Muay Thai and Kickboxing are contact sports. Even the most reserved fighters cannot avoid getting hit. Bruises and aches are just a few of the possible issues that every fighter must accept whenever they step into the ring.

While inflammation and bruises occur occasionally in sparring, the likelihood and frequency of getting hit ultimately depend on your style, especially if you’re an all-out fighter, as you’ll be in closer range, often taking more shots in exchange for landing your own. The more you push the pace to pressure your opponent, the more time you spend in the pocket, and the chances of being countered with a clean strike skyrocket. This can result in a seemingly contradictory phenomenon where aggressive fighters, known for overwhelming their opponents with punishing blows, often take the most damage, especially in the opening rounds of a fight when their rival is fresh.

The good news is that there are ways to keep yourself safe while maintaining an aggressive fighting style in both Muay Thai and Kickboxing, and in this article, we’ll show you just how to do it. If you are an aggressive fighter, or simply someone tired of getting caught with counters whenever you initiate a striking exchange, we have 5 simple and effective tricks that you can add to your arsenal that will make your strikes more effective while reducing your chances of getting hit.

So, without further introduction, here are 5 defensive habits that every aggressive fighter should develop if they want to avoid getting hit as they initiate an exchange.

1) Change Your Rhythm

If you charge forward at one continual pace, then it won’t take long for your opponent to figure out your timing. They are going to know exactly when and where you are going to be at any given time, making it easy for them to plan their next move well in advance.

A great way to make yourself unpredictable in the ring is to change your rhythm. That is, go fast and then slow down at different points in a round much like a car changing its gears. It changes the pace of the fight and gives you that much-needed time to adapt to your opponent’s strategy before resuming your assault.

For example, if your opponent begins to chop out your leg whenever you try to charge into the pocket, pump your breaks and spend a moment outside of range before continuing to apply pressure at a more controlled pace. Then, once you’ve blocked a few leg kicks, and your opponent has changed tactics, explode forward again to catch them off-balance.

2) Feint Your First Strikes

If you have taken the aggressive role in a fight, it is common for the other fighter to revert to a more evasive, second-phase, style of fighting. When this happens, they will often look to use your opening strikes against you to create openings with techniques such as parries, catches, and sweeps.

Once your opponent begins to do this, it is time to start feinting. That is, faking your first strike to draw a response from them.

When your opponent reacts to a feint, there’s often a brief moment when they drop their guard. This gives you the opportunity to find a safe entry into the exchange. Alternatively, they may instinctively fire off a counterattack while you’re protected or out of range, reversing your roles so that you can open the exchange with a second-phase counter of your own.

3) Change Angles

Charging straight down the centreline as you attempt to engage with your opponent is risky. Sure, if you overwhelm their defenses, then you’ll be able to outscore them up close. But if that doesn’t happen, you’re charging into the pocket where your opponent’s strikes will be most effective.

Like feinting your entries, changing angles makes it difficult for your opponent to predict where you will be in a fight. As you change the angle there will often be a brief window where your opponent is trapped in your effective fighting range while they cannot hit you. This makes initiating exchanges much safer and your opening strikes more likely to land.

4) Use Low-Risk Techniques In Your First Phase

Applying pressure by constantly pressing forward and throwing strikes is a gameplan synonymous with aggressive fighters aiming to tire their opponents in wars of attrition. As a result, it is usually the fighter in the aggressive role who will initiate an exchange.

Intelligent fighters know this and, as we’ve said, will often wait for the aggressive fighter to throw their first strike to counter. Therefore, unless you spot a huge opening, your first phase strike should be relatively low risk; it shouldn’t throw you off-balance or leave glaring holes in your guard.

Think of throwing strikes like jabs and low kicks; attacks that will off-balance your opponent if they land but keep you well-defended if they return fire with a fast counter. If your opponent is off-balanced after the opening phases of the exchange you can then continue with more aggression and higher-risk techniques.

5) Use Range Closing Techniques

While all of the previous defensive strategies are simple, effective and should be drilled until they become habits, sometimes you just need to bite down on your mouthguard and charge into the breach to get that fight-winning knockout.

In these situations, it’s best to utilize range-closing techniques that allow you to close the distance while remaining protected when your opponent inevitably returns fire to keep you at bay.

Techniques such as the Muay Thai Hop, The high march/Thai march , and the slide can all be used to shoot through your opponent’s defenses and into an effective range while keeping you protected from teeps and other range-maintaining techniques.

In Summary

Being an aggressive fighter in Muay Thai and Kickboxing can be an effective strategy, but it doesn’t come without its risks. Aggressive fighters may take some hits early on, but they often become more effective as the fight progresses into the later rounds. So, if you decide to take on this role in sparring or fights, practice these 5 tips until they become second nature. You’ll definitely become a more effective (and less banged-up) fighter because of them!

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