Episode #97 – Comparing Boxing to MMA Striking with Adam Singer

Welcome to another exciting episode of the podcast, where we dive into the dynamic world of combat sports. In today’s episode, we are joined by the insightful Adam Singer, the head coach at SBG Athens in Georgia. With over 25 years of experience coaching MMA and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Adam shares his deep understanding of the evolution of MMA striking and how it differs from traditional boxing.

We explore the concept of ‘aliveness’ in training, a method that emphasises uncooperative and unscripted drills to help combat athletes adapt and thrive in real combat situations. This episode offers a unique perspective on how to develop versatile fighters who can effectively integrate boxing techniques into their MMA skill set.

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The Concept of Aliveness

Aliveness is the core principle that underpins Adam’s current coaching philosophy. Rather than drilling static combinations, he advocates for training that is unpredictable, dynamic, and reactive. This means live partner work where both participants are trying to achieve their goals under resistance. It’s a foundational principle at SBG, and it has roots that stretch beyond MMA, into Bruce Lee’s philosophy of Jeet Kune Do.

Aliveness means all training should be responsive and dynamic—training where both participants are genuinely trying to achieve their own goals, whether that’s landing a strike or defending a takedown. An exercise or drill being “alive” means that the activity is uncooperative and unscripted. 

This is in contrast to ‘dead’ training—patterned drills with no consequence or decision-making. to traditional boxing drills that follow fixed patterns. The classic boxing drill of slipping a pre-set 1-2-3 and returning fire with a hook-cross-hook is a perfect example of something that’s rehearsed but ultimately disconnected from the realities of a live fight—there’s no uncertainty, no adaptation, and no decision-making under pressure.

Instead, this approach means designing environments where athletes must perceive and act. Whether it’s controlling distance, defending takedowns, or slipping punches, everything is framed as a live interaction. For boxing coaches, adopting aliveness might mean moving beyond rigid pad routines and partner drills and toward activities that simulate actual boxing scenarios—like constrained sparring, game-based learning, or partner-based timing exercises.

Shadowboxing? Not in This Gym

A bold statement in a boxing context. Shadowboxing is almost sacred in boxing culture. Shadowboxing is a staple in boxing gyms around the world. It’s where boxers are told to visualise opponents, develop fluency in movement, and refine technique without the pressure of an opponent. It’s used to rehearse technique, warm up, and develop rhythm. But Adam has removed it from his structured sessions. Why? Because without a partner, there is no feedback, and if a partner is available, why not use them?

Shadowboxing teaches action without perception. It lacks the feedback necessary for true skill development. You punch the air, but there’s no signal to read, no response to your movement. For beginners especially, this is problematic. It builds habits without context. 

That’s not to say shadowboxing has zero value, but it has more value to advanced athletes who understand what they’re visualising. But without an opponent, there’s no uncertainty, no reaction, and no external information to process. And when there’s a partner available, even a beginner, Adam sees that time as better spent interacting. Instead of isolated reps, why not play games that develop footwork, timing, and reactions simultaneously?

Instead, Adam advocates for replacing—or at least balancing—shadowboxing with partner drills that are low-intensity but rich in information: target games, non-contact sparring, or touch drills can all engage the mind and body more effectively.

Training Beginners: Throw Out the Playbook

How do you teach someone who’s never boxed before? Adam’s approach to beginners is to drop the traditional curriculum. Forget step-by-step instruction, carefully sequenced techniques, or an over-emphasis on stance and posture. He doesn’t start with stance, jab technique, or footwork drills. Instead, he introduces problems and lets solutions emerge.

Newcomers at SBG Athens don’t start with the jab-cross or orthodox stance. They start by playing games like shoulder tag or belly boxing. These drills are deceptively simple: try to touch your partner’s shoulder or midsection while avoiding being touched yourself. There’s no right or wrong way to stand, no prescribed combinations—just interaction, pressure, and feedback.

These games look simple but contain all the fundamentals: movement, distance management, reaction, and rhythm. Rather than telling someone where their feet should be, Adam lets them find out through play.

This approach might sound chaotic, but it’s rooted in the idea that coordination and technique emerge from solving real problems. Over time, as beginners experience what works and what doesn’t, their stances organise themselves, and the mechanics of striking start to form naturally.

In traditional boxing, coaches often frontload information—how to stand, how to pivot, how to throw six-punch combinations. But beginners are often overloaded and unable to connect that knowledge to a real situation. Adam flips that model. Context comes first, explanation comes later.

Boxing coaches could consider using constraint-led drills for beginners. For example, limiting the number of targets or creating games where only the lead hand is used can simplify decisions while keeping practice representative. Let them move, let them try, and then help them make sense of what happened.

This doesn’t mean abandoning instruction, but rethinking when and how it’s delivered, instead of correcting everything at once. Technique becomes meaningful only when the fighter has a reason to use it.

Boxing vs. MMA Striking: Context is King

Why do MMA fighters often look “unorthodox” to boxing coaches? Because the rules and environment of MMA demand different solutions. The context is completely different. In boxing, the range is tight, the gloves are large, and takedowns don’t exist. In MMA gloves are smaller, the range is longer, kicks and takedowns are legal. These differences change everything. In MMA, a wide stance or sitting down too heavily on a punch invites a leg kick or a level change.

MMA strikers must constantly be aware of threats that don’t exist in boxing—takedowns, clinch entries, kicks. These change how strikes are thrown and defended. Techniques that look “wrong” in boxing may be optimal in MMA. For example, sitting down on a punch to transfer weight makes sense in boxing. In MMA, it makes you vulnerable to a takedown. A compact left hook might be optimal in a boxing ring but be a poor choice in a cage where proximity invites grappling.

Boxing coaches need to understand that effective striking is task-specific. A powerful overhand in MMA might not look like a textbook punch—but if it lands clean and avoids a level change, it’s functional. The rules, gloves, and scoring all influence how strikes are thrown and received. This doesn’t mean boxing has nothing to offer MMA—far from it. But it does mean coaches must be flexible. They need to adjust the ‘ideal form’ based on context, rather than assuming one model fits all.

The ‘perfect’ jab in boxing may not work when an opponent is standing two feet further away and ready to shoot a double leg. Rules dictate behaviours and nowhere is that more evident than in how range, glove size, and scoring all shape a fighter’s choices.

Timing and Skill as Emergent Qualities

Adam believes that timing is not something you teach directly—it’s something that emerges naturally from dynamic practice. It comes from interacting with another body, not from repeating a pattern. Timing is perception and action. You see a cue, and you respond.

This challenges the traditional boxing coach’s approach of isolating drills to ‘teach’ timing. You don’t develop timing through repetition alone, but through interaction. Instead of isolated drills, boxers need sparring games and constrained interactions where timing becomes necessary. Athletes must be able to read movement, distance, rhythm—and respond in kind. And the only way to develop that is to put them in situations where those things matter. Bag work and pad work, while useful in their own right, often strip away the very cues that are essential for developing timing.

For example, an offence-vs-defence drill where one boxer only jabs and the other must defend and counter creates a micro-environment for timing to emerge. Or rounds where fighters are not allowed to step backward, forcing them to adjust angles in real time.

This reinforces the idea that sparring—done smartly and with intention—is the most effective teaching tool. Not full-contact sparring, but mini-games like “offence vs defence” rounds, controlled counters, or positional sparring can all help athletes build a feel for timing in ways that isolated drills can’t replicate.

The Fight Against Head Trauma

Safety is non-negotiable. As coaches we need to protect our athletes. Despite daily sparring, SBG Athens avoids head trauma at all costs. Sparring there is conducted with low power and strict control. The goal is longevity and skill development, not proving toughness or conditioning through damage.

Hard sparring often creates more damage than development. Fighters get injured or burn out before they ever step into the cage. Instead, Adam focuses on controlled sparring with small gloves, where intensity is high but contact is light.

This culture of safety allows for more consistent training. It also builds trust between training partners. Everyone improves together with an understanding that the goal is learning, rather than trying to dominate each other in the gym.

This approach offers a lesson for boxing coaches who might still rely on hard sparring as a rite of passage. Adam’s athletes still build toughness—but through consistency, creativity, and adaptability, not through repeated concussions. The culture around sparring, not just the drills, is what makes safety sustainable.

Let Solutions Emerge

Adam’s approach to coaching is hands-off driven by exploration. Rather than constantly correcting fighters and handing athletes pre-packaged answers, he sets up constraints that guide them toward better solutions.

The coaching goal is to set up the conditions where solutions reveal themselves. If a fighter keeps dropping their lead hand after a jab, he doesn’t yell corrections. Instead, he’ll put them in a drill where that mistake gets punished—like a light spar where the opponent is incentivised to counter off the drop. The lesson is learned through experience, not instruction.

This is the essence of ecological coaching: perception drives action. By designing tasks that replicate real problems, coaches help athletes develop real solutions. It’s a method that requires patience and a deep understanding of how to build learning environments. It’s not that coaches using this approach don’t care about technique—they just care about when it matters. 

Reinventing the Role of the Coach

This approach sees the coach not as an instructor, but as a designer. It’s not about dictating what every punch should look like, but about designing practice environments that invite learning where learning happens naturally. The role is less about correction and more about creation—building the conditions where athletes can solve problems for themselves.

That doesn’t mean technique is irrelevant. It means it’s introduced at the right time, in the right context. For example, rather than teaching how to drive power from the floor on day one, discuss the topic when a fighter is ready to understand why it matters.

This means letting go of rigid templates and instead observing what works. There’s an aesthetic quality to striking, but that doesn’t mean aesthetics should be the goal. Function comes first. The best solutions often don’t look perfect—and that’s okay.

Even elite fighters like Roy Jones Jr. or Vasyl Lomachenko break conventional form constantly. What matters is whether the movement solves the problem in front of them. Adam’s view is that a coach’s job is to prepare athletes for uncertainty, not to hardwire them to a single method.

For boxing coaches, this philosophy invites reflection: Are we preparing boxers for the sport—or are we preparing them to look like textbook illustrations of the sport? The former is about adaptability. The latter is about control. Your job isn’t to perfect your boxer’s jab, but to create situations where your boxer figures out how to land it on a moving, reacting opponent.

For Coaches: Final Takeaways

1. Train Alive: Replace static drills with dynamic, uncooperative ones.
2. People, Not Pads: Partners offer feedback that bags and mitts can’t. Use pads/mitts sparingly.
3. Context Before Technique: Let the problem show up before offering a solution.
4. Safety First: Ditch heavy sparring. Skill comes from ‘repetition without repetition’, not damage.
5. Let Go of “Perfect Form”: Focus on what works, not what looks right.

Final Thoughts

This conversation wasn’t just about MMA. It was a deep dive into how we think about learning, coaching, and the very nature of skill. For boxing coaches, the implications are clear: more aliveness, less perfection. More adaptation, less dictation.

Whether you’re training future champions or first-timers, Adam’s message is simple: make it real. Because in the end, it’s not about what a punch looks like. It’s about what it does.