Catching leg kicks and converting them into takedowns

[fortheo]

I'd love to get the opinions from some people who train on this: what makes guys like Edgar so good at catching kicks and converting them into takedowns, whereas a lot of other fighters just eat leg kicks or try to check them, or at best try to counter them. Hell Edgar will even catch a leg kick, counter with a right hand and still convert it into a take down. Is it a matter of timing and reflexes and reading your opponents tells? or is it something more? I've just always wondered why more fighters don't seem to excel at it like Edgar does.

I know Edgar still eats a lot of kicks, so I don't mean to hype him up, but in general he is good at converting them to takedowns, so I thought he was a good example to use.

And yeah, I don't train. Fuck me right?

 

[Huligani]

Let's turn this into a gif thread.

 

[myjohnson9]

hmmm what makes one better at a specific aspect of training.... they train it

 

[Venom]

I'd love to get the opinions from some people who train on this: what makes guys like Edgar so good at catching kicks and converting them into takedowns, whereas a lot of other fighters just eat leg kicks or try to check them, or at best try to counter them. Hell Edgar will even catch a leg kick, counter with a right hand and still convert it into a take down. Is it a matter of timing and reflexes and reading your opponents tells? or is it something more? I've just always wondering why more fighters don't seem to excel at it like Edgar does.

I know Edgar still eats a lot of kicks, so I don't mean to hype him up, but in general he is good at converting them to takedowns, so I thought he was a good example to use.

And yeah, I don't train. Fuck me right?

As soon as I saw the title my first thought was Frankie Edgar

Other good examples are Jon Jones, Georges St. Pierre..

 

[fortheo]

hmmm what makes one better at a specific aspect of training.... they train it

Insightful stuff!

 

[fortheo]

Let's turn this into a gif thread.

Updated my original post to oblige you.

 

[Squish II]

Maybe people don't do it more often because they are afraid that in trying to catch leg kicks they will be open to a headkick. Not worth the risk to them.

 

[613]

GSP was the best i ever saw at it. Anderson was great at catching kicks too, but he usually countered with a strike after

 

[joeyjoejoe]

He's short and really fast, timing and speed is why everyone else seems to suck at that move.

 

[613]

Maybe people don't do it more often because they are afraid that in trying to catch leg kicks they will be open to a headkick. Not worth the risk to them.

Maybe, but 3 of the top 5 ever GSP, Jones and Anderson all did it often

 

[SmilinDesperado]

Maybe people don't do it more often because they are afraid that in trying to catch leg kicks they will be open to a headkick. Not worth the risk to them.

Yeah, trying to catch leg kicks are risky, can throw you off balance, and open you up to a lot of other strikes if you go for the catch and miss

 

[chaos_36]

Edgar is a bad example of what you're talking about, GSP is the GOAT when it comes to TD's off a caught kick imo. He pretty much shut down Alves' whole kicking game when they fought.

 

[Huligani]

 

[fortheo]

Haha, man Conor gift wrapped that one for Nate.

 

[Drake]

 

[fortheo]

Edgar is a bad example of what you're talking about, GSP is the GOAT when it comes to TD's off a caught kick imo. He pretty much shut down Alves' whole kicking game when they fought.

Okay, but that doesn't really answer the question. Also, I gave a gif of Edgar doing exactly what I was talking about, so I think people understand what I'm asking.

And yes, GSP was great at it, too. Someone else has provided gifs of him for further evidence of what I mean. I don't want to know who was good at it—I want to know why they were good at it, what it required technically for them to excel at it, and why others don't do it as often.

 

[chaos_36]

Okay, but that doesn't really answer the question. Also, I gave a gif of Edgar doing exactly what I was talking about, so I think people understand what I'm asking.

And yes, GSP was great at it, too. Someone else has provided gifs of him for further evidence of what I mean. I don't want to know who was good at it—I want to know why they were good at it, what it required technically for them to excel at it, and why others don't do it as often.

Well GSP is far more athletic than most fighters so explosion might have something to do with it, timing and drilling would also be big contributing factors. Others won't do it as often due to being incapable of doing it with any regularity, the same reason not everyone can do what Anderson did to James Irvin.

 

[Squish II]

Maybe, but 3 of the top 5 ever GSP, Jones and Anderson all did it often

They have the skill to reliably pull it off, and the skill to recover well from blunders.

Yeah, trying to catch leg kicks are risky, can throw you off balance, and open you up to a lot of other strikes if you go for the catch and miss

Yeah most fighters probably don't think that leg kicks are going to hurt them that much in the fight anyways. Lots of people kick, but few can do damage/ use them as setups well. It's safer to counter with strikes or checks anyways.

 

[jk7707]

Haha, man Conor gift wrapped that one for Nate.

He might have been aiming for the leg but that is a clear body kick. Much easier to counter into a takedown.

 

[SmilinDesperado]

They have the skill to reliably pull it off, and the skill to recover well from blunders.

Yeah most fighters probably don't think that leg kicks are going to hurt them that much in the fight anyways. Lots of people kick, but few can do damage/ use them as setups well. It's safer to counter with strikes or checks anyways.

Yep. Much easier to just check kicks.
If you become known as a guy that likes to try and catch kicks, and you aren't great at it, your opponent could start throwing out feints to try and get you to commit to catching stuff which would leave you open.
I do think more fighters should be on the look out for lazily thrown kicks that would be easy to catch tho. There are some guys that will start off fights, or end fights throwing these lazy, half assed kicks that are just being begged to be caught. No power or anything behind them, they just seem like 'feelin out' kicks, or done to make themselves look like they're busy