Can a throat strike end a fight?

[Emjay]

Rewatching Woodley vs Wonderboy and @ around 4:44ish of the 3rd, Wonderboy throws a right hand to (some sort of) side kick combo. The kick hits Woodley in the chest, but what if it went a little higher and hit him in the throat and he couldn't continue? Is that a T(KO)? Or is the throat some gray area when it comes to the rules?

 

[chunglii]

Yes

 

[Degen Gambler]

Throat strikes are a foul under the unified rules.

^Like BJM says though its not going to get called unless its targeted on purpose.

 

[Bendo MMA Hero]

Anderson Silva kicked Dan Henderson in the throat once.

I love a good throat punch on an unconscious body.

 

[Monaco Slim]

UFC fighters are used to deepthroat so I don't know why they couldn't handle this

 

[Project 86]

 

[Abazzdeboom]

 

[SimonNova]

 

[punky brewster]

 

[NotoriousMillions]

Throated

Just like I do to you.

 

[melvinj0]

It can end a life

 

[Air Lats]

A throat strike could end a fight but it's way more likely in a non-sanction fight/self defense situation than in a pro fight. Intentional throat shots are illegal under Unified Rules.

Anything goes on the street, however:

One of the most effective and popular self defense strikes is the open-handed throat shot. Needless to say, it's completely illegal in sanctioned MMA.

Some guys don't give a shit about the rules, though, so it could definitely happen:

An incidental throat strike could do it but with gloves on it's hard to get all the impact force on the right spot. A kick could certaily do the job, as stated in your OP but it's such a small target, usually covered by the chin.

Only straight kicks would be able to target that spot under normal circumstances, either a front kick or side kick (maybe a spinning back/mule or side kick could do it too - see Hall vs Mousasi gif and use your imagination) unless the opponent is in a weird position from a scramble (like Holly's kick to Rousey's neck if The kick landed a little sooner in Rousey's rotation - see gif below). Then a round kick might be able to sneak in there.

Example of another type of kick that could land to the throat if there's some bad luck:

Can you imagine if Silva's front kick on Belfort landed on Belfort's trachea instead of his chin? I think it would likely have at least beeen the begining of the end of that fight. Hopefully it wouldn't break/collapse the trachea or we could have seen the first death in the Octagon ... or at least the first emergency tracheotomy on the Bud Light logo!

Also pro fighters almost universally have very well developed neck muscles. The SCM (Sterno-cledo mastoideus - see fig below) muscles in the front of the neck go a long way to protect the trachia.

The kick Holly landed on Rousey looked like it landed on the side of Rousey's neck but that's obviously not a throat shot.


It also seems possible that a straight elbow could sneak under the chin and strike the throat. I guess if the point landed between the SCM muscles it could be devastating.

If Weidman's elbow vs Munoz had been more parallel to the ground and a bit lower, it could've devastated Mark's throat.

Goddamn, that timing ...

 

[Sid Arthur]

A throat strike could end a fight but it's way more likely to in a non-sanction fight/self defense situation than in a pro fight. Intentional throat shots are illegal.

An incidental throat strike could do it but with gloves on it's hard to get all the impact force on the right spot. A kick could certaily do the job, as stated in your OP but it's such a small target, usually covered by the chin.

Only straight kicks would be able to target that spot, either a front kick or side kick (maybe a spinning back/mule or side kick could do it too) unless the opponent is in a weird position from a scramble (like Holly's kick to Rousey's neck if The kick landed a little sooner in Rousey's rotation). Then a round kick might be able to sneak in there.

Can you imagine if Silva's front kick on Belfort landed on Belfort's trachea instead of his chin? I think it would likely have at least beeen the begining of the end of that fight.

Also pro fighters almost unilaterally have very well developed neck muscles. The SCM (Sterno-cledo mastoideus - see fig below) muscles in the front of the neck go a long way to protect the trachia.

The kick Holly landed on Rousey looked like it landed on the side of Tousey's neck but that's obviously not a throat shot.


It also seems possible that a straight elbow could sneak under the ching and strike the throat. I guess if the point landed between the SCM muscles it could be devastating.

If Weidman's elbow vs Munoz had been more parallel to the ground and a bit lower, it coul've devastated Mark's throat.

Goddamn, that timing ...

That Holm kick seems a little questionable in light of this discussion. Rousey is all the way up when the kick starts, so it can't be claimed Holm was aiming for the head and Rousey "rose" into a head kick.

Surely this connects to the "band" around the neck that BJM was referring to? The foot is bigger than the fist, of course, and this kick may well contact the ear. BJM only gives touching the ear as an example, though, and shows that a blow right behind the ear is clean. I'm more concerned that Holm is simply too low here, despite Rousey turning.

 

[Air Lats]

That Holm kick seems a little questionable in light of this discussion. Rousey is all the way up when the kick starts, so it can't be claimed she was aiming for the head and Rousey "rose" into a head kick.

Surely this connects to the "band" around the neck that BJM was referring to? The foot is bigger than the fist, of course, and this kick may well contact the ear. BJM only gives touching the ear as an example, though, and shows that a blow right behind the ear is clean. I'm more concerned that Holm is simply too low here, despite Rousey turning.

Yeah, I think I mentioned that it was a neck strike, not a throat strike.

It would be hard to prove intention due to the scramble if it had landed on an illegal spot.

 

[Deleted member 501827]

Throat strikes are a foul under the unified rules.

^Like BJM says though its not going to get called unless its targeted on purpose.

How the hell could they determine whether it was targeted on purpose?

 

[DIABOLUS]

Clearly he was trying to spare all of us from the bullshit Big Turd spouts on a regular basis.

 

[Jehannum]

Can a throat strike end a fight?

if the head is taken clean off

 

[BEAST]

First thing I thought of.

 

[Sid Arthur]

Yeah, I think I mentioned that it was a neck strike, not a throat strike.

It would be hard to prove intention due to the scramble if it had landed on an illegal spot.

Oh yeah, sorry, I'm getting into necks when it's a throat discussion!

But the entire neck, front and back, is not to be targeted, right?

So could you see Holm being called for an illegal strike there?

If Rousey hasn't turned, the strike would have been on the throat, which I would think is worse than the side of the neck. So it's not like Holm was aiming for a legal area and Rousey turned to cause the strike to land illegally. She was aiming for an illegal area and the turn caused her to land in another illegal area.

 

[Air Lats]

Oh yeah, sorry, I'm getting into necks when it's a throat discussion!

But the entire neck, front and back, is not to be targeted, right?

So could you see Holm being called for an illegal strike there?

If Rousey hasn't turned, the strike would have been on the throat, which I would think is worse than the side of the neck. So it's not like Holm was aiming for a legal area and Rousey turned to cause the strike to land illegally. She was aiming for an illegal area and the turn caused her to land in another illegal area.

That's a legitimate question and I don't know the answer.

It wasn't called a foul at the time and I didn't hear any discussions that it should have been so I don't think any ref would call that an illegal shot even if it might have been.

We can all watch it in slo-mo and say 'well, she should've targeted this or that' but in reality, the decision to throw that kick and the kick itself wad (typo preserved for @Wadtucket ) absolutely split second and during a scramble.

It's an interesting idea, though,