Stop Memorizing Combinations: Learning to Read and Adapt in MMA

One of the things I've noticed as I've spent more time coaching is that there is a point where learning another combination isn't necessarily what an athlete needs.

Combinations are important. Especially for beginners. You need to learn how to throw a jab and recover your stance, how the cross follows the jab, how to put punches and kicks together, how to move after you attack, and how to maintain your balance while doing all of it. There is a lot of value in having someone show you a sequence and then giving you enough repetitions to make the movements familiar.

The problem is when we confuse learning combinations with learning how to fight.

A combination is a solution to a particular problem. It isn't a script for a fight.

Your opponent doesn't know the combination you just drilled, and even if they did, they aren't going to cooperate with it. They are going to move, defend, counter, change distance, change levels and generally do everything they can to make the situation different from the one you practiced.

At some point, the athlete has to make the transition from asking, "What combination am I supposed to do?" to asking, "What is happening right now, and what should I do about it?"

That's a much more difficult skill to teach.

It's also much closer to fighting.

The Combination Is the Beginning

Take something as simple as a 1–2.

We can teach the mechanics of the jab and cross, work on footwork, distance, balance and recovery, and eventually the athlete can throw it without having to think about every individual part. That's good.

But now the opponent reacts. Maybe they back up. Maybe they cover. Maybe they parry the jab. Maybe they slip the cross. Maybe they counter. Maybe they step forward. Maybe they stay right in front of you.

Those reactions matter. The 1–2 didn't change. The problem did.

This is where I think some martial arts training gets stuck. We teach the combination, and then we teach the next combination, and then we connect those combinations into a longer combination. Eventually the athlete can perform a very impressive sequence on a partner who is standing there doing exactly what they're supposed to do. That doesn't necessarily mean they know what to do when the person in front of them does something unexpected.

A good fighter isn't just executing techniques. They're constantly reading what their opponent is giving them and making decisions based on that information. The combination is often just the beginning of the conversation.

Your Opponent Gets a Vote

This is one of the biggest differences between drilling and fighting. When you're learning a technique, the coach controls a lot of the environment. We can put you in the right position, give you the right reaction and let you work the solution.

Eventually, however, the other person has to become part of the problem. Their movement tells you something. Their defense tells you something. Their posture tells you something. Their hands tell you something. Their attempt to counter tells you something.

• You attack and they react. That reaction changes what is available

• You respond and they react again. Now the situation has changed again

That's fighting.

I like to think of it as a simple process: act, observe, recognize, choose, execute and reassess. (I think the US Air Force has something similar in their OODA loop) The important part is that it doesn't stop after you execute the first technique. The next decision is based on what just happened. That's very different from memorizing a sequence and trying to get to the end of it.

Don't Force the Technique

One of the things I want developing fighters to understand is that sometimes the correct response is to not do the thing they just practiced. If I throw a 1–2 and the opponent doesn't give me the reaction that makes my next attack available, I shouldn't force it because that's what the combination said I was supposed to do. If I shoot a double leg and the opponent gives me a strong defense, I shouldn't continue trying to finish the double simply because that was the technique I started with.

The defense has given me information. Maybe the single leg is now available. Maybe I can move to a body lock. Maybe I need to abandon the attack and reset. The technique didn't fail because I didn't finish the original sequence. The technique did its job if it created a new situation that I know how to deal with.

This is something I think takes time for athletes to understand. Beginners tend to think of techniques as things they perform. More experienced fighters start to understand techniques as tools for creating and solving problems.

Resistance Isn't Enough

This is also why I don't think simply adding more resistance to training automatically creates better decision-making.

You can take a perfectly rehearsed combination and make the partner resist harder. That certainly makes the drill more difficult, but the athlete may still be trying to execute the exact same predetermined sequence. They're just doing it against a more difficult target.

Resistance is important because fighting is performed against resistance. But there is another variable that becomes increasingly important as an athlete develops:

• What happens if the opponent doesn't give you the reaction you expected?

• What happens if you don't know which reaction is coming?

That's where decision-making starts to develop. I don't think beginners should be thrown into completely open situations and told to "figure it out." That isn't really teaching them how to make decisions. It's asking them to make decisions before they've developed enough technical knowledge to have useful choices.

There has to be progression. First you learn the technique. Then you learn how it works against a predictable reaction. Then you start dealing with different reactions. Eventually, you don't know exactly what the opponent is going to do and you have to recognize the situation and solve it.

That's development. You're not just learning more techniques. You're learning how to use the techniques you already have.

This Is Where MMA Gets Really Interesting

This becomes especially important in MMA because the problems don't stay in one category.

• A striking exchange can become a takedown

• A takedown can become a clinch

• A clinch can become a scramble

• A scramble can become a striking exchange

• A defensive reaction to a striking can create another takedown attempt

You can't completely separate these things and expect the connections to take care of themselves.

That's one of the reasons I've always felt strongly about actually teaching MMA rather than simply teaching several martial arts and expecting the athlete to put them together. The individual skills are necessary. You need to know how to box, kick, wrestle, grapple and control positions. But eventually you have to learn what happens between those skills. That's where a lot of the interesting stuff happens.

We Still Need Combinations

None of this means I think combinations are bad. Far from it. A good fighter needs techniques that are familiar enough that they don't have to consciously think through every mechanical detail while they're fighting. You want your jab to be automatic. You want your takedown entries to be familiar. You want your defensive reactions to be practiced.

You need a technical vocabulary before you can have a conversation. The mistake is thinking the vocabulary is the conversation. A combination gives you something to start with. It gives you an idea of what you're trying to accomplish and can help create a reaction from the opponent. Then you have to pay attention to what happened. That's the part I think becomes increasingly important as an athlete develops.

From Knowing What to Do to Knowing What to Look For

There is a big difference between knowing what to do and knowing what to look for. A beginner might know that a particular reaction means they should throw a particular kick.

A more experienced athlete starts to recognize the reaction before they've consciously thought about the kick. That's a different level of learning. Eventually, you don't want the athlete thinking, "They did X, so I have to do Y." You want them to see the position, understand the problem and select the appropriate response.

That's why experienced fighters can sometimes look like they're improvising.

They're not necessarily making everything up on the spot. They've developed enough experience that they recognize familiar problems in unfamiliar situations. They have enough technical knowledge to have several possible answers, and enough experience to understand which answer makes sense right now.

That is something you can't get simply by memorizing more combinations.

This Is What Development Should Mean

When I think about development, I don't think it should simply mean that an athlete knows more techniques than they did six months ago. Obviously, that is part of it. But I care just as much about whether they can use those techniques when things don't go according to plan.

• Can they recognize an opponent's reaction?

• Can they recognize when their original attack is no longer available?

• Can they transition to something else without panicking?

• Can they defend and immediately recognize the opportunity created by that defense?

• Can they move between striking, wrestling and grappling without treating each one like a completely separate activity?

• Can they make a good decision when the situation changes?

Those are the things that start turning technical knowledge into fighting ability. And I think that's an important distinction. You can be very good at demonstrating MMA techniques and still not be very good at solving MMA problems. The latter is what I'm ultimately interested in developing.

The Goal Is Adaptation

The further an athlete progresses, the less interested I am in whether they can perfectly reproduce the sequence I showed them. I want to know whether they understand why the sequence works. I want them to understand what problem the technique is solving, what reaction it is likely to create, and what they should be looking for after that reaction.

Because eventually the opponent is going to do something we didn't practice.

They always do. That's the nature of fighting.

The athlete who has memorized a series of answers can get lost when the question changes. The athlete who understands the problem has a much better chance of finding another answer.

That's why I want our athletes to move beyond simply learning combinations. Learn the technique. Learn the combination. Practice it until it becomes familiar. Then start paying attention to what the other person does.

That's where the real learning starts.

Don't just learn what to do. Learn what to look for.

Because the better you get at MMA, the less the fight looks like a combination and the more it looks like a conversation.