Sparring advice Muay khao

[Will M]

 I’m a Muay khao fighter and have been sometimes struggling with sparring. As a fighter I heavily rely on power and aggression to win fights. This is usually because I feel it’s what I have to do in order to win against fighters who are more technical or proficient than me. Almost all the fights I have won were because I was more aggressive than my opponent. Sometimes I have trouble translating that to sparring. You have to be careful with straight knees during sparring, take away the power, etc.  Sparring is for timing and technique. I’ve never been the most technical fighter and so sometimes sparring can be frustrating. I’ve seen videos of certain aggressive fighters sparring (Youssef Boughanem for example) and their sparring almost looks totally different than how they would normally fight. I would have loved to see footage of Dieselnoi sparring just because I consider him the greatest. There’s so little footage of him unfortunately online and I always wanted to know what his sparring sessions were like. Would love to know if anyone has received advice before on this kind of struggle. Thank you. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by Will M

[Carlos13th]

One thing that I find its important to remember is that sparring is all about learning not winning as much as it sucks to feel that your opponent got the better of you. 

Sounds like you are already good at being aggressive so its worth working on the the things you are worse at during sparring. I find the best thing I can do when sparring is have a goal. I want to work on my Teep/Headmovment/range and make that my primary goal. Don't only do that but it allows you to have something you can focus on even if you are outhit. "Yeah the other person hit me more but I can feel my teep improving" is a good feeling and very worthwhile. 

[Shuli Baram-Guzman]

Stay super playful durring sparring sessions. Work on integrating defence moves that get you inside and in positions where (if you were in a fight) your muay kao style would benefit, and then smile at your partner and reset (thus your muscles are learning without finalizing the action). Another great sparring goal is to find yourself back at center and cutting off partners movements.  This helps when you start going too hard.