Mixed Martial Arts Technique of the Week: The Straight Right Hand

Mixed martial arts is a seemingly endless bag of techniques but a wise man once told me to be brilliant at the basics.

My right hand is my best punch but having narrow shoulders and not a lot of natural power, I flared my elbow out to gain a lot of power on the punch, and sure, it’s great on the Thai pads and even better on the heavy bag but in real life, it fails because they see it coming a mile away.

Hey, look over here! I’m going to throw the straight right hand. Just get your head off the centerline and you’ll be okay.

Even if it means you lose 30% power on your right hand, you keep the elbow in pre strike and during the punch as well. I understand finishing like a corkscrew with the elbow high but just remember that what is corked in must be corked out.

When the right hand comes straight down the middle, it is one of the most beautiful things to see in mixed martial arts. Last year, we saw some good ones. Kevin Holland’s knockout of Joaquin Buckley with a straight right was picturesque.

And this past Saturday night’s action saw some beautiful one-two’s and lead two’s.

I believe this is exactly how Alexander Volkov broke the nose of Alistair Overeem in their main event clash this past Saturday night in Vegas. He is a Kyokushin Karate guy and was throwing a lot of his right hands like pistons.

Devonte Smith was also able to use his right hand to chip away and eventually finish Justin Jaynes over the weekend as well.

Let’s take a look at some of the best right hands of all time in both mixed martial arts and boxing as well as highlight the fighters I think will be firing them straight down the pipe at UFC 258 this Saturday night from Las Vegas.

Best Straight Right Hand Ever in MMA?

Anderson Silva

I guess it makes perfect sense that the greatest fighter of all time would have the greatest straight right of all time but Anderson Silva is primarily a southpaw. He has knocked fighters out with a straight right hand before, though.

Heck, he knocked Forrest Griffin out with an anchor punch or a jab with his right hand.

People think that wasn’t a hard land…Go back and watch the tape. Watch how much a fighters’ ears flop and that will tell you about how hard of a strike they were hit with. Anderson Silva is a southpaw but we will include him anyway.

As diverse of a striker and literal knockout artist, Anderson has put away many fighters with just a straight power punch.

Another amazing straight comes from another southpaw.

Conor McGregor

The Notorious Conor McGregor’s stock hasn’t been this low in some time.

Do we buy low? He is virtually even money against Poirier!

It is pretty tempting but it appears that Conor McGregor is going to need something other than his straight power punch alone to defeat Dustin Poirier.

He thought he had him and was so confident that he attacked Poirier at his strength and the Irishman is still limping around weeks later.

I believe McGregor will have the advantage in the rematch versus Dustin Poirier if he gets back to his style of movement that won him the first fight with Poirier back in 2014. Conor is the far better kicker and ever since his foray into the boxing world, he has forgotten about his legs for offense and defense, for that matter.

Now, let’s look at some of the fighters from this Saturday’s UFC 258 that I think will be led to a win by their beautiful straight right hands.

Kamaru Usman

Starting at the top, we have to go with one of the most dominant fighters in the world today, The Nigerian Nightmare Kamaru Usman. He doesn’t have a death touch like Conor McGregor or how Anderson used to hurt fighters badly with just a straight shot down the middle.

Kamaru throws it so straight, though. Straight enough to break the jaw of Colby Covington when the challenger was turned slightly away from his opponent.

Usman is going to have a 5-inch reach advantage against Gilbert Burns and how Usman decides to use his right hand will determine a lot, primarily whether or not Gilbert’s left hook beats him back his face or not.

Usman has underrated striking and hey, he might hurt Gil with one of them, especially if the Brazilian is on his way in-which will be often with a 5-inch reach disadvantage.

Bobby Green

Bobby can get a little sloppy on defense with his shoulder rolls and such but he generally throws a pretty straight power punch from his rear side.

Green is a good boxer with above average takedown defense and he will need both against wily veteran Jim Miller. Even though Bobby lost his last fight to Thiago Moises, one in which we called the upset, I think he will be able to fend off whatever Jim Miller has to offer.

Green beat Guida and at this point in their respective careers, I think the similarly styled Clay Guida is a better fighter with more in the tank than Jim.

You can get Bobby at (+500) to win by TKO which isn’t a terrible line considering Miller’s age of 37 and uber mileage to boot but (-120) for a Green decision win is enough for me to throw a unit at this play.

In Conclusion

We didn’t talk about what boxer has the best straight right of all time and you might be surprised at my pick.

It is absolutely perfect except for the fact that his hands are incredibly brittle at this point and it might break if he throws it too hard.

This right hand is, of course, set up by some of the best defense of all time but just watch the punch when he is hitting the bag. It seems so routine and he makes it look so easy that its complexities are forgotten by the untrained mind.

Get your bets in and get ready to watch for those elbows flaring out and let’s try and see the right hand coming before the opponent does.

PLACE YOUR BETS NOW!