Hard Sparring Etiquette: Analyzing Jeff Chan's Experience

Jeff Chan highlights the importance of maintaining sparring etiquette, especially with larger opponents who spar excessively hard.

### Questionable Sparring Etiquette: Jeff Chan vs. Kru Clifton
* 🥊 Jeff Chan, a popular martial arts YouTuber, spars with five-time world Muay Thai champion Kru Clifton in footage from a **fundraiser event**.
* 👊 Despite requesting light sparring, Kru Clifton goes excessively hard, throwing **powerful strikes and elbows** throughout the session.
* 🤼 The size and experience difference between the two fighters (**50 lbs and professional record**) make the intensity mismatched and potentially dangerous.
* 💬 Jeff Chan reflects on the situation, acknowledging that he should have **walked away when the sparring became too intense**.
* 📹 The video shows Kru Clifton landing **heavy strikes, including elbows**, while Jeff maintains a **lighter sparring pace**.
* 💥 The sparring session escalates, with Kru Clifton throwing a combination of **hooks, kicks, and elbows** at **high power levels**.
* 🧠 The commentary discusses the importance of **communication and mutual respect** in sparring, highlighting the need for both partners to **match intensity levels**.
* ❓ The video prompts viewers to consider how they would handle a similar situation and **emphasizes the importance of setting clear expectations in sparring sessions**.

damn spy kicks [Music] there oh my D elbow. Alright guys, today we're taking a look at some hard sparring footage and some questionable sparring etiquette. And this footage comes from the Jeff Chan MMA Shredded YouTube channel. He's an OG of the martial arts YouTube world, and in this footage, he is sparring five-time world Muay Thai Champion Kru Clifton. Now, I don't even know who this Kru Clifton is, but he seems like a little bit of a divvy. He goes excessively hard, and although there is a place for hard sparring, especially when you are on the buildup to an upcoming fight, I believe the amount of times you should be doing hard sparring should be maybe 10-20% of the time, whereas this footage was meant to just be a friendly spar. Now, before we dive into the video, Jeff has some context here just in case anyone's thinking, Oh yeah, well, you don't know the story behind this hard sparring. Maybe Jeff was in the wrong, or maybe he

provoked crew Clifton into going this hard. Well, here's the context: I was invited to attend a fundraiser sparring session for the Riy War Machine. I knew crew Clifton would be there, as the gym owner told me he would be. Being a content creator, I wanted to get some rounds in with Clifton, with him being a five-time world champion. When I arrived, I personally introduced myself and requested three rounds, as it was an honor to meet him, to which he agreed. That was all that was mentioned. Now, his intensity in sparring was too hard for my personal liking, and in hindsight, I should have walked away. Now, Jeff Chan is completely fine with hard sparring. He sparred hard many times before. He's got a couple of professional fights under his belt. Forgive me, Jeff, if I've got that wrong, but Jeff is an experienced martial artist. He's very technical, and he's extremely capable. But the weight difference and size difference between these two fighters is a good 50, I'd say. So, for Jeff to say this, you know

that this crew Clifton was a little bit out of order. At the end of the day, I did want to make content with him, but I didn't think to clarify or mention light sporting only now. I usually think that's a good thing to do. Even when I went to Dubai and I was in terrible shape, I said to Hassan, Let's just go light. Let's keep it light. We don't know each other. I don't know if he's going to try and take my head off for the camera. He doesn't know if I'm going to try and take his head off for the camera. So let's just keep it light and cordial. So Jeff should have mentioned that to crew. I just assumed he would have responded with the same level of power, knowing his experience and skill level. This is what we were talking about with Deji and Neon the other day. As you get more experienced within martial arts, you typically match your opponent's level. No, I did not hate any of his students prior to sporting. In fact, he was the first one.

who I went with. No, I did not ask for hard sparring. No, I didn't ask for elbows, as I didn't even realize he was wearing elbow pads until later. So, this crew, Clifton, froze elbows and sparred. Damn, let's jump into the [Music] video. Damn, body kicks [Music] there. Oh my D, elbow. He actually rocked Jeff Chan there. That's the highlights just far too hard. Already went for the treat testing good. That b. What's up guys, it's Jeff Chan from MMA Shreddit, and in this video I visited E toico Martial Arts in Toronto, Canada, and I had the opportunity to spar their head Muay Thai coach, crew Clifton Brown. Crew Clifton is an absolute legend. He was inducted to the 2023 Muay Hall of Fame alongside other legends like Pau Y Kly H, Sanai John, Charles Koski, Georgio Pjan, Super Bon, and many others. He is also a five-time world champion with a professional Muay Thai record of 43 wins, 11 losses, and 32 by

knockout. I mean, that's a crazy record right there: 32 wins by knockout. And before we get too deep into this video, I can already hear a few people in the comments saying, If you go with a professional, that's the type of Spar, and you would expect. Not really, no, 'cause when you look at all these really good Muay Thai Fighters, Rod Tang, Senai, even some of the English Lads like Liam Hadison, John Haery, they actually Spar quite playful. Of course, they do the hard sparring on the buildup to the fights, but every time you see them sparring, they'll do it in a controlled manner. So, this guy might be a little bit of a bully. Don't kill me, Crew Clifton, if you see me on the [Music] streets. So, a super clean hook cross by Clifton here. That's a hard leg K hold [Music] body. We look on to see if anyone's escalated the spa to see if Jeff Chan escalated at all. He didn't. And big rear body kick here that knocks me

back yeah it's KW who's escalated this straight away and their big rear body kick. [Music] You can even hear the efforts The Crew putting in when he's throwing the body shots, the kicks, the punches. You can't hear any of that from Jeff Chan. He's putting in a lot of effort into these [Music] shots. I don't like shelling up because it makes it difficult to manage the distance and it also leaves you open to the body. And with smaller gloves or elbows in the equation, those can split right through the guard, as you can see here. Oh, elbow A. And you can see here we were both waiting for each other to throw that jab so we can counter, but the bell rang. So continuing into round, okay, quite playful at the end. You can see they were both smiling, waiting to throw the jab each, but this second round is where it heats up a little bit. Clion had the same strategy. He waited for me to throw the jab, and he pulls back and into that big

right hand hey [Music] nice one of my favorite sequences is the intercepting lead body kick to keep my opponent back and most of the time they continue to step forward in which I will follow up with the intercepting hip sweep. I do it so much that it actually comes out instinctually. This move works on opponents small or big as you can see in past examples but of course crew Clifton is on another level. So here I threw that lead body kick. Clifton continues forward and of course I had to try it. Hopefully he did not find it disrespectful or see it as bad sparring etiquette but he was not impressed with my attempt and he punished me for it with a big clean elbow. Let me tell you I was seeing stars on that one not good that not good spot on eate whatsoever elbow and the lad I know you've got elbow pads on but it wasn't agreed on prior. You can even see look at everyone watching it they've all got

that award smile on the face like, is this going to escalate. Jeff Chan's kind of getting battered right now. The reason why they're all watching is because it's starting to escalate. Yeah, on their faces and another Super accurate and fast switch kick land. That's just watch again. That's switch kick and another Super accurate and fast switch kick land. Czy and that one chill out crew. That's insane which kick lands. Damn and look at the size of them as well. I do think to myself what goes through these fellas mans. The Spar on someone who's a lot smaller. Are you're trying to prove yourself. I'd really like to see him spot against someone his own size and I'm sure there there's footage online. But my point is is he aware of what he's doing or does he just Spar like this 100% of the time. Here Clon lands a nice cross after I caught his kick and as I went to counter with a body cross he lands another elbow again. That elbow again. I don't know not

really liking his attitude, to be honest. Elam, what are you wow? He just literally froze a jab elbow. Whoa, here clipon parries my jab and steps in with that rear elbow. Come on, clion continues to pressure me, gets my back against the wall, and into a big combination. He throws the double left hook, low kick, jab, cross, rear elbow, and switch knee. I always preach not to oh man, what a combo that was. I mean, nice combination but really heavy. Let's watch it again. Double hook, double left hook, low kick, jab, rear elbow, and switch knee. I always preach not to shell up, but it's tough not to shell up when crew clipon Brown is standing in front of me. Another too OD Lads, too OD. See jeffon a little bit of a pickle here. If you've ever sparred, and especially against someone who's going quite heavy and who's a lot bigger than you, you kind of have two choices. You continue to go light and just hope that they match your pace and they realize, okay, this person

isn't going light. We're just doing technical sparring, and you hope that they come down, or you go up to their level, and you're pretty much having a full-on fight because this might only be around 70-80% power for Crew Clifton. But if Jeff Chan was to try and match his power, it would be 100% of Jeff Chan's power. And people could look at that like, Oh, Jeff Chan's out of line because he's going 100%. Crew Clifton's only going 70-80%. Yes, but it's the bigger guy's responsibility to manage that power, right? If I'm training with a kid and I am whacking him, it's my responsibility to control my power. If the kid starts trying to absolutely swing at me, me knowing I'm the bigger person, I'm not then going to go, I'll teach this kid a lesson, and start going crazy. No, I understand that he's a kid and he's going to be able to use a little bit more power. I need to have to spot.

etiquette and the responsibility to control myself. That's what crew Clifton is not doing here. So Jeff, what does he do? Does he match his power and get into a war, or does he keep it light and friendly and just hope the crew calms down? And as Jeff said in the pinned comments, maybe he should have walked away and said, Nah, this is too much. Make sure you guys comment below what you think Jeff Chan should have done or what you would have done in this situation. Into the L-F by the jab cross, a double jab to rear, and we reset. Damn power high kick. What's this entire sequence again? Another double left hook into the loick here, and into a double jab to rear high kick, and we reset. Nah, nah, it's all good throwing head kicks and spot them, but you got to control your power. This guy's got big legs, he's going too hard. You can even see these three lads in the back looking concerned for Jeff Chan right now. This is the look of, Oh, we've seen

this before. Fortunately, Clifton finishes off the round nice and easy with me. These were two-minute rounds instead of your usual three. [Music] And here's round three, some light touch spar to start the round. Okay, not hard, is it, CL? Not [Music] hard. Oh, them little kicks. [Music] This decent now. It's stuff like that the Jeff Chan do that would get someone like crew Clifton angry. He's the type of guy where if you do anything flashy against them, he'll try and humble you and try and put you in your place. So Jeff did the jump switch kick then, so expect crew to step it up now and a big rear body kick come quick. Oh, damn. Oh, just kick yet. Credit to Jeff here for showing such great control. Jeff's still throwing his kicks with about 50% power when crew is. I mean, you could argue he's going 100%. Good on you, Jeff. Oh, and also congratulations on becoming a father. As expected, this was a very one-sided sping.

session, but that's how it goes sometimes. I hope you guys learned a few tricks from my breakdown in crew Clipton Tech for that. See how the full power he threw that head kick. If that was a CAU jef, it was a KO from my breakdown in crew Clipton techniques. Continue watching to see me spar with some of crew Clifton's really technical students. Crazy that see. I hate when people do this. Even in that last round, he was very unpredictable. He was throwing a few shots really light and then throwing one or two shots really, really difficult. So now you don't even know what you're getting because it's almost like he's agreeing to spar lights with you, but then he's trying to KO you with a head kick 2 seconds later. This is the analogy I like to use for it. I hate those people who will be your best friend one moment and then an absolute kned the next and will stab it in the back because you don't know what you're going to get with them. Whereas if you're

just a kned 100% of the time. At least I can adjust my expectations for that. Okay, well, he's just knit all the time. Perfect. Cool. A nowhere or map. But if one minute you're kned, next minute you me best meet, next minute you're kned, next minute best meet, I don't know what I'm going to get. It's kind of the same with these sparring partners where it's they can't decide on how they spar. Are you light sparring or are you heavy sparring? Because if you spar heavy 100% of the time or at least 80% of the time, sound, I'll stay away from you and I'll only go with you maybe when I've got a fight coming up just so I can save me brain. In situations like these, you're always best either walking away or just asking your sparring partner, Are you okay? Why are you going so hard? Tone it down a little bit. I've only ever had to do that once. This lad was going ridiculously hard. We

got trapped in the corner. I mistakenly let me go down to reset and get out of the corner. And as I reset and stle to my right, he on a leap and left hook got me right on the jaw. And to be fair, it did give me a little bit of a buzz. It's the only time of being like proper who like buzzed a bit. And I said to him, I said, Are you trying to knock me out? And he went, Oh, what? I said, Are you trying to knock me out or something? So we were trying, we were resetting, and he went, Oh, oh, sorry. And then he calmed down then, and it's fine. Up until then, we were still sparting at a fairly decent intensity, but then that sparting eut, it's like, Come on, you know, we're resetting, we're stuck in the corner, and you're going to throw a cheap shot at me like that. My own faults for dropping me hands, but I had to check him, and he was like, Oh, okay, I'm sorry, and he chilled.

out then, so sometimes you've got to say stuff like that to these people. Now, obviously, this guy was a five-time world champion, so you're not going to be able to check the five-time world champion. But maybe Jeff should have said, Oh, it's a little bit hard, Cliff, or, You know what, we'll leave it there. Nice one, thank you so much, much appreciated you, and just cut the rounds off early. However, it has been good content for this channel, so fair play to him. Let me know if you guys have got any similar experiences to this, or you've got any other examples of really hard sparring and bad sparring etiquette that you would like me to cover on this channel. Make sure you like this video, subscribe for daily fighting uploads. Appreciate you all. See you tomorrow.

HUGE EGO! Heavyweight Champion BULLYS Lightweight. *HARD SPARRING*

Shaun Jones

Questionable Sparring Etiquette: Jeff Chan and Kru Clifton

Jeff Chan's hard sparring footage with Kru Clifton, a five-time Muay Thai Champion, raises concerns about excessive intensity.

Jeff requested a friendly sparring session, but Clifton's aggressive approach was not what he expected.

The significant weight and size difference between the two fighters added to the unease, and Jeff realized he should have clarified the intention for a lighter spar.

Sparring with Muay Thai Legend Crew Clifton

Jeff Chan visited E toico Martial Arts in Toronto to spar with Crew Clifton Brown, the head Muay Thai coach and a five-time world champion.

Clifton's intense sparring style, including body kicks and elbows, caught Jeff off guard, leading to a challenging session.

Despite the hard sparring, Jeff noted that many top Muay Thai fighters have a more playful approach during training.

Sparring with Crew Clifton: A Challenging Experience

The speaker uses an intercepting lead body kick and hip sweep as a common strategy against opponents, but Crew Clifton's response is intense and punishing.

Clifton's powerful elbows and aggressive combinations leave the speaker feeling overwhelmed and questioning the sparring dynamic.

The speaker reflects on the challenges of sparring with someone much larger and more aggressive, highlighting the difficulty of matching their pace.

Power Dynamics in Sparring: Jeff Chan and Crew Clifton

Technical sparring between Jeff Chan and Crew Clifton escalates due to differing power levels, with Clifton at 70-80% and Chan at 100%.

It's the responsibility of the bigger fighter, Clifton, to manage his power, while Chan tries to maintain a light and friendly approach.

The sparring session becomes one-sided, with Chan showing great control despite Clifton's aggressive tactics.

The Unpredictability of Sparring Partners

Sparring partners can be unpredictable, alternating between light and heavy shots, making it difficult to gauge their intentions.

This erratic behavior is compared to someone who is inconsistent in their friendships, causing confusion and frustration.

It's important to communicate with sparring partners and set clear expectations to avoid unnecessary intensity during training.

A Sparring Encounter with a World Champion

The narrator got trapped in a corner during sparring and was unexpectedly hit on the jaw, causing a buzz.

After the incident, they had a brief conversation, and the intensity of the sparring session decreased.

The narrator reflected on the importance of addressing such moments and shared their experience for content on the channel, inviting viewers to share similar experiences.

HUGE EGO! Heavyweight Champion BULLYS Lightweight. HARD SPARRING

HUGE EGO! Heavyweight Champion BULLYS Lightweight. HARD SPARRING