The Difference Between Safe And Fight Distance With Henry Cejudo
When it comes to striking, distance is king. Being able to manage the distance will make it so that you can hit and not get hit, which is basically the entire point of any fight. Being able to dictate the distance of a fight means you can dictate the pace of the match, how much chance there is that you can take damage. Pretty much when it comes to any striking combat sports, including MMA, the person who has better control of the distance, dictates when and where the actual fight takes place.
There are a ton of ways to control the distance but in order to properly understand distance control you need to know when you are safe and when you aren’t. This basically means that you need to know when you are in fight distance, which is the distance that you can strike and go for takedowns and safe distance, where you and your opponent are too far away from each other to land anything without first getting into range.
In fight distance, you are able to hit and get hit by your opponent, so you really need to understand what the difference is between fight distance and safe distance if you don’t want to get knocked out.
Well we have one of the fighters who best learned how to control distance to show you the difference and how to use and maintain both effectively. In this video, Triple C Henry Cejudo goes over how safe and fight distance and what to do in both of them. Henry Cejudo is, in his own words, the greatest combat sports athlete of all time and it’s pretty hard to argue against him on that point. Not only did Henry Cejudo manage to hold both the UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight title at the same time and defend both belts, he also became an Olympic gold medalist in Freestyle wrestling at the 2008 Olympics. This makes him the only UFC athlete to ever win a title, let alone two, and hold a gold medal. With that said we are going to see how Henry applied his gold medal wrestling skills to MMA.
The Difference Between Safe And Fight Distance
The video starts off with Henry talking about what it means to be in fight distance. If your opponent is able to land any kind of strike on you, that means you’re in fight distance or the fight zone. This could be either a long kick or a jab but if your opponent is able to land something, you’re in it. Cejudo says that it’s not a good idea to hang out in this area because you are capable of being hit and if you’re shorter then they can hit you.
While it isn't ideal to stay in the fight zone for too long, you will need to to land your strikes and sometimes you need to take risks.
Cejduo then explains the safe zone as where your opponent can’t hit you. There is also an area that Cejudo calls borders. This is where you or your opponent need to cross in order to be able to enter the fight zone and land shots.
In order to understand borders you will need to get familiar with your own distance as well as your opponents and calculate from there.
Learn More From Henry Cejudo!
If you like this striking to wrestling breakdown and want to learn more from Triple C Henry Cejudo, then checkout his complete MMA video series “5 Senses Of Striking By Henry Cejudo” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!