Dealing with untrained fighters
I had this question asked of me recently: "Curious situation, I find that in sparring I am better able to deal with orthodox, skilled fighters rather than raging brawlers who throw flurries. In a technical sense brawlers are easy to deal with but when it actually comes to going at it I'm thrown off by such a chaotic and aggressive style. I can handle them but it always throws me for a loop at first and it takes awhile to get my bearings and deal with that strategy. The punches thrown by "brawlers" tend to have less sting but they're supremely confusing. How do you deal with that?" If this happens to you, then whoever you're sparring with in normal training is "playing the game"; probably bouncing/skipping, jabbing, etc. outside the melee . This is why I have stressed the importance of methods like randori which train you for the melee . This also necessitates learning deflection (because deflection is the key to "living" in the mel...