Tips To Help You Stay Off The Canvas in UFC Undisputed 2009

Tips To Help You Stay Off The Canvas in UFC Undisputed 2009



The Cage opens, your opponent stands ready as you cross the threshold... hes confident.

As you take your place in the octagon. Bruce Buffer starts the intro, 3 5 minute rounds on the UFC undercard, Bruce finishes. The small crowd of people who have finished the preparations clear out of the cage, the door slams shut... No going back now.

Ariani walks the perimeter, briskly holding the number one stoically over her head.

The bell rings.... Are you ready?

Sure you did your training, you played through the tutorial, saw a couple of you-tube videos, you know what your doing.... right?

WRONG

I'm going to breakdown all 3 phases of the game in great detail to give the knowledge you'll require to dominate. Weather its Bobby from the mail room, or lil' Jimmy in Manitoba screaming for more chocolate milk, over his mic.

These are the things you want to have in your arsenal to combat any situation that will come up in the game.



The Stand Up

This is the only aspect of the game that you'll encounter in every fight so its the most logical to start with. its the area the average joe will understand the most so its also going to be th most in depth.

1. Know your range

this is the most common mistake I see. Head-kicks at probing range are the surest way to get yourself superman punched right in the head. Hooks from in close are just asking for a counter to the body, and body kicks are immediate straight left hand fodder.

This is what defines a great striker in this game, the ability to process this information and know what your should throw from where your standing and what your opponent is doing. It's imperative that you know this when you get the game know where Probing/striking/dirty boxing ranges are and the myriad of pitfalls for each of them.



2. Know your style

This is the most obvious of the things ill be telling you, but you'd be amazed how little people know them or there advantages, so lets break them down.

Muay Thai

Definitely the worst stand up style in my opinion, because your only signature strike is the flying knee(totally useless), unless your in the clinch, the head kick obviously is nice but your ability to use your hands is all but non existent as your limited to jabs.

Also if you miss on the high kick, understand the boxers will use the opportunity to land the big right hand, its unblockable until the animation finishes so only throw it if your in striking range and the fighter is moving in.

The good news is the clinch is pretty effective against most guys, although its pretty cumbersome and susceptible to a counter takedown, the knees you have access to are lethal game changers, you can also go for takedowns out of the position, or switch to the single collar tie by throwing a punch,so its very versatile.



Kickboxing

I call this the go between or the jack of all trades style. It's the best style for new fighters, as its the most unperdictable, the infamous superman punch, and spinning back fist are your signitures AND you get the high kick out of this style. It's ideal for the probing range. It contains little in the way of clinch ability, which is why you want to keep range.



Boxing

Sounds like it would be the worst of the striking styles but its not, its the most technical for sure, the ducking hook is the signature, as well as an uppercut that can be a beast if you can catch people moving in with it.

Its real claim to fame online is its lunging overhand from just beyond probing range, it can destroy fighters not ready for it.

From the clinch it is plenty affective with its use of the single collar tie you can brutalise fools with uppercuts and knees to the body. This is assuming that you can land it as you ll have nothing in the way of kicks save the outside/inside leg kicks, and totally worthless body kicks.



3. Know your enemy

What are his styles what is his takedown defense in comparison to your takedown offense and vice versa. If its bad can you work off your back? If not be ready for a takedown attempt, to drop your hands to go sprawl.

whats you cardio and whats his, if you have good cardio and he doesn't push the pace to tire him out. if its the opposite slow the pace and don't get into a cardio war on the ground, be judicious about transitions look to milk clock and score points first rather than try to end every fight with an amazing KO.

What is his submission offense to your defense? Now factor that against you cardio and know the price if you can't stay disciplined.

Transition Game

Ok so your smokin fools on the stand up stuffed, about 4 takedowns, but that bum finally got wise and took you down, and now your looking like Melvin Manhoef, against Jacure.

Well never fear I have a few tips that will at the very least get it back to your feet, and at most have your opponent tapping like that Morse Code Machine must have on the Titanic.



1. Know the controls

This may sound kind of dirogatory but its the truth, I can't tell you how embarrassing it is seeing people flail around on the ground sucking up their stamina trying the same transition, in the same way.

You have 4 differant minor and major transition activtators, 2 of which are on either pole of the the stick, the ones on the same side of the stick are there for comfort, so chose the one you like the most, but understand you need to select 2 of the 4, 1 north and 1 south, as these are the ones that will attempt the pass differently.

On Defense you can stuff a transition simply by holding left or right, what still remains unclear to me is whether or not its simply about your transition defensive stat, or if your stuffing them independently.

I am under the impression its the latter, left for north and right for south.

Know your pyramid -



This small pyramid sums the basic ground game up about as concisely as anything I've ever seen.

So study it, the swooping lines are major transitions direct lines are minors, however this pyramid doesn't include the back mount, that fits in as sort of a sub mount that transitions either back to mount up, into your opponents guard, or a major back to stand up. and the special skills such as rubber guard for bjj fighters are another facet all together, but its the perfect way to start.



2. Know your style

On the ground your second style shines so it bares doing another style breakdown.



Judo

I honestly don't know what the developers were thinking here, Judo is almost worthless, you get two crazy transitions and a pretty judo throw that takes you straight to side control, but everybody knows its coming so most of the time when you go clinch they'll counter the throw, and when they do it goes straight to back mount and into a rear naked choke all in one motion.

The one transition is an awesome transition that i basically call the home run swing its done from inside your guard with head control, when you use it you sit down pull your legs out, and then roll the guy on top of you straight into side control, its crazy awesome against Tito.

The next one is one Ive personally used to get a man off of me before. It takes you from the receiving end of mount up, to standing, you hook his arms with your feet and pull him down you then roll up. Crazy!

But that's it, BJJ gets a ton of sweet special positions, wrestling gets crazy slams and a new ground stance that you can finish fights from, and all you get in Judo is that. Also the only fighter worthy of using that has it is Karo Parisyan.

BJJ - if you want to fight off of your back then BJJ is for you, its claim to fame is mission control(and its animated wrong), why that was the only position it was given is unknown but all the stuff you can do from it most notably the transition into mount up in one major makes it godly in my book.

it doesn't stop there you can go for a sub from almost every position in the game including the clinch, so gassed fighters are in a load of trouble. it also gets one more special position called back side mount that you gain from mission control or sprawl.

Overall its the best tool set for guys who are going to neglect takedown defense.



Wrestling - the yang to bjj's yin, this style is for fighters who excel working from the top.

They have a crazy takedown that moves them directly into side control, a slam from sprawl, clinch and guard, and a special up/down slash guard hybrid, that allows for better striking.

They also have a nice reversal from bottom mount up.

Submission Game

Think of this as more of a trap that you spring, if the opponent gasses himself. Rather than a true facet of the game as it should be. learn what gassed looks like, watch the sweat, the way your opponent is breathing, the position you are in and know your submission offense to his defense.

If you have an advantage you'll make your opponent tap. If you don't you won't. Its fairly black and white, and overly obtuse which in my opinion can ruin the game for some folks.



These are the lessons I've learned playing this game, so far. Good Luck and happy gaming.