First Fall 2017 Ian Ransburg Dragon Leg Muay Thai Seminar

Warm-Up

• Jab: Rock step to rear foot, then lead foot, back to the rear. As you rock forward step (both feet) and jab.
• Jab-Rear Knee: As with the jab above, after the jab rock to the rear foot and then as you rock forward, rise on the toes of the front foot, straighten the lead (base) leg, and deliver the rear knee. Point the knee to the midline, with the foot lateral. Return to your original stance.
• Jab-Rear Knee-Rear Kick: As with the jab-rear knee above, rock to the rear foot, as your rock to the lead foot, straighten the lead leg, bring the knee of the rear leg up, pointing at your target, then flick the foot for the kick. Bring it through 180° to the same stance.

Jab Counters

If you play on the outside, you prune your opponent’s option, they have very few options to attack, e.g. the jab, tiip, possibly the kick.

• Rearward Slip Cross: Catch-step back, catch-step back, rearward slip either just with your upper body or by stepping only the rear foot back. Return to upright (and return to regular stance) throw the cross.
• Hook Catch to Elbow: Catch-step back, catch-step back, catch and pull the jab laterally, throw the elbow in an upward diagonal with the lead. If they are punching hard, you will be able to pull them into the elbow. If they are flicking the jab, you will have to step forward with the lead foot to land the elbow.

• Catch to Lead Kick: Catch-step back, catch-step back, catch and simultaneously switch step to throw the lead kick to the abdomen. As they drop their hand to protect their side, deliver the head kick (sometimes waiting 1-2 rounds to do this).

Kick Defense

• Blocking: Roll the rear foot heel to the mat as this leg extends, bring the lead leg up about 20° off midline to meet the lead elbow (which will fit outside the knee). Toes pointing at the floor. We also did this alternating kicks to the body and the head.
• Catching: To catch the kick, step laterally with the kick, the arm on the side that is getting kicked reaches high and laterally as the other hand cross midline to protect the face. Wrap the kick tightly by sucking the arm up.

• Catch to Leg Sweep: Once you have the leg caught, you can sweep the base leg. If they are leaning it is simple just to kick the leg out low between the calf and the foot. If they are standing up, then use your free hand to push as you sweep the leg.

Knee Counters

A drill to practice knee range: Have your partner put one glove on their abdomen and the other on your shoulder. From here throw the knee to touch your  partner’s glove and work on hip extension/thrusting of the knee.

When you clinch for knees with your partner, grab behind the neck with your lead hand (which your partner will mirror) and grab their cubital fossa with your rear hand. Place your forehead on their shoulder (not ear-to-ear!).

• Knee for Knee: Throw the rear knee, they counter with their rear knee, throw the lead knee, they counter with their lead knee, rinse and repeat.

• Snap Down to Body (or Head) Knee: Throw the rear knee, they counter, throw the lead knee, drop step the lead knee back, snapping their head down, throw a straight knee to the (body) or head.

• Knee to Dump: This is a Thai-style sukui-nage. Throw the rear knee, they counter, throw the lead knee, step this leg behind their leg almost creating a seat for them with your thigh. Keep control of the neck from behind, and place your front hand on their far hip (to prevent them turning back into you. Rise on your toes and bend the knee of the leg between their legs as you look over your shoulder to throw them.

High single to knee tap

Notes on the high single:

• Head up listening to the chest, legs square - think dead lift or squat with a slight lean.
• The initial grip on the leg: lateral arm goes underneath the leg and is palm down, the medial hand is palm up.
• To bring the leg up, drop your far leg back and the medial hand grabs the heel. Bring the leg up and guillotine it. To make him light on his base leg you want to guillotine at the ankle where the sock line would be, and lift. You can also punch up at the cubital fossa.
• Pass to the side mount by putting them in a fetal position.

If they whizzer you by overlooking and grabbing the inside of their thigh, bringing their leg to the outside, switch to the knee tap. Underhook and punch up as you step around the near leg, loading them on their far leg. As you pressure forward tap the lateral side of the far leg with your free hand. The punch literally acts a wedge to tilt them onto one leg which you briefly block to let them fall.

Leg day! Singles and kicks

Wrestling

Figure 1: If you want to do a single leg and you are in opposite leads, you will need to do a drop pivot step for them to switch leads so that they are mirror with you.

From your wrestling stance, lead hand protecting your lead leg (the most likely one to be attacked) and rear hand to make contact with your opponent (feel their movement). Use the “wristwatch grip”: grab the medial side of the ipsilateral wrist just proximal to the hand. If their lead foot is a mirror image to you, proceed directly to the single (Figure 2). If your leads are opposite, use your rear hand to pull them in a 90° pivot by dropping your rear leg back and keeping your same lead (Figure 1) then proceed to the single as above (Figure 2). Use your wristwatch grip to twist it anteriorly so their thumb is pointed to the rear. This opens the “door" for you to fit your shoulder inside as you step with your lead leg behind their lead leg (creating  shelf behind their lead thigh), with your head on their chest listening to their heart, eyes up. Push with your head and pick their leg up, slide your arms in a guillotine grip at the ankle. Lift up to bend their knee, drawing them closer. Use your far leg to hook their base leg with the bottom of your foot.

Figure 2: From mirrored stances, set up the single leg by stepping behind their lead leg.

Once they are on the ground, you can clear the leg and pass to the side mount. Alternatively you can knee or kick their leg, followed by punching to the head with your far hand.

Striking

See the Fall 2017 Mokuroku pg 39.

Regardless of the "Rules of Engagement", The Human Body Can Only Move In So Many Ways

Warm-Up:

Well at least some of them.

Hands - head - forearms - hips are the layers of defense in takedowns. Thus protect the lead leg with your lead hand, elbow at knee height, hand in front of the knee. Keep your head at or below your opponent’s. Use your rear hand to check and range find their head or shoulder. If they do not clear your lead hand it, your arm blocks the takedown with the help of the hip, checking into them perpendicularly.

To do the snap down your rear hand cups the head and the lead hand their elbow pull them down and lateral to your lead leg, using your legs not just your arms. Then double leg them laterally.

If they grab your wrist with their ipsilateral hand pull them across your body and grab their wrist with your free hand while freeing your hand. Pull to the single leg.

Remember that you must be eye-to-eye to engage your opponent, when you are ear-to-ear your are in a stalemated defense. To break this pull them forward, then push their ipsilateral elbow medially to break their clinch.

90° muay thai pivot drills.

Lead pivot: Rear kick, your opponent with step toward you, while you step 45° anterior laterally with the lead foot, check hand with your head hand (which will remain lead), pivot to the same stance, cross, lead hook, rear kick. Repeat. The lead pivot is easier but unless your are opposite leads will mean you are pivoting into their power side.

Rear pivot, version #1: Rear kick, your opponent with step toward you, while you step 45° anterior laterally with the rear foot, check hand with your rear hand (which will become your new lead hand), pivot to the opposite stance, cross, lead hook, rear kick. Repeat. This allows you to pivot to their weak side but is more complicated because of the lead switch.

Rear pivot, version #2: Rear kick, lead hook, cross, your opponent with step toward you, while you step 45° anterior laterally with the rear foot, check hand with your rear hand (which will become your new lead hand), pivot to the opposite stance, rear kick, lead hook, cross, pivot step. Repeat.

 

Wristwatch Grip

Grab the medial side of the ipsilateral hand palm to the posterior side of their hand, twist it anteriorly so their thumb is pointed to the rear. From here step in next to them shooting the underhook and “popping” their near chest with your shoulder, options:

1. Reach down with your free hand and then your underhook hand to secure their near leg. Take a step back to “drop them in the hole”.
2. If they step the foot back to avoid the single leg, drive your underhook up, as you step past them and knee tap the far leg
3. If they try to whizzer with their overhook, control their head with your free hand, elbow pointed to the mat with your forearm along the neck, a drop step first your near foot (the underhook side) then your rear foot to spin them to the mat.

Later we took this same set-up of striking, using the catch and parry to underhook and do the same takedowns.

Combinations or Combinatorics

Combinations are the closest thing combat sports gets to forms, e.g. kata, poomse, etc. They are phenomenal tools for making "words" out of the alphabet soup of techniques taught. They train form in an engaging manner and work cardio by their repeated application. To fight these combinations must be contextualized and made tactical. They need to be applied with and without rhythm. They must be improvised in the timing and speed they are delivered. Otherwise they doom us to low yield applications of high yield fundamentals.

Tonight we worked the jab-cross-kick or 1-2-kick set-up of the hands, in three ways:

1. Jab and multiple jab until the cross opens, e.g. corrections to defend the jab open the cross line.
2. Jab-catch jab-cross: Your jab forces the counter jab opening the line for your cross.
3. Jab-evade kick-cross: Your opponents provoked response is the tiip or kick,which you evade by clearing or pulling your lead leg back.

Next time we'll review this and delve into the addition of the lead kick.

The Clinch is a Cinch

A private lesson on the clinch. First about the grip:

• Classic plum position your make your hands two hooks and grab the neck
• Fist grip: Place the thumb of one fist behind the neck and grab this hand with your opposite hand.
• Gable grip: Grip palm to palm keeping one forearm across the back of your opponents neck, use this to leverage, e.g. twist down to be able knee to the head.

You can if necessary head pummel in so that your head is under or lateral to your opponent’s chin. This allows you to see where your knees are going.

Pressuring drill

Throw soft hook knees. Your partner pressures into you, either on the left, right, or middle. If they push to one side, drop step away from this side, If they push center, choose a side and drop step. Deliver a knee with the drop step leg.

Knee drop step, knee takedown

Throw a hook knee, place this foot near and lateral to your opponent. Drop step with the opposite foot and throw a knee with this side. Repeat as you move them around the ring. From the hook knee, place your foot next to your opponent and transition into a lunge, bending them backward with your body. Pull with your far hand and push with your near hand over your leg.

Countering the overclinch

You have your opponent in the full clinch, they clinch over your arms. Rapidly elevate the elbow on one side, twisting your body to bring it nearly vertical. This should throw them off you.

Countering the counter to the overclinch

If you are the one clinching over your opponent’s arms and they attempt to do the elbow lift, go limp on that side and pummel inside to get underhooks.

Ian Ransburg Top Level Gym Dragon Leg Style Muay Thai Seminar

Warm-up: 50 jumping jacks

Catching the Kick Series

Range find by rocking up on the toes of your rear leg, straightening the lead leg, extending your lead hand and touching your opponent’s hands. You should be just be able to touch them. This allows you to find them but be far enough out of range to counter.

When you kick your base leg straightens and your posture remains as erect as possible.

Your opponent uses the range finder to set-up the rear kick. Catch this kick at the ankle, stepping with the kick and wrapping your arm over and pulling your hand high on your chest. You will typically try to drop this to your hand and then throw across your body, spinning your opponent’s back to you allowing you to kick them.

They can counter this throw of their leg by squaring up with you, as if they had thrown a tiip and then curling their kicking leg back as if to load another tiip, pulling you forward. They then deliver a tiip to push kick you away.

If your opponent attempts the tiip counter, pull their foot laterally and step medially to it, reaching across to grab the neck and delivering a same side knee. Without letting go of their kicking leg, step forward with your kneeing leg and deliver a same side elbow. Now step back with the knee leg to clear their leg you are holding and throw it to the opposite, spinning their back to you. Deliver a kick.

If they have your tiip grabbed with the mirror opposite hand, roll your foot medially and twist to the floor. Keep your eyes on your opponent and land on the ball of this foot. If they close, throw a rear side/thrust kick, then step away and pivot back to face them.

“Combat Hug” Clinch

Your opponent is using the range finder, as you parry they reach to clinch, tuck your chin and cover with the elbow high. Stop their opposite biceps with your contralateral hand. Put your head on this side as you wrap your high cover arm around their neck, their neck in the antecubit of the arm, your wrist curled around the opposite side of their neck. Square your legs up, your midline in front of their hip on the arm control side. Drop this elbow in to their side. Turn your face away from your opponent.

Put your forehead on their shoulder so you can see their legs. Throw a curve knee on the side opposite your head. As they return the mirror knee, pull on their neck and drop step 45° on this side, return the knee on this side. They throw the opposite curve knee, pull on their arm and drop step 45° on this side. Repeat on the original side.

If you wish to throw your opponent, look for them to throw the curve knee on your arm control side. As they do, pull their neck by twisting your body and drawing the arm inferiorly toward the hip while simultaneously pushing their arm.

To defend this clinch, underhook the arm wrapped around the neck by placing the palm of the glove on their face. Rotate the shoulder and hip forward, locking their arm out. If they retain a grip on the other arm, rotate over the top and deliver knees. Drop step to bring their head down to deliver knees here.

If an opponent is pushing away as above, when you clinch overhook this arm, cinching proximal to the elbow. Take a slight step back, sliding distal to the elbow, and bring your arm medially and superiorly twisting their elbow medially. Pass their other arm underneath this glove and trap it. Now deliver elbows with your free arm.

Escaping the Mount

First, use an upa to move their weight forward. Then push their knee and shrimp your leg free, overhook with this leg in half-guard. Switch to your opposite hip and frame the neck and far biceps. Escape to the guard.

If you cannot move their knee, shrimp way from their leg to create space to bring your knee inside. Switch hips and frame to escape your other leg into hooks inside guard.

If they are defending you pushing their knee, tilt on your hip and bring your leg over to their opposite leg, dragging their foot between your legs. Now push to establish half-guard and then shrimp to guard.

If they grapevine your leg, straighten one rapidly then shrimp out. Alternatively you can push their hook off with your opposite foot. If they cross their ankles, step on them and then shrimp.

Reactive < Active < Proactive

Everyone can react, some can act, the best can be proactive.

Hashtag something really tough...GRRRR

Warm-up combinations:

• Jab-cross-double lead kick
• Jab-cross-lead kick-rear kick
• Jab-cross-rear kick-lead kick
• Jab-cross-double rear kick

Pummeling set-ups

• Stop the biceps of the overhook, arm wrench the underhook, throw an elbow to their head, catch the neck knee, guillotine
• Knee, lift their leg, penetrate step and ipsilateral inside sweep, groin shot
• Catch wrist (or redirect with pummeling hand) and pass to arm drag, step to the back while passing their arm further to the a “seatbelt” (contralateral wrist control from behind, ipsilateral control at the elbow). Step between their legs with your leg on the wrist control side and drop to your knee, dragging your opponent laterally to the mat.
• Block their overhook, drive up with your underhook, step off 45°, lower your level and run them down with the double leg

Guard work against the posturing opponent

• Your opponent postures with one hand wrapping your lapels at your solar plexus, you can break their grip by pulling your gi laterally like your flashing your opponent.
• You can cross collar over their grip and then gi drag when they try to stand.
• You can get a cross collar over their grip, make it deeper by propping on your free elbow, then sit back pulling them forward. Cross grip their posture arm sleeve. Prepare for the arm bar by placing the foot in the hip, if they lean forward to close the line, put your knee over their shoulder and triangle. Push way with your legs to set-up the armor.

$h!t I wish I knew 10 years ago

Closed guard, cross collar and ipsilateral sleeve grip. Open and place the knee shields on the inside. Use the shin on the side you control to break the grip. Pull as you extend this leg so that the knee goes posterior to their shoulder. Place your foot in their hip to abduct and rotate their arm. Spin for the Oma plata by using your opposite foot in their hip and kicking your Oma plata leg to the mat.

If they attempt to feed your foot on their free side between their legs, bring your knee superiorly to you and place the spider guard hook in their cubital fossa. Use this to set-up your Oma plata.

If they stand, get your foot in their hip and your other foot in their cubital fossa. Same collar and sleeve control. Angle your body 45 degrees to the control side. You can ankle pick or Oma plata.

Sticks and Arm Drags May Break My Bones

Double Stick

1. Right forehand-backhand, left forehand-backhand, right forehand-low backhand-forehand, left forehand-low backhand-forehand
2. Right forehand-backhand, left forehand-backhand, right forehand-low backhand-forehand, left forehand-low backhand-forehand, right over under post-right forehand-left backhand-right back hand, left over under post-left forehand-right backhand-left backhand

Gi Arm Drag

1. Cross collar grip, place freehand on mat, use your ipsilateral leg to move hips offline and pull opponent to the mat. Seatbelt grip and pull them to the rear mount.
2. Your opponent grabs your pant leg ipsilateral to your cross collar grip. Place your palm on their wrist and underhook grip their biceps with the opposite (former collar grip hand), while shifting offline, pull their arm.
3. Again your opponent grabs the pant legipsilateral to your cross collar grip. Use your ipsilateral hand to grab the superior line of the triceps and pull both at the collar and at the arm.

If your opponents arm doesn’t drag past you but stays across your body, frame and go for oma plata.

Airplane

From the cross collar and sleeve grip, place your feet in their hips, push back for them to pressure forward. Lift your opponent in the air at the hips with your feet.

1. Lift them over the same side shoulder you have sleeve and wrist control. Roll with them to take the mount.
2. Drop the leg that has sleeve control laterally, allowing them to rotate into the armbar position.

Sensitivity as a Combat Attribute

Today I made an appearance at Goshin Jitsu. I hope to make many more. With the beginners we taught basic footwork, forwards, backwards, to the sides, and the rear 90° pivot. The two stepping drills we worked on:

1. Shuffle retreat, switch retreat, 90° pivot
2. Circling the mat using any step less than three times in a row, avoiding the blue pads, and trying to catch our team mates

We also introduced kicking, helping each other stretch and turn on the ball of the foot.

With the advanced students, I reviewed the jab range finder I learned at Top Level Gym. This strategy prunes your opponent’s decision tree by throwing the jab, followed by two “range finds” extending the arm and using the palm of the glove to make contact, you step laterally to set-up an outside line. This gives you information, if you cannot reach they are out of range, if you can just reach they can likely be hit by a kick or cross, and if your arm is bent it is likely best to throw a short cross or round knee. If you check their arm and it’s loose you know that it is likely you can push it aside to set up your shot and if they are rigid that they will be more easy to turn.

We did four 2-minute rounds:

1. Jab-range find-range find cross
2. Jab-range find-range find rear kick
3. Jab-range find-range find rear round knee
4. Any of the above with the holder feeding different energies.

Simplicity

Closed guard, control the cross collar and ipsilateral sleeve. Put the sleeve grip ipsilateral foot into the hip and pivot to the 45 degree angle. Release the sleeve and cross collar choke by grabbing the far shoulder seam.

Same set-up but rather than pivoting bring your other knee inside and create a knee shield. Free your hand from their sleeve and post. Rapidly shift your hips off line laterally while pulling the collar hand to your hip, dragging your partner face first to the mat. If the far hook is open climb on top, if they close it off drag them laterally to the mat. In both cases take the back.

Lastly, open and get the knee shield in place. Now rotate your sleeve grip inferiorly and medially across your body. Now pull the lapel as you push their opposite thigh away. Take the back.

Simplicity. I swear I've never seen this before.

"That's NOT Kickboxing!" when your son's second class has made him an expert

Defending the “flying” side kick to the knee (seen more often in MMA as of late):

• Step back
• Point the knee
• Drop the lead leg back to evade, land on your toes and return a kick to the head
• Step out 45° and circle step to kick the back of their leg

Plum defense

• On the grip side, bring your shoulder medial and superiorly popping their grip off, inserting your hand inside
• Overhook by grabbing their neck, pivot your shoulders toward midline

Catching kicks with more panache. Step with the kick, overlooking at the ankle, take a half-step back with your rear leg and drop their heel to the palm of your glove. Keep the leg off-line with your body.

• Throw across your body and follow with a kick
• Fake the cross body throw then pull back to the original side and throw their foot this way, follow the a kick
• Pull their leg straight back as you rotate your hips to throw a head kick
• Pull their leg straight back as you throw the round knee to the solar plexus, your free hand goes to their face, step forward and throw the elbow
• Pass their foot to the opposite hand, either step back with your lead leg to reach across their body and trip or step in with your rear leg as you reach across to trip with the contralateral leg to the foot grabbing hand

This is Muay Thai

Off your opponent's jab you are going to set-up elbows. From a high guard, roll your ipsilateral glove to cover half your face, palm toward you. Cover and check with your lead hand.

Check lightly with your lead hand then slap their jab wide and step forward to deliver a straight elbow

Next try slapping their jab inferiorly and laterally with your rear hand, stepping in with the rear horizontal elbow.

If they clinch instead, control their triceps with your lead hand and overhook with your rear hand. Place this hand on their low back and come in close, feet parallel.

If they grab your shoulder with their hand, wrap their arm with your overhook and use this same hand to grab their contralateral biceps, trapping (submitting?) their extended arm. Deliver a sky-to-ground downward elbow.

You can also use your overhook to put your glove on their upper arm. Drag down their arm and throw the rear horizontal elbow.

Over-Under Muay Thai Clinch

The over-under tie up (the original 50/50) is not typically a position associated with much more than the referee separating fighters in Muay Thai. However I have learned differently:

1. Move in the direction of your underhook, trying to get your shoulder into their axillary fossa. Reverse direction and attempt to square up sliding your head to their chest, and under their chin. As they try to reestablish a neutral position, bump your overhooked shoulder and step behind them while controlling their waist.

2. As above but when you step out free them by releasing your hands and stepping backward with the leg ipsilateral to your overhook. Throw the cross or rear kick from here.

3. From the over-under position, push on their ipsilateral hip with your overhook as you grip as high as you can with your underhook. Now push push their hip as you step behind them, place your knee inferior to their near leg. Push their knee with yours as your pull backward with your superior hand and push the hip with the other.

4. Make a committed step forward on the overhook side, place your foot on the floor behind theirs. Drive your opposite shoulder medially and inferiorly to drop them to the floor.

Crucifix

When your opponent has turtled up and you are attempting to attack with a clock choke but your opponent is defending the choke hand. Push their hand down and away from their body, hook it with the leg nearest their head. Pull it laterally and pinch it between your thighs. Reattach your choke hand on the far lapel and roll over your opponent across the shoulder. As you land on your back, cinch the choke and pull your non-choke hand to your head.

If your opponent rears up consider sitting backward to pull them into the crucifix position.

If they wrap the leg closer to their rear, make a tight roll forward to catch them in a kimura, control their legs as quickly as possible to prevent them from rolling out. WARNING: GO SLOW, THIS COMES ON FAST!

Jab Slip Counters

Worked four jab slip counters:

1. Opponent’s rear hand low, throws jab, slip outside. Your medial hand wraps behind your opponent’s neck far from you, hook with wrist, palm of lateral hand just distal to jab arm deltoid. Step up with your rear leg, then drop step and pivot 90° with your new rear foot laterally from your opponent.  Attempt to put your weight on top of your opponents, shoulder/back. Deliver knee with rear leg to body.
2. Opponent’s rear hand low, throws jab, slip outside. Your medial hand wraps behind your opponents neck far from you, hook with wrist, palm of lateral hand just distal to jab arm deltoid. Step up with your rear leg and knee with your new rear knee to the medial side of their leg at midline, simultaneously pull with the neck control and push their arm, as your body twists.
3. Opponent’s rear hand high, throws jab, slip outside. Hug at waist, deliver knees, stepping with foot posterior to opponent behind their leg, bending them laterally away from you, trip over your rear leg.
4. Opponent’s rear hand high, throws jab, slip outside. Your medial hand wraps at their far waist, palm of lateral hand just distal to jab arm deltoid. Step forward next to opponent, leaving about a fist distance between your shoulders, then pivot 90° toward opponent and deliver downward elbow.