening. I particularly enjoy the articles about Adesanya and hopes he fights Yoel next. Out of curiosity, are you concerned about the UFC policing the internet and shutting down sites that supposedly “infringes” on their copyright? I know some youtubers have had issues with them, although I am not totally familiar with the law.
Anyways, I look forward to your next article.
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Thanks for the comment. I try my best to closely follow WordPress’ guidlines for fair use.
https://en.support.wordpress.com/fair-use/
Under these parameters, WordPress should see no reason as to why my content would violate their fair use guidlines. With that said, wordpress has been known to also file lawsuits against fradulent DMCA notices. So I expect WordPress to be far more supportive than sites like youtube in the event someone attempts to file a report. I would like to convert my articles into videos on youtube, but I don’t trust youtube’s politics about supporting content creators in this aspect.
At the end of the day, I’m gaining no monetary incentive from this at all. It’s a lot of hard work, time and dedication to bring meaningful content to fans and to help build appreciation for fighters.
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I love your breakdowns And I know you are busy and from what i have seen you post truly meaningful content so i believe it takes a lot of time to do. However Christmas is coming and i would truly appreciate if you could do analysis on Max Holloway and Tony Ferguson both have such a high pace and it is killing threir opponents so if You could do that i would be very gratefull. Beggars can’t be chooser they say, but still.
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I appreciate your comment! I’ve been working on Max Holloway vs. Ortega since then. I’m not sure when i’ll have the time to finish it, but in its current progress, I have the fight studied and my notes for the fight done but I haven’t begun the writing and editing part yet. There’s a lot of interesting things to share about his signature moves from this fight.
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