2 Ways To Work In Combat Sports

Do you practice martial arts? Are you interested in learning how to turn that experience into cash? If so, you’re going to want to read this article.

Now let’s get into it.

I went to a traditional Punjabi wedding this weekend. That meant I had four days of too much fun. That also meant I was offline and missed any MMA fights.

Today I want to share two personal projects that I’m really proud of. And if you are interested in analyzing fighters, coaching athletes, or even owning your gym to build better martial artists you’ll definitely want to keep reading.

I’ve trained, coached, and competed in martial arts for most of my adult life. If I found an interesting combat sports problem pursue to pursue, I did until I no longer found any interest or ability to help. That means I’ve ended up in the corner for jiujitsu matches, MMA fights, boxing, and more.

A significant amount of my interest and energy was directed at writing about those sports for roughly the past 3 years. I decided to take it seriously after tearing my ACL.

I was laid up on the couch recovering from surgery. I needed an outlet for my fighting fixation to hold onto whatever sanity I still had.

I saw writing about fighting as a way to get better at studying the sports so I could be a better coach when I returned to the gym from physical therapy.

Now I can add another combat sports credential. Professional MMA fighter’s scout.

I’ve worked through other coaches, analysts, and scouts in the past. But recently I was contacted directly by Charles Johnson for help scouting opponents. And he was able to win his last fight! Here I want to go through my process to explain what I saw and how it played into the performance we turned in.

You should start with whatever high level stats you have at your disposal available. Johnson’s most recent opponent, Bruno Silva, had a few things stand out from his Tapology record.

These findings are helpful for guiding an overarching strategy. Take the fight late and stay away from Silva’s right hand. To actualize on that strategy, we needed specific techniques and tactics to look for.

I) Stopping Silva’s Takedowns

Silva doesn’t really shoot like a good traditional wrestler would. He bends over at the waist, runs forward, and tries to grab a double. This means you can stop Silva’s takedown attempts by disrupting his posture and getting an under hook like Hyun Sung Park did.

Johnson was able to use similar techniques to stay upright along the fence.

Johnson left the fight without giving up a single takedown.

II) Neutralizing The Right Hand

Johnson’s fight with Silva wasn’t all positives.

We identified that Silva does his best work with his right hand. He uses his left hand almost exclusively to line up his right hand.

If you do nothing, Silva will launch an over hand right. If you cover up or duck Silva, will beats both of those defensive maneuvers with overhand rights or right upper cuts.

And here Park has some mixed success against Silva.

See? When Park met Silva with Punches he was at least able to smack him. Even if it wasn’t clean. When Park covered up he just ate more punches.

Exchanges like the one above as well as Silva’s fights with Van and Kape taught us that movement and extending combinations could keep Silva from bullying his opponent. Unfortunately Johnson found himself on the fence too often in this fight.

The end of this exchange brings me to one of the most important parts of the plan.

III) Work The Body

Silva does not tolerate body shots well. He lost to the current champion by getting the wind pushed out of him with punches.

Kape danced around Silva for the better part of two rounds. Then he put some punches behind a stabbing left front kick to end Silva’s night.

This is particularly important for Johnson. He is excellent at stabbing his opponent’s belly. It’s a big reason why Johnson was able to slow Flyweight fan favorite Lone'er Kavanagh down to a second round finish.

Johnson went to the body early in his fight with Silva.

Strikes like these prevent Silva from leaping into the hard right hands he likes to throw and slow Silva down to make a late victory that much more likely.

Johnson’s overall strategy started to yield results in the end of his fight with Silva. Johnson folded him over a few times with big body punches.

Seeing this happen in real time reminded me of why I love coaching martial arts so much. You get to play a small role in helping people express the truest version of their gifts.

Any experienced practitioner can prescribe specific movement patterns to a willing audience. You just need to explain step-by-step instructions for solving common problems.

Good coaches recognize individuals’ gifts and interests and recommend specific tools to accentuate their strengths.

Great coaches help their athletes see when which specific tools work well against the unique problems specific opponents present.

What makes coaching an infinite game is figuring out how to help athletes do this without you.

Click here if you want to see what the full report looks like. And if you’re interested in scouting services or virtual coaching don’t hesitate to reach out.

Remember that ACL tear I touched on a few minutes ago? Shortly after I finished physical therapy to repair it I left the gym that gave me my black belt to take the next step in my professional career. Throwing away my day job to open a jiujitsu gym in Austin, Texas.

Many people thought we were insane, stupid, at least, because of how saturated the scene is there. I’m not going to claim it wasn’t risky. But it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Thus far we’ve kicked an endless amount of ass.

In my gym’s first year of operations we:

The community took note. Wannabe martial arts coaches started reaching out for help running their jiujitsu gyms. These inquiries ranged from, “How should I organize my website?” to “Should I buy my coach’s gym, rebrand it, and run it as my own?”

Answering these questions has been both rewarding and fun so I decided to write what I know and create an actionable guide to opening, operating, and exceeding expectations for running a jiujitsu gym, even if you have zero business knowledge.

You’re probably wondering why anyone would listen to a guy who’s only run one gym? Because that doesn’t describe my experience.

After college I took a part time job at a health & wellness studio. That part-time job turned into working as a business coach for franchisees as we opened 165 locations across the country in seven years.

I got paid to study what consistently worked in every zip code, what didn't work anywhere, and what happened after things succeeded or failed. I learned from others' mistakes without spending my own money. Then I got a job helping small businesses raise money to grow.

The combination of those two positions gave me invaluable lessons that I’ve applied to running my gym. The book takes those lessons and distills them down into easy to implement advice so you can turn your hobby into a dream career and live life on your terms.

I just got the first draft of the cover back today and I couldn’t be more excited about how it looks.

The cover (and the book) will be finalized in the coming weeks. If you or someone you know wants to run a jiujitsu gym but doesn’t know where to start you have to read this book.

I’ll share it with you as soon as it’s ready.