Muay Thai Attacks From The Jab With Jake Mainini
The jab is the most important strike thrown in just about every stand up striking combat sport. A good jab allows a fighter to dictate the range and pace of the fight, keeping the opponent in their range to perform their desired strategy. A jab can have many uses, it can be a flick to just gauge the range and occupy space, it can fast and sharp to poke and a prod at the opponents defenses, looking for an opening to follow up with more strikes, or it can be a heavy jab, similar to a cross to deal damage. The jab is so versatile that you can double, triple and quadruple up on it as well as change the heights of the jab.
Here, Coach Jake Mainini, veteran Muay Thai fighter and coach to many high level fighters competing in organizations such as UFC, Glory and Lion Fight shows how you can use a strong jab to set up many kinds of Muay Thai attacks!
Jake Mainini wants to use his leg kick fake to set up his attacks, to find the range for his leg kick Jake needs to use his jab. Jake knows that if he can touch the opponent with his jab he is in range to hit with his low kick. The low kick is a short range strike, if your opponent is not in the range of your jab you may have a hard time connecting with the low kick. The jab will also get your opponent paying attention up high, opening up the leg for a kick.
Once you have kicked your opponent a few times they will start trying to defend that kick. The most common low kick defense is an outside check from the lead leg. Once the opponent checks Jake Mainini’s kick, Jake knows that they are on to him and he can now exploit their defense as an opening to more strikes. Essentially, Jake Mainini was just using the low kick as a bait to get the opponent to check, now Jake shows how to use their defensive response against them!
Knowing that the opponent will check the leg kick, effectively locking them in place for a second, Jake Mainini throws his jab and instead of fully committing to the leg kick, Jake just turns the hip over a bit as if he was throwing a rear cross or the start of a leg kick. Jake just wants to show the hip to draw out the defensive check reaction from the opponent. Once the opponent lifts his leg the check the kick, Jake will step forward with his rear leg (the leg that faked the kick) into a southpaw stance (meaning his right leg is now in front) and control the opponent's hand with his lead hand by pulling it down, Jake will then throw a rear up elbow to the opponent’s face with his rear arm. Make sure when you step in to elbow the opponent that you keep your chin tucked, if you are in close enough to elbow them they are probably close enough to elbow you as well!
Jake Mainini’s second attack is similar to the first, Jake will start by throwing a jab into his low kick, then jab into the low kick but the opponent checks the kick. Using the opponent’s reaction like before, Jake will throw his jab and fake the kick, this time when Jake steps up into a southpaw stance instead of controlling one hand, Jake will control both of the opponent’s arms. Coach Mainini pulls both of the opponent’s arms down and fires a rear stabbing knee to the midsection!
The last attack is the flashiest and the one that if you land and knock the opponent out will make an awesome highlight, it is the jumping scissor knee! Jake Mainini starts everything the same, Jake will start by throwing a jab into his low kick, then jab into the low kick but the opponent checks the kick.
Using the opponent’s reaction like before, Jake will throw his jab and fake the kick, this time when Jake fakes the low kick he does not step it into a southpaw stance like the previous two attacks, instead he hikes his knee straight up the center, as the rear knee is traveling upwards, Jake will leap off of his support foot and switch his legs in the air to strike with what was his lead knee. That switching motion that happens in air is what gives this strike the name “Scissor Knee”.
This attack may seem fancy and difficult to perform but it is all about getting your opponent to react to the low kick so they are stuck in place, making it possible to hit them with the scissor knee!
Check out The Fundamental System Of Muay Thai by Jake Mainini available NOW!