In MMA you see fighters using a variety of stances. Some crouch, some stand upright, some look like wrestlers, others look like kick boxers. And sometimes you see stances straight out of Karate, Capoeira, and Kung Fu…
Given all these options how can fighters choose what’ll work best for them? Or, in simple terms, what’s the best stance for MMA?
Of course the answer is never so simple. It depends on your proportions, your techniques, and your fighting style.
Of all the different MMA stances there are two choices that are by far the most common: 1) a boxing-style stance, with one side strongly forward, and 2) a more upright and relatively square stance from Thai boxing.
So let’s mainly focus on those two choices…
For MMA I usually defer to my friend and training partner Denis Kang. Denis had an amazing 23 fight undefeated streak fighting in different events in the USA, Canada, Korea, Russia and Japan. In retirement he has stayed close to the game and has kept his finger on the pulse of modern MMA. So he’s really knowledgeable and experienced about what works in the cage under pressure.
I recently asked him about his MMA stance preferences. We discussed the relative advantages of each stance with regards to mobility, low kick defense, and the ability to punch and kick.
This led into a discussion of footwork, including the relatively unorthodox styles of mobility being used by modern fighters including Conor McGregor, T.J. Dillashaw, Dominick Cruz and the Korean Zombie. Drive-by punching, if you will.
Anyway, if you follow MMA and enjoy analysing the difference between fighters you’ll probably enjoy the discussion and demonstration of MMA stances and footwork in the video below…
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