Without forward pressure you end up with something like in the beginning of this video. Especially students with a background in karate, kickboxing or muay thai tend to think of blocking as the best (only?) defense against kicks. While this way of defending (of course done in a much better way than I show here) makes sense in a kickboxing, muay thai or karate match, it’s not a very effective way of defending if the opponent is bigger than you.
In order to fight an opponent bigger than yourself you can never afford to receive the full force of such opponent!
Avoid blocking as much as possible!!
One of the tactics we use in order to avoid blocking is to apply forward pressure. Stay just out of your opponent’s reach and counterattack (with forward pressure towards the opponent’s center) when the opponent tries to get close enough to attack.
As you step in, aim your intercepting kick for his groin or legs (knees if possible).
At first connecting with your kick is not the most important goal but stopping the attack is. Since we “chain” our movements (counterattacks using both arms and legs) we don’t necessarily need to connect with every punch or kick, because further punches and kicks will continuously follow. So, we succeed if we can prevent the opponent’s attacks and preferably get him on the defense. Of course, a clean hit to the groin area or a knee is also great!
This way of fighting/defending gives a smaller person a much better chance of defending against a bigger person because you avoid fighting force with force.
