I talk about having proper fighting technique a lot.  Technique can overcome so many obstacles, guys who are faster and stronger than you can crumble if you have good technique.

But… and there is a but, now and again comes a freak of nature breaks all the rules.

Was Tyson one of these “rule breakers”?  Nope.  In his early days he had great technique, punching from his legs, twisting his hips and great head movement so we was not an easy target.

Now George Foreman he was one huge freak of nature.  Zero defensive skills, terrible head movement and massive looping punches.  But he was a complete and utter wrecking machine in his youth.

Everyone thought he was unbeatable.  Even truly great fighters like Ken Norton and Joe Frazier where knocked down several times and could not get passed the 3rd round.

George achieved all this with two weapons, intimidation and awesome punching power.  And it worked until he came up against The Greatest, Muhammad Ali.

As with most bullies, and that’s what Foreman and Tyson were, once they are beaten they are never the same fighter.  Once other fighters realise they are human after all, the fear factor has gone.  And the bully gets beaten again.  This happened to Foreman and Tyson, they were never the same fighter again.

So I guess the point is you should never fear anyone except yourself.  You can defeat yourself before you take on your opponent, but you are in control of this.  Every guy you step in front of is beatable, no matter how big, strong or ugly they are.  But you need to have the right mental attitude and the right skills.

But my main reason for writing this post is so I can show one of the most amazing fights ever.

I’m not saying it’s a good fight, quite the opposite… it stinks!

But what I love is that we have an old guy, big George Foreman, fighting a skilled, hard hitting, younger guy in Michael Moorer.  And remember Foreman had only recently come back to the fight game after a 10 year plus absence.  People were laughing at him!

But here he was fighting for the World Heavyweight title 20 years after he lost to Ali!

And he loses every second of every round until he knocks Moorer out.  Foreman’s famous power digging him out of a hole and winning him the World title again.  Every bit as romantic as Ali beating Foreman in Zaire 20 years before.

When you watch Foreman as an old guy you realise he is actually a much better technical fighter than he was as young man.  Although he still threw his looping shots he he did it less often.  He improved his jab and  his defense… because he had to.  He could no longer simply walk in and smash through guys with raw power.

If young George had fought like old George I wonder what he could have achieved?

So guys even if you have awesome power you still need to learn how to fight with proper technique.  It will improve your power, speed and you will get hit a hell of a lot less.

Enjoy Big George’s great comeback.

When it comes to Jiu Jitsu there is only one family that matters, the Gracie’s.  They revolutionised the sport and how it was perceived around the world.

Generations of the Gracie family have been champions in BJJ.  It gained worldwide fame when Royce won the first ever UFC event and that was when the UFC was everything goes.  They showed that BJJ was the most effective fighting style out there.  Since then every MMA star studies BJJ and if they don’t they are guaranteed to get an ass whupping.

So why on earth would the godfathers of Jiu Jitsu criticize the sport?

Well it seems the Gracie’s believe tournament BJJ is ruining the art of BJJ.

Royce explains that BJJ was designed as a street fighting style and not for tournaments.  He makes some great points saying most martial arts are ruined by point scoring tournaments.  He is right when he says the sports were not designed for this tip tap approach.  That’s why many black belts get their asses kicked when they get in a real fight.

Now I’ll exclude boxing, MMA and Muay Thai from that.  All of these sports have enough contact to hurt.  But many Tae Kwon Do, Karate and Kung Fu tournaments are almost non contact these days.

Royce’s direct quotes are below;

“What ruins most martial arts is tournaments; the points. Teaching a guy to score points? There are no points on the street.”

“My father was always against tournament competition. You want to compete you get in the ring, Jiu-Jitsu is not a points game. It’s a self defense. Like most martial arts are a self-defense… “MARTIAL ARTS” not a points art.”

You can read the whole article HERE

Its difficult to argue with the Royce.  If you watch any Jiu Jitsu tournament you will see techniques scoring points that would get you smashed in a fight.

But having said all of that having some BJJ skill and knowledge will massively help you in the street as long as you use it in the right way.  As with all fighting styles you have to be selective what you take into the street.

Check out the article, it makes interesting reading.

If you are in anyway a Tyson fan or a MMA fan you should checkout this video.

Dana and Tyson discuss the upcoming fight of James Toney and Randy Couture.

Tyson also lets Dana know how much leg kicks hurt.  We all know leg kicks are awesome it seems even the baddest man on the planet feels their pain as well.  He may know how to fight with his hands but he admits defending leg kicks is a whole different game.

For the record I think Toney is nuts to fight Randy.  Randy may be getting on but he has the skills that Toney can’t get with a few month’s training.

Would Randy get in a boxing ring with Toney… no way!  Toney should stay well away from the Octagon, after the fight he will wish he had.

I think Tyson has better sense.

Be warned the film has lots and lots of F’s from Dana, so if you’re easily offended don’t watch it.

Many people believe they know how to punch and how to fight but they have not got a clue.

I’m going to tell you the common mistakes novice fighters make when throwing a punch and teach you the foundations of throwing an effective punch.

And you might wonder what I mean by an effective punch?

An effective punch must do two things

1. Not leave you in a vulnerable position
2. Be accurate and achieve it’s objective

I know what you’re thinking, an effective punch should smash your opponent to pieces.

That is a classic untrained fighters perspective.  A real fighter does not throw every punch as hard as they can.  Sometimes a punch is thrown to distract your opponent so you can hit them with a different punch, knee, elbow or kick.

So an effective punch does exactly what you intended it to do, from knocking the guy on his ass to setting him up for a massive knee.

And remember it also does not leave you overly vulnerable to a counter attack.  Most idiots in street fights swing wildly leaving themselves open for a trained fighter to strike before they ever get their shot off.

But I must warn you every time you throw a punch you are always opening yourself up to a counter.  But with proper technique you can minimize that risk and if you’re  fighting an untrained fighter the risk is almost zero.

How To Punch Like a Pro And How Not to Punch!

Let me tell you swinging your fist as fast and as hard as you can will achieve nothing. Unless you are very lucky.

What is more likely is that you will be hit once, sometimes several times before your punch even reaches the target. And then it’s likely to miss.

If you’re in a street fight it can be even worse, you might land the punch… on someones head.

And guess what, you end up with a broken hand and a pissed off dude gunning for you.

You have probably seen this wild swinging technique on the street and with novice’s in combat sports.

I call it the windmill. Head down, throwing wild arching punches. Throw and hope.

As a combat fighter or in the street you need control and precision to be effective. And it’s vital to remember the power of any punch is not from your arm, it’s from your legs, hips and shoulder.

Many people don’t believe the power does not come from your arms.

Do this little test by either hitting a bag. Stand completely still and throw a punch while only moving your arm, no leg, hip or shoulder rotation.

Now do the exact same thing using forward motion of the legs, hips and shoulders.

The power differential is incredible.

So How Do You Punch Effectively?

It’s important to realise that each type of punch will have a different technique but to get you started we will talk about the foundations of an effective straight punch.

• Keep your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart

• Plant your feet solidly and stay balanced

• Keep your weight balanced 50/50 on each foot

• The punch starts as you push off your back foot

• Twist your hips and shoulders towards the target generating power

• Your arm extends in a straight line from your shoulder keeping your arm and wrist in alignment

• Do not tense your arm while throwing the punch until the point of impact

• Your fist should make contact two inches from full extension of your hips, shoulder and arm

• You should strike your opponent with the knuckles of your index and middle finger

• After impact remember to pull your arm back to a guard position to protect your chin

• Throughout the punch the none punching hand should stay in the guard position

• Keep your punching shoulder high to protect your chin

• And remember to think speed rather than power

Like all combat techniques practice and proper coaching is the key to perfecting the technique.  As you are punching you should feel your body twisting.

Once you learn these fundamentals of how to punch you can apply them to jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts and body shots.  The fundamentals never change.

Hopefully my video below will show give you some great tips on how to punch.

Welcome to how to fight secrets.

This site is for you if you are interested in the science of fighting:

• Because you are simply interested in the art of fighting (as I am) but you don’t want to compete
• You are interested in starting some form of combat sport but want to get the basics down first
• You are already training in a combat sport but want to broaden your knowledge and skills
• You are interested in knowing how to defend yourself or your family

Most guys fall in to one of those categories I guess and if you don’t you should learn how to fight.  I believe everyone should have some level of basic skills, because that is all it takes to beat most people.

99% of Guys Don’t Know How to Fight!

This site is designed to help people master the secret art of fighting.

You may wonder why I call the art of fighting a secret?  The answer is simple most people don’t know shit about fighting.

Plain and simple.

Sure most guys think they know, especially those guys who have won a few street fights… but they don’t know the first thing about fighting properly.

What do I mean by fighting properly?

Fighting with control, not leaving yourself open to silly strikes, having proper balance and knowing how to throw powerful shots.

You can learn all of these things right here.

Upcoming articles will show you exactly how to fight and that includes learning how to street fight. But I will let you know right now I don’t agree with street fighting.  You can easily seriously hurt or even kill someone, all it takes is your opponent to hit their head as they fall.  Both of your lives are over at that point.  So do everything you can to avoid street fighting.

But I also know we live in the real world and sometimes shit happens and you have to fight.  What I and the other contributors to the site are going to teach you is the best way to handle yourself in those high pressure situations.

We will cover among other things:

• Correct balance and stance
• How to defend against attacks
• How to punch
• How to Kick
• How to throw devastating elbows
• Street fighting techniques and tips
• Grabs, throws and grappling techniques

We will also look at different techniques from Boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, Jiu Jitsu and Krav Maga techniques.

Also look out for our views on recent fights and fighters old and new.

If you are interested in learning to fight be sure to subscribe to get free video’s and tips direct to your inbox.

Joe