RingoSo yet again, don’t have the time I want to do the post I want. There was a big HMB event two? weeks ago and one of the big shot Russian teams came over. There’s a host of video from that I want to get to and may actually become a few posts. However I have barely finished watching it and forming my opinions and don’t have nearly the bandwidth today to organize my thoughts and put them into bytes. So instead you get to see Owner and Head Trainer of the Knights Hall Jaye Brooks giving a first hand lesson to one of his students Lane. It’s only a 30 second fight and I spent a good 10 minutes analyzing it for my own sake already so it’ll be much quicker to go through. I’ll hopefully have something from the HMB stuff this weekend but it may not be till next Friday. Without further ado.
The first 12 seconds showcase a really simple strategy. Don’t just throw a single strike. Jaye steps in, throws, Lane counter strike once and blocks the other time. But both times he stops after that and Jaye can fire a second shot without any issue. Never throw a single shot unless your are just at the edge of range and can void any return you get.
I also want to point out a subtle thing Jaye does as he enters in that first exchange. He takes his step to the edge of range, just about 1 second. Then just around the second second he shifts his guard up and shuffles his back food in. This is really the completion of the “half step” he took to get into range with he halted mid step. This shuffle and guard change, just out of range puts him close to a second before Lane in speed. They both take steps in towards each other and start their swings at the same time, but because Jaye is already chambered, both with his step and his strike, he not only land his blow first, he may even catch the block. It’s hard to tell from this angle but he definitely has the timing to do it if his blade is angled right.
Either way, his blade is already beginning it’s second strike as Lane is resetting his. Part of this is Jaye’s quicker hand speed from fighting for 30 years, but even if they were even in speed Jaye is a half strike ahead which lets him control the tempo of the fight till his opponent takes it back.
The next exchange isn’t great. Jaye does use his lunge and foot speed to place him at an angle where his blade deflects Lane’s. Lane came in with some power though so I believe it would still count in a traditional ACL Singles match. I will say Lane would have been better served throwing a quick vertical snap cut down the center line here, which would have landed before Jaye’s cut giving him the slight advantage in that exchange. Though with his guard pulled up high and out like that he may not have had the speed.
Lane initiates the next exchange and while it appears to be a trade of 1 for 1, it’s better than a 2 for 1 trade like he’d been getting. Throwing that second shot is key. Lane has to watch his chambering though. Notice how Jaye rarely brings the blade past his head when setting up shots? Lane’s hands are coming back to his chin and the blade is pointing behind him when he starts to throw. It telegraphs far too much and is a bit slower as well.
Compare that to Jaye using his pre-chamber step to get into range in 14-18 second marks. Despite putting no real power into it, that blade slides quickly past Lanes defense to snap his face. The next few seconds are really illustrative of the difference.
At the :22 mark, Jay start to step in again and Lane appears to misread, thinking a lunge is coming and goes for his Teep, which is very effective at stopping and opponent mid close. Jaye however has been using a stutter step the whole fight to keep Lane off balance and it worked again here. Lane is too far out of range to land the kick. However it does give Jaye pause, allowing Lane to set up a strike and they trade 1 for 1 here, as Lane steps out to keep the exchange even. My only real complaint here is that if Lane had landed his shot right after his foot had hit ground, instead of starting it then, he could have probably landed 2 shots to Jaye’s 1 and taken back some of the ground he lost.
The bout ends with another telegraphed oberhau which Jaye catches in a beautiful window guard. Slow it down here cause there’s a really subtle feint. Jaye starts to roll around the blade bringing his blade up and hands in line to throw up high. Just as Lane starts to react he drops the blade down and delivers a hard blow to the gut. As the round ends he repeats the process, coming back high and setting up as if he’s going to do a vertical murder stroke, than driving the blade horizontal and low into the midsection again.
There are alot of things to take away from this fight but the one I’m gonna concentrate on is that quick subtle chambering of shots out of range. The use of footwork to keep my opponent off balance and unready for when my shot actually starts. I’m also gonna spend alot of time making sure I’m not telegraphing my shots and hopefully get the other new Knights Halls guys working on it as well.
Thanks for Reading.