Maintain Distance With Stephen Wonderboy Thompson
Distance management is probably one of the most underrated skills in combat sports. That is pretty unfortunate as distance management, whether you know it or not, is usually the deciding factor in a fight. If a fighter wants to work from the inside and they are able to manage the distance and keep the distance short, they are probably going to win. If a fighter wants to fight at range and is able to maintain that distance, well then they will likely win.
This is why it’s so important to be able to maintain the distance you want at any point in the fight. This way you can basically dictate when you want to strike and when the actual fight itself takes place. This means that you can decide the actual times when you feel like taking damage or even give your opponent the chance to strike.
However distance can be a hard thing to drill and nail down. Luckily we have one of the best fighters in MMA today, especially when it comes to distance management, to show us how it’s done.
In this video, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson goes over a drill he uses to train his distance management.
Who Is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson?
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson is one of the best MMA fighters in the world today. He has stayed in the top 10 of the UFC’s welterweight division for an insane amount of time and is set to get a title shot pretty soon, at least at the time of writing. He is also one of, if not the best example of making old school, traditional Karate work in MMA. Not only does he use Karate technique like the sidekick and spinning kicks, he also uses the Karate stance and fights from both orthodox and southpaw.
Distance Management Drill
For this drill, you are going to need to have a partner. This drill helps you maintain your distance with your opponent moving in any direction. To start you are going to pick one person to be in their stance and trying to maintain distance. The other person will just stand normally in front of the other partner.
You and your partner are going to stand at a distance that is just far enough so neither one of you could land a strike without getting in closer first. From there the partner that stands normally is going to walk in any direction they want. It can be forwards, backwards, side to side or circle. The goal of the person who is in their fighting stance is to maintain the distance between them. The partner who is also in control of the movement can also osay switch at any time so their partner switches stances.
Start doing this drill slowly and build up the speed as you get more proficient at it. Remember that you want to maintain a distance where neither you or your partner can't land shots on each other.
Learn More From Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson
If you like this distance management drill and want to learn more from Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson then you should check out his complete video series “Movement As A Weapon By Stephen Thompson” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!