Onyx MMA Blog

SPARRING PARTNERS 101

1.The Skilled Fighter

Nothing really interesting here and we shan't elaborate on it. Basically your instructors and fighters in the gym fall into this category, Tonnes and tonnes of stuff to learnt from them, they'll teach you and spar with you real technically, just like how your first girlfriend taught you the concept of holding hands, guiding you along. Sparring partners like this are the best, you'll learn what kind of shots with hurt you, without actually getting hurt by it. ( Think of it as firing blanks in an army exercise)

2. The Skilled Poser

AHHHHHHHH, this is where things get interesting. The skilled poser, he's got the looks and parts of what a fighter is like in your mind. Silently shadow boxing at one corner, refusing to join the normal classes because he/she thinks they are too good for the class. All hell breaks loose when you spar with them. They will be constantly correcting your 'mistakes' and 'errors' in the midst of barraging you with unnecessarily heavy punches as if it were a championship fight( Mind you even championship fighters dont hit this hard, gotta pace themselves yo!) At some point in time you'll start to realise, HEY! THIS GUY IS JUST USING ME AS A PUNCHING BAG, the advices and coaching are just a ploy to keep you there and not hit back. And when the sparring session starts to get competitive. Our champion poser has already run out of gas and decide to call it a day and head for the showers, leaving you in a heaping pile of angsty mess, not knowing what to do after taking that many cheapshots.

3. The Phone Operator

For some reasons, these people sure love to talk. Don't get us wrong, it certainly makes the gym more lively and fun. But there's always a right thing to do at the right moment. Chatting while sparring surely isn't one of them. Your phone operator sparring partner, while throwing his jab crosses and leg kicks, love to conversate with you after either one of you guys land shots. " Ohhhh so you're in uni now? wha!? you're 21? I thought you're 16! So what are you doing now? How long have you been doing this? What's your name? SERIOUSLY........  leave the chatter and mingling after the sparring session. Soldiers dont chat with their instructors or buddies during a live-firing exercise yea??

4. Mr Lonely Valentine

Being single isn't bad by any means, some guys go to the club to strut their dance moves and buy girls drinks. Others try on Tinder, and then we have our favourite group of single peeps: Fellow gym goers :)  They're always dressed and groomed their best for training, sometimes you might mistake them for people who have already ended training and are heading down to town for dinner or something, but no! They are here to train. During sparring sessions, everything is all fine until one of the many Onyx eye-candies shows up for training. Like a male peacock trying to impress. Mr lonely valentine tries his best to get the eye-candy's attention, at the expense of your safety. He starts letting out low groans as he kicks or punches you. It gets harder and harder. You ideal sparring session suddenly turn into S##T just like how sparring with the poser would feel like. Please guys. There are many other ways to impress, like approaching the girl after training and initiating a chat ( that would be 99cents for the tip :) )

5. The Xiao Mei Mei

Or we would like to call them the Chilli padis, we have quite a feel deceivingly good martial artistes in the gym. You might think some of them are 16 or below. But all of them are old enough and some of them are even old enough to be your employer. You're not sure whether to go hard or to even hit them at all. until one of their leg kicks land on you and you realise. S##t just got real. Do not be fooled by them, take them seriously like how you would with a fighter ( technically and not with brute force of course :) )


In our gym there are many wonderful characters and be sure to check out part 2 of our post as we continue discovering unique and special sparring partners. OSSSS