Boxing footwork for MMA. Pivot to set up strikes and takedowns

Boxing footwork (slip step and pivot) and shoulder position to set up strikes to the chin and/or takedowns for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.
What’s “boxing for MMA”?
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Ramsey Dewey is an MMA coach, referee, and fight commentator, and occasional musician based in Shanghai, China.
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This video features original music by Ramsey Dewey
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[@clownboyyyy]

as someone who's been learning boxing but wants to transition to MMA, this type of video is EXTREMELY helpful. thanks ramsey

[@Zurenarrh]

Best advice I took from this channel was “you learn something and then you sleep over it” it was in a video called how to use fast bag or something, Im using this advice for language learning purposes and “sleeping over it” just works man. I cant figure something out no matter how hard I try, and I sleep over my trials and a week later suddenly I know the thing

[@brian-sf2re]

Nice video but I should be doing homework

[@wes8052]

This is homework

[@PathtoMidnight]

This is homework for the soul, man

[@bullshidotv7332]

Footwork > homework

[@adzyt9185]

​@@PathtoMidnightReal

[@Johnny_sins_18_plus]

Homework can wait

[@ninjaknight4486]

Barely a minute into the video. I use this technique pretty often but sometimes as I cut that angle I simultaneously throw a shovel hook to the body. Works like a charm.

[@BMO_Creative]

Great move! Tyson use to do this in his Peek a Boo Stance with his guard up the entire time! People would turtle up and he'd knock them out!

[@RamseyDewey]

A lot of great boxers used slip steps, shoulder position and pivots to great effect, this is true. What many people don’t know is that it works to set up your position for takedowns while fighting a striker too.

[@BMO_Creative]

@@RamseyDewey Yessir! And most people totally wouldn't expect it! Great video demo!

[@SuperhumanUnchained]

Great boxing great footwork techniques and great martial arts techniques

[@kristianjosh8293]

This video really helped. More like these please.

[@_konahrik_]

Nice video. Coming from a muay thai background and transferring to MMA made me realise how good my kicks are but also how bad my hands and my movement is. I get smashed when we do boxing sparring. Looking forward to trying these out.

[@thejodyjourney219]

Good one. I had been contemplating about that step and this really helps fill in some blanks!

[@adcyuumi]

I will add a bit of Tai Chi to this footwork setup, for those interested. When you take the step and pivot, make your lead leg impact your opponent's leg. There are two ways to do this. You can drop your center of gravity to press your shin against the opponent's calf. This will root their leg to the ground and make smoothly pivoting to face you difficult. You can also bring your lead knee up (severely; this is a forceful strike not just pressure) to strike the opponent behind their knee. This will root their opposite leg to the ground and also make smoothly pivoting to face you difficult. You don't have to press your shoulder against the opponent when you instead make contact with the leg (in either way) - the leg contact is doing the same job of partially negating the opponent's ability to move. You don't always have the leg contact option when you step in, as the typical reactions to an attacker pivoting outside your lead leg are to either back up (to prevent giving them that advantageous position at your shoulder; they can control your lead arm from there completely if they choose to grab it -- as shown there are a lot of other nasty things they might do) ... or, depending on what they've trained, they will actually drop their center of mass and lunge forward between your feet to "hip bump" you so hard that you will be severely off balance. (It is actually easy to fully knock someone down as they get to your shoulder with the pivot entry shown in the video. Often the attacker will grab at your lead arm to avoid falling, and you are the one on the attack as they seek to regain balance.) Typically what I like to do when the opponent steps back is continue the pivot step anyway into a position where I can be the one to hip bump instead, as if the target continues to back up they are now 2 steps into a retreat and my body is positioned for any number of kicks I can now safely throw because the opponent is out of position to punish them. Especially a trained fighter will not like retreating 3+ steps as their only recourse to avoid being out-positioned repeatedly. You will get chances.

[@RamseyDewey]

Post a video of that.

[@RamseyDewey]

Post a video of that.

[@dedhead9322]

Looks like a good drill. I think that adding some lateral movement, ducking down during the pivot gives more options.

[@RamseyDewey]

Do you mean doing the level change for the takedown at the same time as you pivot?

[@trevorwooten9485]

Very insightful, as always. Thank you.

[@CombatSelfDefense]

This is gold

[@valmendez84]

Good.

[@raphaellopez9290]

How often do you train Boxing ? And How often do you train Kicks? Grappling ?

[@HarryTzianakisTheGodOfSpeed]

Finding these angles after your jab is best. Jab duck pivot left hook 😇 .. First thing I was ever good at was boxing and finding that opening by pivoting. 😇

[@kevingray4980]

Excellent Wing Chun.

[@MartialArtsViking]

i feel like i see so many stuff out of some kungfu forms we have but they need just a little adjustment 😅

[@cahallo5964]

if you do this in a wider stance (when you pivot) you knee the back of their knees and you can hit him with a straight punch instead of a hook (I do that all the time it's very annoying) and for trips instead of a straight punch you straighten your arm that's closest to him and push him back, simple trip it works fine when they don't wanna get grabbed and it has the benefit that if they flex their legs real hard you can pivot faster than they can and take their back instead.

[@themetal]

Hell yeah, footwork. Often the most slept on and most important part of training. I like what I'm seeing here.

[@gerfrit897]

Hy Ramsey, I love your style of teaching. It is so rare to get this mix of battle tested techniques and this variety of more delicate approches. I can see these things also in tma I studied but the transission from abstract drills to the application is simply never there. Why do you think this kind of moves, footwork and drills are all included in the tmas but are not extracted well enough to make it to the real world application. Btw. do xou have a recomendation for a Martial Arts coche in Austria :) thx for all your content. You are the lifing proove that fighting can be studied, internalized and refined to a beutiful thing that is also applicable.

[@Eggcellent_One]

Eggcellent

[@meljXD2]

I thought about using my shoulders to set up strikes, knees, elbows, and throws since im so short.

[@RamseyDewey]

Shoulder position is invaluable for all fighters.

[@fh17522]

Hi Ramsey - very informative video - what's the name of the 'fun throw' at 5:59 ?? I've been looking to learn it for ages but don't know its name. Thank you!

[@RamseyDewey]

I’ve never heard a special name for it before. Here’s an old video where I teach that takedown and a bunch of other stuff: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWOvpYmcjculhas

[@fh17522]

@@RamseyDewey perfect :)) thank you

[@fiftyfadesofgrey]

Ramsey Dewey are those big legs genetic? Obv its from physical training.

[@hypnoticskull6342]

We don't see enough boxing in MMA. Once saw a guy literally trip amd fall on his face after whiffing a haymaker in Bellator

[@atreyustonewolf]

Hey Ramsey, love your channel. I'm a Muay Thai fighter, haven't trained MMA yet, just focusing on my amateur career for now but I plan to make the transition eventually. Do you think a swing knee to the face would be a successful counter to a single leg take down if the opponent was going straight in for your lead leg?

[@RamseyDewey]

So, if you see a shot coming from a mile away without a set up, can you counter with a knee to the head? Sure. Of course you can.

[@RamseyDewey]

That being said, a good fighter will set up his shots and not make it obvious- make sure you learn your wrestling well.

[@BeamMonsterZeus]

Kung Fu masters take note.

[@notdanroth]

Spinning elbow if someone tries this on you

[@RamseyDewey]

Let’s just assume you had the foresight to try that. Spinning into a strike would make that takedown 100% easier.

[@AlexiusRedwood]

Nonsense. And you should never have spinning attacks as a method of defense

[@notdanroth]

@@AlexiusRedwood You should never speak in absolutes when talking about what will work in a fight

[@RRTNZ]

Going to try that pivot out in sparring - believe it or not there's actually similar footwork in some Aikido throws ( without the shoulder contact) , probably because there are only so many ways the human body can execute a pivot like that. Cheers, hope you're well.

[@MartialArtsViking]

i believe you

[@asteriskcolon]

Its tenkan in Aikido I assume you are thinking of, and also very similar to Sasae in Judo (without the ankle prop)

[@asteriskcolon]

Its not entirely the same though, just similar

[@RRTNZ]

@@asteriskcolon yup. That's why I used the word "similar".

[@Chiburi]

There’s a move from panantukan that could fit in right after the pivot, you would reach behind his back and grab his far shoulder, then as you step back you pull him, effectively spinning him around. In the moment he’s fighting to regain his balance he’s walking into a punch or an elbow

[@josep4635]

Hi Ramsey where do you get your gloves? They look sick, thank you in advance

[@ioannisbougios1451]

Hey coach!! Could you make a video about guys from wrestling background that try to learn kickboxing/boxing? As well as I do on pads and so, when I sparr my insticts kick in and I am trying to get lower than my partner and I get whooped. Could you suggest some drills to do by myself?

[@joekchicago]

What works be interesting would be if Ramsey ever considered writing his autobiography at some point? Definitely would be an interesting read.

[@dobo9150]

This looks like a fun twist on basic blend, adding in aliveness and some range-finding. Must play with this.

[@ninjaknight4486]

Amazing video ❤❤❤

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

So it's similar to D'amato shift ?

[@kez_the_reaper2657]

I haven't been able to make this work for me yet this is a tricky one

[@RamseyDewey]

What’s happening when you try it?

[@kez_the_reaper2657]

@@RamseyDewey I haven't tried it with another person yet just been trying to practice on the heavy bag and basically either I get the distance wrong and don't make contact with the frame or I mess the footwork up and don't take a walking step I'm sure if I keep repping it out and practice with a partner il be able to use this

[@RamseyDewey]

@@kez_the_reaper2657 keep at it!

[@terencejeffries5359]

how do all? simply impressive teaching skills. your student picked it up straight away. i had to laugh at the ' animal ' printed on your tights. at the bondi watering hole went to for 3 yrs in late teens, [ '76 -'79 ], the other pubs knew us as ' the astra animals '. taztez.

[@RamseyDewey]

It’s the gym name: Animal MMA

[@1a4s4l7]

Thanks for sharing! Are there variations of this technique that work for southpaw stance?

[@RamseyDewey]

Yes. Slip step to the other side. If you find yourself in an open stance relative to your opponent, slip step to his lead when he remains stationary (no stance switch) or slip step around his power side when he steps forward.

[@FirstnameLastname-pe5ib]

Reminds me of Carlos Condits style a bit. He was able to outsmart a lot of dangerous strikers.

[@RamseyDewey]

Carlos was a very well rounded fighter. I learned a lot every time I watched him fight. I hope future generation take note of him.

[@ives3572]

Really interesting to see this move in a high-paced/hectic sparring and fight

[@RamseyDewey]

Do you follow the sport of boxing?

[@spoopyd.8910]

Didn't McGregor switch over to boxing after he got smoked by Floyd?

[@RamseyDewey]

He hasn’t had another boxing match since.

[@spoopyd.8910]

@@RamseyDewey Big yikes ahahaha.

[@deemc7756]

🥊

[@RamseyDewey]

⬇️↘️➡️🤜

[@Brian-nw3ey]

Thanks !!💚