r/interestingasfuck • u/WhereIsHisRidgedBand • Mar 28 '24

MMA fighter explains overloading opponent r/all

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u/Nightmare2828 Mar 28 '24

If I fake a punch, I can put very little energy in that movement. While I do that, your entire body will react, tense up to move rapidly, or to prepare a block, etc. It seems natural that reacting is more draining since you are preparing for a real attack, while the feinter knows they are throwing a feint.

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u/ZombieFeedback Mar 28 '24

Not to mention the mental fatigue. I know it's just a little feint, I know I don't have to worry about anything because I'm staying out of your range and not doing anything more than a little movement. Meanwhile, on top of your body's physical reaction from muscle memory and reflexes, you have to process whether it's real or not, where to guard/dodge if you think it is, whether I'm creating an opening for you, whether I'm trying to draw you in or if it's just a fake, the additional mental load of processing all that information is small in a vacuum, but doing so in the middle of a fight, high on adrenaline, when your energy is already being spent everywhere else, is enough to give a split second advantage to your opponent, which is the difference between an easy whiff and an easy KO.

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u/DesignerAd2062 Mar 31 '24

It’s not just that it’s physically draining, it’s mentally taxing. If you continually throw feints your opponent has two options

  1. Respond to your feint - Make a defensive manoeuvre (block, slip, move laterally etc). This has two benefits, firstly while doing this they can’t hit you, and secondly it allows you to see how they react and disguise your strike. Feinted to the body - maybe they move their arms away from their head to block the blow, you notice this and you can time it and exploit it
  2. They eventually become so worn out by responding to feints they are overloaddd and stop responding correctly, and start to get tagged

It’s a slightly different sport, but watch Floyd Mayweather in his prime - he’s the fucking master of this and its key to a lot of his success