The naming of (then) recently retired MMA fighter Duane “Bang” Ludwig to head coach at Team Alpha Male happened in December 2012. Since then I think the Alpha Male fighters record in the UFC is 15-1-0. That’s not bad. Especially in the light of the loss (Dillashaw vs Assuncao) being a VERY close one. So – on the contrary – that record is very good 🙂 So, obviously Duane Ludwing must be doing something right.
Tonight (14.12.2013) FOUR fighters from Alpha Male are fighting in the UFC (UFC on Fox 9): Joseph Benavidez in the title bout, Urijah Faber, Chad Mendez and Danny Castillo. While I can’t guarantee them all to win (noone could on that high level) I believe their chances are very good and they have all developed tremendously in the last year. This post will look a bit into HOW Bang has managed to achieve what is described here in the Cage Potato article in numbers. Numbers are artificial of course meaning all these are still subject to quite small sample sizes and most of the effects would not be statistically significant. However qualitatively there has been a lot of improvement in relatively short time.
I must say that what happens (and has happened) in the Alpha Male training rooms is a pure speculation on my part. I have read a few articles, looked at a few video clips which show glimpses of training. Fighting wise I’ve been always interested in Team Alpha Male fighters (I wonder why … being somewhat short and stocky grappling-based fighter myself 🙂 So I thought I’d look into those 14 fights and other info to analyze what it must be that Ludwig does. How do his teaching work within the context of more prominent Team Alpha Male fighters’ styles.
First of all lets look at what was there before. Before Ludwig, there was MASTER THONG. Yes, that’s what he is called. His real name is Thonglor Armatsena. That’s the dude:
I do not know him personally. I’ve seen him corner in UFC fights, I’ve seen him hold pads in a few videos. By that I must say he is quite a character (well look at the name he goes by). How much of that personality is real (which directly would transfer into training as well) and how much is an act I can not say.
What I can say is by the little info I have he seems to have a more traditional Muay Thai approach to training. Meaning the training was quite high volume in general (which of course matched with the wrestling work-ethic of most Team Alpha Male guys). He of course brought striking expertice compared to the skillset most of the guys already had. However traditional Eastern-influenced striking training emphasizes high volume, technical perfection in isolation and very standardized training. That is because there exists a quite universal view of “ideal” style in the Eastern-influenced martial arts mindset.
In traditional Muay Thai fights where fighters often “lock horns” walking each other down and seeing whoever comes out on top in exchanges from midrange. In MMA on the other hand the midrange exists for far shorter time – fighters more than often disengage or clinch to wrestle and strike from really close.
Watch Master Thong hold pads. He does move around but there are very stereotypical movement patterns and he almost always stands still while taking a combination.
Do you notice as well how similar his padwork patterns are for totally different people? Seeing him in TUF 19 one could witness even more of the same.
Duane Ludwig said about Alpha Male that “I’ve been handed a parking lot full of race cars.” While I believe that is true in some sense – bunch of high level athletes with good work ethic are a coach’s dream – I think there has been a great part in why the guys seem to be doing so much better in such a short time. Especially when quite a few of them could be considered “old dogs” to whom new tricks could be hard to teach if you consider the stereotype to be correct.
Duane Ludwig does move. He walks backwards when he holds pads. Opponent walking backwards is what happens when wrestling-based strikers press forward. He also forces a longer distance in between combinations and a longer more MMA-like distance when pressing forward himself as a padholder. Even though having trained and fought in thailand, Ludwig has always had a more “Dutch” or “Western” style of striking. That means more footwork, more pressing with the movement and while said movement is blocked then resetting outside the range. After which one can start again with footwork (getting proper angles), pressing from said angles and resetting if needed. That is quite the opposite to traditional Muay Thai “locking the horns” principle (which is also reinforced by full MT ruleset) and more suited for MMA where the typical distance between the fighters is longer than in Muay Thai (or even K1) as fighters are conscious of possible long distance lunging punches, kicks AND shooting for takedown. Also the midrange where “locking the horns” often happens in MT does not have so much of a place in MMA when the smart thing to do is to press forward when you are winning the exchange or back out if you are losing one.
You can witness it even in the super light open workout routine which is very close to the fight:
Also glimpses of that can be witnessed in the following story:
Having been a MMA fighter with such a diverse career and training experiences I believe Ludwing pays more attention to personal standup styles more compatible with the specific fighters grappling, physical attributes etc. All of this of course is far easier for a dedicated person in dedicated head coach role. It might be that Thong was just not involved enough in the whole game to be as considerate. It might be that MMA-specifics were more up to the fighters themselves – a viewpoint from which it is often very hard to really boost ones game with new skills.
However specifically I think this in a nutshell is what Duane “Bang” Ludwig has done with Team Alpha Male’s striking: by doing specific and fighter-specific drills and real quality padwork Ludwig has managed to teach Alpha Male fighters to …
1) … properly move forward while punching which results in more generated power and longer reach
2) … use (more) straight(er) punches while attacking to set up other attacks which results in longer reach and more functional punching combinations
3) … use kicks as a follow up when the opponent has been forced to move backward with 1) and 2)
4) … use MMA-specific takedowns alike to the ones described in this post when the opponent has been forced to move backward with 1) and 2) or as a counterattack when the opponent is baited into swinging from even a longer distance via 1) and 2)
So remember coaches: adapt to the style of the person you are coaching, focus on the fundamentals and give realistic feedback, resistance and movement EVEN when learning new details and techniques.
I hope tonight’s UFC will give me more than enough food for thought for MMA-wrestling analysis. Enjoy the fights! I know i will!
MMA - how does it work? 