He he.Endoperez wrote:EPR89 wrote:And kicks to the upper arms are often used to weaken good boxers. A few of them on the triceps and their punches will slow down quite a bit. It's pretty painful, too. Not quite as painful as low kicks, but still pretty annoying.
"Often?" Not in boxing, at least!
I guess you meant in the MMA ring, which I know nearly nothing about, but thinking from a boxing perspective (not that I know much about that either) I got this hilarious mental image of a boxer suddenly kicking his opponent to the arm and going "what? where I'm from everyone does this! what do you mean rules forbid it?!".
I was talking about Muay Thai. When I talk about "boxers" in this context I usually mean guys like Yodsanklai Fairtex (link to a highlight of this guy). Fighters who are really strong in punching range and can dictate a fight from there with their hands. Yod is especially scary since he is a southpaw and can kick like a mule as well.
By now, kicks to the arms are used in pretty much all kickboxing codes and consequently in MMA as well. And in Kyokushin Karate it has surely been used for ages. Those guys have to be some of the toughest badasses on the planet. I mean, punches are only legal to the body and they are teeing off like crazy, without gloves or hand wraps.
Against someone who only knows boxing I wouldn't take the risk to kick that high. Too easy to slip and end up getting taken apart in their range. Western boxers are incredible at what they specialise in. If you try to box with a boxer you will get punished. Kickboxers simply have to be more open in their guard in order to defend against kicks. And they usually stand a bit more frontal/open/whatever you want to call it, which limits the range of their jab. To a good boxer a stance like this looks like a big piece of Swiss cheese that offers many holes you can target. Of course, that's only true as long as you stay within boxing range and only use punches.
On the other hand pure boxers usually have no idea how to deal with lowkicks (i.e. block with your shin; if you can't block, at least take it on the front of your thigh.). They often stand too sideways and they often even turn away from the kick. This means it will hit in the back of the thigh, which makes them, like, a bazillion times worse. Every beginner makes this mistake. It's just scary to actively take a lowkick on the front of your leg by moving into it.
I haven't been able to find a GIF of an inexperienced fighter taking a lowkick that way, because most fighters who get into fights with lowkicks nowadays know that they have to prepare for that. So this one of Alistair Overeem kicking a little girl will have to do. It looks just like that.
Here's a fight between Muay Thai fighter Changpuek Kiatsongrit competing against Rick Roufus.
(It's a complete coincidence that all the Thais I mention here are southpaws.)
The fight took place under custom rues. Clinching, throws, knees and elbows were all illegal. To make the playing field a bit more even for the kickboxer.
Rick was an American style kickboxer back then (now MMA striking coach. EDIT: I'm wrong. He developed into a K-1 fighter. His older brother, Duke Roufus, is the MMA striking coach, who has helped many top level fighter to improve their game.). This means, mostly Western boxing techniques with Karate kicks to the body and head only. Naturally, he stands very sideways, to increase the range of his lead leg. Naturally, Changpuek completely destroyed it. Something to note: Changpuek's jaw was broken in the first round, where he suffered two knockdowns. Pretty sure i was the first one, since he spits out his mouthpiece and blood starts coming from his mouth. This should show how unimportant punches were in Muay Thai back then. He just didn't defend against them very well. Fighters like Yodsaenklai are the modern face of Muay Thai, resulting from European (mostly Dutch) fighters bringing high level boxing to the competition.
If you take out a boxer's legs you effectively take the power out of their punches.
Check out Mike Tyson's footwork (he was probably 16 or 17 years old here):
Now imagine what it would look like if he couldn't bend his lead leg anymore.
Moral of the story: lowkicks are nasty!
I love 'em!
Wow! I'm rambling again.
