I am cornering for the first time for my friends first fight. Anything special I should know and what do I need? Thanks
"let them hands go"
Learn to make your voice heard over the crowd.
lilrampage - look for wholes in his oppenent game plan, shout those holes out to ur fighter, sound confident when u are talking to him between rounds...
Remember to bring all the medical accessories like sports tape, bandages for wrapping hands, vaseline and adrenaline for cuts, q-tips, scissors, stuff to clean cuts etc with and so on.
You may want to do a little practicing when it comes to stopping blood and fixing cuts.
Most importantly you'll need to find holes in the opponents' game and style that your friend won't see while actually fighting and help him to take advantage of these.
Cornering is hard work and takes time and dedication to get right. It's not just about screaming "you gotta get outta there, suck it up!".
3 very important words
Hammer - Fist - Elbow
" hogtie " - mark laimon . haha
Have your friend, and each other fighter you corner get an enswell (spelling). They are placed in ice and are used to reduce swelling between rounds. Learn to lightly use vaseline. In the gym turn the music up and YOU practice shouting instructions to your fighter.
But remember, it is up to the fighter to implement what you say.
Watch how Greg Jackson corners. He always keeps his fighters relaxed and thinking in between rounds. Many fighters expend too much energy on being over excited in a competition, especially a big show.
No offense intended at all here...but your friend really needs an experienced cornerman for his first fight. Nothing at all against you or your abilities...I am sure you are capable of doing just fine. Just seems like a fighter has quite enough to deal with at a "first fight" and experienced cornerman could help tremendously with a lot of those "first time" issues.
My recommendation: have him get an experienced cornerman and you tag along for the ride, paying close attention. Also pay attention to other cornermen, and learn that part of the game.
For better results, make new thread titled: "Attn. OMA: Cornering advise needed."
He is, afterall, a respected UFC cornerman.
Ive cornered guys in just about evry size show you could imagine, from the smallest shows to the bigger shows and the best pieces of advice I could give you are...
1) Don't get too emotional, coach objectively. Many people when coaching (especially in a big venue) tend to start just screaming incoherrently and don't really give the fighter any REAL advice. You just hear them on the side yelling stuff like "Hit 'em again, hit 'em hard," "again" "again." Leave that up to the fans they will yell plenty of that shit. Try to keep your advice to actuall pertinant stuff that will actually help your fighter.
An example of good advice would be, "Keep your hands up!" or "Circle to your right, or circle to your left."
2) Dont try to micro-manage your fighter. What I mean by this is, don't try to tell him evry little thing to do. This isnt a video game where you need to control or try to coach your fighters evry move. He's trainind for the fght and Im sure he has a pretty good idea of what he has to do. Pick your times to give him advice, quality of advice is beter than quanitity of advice. Plus if you are yelling the whole time, he's more likely to mentally ignore you and you will just be background noise to him.
3) Ask your fighter before the fight if there are any particular things he wants you to remind him of or how often to remind him of it. Example: First time I fought a rightywith decent power, I asked my corner to shout "Circle Right,Circle Right" If I started to slack off. When I watched the video, I was surprised how often I stopped circleing away from his power until I heard my corner remind me. Each time they Yelled it, I actually started circling away from his hard right.
4) Last peice of advice, If there are more than one corner people decide in advance wich one is going to be the one to shout advice, don't both start yelling and contradicting one another. Yelling above one another and different voices may distract your fighter. Usually go with the coach with the louder more distinct voice that the fighter will recognize.
I hope some of this advice helps you, good luck to you and your fighter. And be sure to have fun at the after-party. TTT
you're there to be his eyes and see what he cannot see. the fighters mind is pretty much buzzing away with the fight and he may not be thinking as quickly as he normally would. give him loud instructions to complete the technique he's working or if he's getting caught - help him to get out of it and back to controlling the fight. i.e. - he may need to turn into or away - he may need to take a left leg over or arch his back - you be the one thinking 2 steps ahead of what's going on.
good luck - lm
Somebody above posted that the guy should have an experienced cornerman for his first fight instead of the original poster. I disagree. I think your cornerman should be the person you're most comfortable with and who's voice you recognize... especially if it's your first fight. I've had fighters I only just met ask me to corner them and guess what... they didn't listen to me at all. I do agree that proper coaching from the corner takes a lot of practice to get right. Begin doing it from day one during training. In a loud, clear voice, tell your guys when you see openings and remind them of particular strategies and defenses.
A lot of new fighters just have friends corner them. Bad idea, unless of course that your friend trains with you and A) He knows your style and strategy, B)He's given you instructions during training before.
My biggest piece of advice: both of you (fighter & cornerman) should be practicing what you need to do during training for the fight. That way your both already used to working with and responding to each other during live sparring.
very true - one of the best cornermen that I've seen the fighters respond to was Yves Edwards - they do everything to a T with his instructions. he's loud without yelling. that's one of the most obnoxious things to see cornermen that look like they're losing it - screaming so loud that their voice becomes raspy and just yelling the same shit over and over and over. one group of guys comes to mind that I call the God squad, mostly wearing white shirts and ties and you fully expect them to be preaching a fire and brimstone revival when they leave.
show some control, be precise and working together is probably the best advise here.
later, ma
Point well made, and taken, Buckeye MMA. I have just learned something new today.
ttt
I cornered my buddy for his first fight and it was my first time cornering somebody.It was not fun at all.their was nobody else to corner him either that had any MMA experience so.I am pretty fairly Privy of MMA in general being a huge fan for over 12 years and have trained a bit for the past 2.BUT I have never fought before and pretty much all of my training has been in Jiu Jitsu.Which I still suck at.
My buddy won by KO but not before getting lit up against the cage and suplexed.When this happneed I just froze up and it was like I was watching a fight instead of cornering one.After he was Suplexed I remembered I was cornering him and he was getting beat down.He started to pull guard which he sucked at and I yelled "Don't pull guard!! get back up!!"..he dosen't and gets back up and lands a crushing right hand.His opponent lands on the ground but isn't out.I then yell "He isn't out pound him!!"..Ref stops it after 4 heavy blows to the nogging.
If you are not a experienced cornerman I would try and find one.believe me it is not fun.Then again does your friend have the experience to be in the cage fighting?
Great stuff by Hybrid Jon...
Also, is the corner responsible for bringing a towel in case it has to be thrown in? Not saying you will and I'm sure you hope not to have to...but it would suck if your guy is getting creamed and you didn't have one.
You could always rip off your tighty whities...