Catching leg kicks and converting them into takedowns

As an amateur fighter who loves to catch kicks I can explain it from my pov.

Like Edgar im short for my weight class and just short in general. One of the absolute easiest things to land on shorter guys are 1) Front kicks 2) Low kicks 3) Jabs

The most damaging and rewarding strike is usually gonna be the low kick. Basically to most taller guys it's the strike that does the most damage with the least chance of repercussion/getting countered.

The reason why I say less chance of repercussion is because when you are short, your knee is much lower than theirs, it's very hard for a shorter guy to check kicks directly where the shin meets the knee. You check someone good and they won't be throwing low kicks anymore.

In practice I used to get slammed with leg kicks by everyone, it's the most obvious opening. When that happens you need to find a solution to it, because after 5-10 kicks that land relatively cleanly, your fuckin toast. (And this is with shin guards on)

Checking is not an option because 1) Its harder to be good at. 2) Even if you lift your leg up but don't get the perfect check, they are still slamming their leg into your calf muscle. 3) This sport will destroy your knees, I'm not gonna waste my time learning to perfectly check kicks while my knees get more damaged

Being lower to the ground helps you catch these kicks as well. You really see it take people by surprise when you catch a kick and take them down or slam a nice straight into them. When you are kicking you never expect your kick to get caught unless you throw front kicks out like jabs and are ready to shuck them off if they happen to grab it. (See mcgregor/mendes)

The repercussions are less in something like Muay Thai but I can imagine how demoralizing it would be to have your kicks caught and dumped on your ass
 
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Yeah, TS, you've got to have a ton of faith in your ability to read a particular oppoent's body kicks. I'd go out on a limb and say anyone who tried to catch a Wonderboy kick is making a huge mistake. He's one of the best at the Bill "Superfoot" Wallace-esque deceptive kicking target and he kicks too hard to make that mistake. Wallace wasn't the only guy to do it but he certainly did it well and explained the principles well. Try to catch a Wonderboy kick and there's a significant chance you're getting KOd.

Worked fine for Woodley who caught a Wonderboy kick and dumped him on his back. The key is knowing which kicks Wonderboy uses from each stance, if he's in orthodox it's round kicks which are easier to read and catch, it's in southpaw where he does the "Superfoot" thing where he has 3 different kicks (side, hook, question mark) with the same initial setup. Even then you can still use a diagonal step to his weak side to jam the q-mark and slip the side kick along with reducing the impact of a hook kick by moving with it, and this gives you a chance to catch the leg without getting creamed. Way back when I used to practice TKD, some of the guys were really good at this and it was tough to hit them clean with any lead leg kicks.

Kind of a tangent but holy hell is it annoying in sparring when guys catch your kick (because you are pulling it to not fucking injure or KO them) and then they hit a hard counter.

I got to the point where if that happened once, it was game on. Let's see if you can catch this one, shit head - lol. I had no problem with guys practicing catching my kicks and then drilling a counter at normal sparring contact (whatever we HAD BEEN DOING THE WHOLE TIME BEFORE). Dudes get excited but it is usually short-lived.

I'm a kicker, though, so maybe it was just a personal problem.

Nah, it's not just you. I'm in the gym to practice technique and work on concepts & putting things together, I'm not there for a Chute Boxe gym war. There's certain people I try not to spar with because I know it's just going to be a test of manliness, but at least I know what I'm getting into so I'm prepared to take my lumps and hit them back hard.
 
Worked fine for Woodley who caught a Wonderboy kick and dumped him on his back. The key is knowing which kicks Wonderboy uses from each stance, if he's in orthodox it's round kicks which are easier to read and catch, it's in southpaw where he does the "Superfoot" thing where he has 3 different kicks (side, hook, question mark) with the same initial setup. Even then you can still use a diagonal step to his weak side to jam the q-mark and slip the side kick along with reducing the impact of a hook kick by moving with it, and this gives you a chance to catch the leg without getting creamed. Way back when I used to practice TKD, some of the guys were really good at this and it was tough to hit them clean with any lead leg kicks.



Nah, it's not just you. I'm in the gym to practice technique and work on concepts & putting things together, I'm not there for a Chute Boxe gym war. There's certain people I try not to spar with because I know it's just going to be a test of manliness, but at least I know what I'm getting into so I'm prepared to take my lumps and hit them back hard.
Great post! Jesus, dude, you know what you're talking about.

I think I'm going to stop looking at Sherdog today because nothing is going to top that - lol.
 
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