Double Up with Rafael Cordeiro
What’s better than hitting your opponent? Hitting them twice!
Rafael Cordeiro is a man who is largely regarded as one of the greatest striking coaches, not only in Brazil, but around the world. He has partnered with Dynamic Striking to put out an instructional video which can help strikers of all skill levels progress to their fullest potential. In this clip from Cordeiro’s “Muay Thai Fundamentals” instructional, the legendary striker shows fighters how to throw double techniques in a dynamic situation. This simply means that rather than standing in one spot and throwing punches, the fighter moves with the coach in a similar fashion to a real fight.
Cordeiro starts the video by making sure the viewer knows that they will be using their front hand to throw the double techniques. Fighters standing with their left leg forward, orthodox style, will throw double techniques with their left hand. Fighters who stand in a southpaw style, with the right leg forward will throw their double techniques with the right hand. Throughout the video, Rafael and his training partner both use an orthodox stance and refer to the front hand as the left. The viewer should take note that if they are a southpaw fighter, they simply switch sides to fit what is natural for that person.
Cordeiro takes a moment before the drill to state that double techniques are beneficial for managing a fight. This means that a fighter can use these techniques to set up their offense, and maintain defense by pressuring an opponent at any time and controlling distance. Since the front hand is the closest to the opponent it is usually used first when attacking with combinations, making it the primary attacking and defending tool.
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Rafael and his partner begin by showing what double punching looks like by using just the jab. As his partner throws the double jabs, Cordeiro begins to move in various directions. He begins by stepping backwards away from the punches, displaying the usefulness in pressuring the opponent. Following the first pair of jabs, Cordeiro moves into his partner in a slower paced charging motion. As Rafael moves in, the fighter steps back while throwing the two jabs, maintaining a defensive posture and controlling the distance. Rafael continues to move in on his partner and this time, the fighter pivots and steps out of the way of Cordeiro’s oncoming charge.
Within the short time that the pair of fighters show just the double jab, they are able to demonstrate how throwing the double technique can help with managing distance and using footwork.
After this quick demonstration, Rafael explains that the double jab is not always meant to be at full power. He states that it is impossible to always fight at full power however, once you have control of the fight, that is when you should begin using your power. The double technique is used for this purpose, to control the fight. Cordeiro puts it simply, by saying that a fighter doesn’t have to punch hard every time. As stated above, it is not just a matter of “not having to” but it would be extremely difficult to maintain that strength throughout the duration of an entire fight, if not impossible.
As the video continues, the King’s MMA founder and coaching legend explains the need for variety within a five minute round of fighting. According to Cordeiro “Inside a fight, you always have to manage your time inside the octagon, sometimes you want to work attack, sometimes you want to work your defense, sometimes you’re going to work your counters, we never can fight just one way…we have to mix in one round, five minutes, all kinds of situations.... But everything starts with your double.”
Following Cordeiro discussing the importance of rotating through fight responsibilities, the two fighters begin showing different variations of five punch combinations using double techniques with the front hand to move into the opponent and throw the back hand, then end with the double strikes to move back out to a safe distance. In other words, Cordeiro’s assistant uses double techniques with the front hand to set up the power strike with the back hand, and uses the double strikes again to reset position.
Rafael’s assistant begins by throwing the double jab moving into Cordeiro and then strikes with a cross. He finishes the combo by throwing the double jab as he moves away to create distance. Cordeiro stops to express the importance of the feet moving in unity with the hands. As his partner throws each jab, he is stepping at the same time while remaining in a proper stance. For the first two punches, the fighter steps toward Cordeiro, and on the final two he steps away, moving the feet at the same time as he punches. The two continue to show the double jab, cross, double jab combination as Cordeiro mentions his partners ability to move comfortably while striking, a skill that is extremely important.
Using the same footwork and punching format, Rafael switches the double techniques from jabs, to hooks. His partner begins this version stepping just as he did in the last, throwing two hook punches consecutively with the left hand and following with the cross before stepping back and throwing two more hooks. Immediately after this version, Cordeiro shows how to use the double technique with two different punches. He begins by explaining to the viewer that this version can stop someone from shooting into a takedown. A common issue in mma.
In the final version shown, Cordeiro’s partner moves in with an uppercut which will stop an opponent from lowering their head for a takedown, he then follows with a hook, and finishes with a right cross before moving backwards with another uppercut hook combination. Cordeiro finishes the clip by reviewing each combination and its footwork, while emphasizing to the viewer, that if you control the distance with your strikes and footwork, you control the fight.
Muay Thai Fundamentals by Rafael Cordeiro is available NOW!