knowing what to expect: This is a photo of Garry Tonon roughly three hours prior to his second MMA fight practicing his outside hook (kosoto gake) takedown against the fence. Most fight promotions allow the athletes access to the cage prior to the event so they can warm up and get a general feel for the arena prior to their bout. Later that night, Mr Tonon would use that exact same takedown to good effect on multiple occasions. Remember this – TO A DEGREE, combat sports ARE CHAOTIC AND WE DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN – BUT WITHIN THAT CHAOS THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT ARE VERY LIKELY TO HAPPEN – WE NEED TO focus A LARGE PERCENTAGE OF OUR TRAINING TIME UPON THOSE. However confusing the game may seem at times, there are many things about it that are known and predictable. Patterns of behavior that are often repeated. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS FOREKNOWLEDGE AND USE IT TO HELP YOUR DEVELOPMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS. There are certain moves, scenarios and movement patterns that occur in almost every match – KNOW THEM WELL AND TRAIN THEM AND THEIR COUNTERS MORE THAN OTHER TECHNIQUES. once you think this way some of the mystery goes out of the sport and you will soon see performance increases.
