A small fish or a shark?

My back is pressed against the mats that cover the wall while I try to lean into my sparring partner; but he puts a lot of pressure onto me. His shoulder is right on my solar plexus and he reaches for my left leg. I push his head down, try to keep my feet close to the wall and try to get rid of him. Suddenly he changes the direction of his pressure and I lose my balance – he drops down, catches both of my legs and I feel my feet leaving the ground. "Tssss!" - we both breathe out, when we hit the ground together, him on top and me trying to scramble into a better position. "Damn it! Why are my feet so big?" I think while trying to pass by his legs to get into the full-guard. He holds tight. "Maybe I can fake this... and then breaking his balance... what about the way to his back?" - but my plans get busted by a punch smacking into my face. I nearly forgot that we are doing MMA.

Josh postures up and I have to defend myself against a hail of punches. Again I try to scramble away – big mistake! Quick he gets his knee up, places it on my breast and puts his weight on it. I groan, want to push it away, but "the Wolfman", that is his fight name, controls me easily with his bodyweight and good balance. If there is a position you do not want to be in, it is the "knee-on-stomach". It is worse than being mounted when your opponent can keep his balance, because he can draw back his fists extremely far and put all his weight in his punches. I cannot get away, keep up my guard high and hope not getting caught with anything. Two hooks landing on my right ear are enough motivation to try to escape. I push up my hips, he stumbles, stops punching for a second or two and then I scramble. "Uuuum!" escapes my lips when he finds his balance again and mashes me to the ground again. Through the small slit between my forearms which protect my face, I see his right fist rising higher, ready to land square on my nose and, if this would be a real fight cause serious damage – "TIIIIMEEEE!" Dylan´s shout relieves me.

Josh gets up, smiles at me and we clap hands "Thanks man!" Nothing can make me stand up in the next minutes. We concentrated on takedowns today and did many drills. One drill was that our partner had to slap your knee and you went for the double-leg-takedown as fast as possible. Then it was his turn. We did this forever. That does not only make your legs and your lower back burn like hell, but it engraves the movement in your memory.

We did a lot of similar exercises like taking your opponent down while he is turned with his back to the cage. After three rounds of MMA sparring, I am done. My legs feel like I walked up steps for two weeks.

It is good to get your ass kicked sometimes. I love it – It makes sure that I do not become to confident and do not forget that I am just a small fish in a large pond.
But also small fishes can dream to become a shark one day ;)

This video was taken in a sparring session with big gloves a few weeks ago. It is not from the session I described, but if you want to check out MMA Sparring at Team Quest Chiang Mai: