Turning a fight into a brawl is one of the best ways to shut down a more technical fighter if they aren’t prepared to deal with it.

Fighters like Diego Sanchez are often able to overwhelm their opponents with forward pressure and swarms of punches. It is also what you’re most likely to encounter if you find yourself in a street defense situation against an untrained, unskilled opponent.

Common sense would say to pump a jab out into their face, use your footwork and to stay on the outside. But what are you to do if that isn’t stopping them in their tracks?

There are several options of what you could do in that situation. You could use their forward momentum against them as they come in to shoot underneath and secure a takedown, but if you don’t have the ground skill to feel confident in doing that, we have another option as well.

After timing your opponent’s entry into closing the distance, you can meet him in the middle using your body (more specifically your shoulder or even head) as a weapon. If you can time this correctly, it is extremely effective. Especially if you’ve set a pattern of jabbing and sticking on the outside, and then out of nowhere, you launch your shoulder into their ribs followed up with a few short hooks afterward.

Making use of these two strategies together will keep your opponent guessing and likely slow him down as he attempts to calculate what you’re going to do next.

Check out the video to see the technique explained in its full glory! Have you ever had an issue countering an over-aggressive fighter? If so, will you give this a try the next time you find yourself in a rough spot? Let us know in the comments below!

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