Reading / Adapting to your opponents

I’m sure most of you have heard about the importance of reading your opponent(s) / adapting to your opponent(s), whether you are doing Kumite in a competition with a single opponent, or defending yourself in a street fight against multiple opponents, failing to do so, and applying a single recipe to all fights can have dramatic consequences, especially in a self defense situation.

This article will be focused on street fights / self defense situations, and how to read/ adapt to opponent(s) attacking with various punches coming at Jodan (face) level, simply because these punches are the one you are most likely to encounter in a self defense situation.

We will be focusing on 3 attacks: Mawashi tsuki Jodan (Long Hook punch to the face), Tsuki Jodan (Straight punch to the face), and Ura tsuki (Uppercut to the chin).

 Reading your opponent(s):

Every punching technique starts with a specific typical motion / body language. Knowing that typical motion, and having developed the skills to anticipate it, never guarantees your safety, nor the time to react to it, but knowing it can definitely give you an extra split second that can tilt the outcome to your advantage.

-          Reading a Long Mawashi Tsuki Jodan:

This is by far the most common punch used in street fights by “untrained” people, and the best way to anticipate it is to practice watching the chest and shoulders of your opponent. Often, the shoulder on the same side of the punch retrieves lower before coming back up forward launching the punch.

-          Reading a Tsuki Jodan:

This is one of the punches more often used by “trained” people, and the best way to anticipate it is to practice watching the opposite shoulder from the side punching, as it will slightly retrieve before the straight punch on the opposite side is fully launched.

-          Reading an Ura Tsuki Jodan / Uppercut:

This is a also one of the punches used by “trained” people, especially English boxers, and the best way to anticipate it is to practice watching the chest and shoulders of your opponent. Often, the shoulder on the same side of the punch retrieves higher before coming back down forward launching the Uppercut.

Another thing to consider is that many highly “trained” people also learnt how to disguise their attack, so to decrease the chances of their opponent reading them. This means that the above tips might be helpful for some opponents but not all.

Adapting to your opponent(s):

Adapting to one opponent is really the key to success in a real self-defense situation.

A few typical examples include adapting to the following situations:

-          Defending against someone who is much taller than you / longer arm and leg reach:

Need to extend your safety distance and go in/out quickly at the right time.

-          Defending against someone who seem much faster than you: Need to extend your safety distance, paying close attention to your opponents repeated attempted moves, and using proper timing to get in/out.

-          Defending against someone who is trained:

From a street fight stand point, recognizing a trained opponent vs a street fighter can also be very useful to being able to adapt. Examples of adapting to “trained” opponents include recognizing an English boxer with minimum threat from the legs (typical stance with the back leg), but most likely fast punches /combinations coming in all directions: One of the best adapting answers would be to use kicks.

Other examples include recognizing and adapting to a Taekwondo opponent with fast legs… etc.

-          Defending against someone who is “untrained”:

Most “untrained” people are excessively using the good old Long Mawashi Tsuki from their dominant hand.

Being able to recognize their dominant hand, having multiple ready defences against it, and having intensively practiced them, is a very good start in order to adapt to such fighters.

If you are interested in more advice on how to manage a street fight, please read this other blog article of mine: Overcoming fear and managing a street fight

Conclusion:

The key to successfully read / adapt to your opponent(s), is to practice intensely, and use the appropriate technics learnt that are the most appropriate one for the circumstance and opponent(s) you are defending against. Ultimately, you want to be exploiting any of your opponent(s)’s identified weaknesses.

Going one step further would be to test your opponent to see his reaction to a specific move, then set him up to trigger one of his weaknesses, that will allow you to counter and inflict damage.

Toronto, Alpha - KarateBoost blog