Start with negation – then build your attacks: The toughest matches rare those you you go blow for blow against your opponent. You are attacking him and he is simultaneously attacking you. Everything becomes a hectic battle where in truth, the outcome could go either way. Battles like this can be fun and certainly make for excitement, but they do not exhibit the ideal of control that is central to our sport. I usually encourage my students to BEGIN WITH NEGATION. Start each encounter to shutting down an opponents ability to attack through grip fighting, stance, position and motion. Once you have removed the initial danger, then you can really focus on launching your own attacks without the distraction of having to simultaneously deal with an opponents attacks. Here, Nicky Ryan comes into the dangerous guard of Masakazu Imanari behind string grips and stance so that he can remove the initial danger and set up the passing pressure that saw him to victory.
