Tips for TKD vs. BJJ/Kempo fight!

[Biskit]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine who recently moved from Korea asked me if I would like to spar with her! She is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do from what is probably a very intense school in Korea (Seoul), and I have a white belt in BJJ and an orange in Shaolin Kempo. This fight would just be for fun, no one getting seriously hurt of course.

I'm trying to work on a good strategy, or find tips to play to my advantages to this fight. I don't know much about TDK, but I understand that there are lots of very fast and powerful kicks (which I must admit I am terrified of!) It seems pretty logical to try and get inside her kicking range and take her down ASAP, but I'm not sure how this would work out. (I assume TDK does not have any ground techniques?)

If you were in this fight, what would you try to do? ANY tips are very much appreciated! It would also be interesting to hear from anyone who does TDK what their strategy would be if they were fighting me, so I know what to look for!

Thanks!

[JusticeZero]

They have a lot of kicks from a side-facing stance. From what I have been told by someone who has sparred a fair bit with some contact-loving ones, they are extremely vulnerable to takedowns and sweeps, as well as any sort of throw that involves stepping behind them. As far as he was concerned, rasteira and vingativa were so easy to use on them, that it was almost like sparring a non-martial artist.

From my experience with one of "those people" who wanted to show us up in our own school, their lateral and turning mobility is pretty poor.. but then again, I consider boxers to have mediocre mobility, so take that for what it's worth. Once I started moving around the guy in our class, the attacks completely stopped and all he did was sidestep to try to track me.

[ps1]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine who recently moved from Korea asked me if I would like to spar with her! She is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do from what is probably a very intense school in Korea (Seoul), and I have a white belt in BJJ and an orange in Shaolin Kempo. This fight would just be for fun, no one getting seriously hurt of course.

I'm trying to work on a good strategy, or find tips to play to my advantages to this fight. I don't know much about TDK, but I understand that there are lots of very fast and powerful kicks (which I must admit I am terrified of!) It seems pretty logical to try and get inside her kicking range and take her down ASAP, but I'm not sure how this would work out. (I assume TDK does not have any ground techniques?)

If you were in this fight, what would you try to do? ANY tips are very much appreciated! It would also be interesting to hear from anyone who does TDK what their strategy would be if they were fighting me, so I know what to look for!

Thanks!

You need to get inside her kicking range. That is, close the gap and clinch. You'll likely have to stuff a mid level side kick to do this. Don't stop when it makes contact, just run right through it. She's gonna try to keep you in kicking range. And she'll probably be pretty good at it. If you can't close the gap...you will lose the battle. Talk to your BJJ instructor for the best methods for doing this.

[DWx]

It'll depend on the style of TKD but I guess if she's from the south it'll most likely be WTF/Kukkiwon TKD. Expect lots of legs, maybe not so much hands (but that depends on the style/school). Get inside them early on or she'll just pick you off with roundhouses, backkicks, pushing kicks, maybe side kicks if she's ITF style. Her hands may or may not be any good, it really depends on the school as to whether they emphasize it or not. I'd just get in close and be wary of them on the way in. Probably no ground game to speak of or if she does it'll most likely consist of stuff to facilitate her standing up again as quickly as possible so I really think your best bet is to get in close early and take her to the ground.

If it was me trying to fight you (as a TKD person), I'd be wary of the takedowns and try to keep you on the end of my legs by picking my shots and moving a lot. My style does emphasize hands so its not so much of a problem if you try to close the distance but I'd still want to avoid ending up on the floor so if you did come in close I'd want to make the gap bigger again.

To give you more of an idea of what to expect, try to find out what style she is because there is a fair bit of variation between them (its about as broad as using the term "Karate"). I'd then look it up on YouTube to get a better idea of how she might fight.

Sounds like it'll be some fun training though so good luck

[The BB of C]

For goodness' sake, don't get kicked. That's all there really is to it. Strategies will help but if she's faster than you, there won't be much you can do. Sometimes there isn't much behind speed alone. But if its true that she practiced at a good school, it will be strong too. I used to try to run through, taking the contact in order to get in range. That doesn't always work either. Especially against students from a good school, you'll get stopped by a straight kick if you take it. Try to side step at the last second and keep moving forward. Then look out for spinning techniques. Keep your hands up and your head low. Justice Zero had some of the best advice. Make no mistake, they can still punch. I've actually never seen someone who's only practiced Taekwondo throw a punch other than a straight punch to the face. You'll have fun sparring with your friend but just remember there's still power behind those feet and they're fast.

[isshinryu5toforever]

Unless she used to compete for a middle or high school, I wouldn't count on her TKD being that good. TKD in South Korea has become mostly a kid's sport with very few over the age of say 16 bothering with it. The majority of schools I've visited, well over a dozen, don't do much if any hard sparring.

Just for reference, there are only 3 ITF schools in all of South Korea from my understanding. They cater mainly to adults and to foreigners who learned ITF outside Korea. So, I would say she's almost certainly a WTF practitioner.

[sensei8]

She's TKD?! Watch out for their very deceptive kicks, and jam their kicks at every possible opportunity.

Good luck!

[Adonis]

I would talk to her first to see what type of sparring you two would be doing rules and and how much contact and what not, and play according to that, she may just want to do point sparring and have fun and train with a new friend. I would just do your best, don't do any thing that would be rude, watch the contact, and between rounds, or what ever if you keep getting caught with a move, ask her for pointers.

If she cool with take downs then use the advice as others above said.

Either way be cool and have fun this could be a great learning oppertunity for you to pick up new techniques and stratgies.

[tallgeese]

Botttom line, don't play her game. You know what it is going in. Do not play at distance, do not look for her strategy, do not feel her out.

Crash the distance gap. No dancing, just get in. Foul whatever come in and lock up. If you fail at first, continue this assult until you get ahold of her. Pummel for grips and takedown instantly. Press this offensive until it works.

Don't over think the thing. Crash and grapple. Use the advantage you have that she does not. Bring it to the ground and own the contest.

[MasterPain]

Botttom line, don't play her game. You know what it is going in. Do not play at distance, do not look for her strategy, do not feel her out.

Crash the distance gap. No dancing, just get in. Foul whatever come in and lock up. If you fail at first, continue this assult until you get ahold of her. Pummel for grips and takedown instantly. Press this offensive until it works.

Don't over think the thing. Crash and grapple. Use the advantage you have that she does not. Bring it to the ground and own the contest.

Yeah, what he said.

Also protect your face.