Using The Long Guard To Defend Hooks With Firas Zahabi
Hooks are devastating punches. They have a super high knockout percentage and are a great way to change up the targets that you’re throwing at and mess with your opponent’s guard. This means that you should learn how to throw hooks well. What might be even more important than that is to throw hooks and know how to properly defend against them so that you don’t end up getting hit with one.
The traditional way to defend against a hook is to bring your glove up to your ear, kind of like you would hold a phone to your head, and try to cover your whole side of your head, or at least as much as you could. This way you could drastically reduce the potential damage that you receive. This is one option but there are many and this way of blocking isn’t perfect.
Even if you successfully block the strike, you are still getting his with, at most, a boxing glove and your hand between your head and your opponent’s hook. Some force is still going to get through to you and it can still knock you off balance and break your stance.
This is why you need to have a few more defensive options when you’re defending against hooks, to make sure that you can have all your bases covered. If you want to cover all of your bases, you’re going to want to have a good coach show you all the different ways to defend against a hook, so you can learn them and drill them. Well don’t worry because we have one of the best coaches in the business to show you how to defend yourself against hooks.
In this video Firas Zahabi goes over how you can use the long guard to defend against hooks thrown at you. Frias Zahabi is one of the best coaches in MMA today. He is the head coach of Tristar Gym in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where he trains a ton of top level fighters in the UFC, Bellator and in other large promotions. He is most famous for being the head coach of UFC legend Georges St-Pierre.
Using The Long Guard Against Hooks
Firas starts the video off with showing the long guard that he likes to use to block hooks. He keeps his rear arm glued to the side of his head like how one would traditionally block hooks and he extends out his lead.
When his opponent throws his hook, Firas uses the long guard and places his lead arm on the shoulder of the arm that is throwing the hook. This way Firas not only cuts off the power but also cuts off the reach of the arm. This means that the chance of the hook even hitting you is drastically lowered.
You can do this if your opponent throws a rear hook or a lead, just make sure that you place your hand on the shoulder and that you’re in range for it.
Learn More From Firas Zahabi
If you like this technique breakdown and want to learn more from the legendary MMA coach Firas Zahabi then you should check out his complete video instructional “Core Striking Combination and Tricky Attacks By Firas Zahabi” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.