10 Ultimate Cage Fighting Tips

Any prospective fighter could use 10 ultimate cage fighting tips. Cage fighting, or mixed martial arts, is much different than boxing or wrestling. It takes a well rounded base of skills in every area of fighting to beat someone face to face in the octagon. Even with years of experience and training, a good fighter continually learns new cage fighting tricks and techniques to stay competitive. The following tips can help you improve your MMA skills greatly.

1. Cardio, cardio, cardio.If you’ve ever watched a UFC fight, you know that cage fighters who aren’t well conditioned lose quickly, and often brutally. To prevent this from happening to you, develop a hard cardiovascular training routine, and stick to it.
2. Do a ton of leg and core strengthening exercises in your training. Most of the body’s power comes from the legs and the core. And whether you need to escape a hold or explosively take someone down, your legs and core must be extremely strong. Successful cage fighters take extra care to ensure that these two areas of their body are in top shape.
3. Footwork drills are essential. Many good stand-up fighters practice footwork almost as much as they do actual hitting. The idea is to do exaggerated footwork in practice so that the muscles memory is there, and the footwork automatically happens during the fight. Potential MMA fighters cannot make footwork an afterthought.
4. Find a trainer and a gym. You won’t get good at cage fighting by just lifting weights. Proper training is all about technique, and can only be taught in person. There are a plethora of boxing and martial arts gyms in nearly every town in America. Join one of them.
5. Learn how to keep the fight focused on your strengths. If you’re a lightning fast boxer, for example, stay nimble to keep the cage fight a stand up one. If you’re better on the ground, on the other hand, use every open possibility to take your opponent down.
6. Pad practice is extremely beneficial in honing your cage fighting technique. An experienced partner or trainer is necessary for this. The object is for them to provide a speedy, quickly shifting target for you to hit. This will both greatly improve your boxing reflexes, and sharpen your instincts in the cage.
7. Spar every chance you can. No amount of hitting a bag or practice wrestling will prepare you for the adrenaline rush and intensity of an actual MMA fight. In most gyms, sparring is held regularly. Take advantage of this, and participate as much as possible.
8. When you’re fighting someone similar to your own size, position is more important than power. Nine times out of ten, it is the cage fighter in better position who wins a grapple or take-down. This is true even if their strength is lower. Focus heavily on getting in position during your training.
9. Small tricks make all the difference in a closely matched MMA fight. When you’re taking someone down, for example, a small kick in the back of the knee will often bring them to the mat with much more force. These nuances of fighting can make all the difference when you’re in the cage.
10. As with any sport, the mental aspect of cage fighting is almost as important as the physical. In mixed martial arts, the psychological advantage cannot be overstated. A calm, confident fighter will fare far better against strong competition than a nervous one. In order to defeat other fighters in the cage, you must first defeat your own nagging nervousness.