Marc Diakiese injured Teemu Packalen's knee with a sidekick to the kneecap - likely requires surgery

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This past weekend Marc Diakiese impressed everyone with a thorough first round domination of Teemu "Pacu" Packalen, ultimately ending with a highlight reel one punch KO:

marc-diakiese-koteemu-packalen.gif


In retrospect, the fight also has another point of interest: Marc Diakiese landed a flush sidekick to Packalen's knee while the latter was coming forward, likely causing the first verifiable knee injury involving the technique in the UFC. I made a Gif of the sidekick and Teemu's subsequent limping:



Packalen got his knee MRI'd right after the fight and the results indicate a torn MCL, and according to his doctor, it will likely require surgery. (Source from Finnish Media.)

Since the technique has been seen as highly controversial on Sherdog ever since Jones started doing them, I feel like this marks a good moment to bring up the debate once more: should kicks to the knee be illegal, or should this injury be considered just like any other that takes place during a fight? Discuss.
 
This past weekend Marc Diakiese impressed everyone with a thorough first round domination of Teemu "Pacu" Packalen, ultimately ending with a highlight reel one punch KO:

marc-diakiese-koteemu-packalen.gif


In retrospect, the fight also has another point of interest: Marc Diakiese landed a flush sidekick to Packalen's knee while the latter was coming forward, likely causing the first verifiable knee injury involving the technique in the UFC. I made a Gif of the sidekick and Teemu's subsequent limping:



Packalen got his knee MRI'd right after the fight and the results indicate a torn MCL, and according to his doctor, it will likely require surgery. (Source from Finnish Media.)

Since the technique has been seen as highly controversial on Sherdog ever since Jones started doing them, I feel like this marks a good moment to bring up the debate once more: should kicks to the knee be illegal, or should this injury be considered just like any other that takes place during a fight? Discuss.


Very nice and interesting thread. Guess those karate guys who talked about sidekicks to the knee were right after all. I think they should be illegal. I sparred with guys who did it to me while training for fights, arguing that it was legal, and it pissed me off bigtime and nobody's quality of life should be degraded like that unnecessarily, including sparring partners for the fighters and the fighters themselves.
 
What a terrible fight for this poor guy, to get MCL'd and flatline KO'd. Damn.
 
I think it should be illegal. Its way too easy for guys with long leg reach to land and injure someones knee, which is the same logic with eye pokes as its easy to injure someones eye with a poke and long arm reach. Knee injuries are worse then breaking your leg. It takes way longer to heal.
 
12-6 elbows should be legal
Upkicks should be legal
Knees to the head of a downed opponent should be legal

Thankfully now kidney kicks, clavicle grabbing, and extended fingers is penalized, but we have more to legalize.

I am almost conflicted it is a valid and good defensive move, however unlike 12-6 elbows, knees to head, and upkicks it seems to be more physically damaging and career ending or injuring.

So yeah maybe remove it?
 
Very nice and interesting thread. Guess those karate guys who talked about sidekicks to the knee were right after all. I think they should be illegal. I sparred with guys who did it to me while training for fights, arguing that it was legal, and it pissed me off bigtime and nobody's quality of life should be degraded like that unnecessarily, including sparring partners for the fighters and the fighters themselves.
Damn that's like throwing elbows during a spar and saying "well, they're legal".
 
Damn that's like throwing elbows during a spar and saying "well, they're legal".
Yep, and it made me say well I am not down with sparring this way. Then you got the guys who are kind of bending the rules so to speak but don't throw sidekicks. They throw push kicks to the thigh, still enough to put pressure on the knee. Its uncalled for.
 
Cheap shot if you ask me. Pretty soon it will turn into Ultimate knee strike fighting.
 
If a kneebar is legal, a teep, sidekick or oblique kick to the knee or the lower thigh should be too. It's not easy to hyper-extend the knee and injure the leg with a kick, it's a very skillful technique.
 
More power to the guy who can use it right.

But if if you're gonna make those kicks illegal then leg submissions should be too.

Impressive distance control and switching of the stance by Diakiese. It's a matter of time when his skillset catches up to his athleticism.

Def sucks that it could tear a knee up but there's nothing you can do about it really.
 
Adlan Amagov wrecked Keith Berry's knee with the same technique in Strikeforce and Berry has been an advocate for banning the strike since. I find the technique fair and very effective personally.

2zso9yc.jpg
 
I remember when I posted the Rampage interview where he had doctors telling him that Jon Jones side kicks messed up his knee and he had to have surgery on it and everyone was saying he was just a whiner making it up, lol.
 
Adlan Amagov wrecked Keith Berry's knee with the same technique in Strikeforce and Berry has been an advocate for banning the strike since. I find the technique fair and very effective personally.

2zso9yc.jpg
Damn, that's way worse than in Packalen's case. Berry's front leg is almost completely straightened out even before the point of impact.

I remember when I posted the Rampage interview where he had doctors telling him that Jon Jones side kicks messed up his knee and he had to have surgery on it and everyone was saying he was just a whiner making it up, lol.
For reference to those who haven't seen the fight:

BriefGlossyCaracal.gif

(An oblique kick, not a sidekick)
 
definitely should be illegal. An unnecessary risk, just like with accidental eye poking. Good thing that they have fixed that at least.

But I feel we will still need a definitive gruesome incident for this to be taken seriously.
Not only a limp, but the knee getting stuck the wrong way right in the middle of the fight - kind of thing.
 
I remember when I posted the Rampage interview where he had doctors telling him that Jon Jones side kicks messed up his knee and he had to have surgery on it and everyone was saying he was just a whiner making it up, lol.

Let's go champ. Orbital bones break from knees more often than knees getting damaged from kicks. This is a fight and these fighters are perfectly able to defend against the strike.


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That's the reason why I'm not a fan of knees on the ground, in side control and the front headlock positions you can knee a guy in the head where he's defenseless and just going to eat knees over and over again until the fights stopped. Same thing with soccer kicks and stomps, you can stomp on a guys head and he can't offer any kind of offense in response to it and if he's rocked or unconscious you can continue to stomp and kick his defenseless head....But striking the knee with a kick on the feet? Fair play!
 
What a horrible night for Packalen.

I didn't catch that kick when watching live but I noticed Packalen's stuck in the mud movement. So that's probably why he looked so stiff...
 
What a horrible night for Packalen.

I didn't catch that kick when watching live but I noticed Packalen's stuck in the mud movement. So that's probably why he looked so stiff...
He also said in the Finnish interview that the sharp pain in his knee prompted him to go forward, and to go forward now. Inexperience made him panic I guess.
 
I think it should be illegal. Its way too easy for guys with long leg reach to land and injure someones knee, which is the same logic with eye pokes as its easy to injure someones eye with a poke and long arm reach. Knee injuries are worse then breaking your leg. It takes way longer to heal.
Why don't we make headbutts to the groin illegal next, since they might hurt.
 
He also said in the Finnish interview that the sharp pain in his knee prompted him to go forward, and to go forward now. Inexperience made him panic I guess.
Yeah, I'll take his word for it. I doubt he would've eaten that right hand like that if his knee wasn't messed up from the kick, but we'll never know.
 
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