Maintaining Position In MMA With Chael Sonnen
Mixed martial arts is such an exciting sport because we can see the interface between all the different disciplines, for example, when there is wrestling involved, and the athletes are in a position where they can choose to go to the ground or stay on top and strike.
Fighters face those dilemmas every time in a fight; they need to choose the optimal skill to use for the present situation and decide to go where it is more appealing or to go where it is more suitable for the current situation and the ruleset. The problem many fighters face Is that the guidelines tend to be in the grey area where there is no right or wrong, so how do they choose every time?
Fighters developed simple concepts that can deal with this problem; those concepts are the safest way to act when we are not sure 100% what is the next step we are going to take.
For example, when we are at the bottom, our first reaction should be to wrestle our way to our feet because it is the easiest way to get out of a bad situation and doesn't require many skills. If wrestling our way out didn't work, we will try and use sweeps or escapes to get into a better position. The last thing we will try is submissions, and this is our last resort, unlike many fighters who use it too early and end up in a bad position.
If we follow those concepts, it will be tough to make a mistake as we first go into our best and highest percentage method that will work effectively and only then start working towards more appealing methods like submissions that are a less high percentage.
In this video, Chael Sonnen will show what he thinks is the right way to maintain his position.
Who Is Chael Sonnen
Chael Sonnen is a former UFC top contender who fought the best of his generation and almost won the title in a close fight against Anderson Silva, who is considered by many the GOAT. Chael is well known for being the “Bad Guy” of MMA and his ability to talk and promote a fight, but he is still one of the best fighters seen in MMA.
Maintaining Position In MMA
Chael starts the video with a simple rule “position could take you a lifetime to get; if you are ever in a good position, never give it up.” But how many times do we see fighters break this rule? They get a good position and still go to their back for submission that fails and gives up their dominant position because they are greedy.
If I jump to my back to try a submission when I am on top, and the opponent escapes, I am now on the bottom, and he didn’t put me there; I was the one putting myself there.
Chael shares with us that every week he sees an event, and at least one fighter gives up a dominant position for trying a submission because he was greedy and ends up on his back.
Suppose you have worked so hard to get into this dominant position; why give it up? To explain this, Chael gives the example of a front headlock and tells us that he loves all the submissions available from that position. Still, he better go for his opponent’s back from the front headlock rather than fall on his back trying to get some kind of guillotine and being greedy.
Always remember you are fighting another professional the idea of submitting him (which is the end goal for a grappler) is not a wise idea when you have strikes involve, a better idea would be to maintain a dominant position and work from there to win the fight.
Learn More From Chael Sonnen
If you want to learn new concepts from Chael that will change the way you think as an MMA fighter, go check - “The Winning Fundamentals Of MMA - Chael Sonnen” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.