Striking Level Change Details With Carlos Condit
It’s very easy for newer fighters to become headhunters. It’s even fairly common for pros to do that in certain situations. This is why switching up targets becomes very important. Changing levels is one of the best ways to mix up your targets and take new angles of attack on them.
Being able to change levels effectively and often is an incredibly useful skill to have, as it will make it much harder for your opponent to know where your next shot is targeting. Being able to change levels and hit to the body and to the head in the same combination will also make it pretty much impossible for your opponent to block all of, or even most of the strikes in that combination.
Being able to change levels effectively and land shots with it will also help by setting up other strikes through fakes. If you land a few good level change shots on your opponent will likely become highly reactive to any techniques that you throw and any time that you level change. This makes level changing a great tool to use for feinting, using a level change to make your opponent think that you are going to the body and then quickly changing targets to go upstairs.
This is a great way to set up a knockout as your opponent is likely to drop their hands, even if it’s only slightly, so that they can block any shots to the body, leaving their head and more importantly, their chin, wide open to strikes.
In this video, former UFC interim Welterweight champion Carlos Condit goes over a simple combination that utilizes level changes to land the final shot. The combination itself is actually a standard boxing combination, a 1-2-3 to rear straight to the body coming back to the head with a lead hook.
This combination works for a number of different reasons. First it gets your opponent thinking that you are only going to be punching to the head, which will get them focused on defending only their head, likely leaving their body wide open.
This will make the rear straight to the body more likely to land. Condit also says that you can slip to the outside of any counter strikes that your opponent might throw to throw this rear straight to the body. After landing the rear straight you are then going to come back up for that lead hook to the head.
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This shot is more likely to land as after landing a hard and uprising rear straight to the body, your opponents hands are likely to drop out of pain or a desire to protect the body from further damage so you don’t score or probably a combination of both. This means that their hands are going to come down and their head will be exposed like we mentioned earlier. This means that if you land that lead hook in the right spot, it’s likely to be a knockout shot.
Slipping a shot and returning to the body is also a part of this combination and that works well as when your opponent punches, the side of the body that the punching arm belongs to becomes exposed and is extended. This makes it perfect for a body shot, as your opponent will be exposed and coming towards you, meaning that your counter shot will hit even harder and might even drop them.
To end off the video, Carlos states the importance of moving after landing the combination, as your opponent might be really tough and ready to come back right after you finish it. This means that you should either pivot or move very quickly off the center line to avoid any oncoming damage.
If you want to learn more striking techniques and drills like this one, check out or video series with Carlos Condit, available now!