Slip And Counter To The Body With Duane Ludwig
The most beautiful moves in boxing almost always have some kind of head movement ingrained into them, either as a setup for a strike or as a defensive maneuver that allows us to be aggressive while avoiding the opponent’s counters.
We have two main types of head movements that are essential for us in boxing:
- Slips - used to avoid linear strikes
- Rolls - used to avoid all types of swings
Slipping punches is so effective because we can use it both defensively and offensively, which are the two fundamental pillars of boxing. We can use it defensively to avoid punches, and we can use it offensively to pressure our opponent.
The problem with many athletes looking to master the slips early on is that they perform it mechanically wrong, where they leave themself off balance or, even worse, get hit with the punch, unable to avoid it.
To perform the slip correctly, we must follow some rules:
- Use a rotation of the shoulders and a hip hinge to avoid the strike
- Keep your feet under you, so you are never off-balanced
- Keep your eyes on the opponent because you never know what is going to come next
- Keep the slip subtle so that you can come back immediately with your offense
Remember, slipping punches relies on anticipation; even after you have mastered the mechanics, you cannot react fast enough to your opponent punch if you haven’t anticipated it. So make it a rule for yourself to find the pattern behind the opponent’s punches before performing your slips.
In this video, Duane Ludwig will show us how to rip the body with a counter after an outside slip.
Who Is Duane Ludwig?
Duane Ludwig is a well-known striking coach in the world of MMA. Duane has coached many pro fighters with great success, and the most notable of them all is the former bantamweight champion, T.J. Dillashaw. Duane himself was a professional fighter who transitioned from kickboxing into MMA and found great success in the UFC. He broke the record for the fastest knockout in the organization.
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The Outside Slip Counter
In this video, Duane will show us a jab counter to the spleen after an outside spleen. So the opponent throws a jab at me; I anticipate and slip the punch into a loaded stance where I am low and ready to throw a powerful right hook to the spleen.
We have two types of setups with our feet; we can either step with the lead leg inside and slip or step with the rear leg sideways and move our head off the center. No matter which one we choose, the technique stays the same as we aim for the spleen with the right hook.
When we drill the outside slip into a counter, we want our opponent to hold his glove as a pad for me, where he takes his right glove and locates it around the spleen area so I can hit him. Notice that we glue the glove to our body, and the padded part is facing our partner as a target.
The good thing about holding the glove as a pad is that we can let our partner throw punches with more power, which is more realistic for a fight or sparring situation, which he is preparing for anyways.
Using our gloves and pads can save us a lot of time and money as we don’t always have a body protector around. We can always use our gloves to absorb his punches which is an excellent solution because now he can put some power into his shots.
When we drill the outside slip spleen counter, we want to go over the movements for a couple of repetitions and switch the set up every 3-4 punches, so we start with a lead leg step and slip, and then we switch to a rear leg step and slip, and we do it for a set amount of time or repetitions.
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