Quote:
Originally Posted by Dragonborn
Am I the only southpaw in here that kicks best with his/her right leg? I got my
information from Wikipedia and it says that ''A weakness of this strategy
[southpaw/right-legged] is that when facing disciplines like Muay Thai, which focuses on
attacking the lead side - a person with their dominant arm and leg forward risks having
his best weapons neutralized. Consequently, in MMA if one stands in a southpaw
stance (strongside forward), one must train one's cross and left low kick to make it
fast, hard and dangerous.'' - this makes it difficult for me to kick since I kick best with
my right leg, however, at the same time, fighting southpaw gives me a noticeable
difference in my speed and power when I punch/use my elbow. Any advice on how to
take advantage of this situation? In a boxing match I have less things to worry about
but in a street fight or something I want to make the most out of my punches and kicks
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Well in a street fight I don't think that you're stance matters as much as your targets. In a serious street fight you need to pick serious targets. Instead of kicking the leg kick the balls. Instead of punching the chin punch the throat. When striking the body you should still strike the solar plexus but when you've got targets like the groin, the eyes, and the throat to attack I would think of a body shot as more of a means to an end than and end in and of itself. You wanna cripple your would be assailent.
That said if you aren't thinking in terms of life and death there are lots of ways to improve your southpaw stance. I fight southpaw even though I'm right handed so I know what you're talking about.
Focus on moves that allow you to take advantage of your stance. Your right hand Jab needs to be quick and piston like. You should be able to double up on it at will and not just with a flick. Make them respect your reach with this strike since your jab should have more muscle behind it than a left jab from a right hander. Don't force it. Let it flow and pop out crisply.
Now on the same theme train your right lead round kick (especially at leg and body level) and your right snap kick. Just because it's your lead leg doesn't mean you can't kick with it. It isn't capable of generating as much momentum as your rear leg but it is quicker to strike since it's closer to the target. If you can throw a good side kick work on that too. This will extend your range a little bit further than your jab which is important against fighters who don't use their legs, IE Rampage Jackson.
Now you need to train some power strikes to back up the speed. Your right lead hook is a major weapon. It's range isn't quite as long as your jab or cross but it's close and when you pivot and turn your feet, hips, and shoulder it generates about as much power as your cross. Maybe more with a right hander depending on how good your cross is.
Bruce Lee said that 90% of your offense should be done with your lead hand and foot, while 90% of your defense is performed with your rear hand or foot. However that doesn't mean you don't have to train your rear side.
You MUST develope your cross and left uppercut, and you must develope your left leg kicks. Not left LEG kicks but your left rear round kick, your left rear snap kick (Stomp kick), and your spinning back kick.
At this point start building up some combos that you like. Personally I like to use a Jab, cross, Right hook, to another jab which allows me to use my hand speed to chain another combination or use that last jab to terminate the combo and regroup. Develope some power combos like Right hook, left cross, right hook or Cross, right hook, cross. Maybe throw a jab at the beginning of one of those combinations. Hell, Try chaining the 1,2,3 to the 2,3,2 or the 1,2,3,1 to the 3,2,3.
Once you've turned your left side into a respectable array of weapons to back up your right side I suggest finding certain techniques or combinations that you can execute with a switch step not just to confuse your opponent but to capitalize on the potential strength of firing a cross or head kick with your right side.
Example: From a 1 step distance to your opponent and with your right side forward execute a switch step to cut the angle and fire a right side kick to your opponents knee.
Example 2: fire a left cross that's not intended to land. You just want to have your fist in your opponents face then execute a switch step amidst the distraction and fire to his chin with a right cross.
As far as your lead leg being vulnerable to attack just remember to check kicks. It'll hurt. But if somebody leg kicks a lot and you keep checkin them it'll hurt him a lot more than it hurts you.
Southpaw, but kicks with right leg?
