Mixed martial arts was born from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. At one point the state of the art was standing with your lead arm out straight in front, weight back, using an awkward stomp with the lead leg, to set up a scrambled rush in close. From there the aim was to the drag the opponent down, where submissions ruled.
Then proper striking was added to the play of the game. Then wrestling. At present, wrestling is the dominant influence in the sport. The wrestling is subtle though, allowing the fighter to dictate where the fight takes place. And often where the fighter wants to be is standing, and striking. So striking can very much be the effect of wrestling.
The most obvious style of play in MMA is Dutch Kickboxing. Kyokushin competitors in Holland and Japan combined western boxing with knockdown karate, and then both fought with and borrowed from Thai boxers. Muay Thai is characterized by ferociously powerful kicks, knees, clinch work, elbows, and relatively little circling. By contrast Dutch Kickboxing shows far more boxing, far less clinching and elbows, more striking combinations often ending in a kick, and more footwork.
Now a radically different style of play has entered the sport – Neo Footwork. At its most basic level, Neo Footwork means being able to strike effectively from anywhere, with either side forward, rather than trying to line everything up from the modified orthodox boxing stance that predominates in MMA. There are however a large and growing number of techniques and strategies to keep at an unorthodox distance, and reach unorthodox angles.
Dominick Cruz is the father of Neo Footwork. He works from a base of fundamental movements, beginning with the most fundamental.
Step Drag
Step drag in four directions
double step
in and out? + forward and back
Shifting
Muay Thai base switch
Ali Shuffle
Stepping
Pivoting
90 forward
90 back (head forward and back)
pivot 180 back
Striding
Step forward
Wrong step forward
Sprint forward
Backpedal
Circling
Use lunge
Use shuffle
Fast switch
Hopping
Forward
Back
Forward and back
Open-Clolose
Flip – hop 90
Crouching
Level change
Philly Shell
These basic footwork movements can be combined into a flow chart of movements that are characteristically simultaneously offense and defense, when strikes are added.
Cruz’s game is built around a very simple premise. If you can keep yourself safe, and know what the other fighter is going to do, then you will win.
Everything in fighting is a set up. Any strike, any takedown, any submission without a set up is anti-fighting, it is setting yourself up to be countered.
Cruz’s most fundamental set up is a hop forward into a crouched Philly Shell, with the head off center and out of the pocket. First time or multiple times, he immediately hops back, reading the opponent’s reaction safely. Then Cruz beats him up accordingly.
If you do nothing, he will hop in with a jab. If you then shell up, he will flurry. If you shell and back up, he will flurry while moving forward.
If you jab, he will come out of the shell with an uppercut. But because his head started off center, his head is doing a huge slip as he uppercuts.
If you set down and fire, he’s already changed his level, and will double leg you.
Among his most common attacks from the outside is a wrong stepping punch. After he can immediately slide into a stance, pivot to the opposite stance, or stride through and pivot, escaping your attack, and leaving you open to his.
He will also underhook instead of punching with a wrong step, and when you pummel back, he knee taps you to the mat. Knee taps don’t provide a particularly secure takedown, but they build up points, and demoralize and tire the opponent.
There is of course much more to it, but words are not the ideal means to convey how to fight. That said, Cruz’s own words offer tremendous insight.
He recently spoke with host of the Heavy Hands podcast and PhD. student Patrick Wyman about what is going on when he fights. And Wyman wrote an article on it for the sage Washington Post.
Cruz is the least hit fighter in his division, and places a vast emphasis on defense.
“I don’t get a lot of credit for it because it’s kind of nonexistent in the sport, he said. It’s something that I’ve been focused on, so that when I fought a guy with very good offense, a good defense will always beat a good offense.
“When they start throwing stuff at me, I’m making certain reads, certain adjustments. I’m circling certain ways, and a lot of my defense is mistaken as running when really I’m steering. When you’re steering someone, you’re actually moving them into your offense.
“I’m killing two birds with one stone because while I’m being offensive, I’m also being defensive. You put the two things together at once and it creates havoc for the person you’re fighting.
“If I’m not going to have as many reads, then that allows me to circle to whatever side I need to and keep offensive, keep going, and keep landing on him. That’s what beat [Faber] last time, I was able to keep throwing and keep landing on him.
Let’s see if he can do it again.
UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz fights Uirjah Faber in the co-main event of UFC 199 on Saturday night.
