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My thai coach always emphasized on aiming for the forearms when throwing roundhouse kicks. I never really understood how effective it was till I was on the receiving end of them.
In Muay Thai, when someone throws a body kick you can catch, check, counter, dodge or block it. An inexperienced striker will often block a body kick with the elbow/forearm region. An inexperienced kicker can even break his foot landing on an elbow. But the Tibia bone is way bigger and harder than the Radius and the Ulna. Throwing your shin bone full force into your opponent’s arm does damage. You can break an arm pretty easily if landed correctly. I’ve also seen fights where the forearm is so damaged that the fighter has trouble lifting his arm (see video below).
With the calf kick craze going on, I’ve always wondered why we don’t see more fighters aim for the arms. A forearm is like a bitch version of a calf.
Technically speaking, you’re not "aiming" for the forearms. You’re kicking through your opponent, but the kick is targeted at the chest/upper ribs area. It’s an awkward angle, it makes the kick difficult check and catch because it’s high and tricky to dodge cause it’s low. A miscalculated pull back or duck under can lead to a nasty head kick.
Footwork, distance and takedowns make them harder to land in MMA, but I’ve still seen many fights where this kick could’ve been a game changer. It’s very effective for taller fighters and in my opinion, the two best guys to utilize them in MMA is Jones and Adesanya. Honorable mention to Barboza for his nasty switch kick and Darren Till.
See video below for example on how lethal they can be:
In Muay Thai, when someone throws a body kick you can catch, check, counter, dodge or block it. An inexperienced striker will often block a body kick with the elbow/forearm region. An inexperienced kicker can even break his foot landing on an elbow. But the Tibia bone is way bigger and harder than the Radius and the Ulna. Throwing your shin bone full force into your opponent’s arm does damage. You can break an arm pretty easily if landed correctly. I’ve also seen fights where the forearm is so damaged that the fighter has trouble lifting his arm (see video below).
With the calf kick craze going on, I’ve always wondered why we don’t see more fighters aim for the arms. A forearm is like a bitch version of a calf.
Technically speaking, you’re not "aiming" for the forearms. You’re kicking through your opponent, but the kick is targeted at the chest/upper ribs area. It’s an awkward angle, it makes the kick difficult check and catch because it’s high and tricky to dodge cause it’s low. A miscalculated pull back or duck under can lead to a nasty head kick.
Footwork, distance and takedowns make them harder to land in MMA, but I’ve still seen many fights where this kick could’ve been a game changer. It’s very effective for taller fighters and in my opinion, the two best guys to utilize them in MMA is Jones and Adesanya. Honorable mention to Barboza for his nasty switch kick and Darren Till.
See video below for example on how lethal they can be:
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