How To Block Punches With Henri Hooft
While everyone loves to train their offense, we all know that defense is just as, if not more important. The ability to make sure that all of your opponent’s offense doesn’t actually hurt you is not only good for you for the obvious reasons, but it can also have a big effect on your opponent.
If you are able to properly block and pretty much negate all the attacks that your opponent throws at you, you will start to eat away at your opponent’s confidence in their offense real quick.
This is one of the least talked about ways to make your opponent stop striking you. One of the reasons that is that when people block, it tends to be very passive. This is why you need to be more active with your defense, even when it comes to blocking.
This can be hard for some people to get the hang of. Luckily we have one of the best MMA coaches active right now to show us how its done.
In this video, Henri Hooft goes over how you can block punches in MMA and in combat sports in general.
Who Is Henri Hooft
Henri Hooft is one of the most prolific modern MMA coaches. He is the former head coach at the now defunct MMA camp, Blackzilians and is the current head coach of Sanford MMA. At Sanford MMA, he trains some of the top fights in the UFC, Bellator and One Championship including Eddie Alvarez, Gilbert Burns, Derek Brunson and Michael Johnson.
How To Properly Block Punches In MMA
A big part of blocking is just to have your hands in the right position. This is something that coach Hooft talks about at the start of the video. Coach Hooft wants you to have your lead hand slightly outstretched with your fist lining up with your forehead. Your rear hand should be slightly lower behind that arm and be covering your chin.
This position should look kind of like a pair of horns when you’re people are looking at you from the side.
In this position you can use your lead hand for most of your defense. This way you can throw your rear hand. This way you can also see everything.
If your opponent starts to throw a ton of big and wild shots at you, you can use what coach Hooft calls the roof. The roof is basically where you put your hands up in front and over you to create a triangle in front of your face. This will allow you to stay safe in a storm of strikes and still be able to see what's going on.
Think of the roof as a sort of last resort when it comes to your defense. The roof should be used only when you can’t feasibly use other defense options and you just need some time to see what's going on.
Learn More From Henri Hooft 
If you want to learn more striking techniques and combinations like these from the legendary MMA coach Henri Hooft, check out our complete video series featuring him,”H KICKBOXING FUNDAMENTALS By HENRI HOOFT” available now exclusively on Dynamic Striking!