Crazy Monkey Defense

With our trainer Albert away in the US for the BJJ Mundials for 2 weeks, it was just Owen and me training.

Owen is an interesting sparring partner as he is taller than me and has a similar reach as me. As such it wasn't too easy to keep him away but I found a proper diving board punch still gave me the necessary reach advantage to keep him at bay.

Jabbing to keep distance

I found the jab pretty effective at discouraging him from attacking me even when he tried to push forward as long as it was a properly executed jab with some force behind it or used as a push rather than a strike by making sure your body weight is behind it.

Bad CM when under heavy attack

I noticed that I was getting hit a bit on the sides of my face even while doing CM and as Owen's punches packed some power, I at times ended up CMing while looking at the floor which placed me in a very passive and bad position as I couldn't necessarily tell where he was.

Owen was also guilty of this but in a different way in that he turned his side to me which allowed me shots at his exposed side of the face.

Counterattacking when under attack

I really don't like being pummelled at and really want to get out of a barrage. I should be circling out more but sometimes when I still can't get out, I find that I like to just move in and launch a counterattack of my own to disrupt his rhythm.

This seems kinda risky as even with diving board punching, I still feel rather exposed but perhaps what exacerbates the situation is my tendency to extend my hands and pop my head out to take a look at where to direct my punching. While this allows me to see where his weakspots are and punch at them, it also creates a huge spot of my own. Thus far Owen or Albert has not taken advantage of this but I believe someone with a longer reach or more determination to move in could easily knock me out.

I need to find a way to maintain TES and still be able to direct my punches. I remember Albert's words that if you see the chest, you know where the head is but sometimes when being punched, it's hard to see much more than the fists coming at you! I think counter-attacking while under attack should be a valid strategy especially since there's a psychological effect rather than just taking it and weathering the storm even with proper CM. Must make a mental note to ask Albert.

Footwork

Finally walking around in tiptoe and working on strengthening those calves have paid off! I can now move with a lot more freedom and can dodge attacks a lot faster than I used to without feeling pain in my calves. I still need to work on circling off more and not stepping back.