The MMA Stance
Longer, squarer and higher than a boxing stance — and every difference has a reason.
The MMA Stance
Video · 10:00 · coming soon
In this lesson
- Set stance length and width for takedown defence
- Distribute weight so the lead leg can check a kick
- Understand what the stance gives up and why the trade is worth it
Coaching cue — Stand as if someone might shoot at your legs, because they might.
Three problems boxing does not have
A boxing stance is optimised for one thing: punching a person who can only punch back. Change the rules and three problems appear immediately.
- Low kicks. A bladed stance with weight on the lead leg offers that leg as a target it cannot move off.
- Takedowns. A narrow stance with the lead foot far forward hands someone a leg to grab.
- The cage. Distance management changes when there is a wall to be pinned against.
The MMA stance is what boxing looks like once those three constraints are added.
The differences
| Element | Boxing | MMA |
|---|---|---|
| Length | About one stride | Slightly longer |
| Width | Shoulder width | Similar, but squarer to the opponent |
| Weight | Fifty-fifty | Fifty-five to sixty percent rear |
| Lead foot | Toe pointed in | Toe more neutral, ready to lift and check |
| Hands | Both at the cheek | Lead hand lower and further forward |
| Chin | Tucked behind lead shoulder | Tucked, and the neck actively protected |
Why the hands change
In boxing, gloves are large enough to hide behind. In four-ounce gloves they are not, and a high tight guard also blinds you to level changes you have to see coming.
The lead hand sits lower and further out. It is doing three jobs: framing against the clinch, monitoring for the shot, and jabbing. The rear hand stays high and home, because the rear hand is what stops the punch you did not see.
The cost
Squaring up gives away hip rotation, and hip rotation is where punching power comes from. You will punch slightly less hard from this stance than from a boxing stance. That is the trade: you give up some torque in exchange for not being taken down by the first person who bends their knees.
If your stance cannot sprawl from where it is, it is a boxing stance. Test it: from your normal stance, can you drive your hips down and your legs back without a preparatory step? If not, adjust and try again.
Drill it
Three rounds of two minutes. Round one: hold the stance, and every fifteen seconds either check a kick with the lead leg or sprawl. Round two: move in all four directions, sprawling on a partner's signal. Round three: shadowbox, sprawling whenever they clap. The stance is correct when the sprawl does not require you to reorganise first.