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Pretty good article from Jack Slack on Shara's kicking game
www.fightprimer.com
Some excerpts. CLIFFS IF YOU WILL.
You will probably be familiar with the idea of combination punching into the low kick because it became such a central tenet in Dutch kickboxing gyms in the 1980s and 1990s that it is considered to be the best part of the Dutch kickboxing style. But Shara Magomedov seldom throws one good punch, let alone a combination.
Instead, every Magomedov fight is filled with small retreats. He never runs away, he simply keeps correcting the distance to just a little too far for comfort. He does this so frequently and consistently that his opponent gets into the habit of trying to recorrect that distance and get close enough before they begin to attempt their own offence. After he has caught their timing stepping forward, he hammers the lead leg just as they plant it.
Another solid rule of kicking is that if you kick a lot, you will inevitably miss a lot. That is not necessarily a bad thing—after all if you try to up your punching accuracy by throwing fewer punches you are only going to hurt your chances of winning a fight. But with kicking the dangers of missing are generally greater because you can absorb counters while on one leg, or have a leg caught, or give up a back bodylock. For this reason, Magomedov makes frequent use of the spinning backfist and the side kick.
Both of these techniques work best when the fighter’s feet are in line. When he misses a big round kick, or a has a front kick parried across the centreline, the fighter’s feet are on a tightrope and his opponent is about to come charging in to take advantage of the missed kick. So the backfist and side kick are part deterrent and part trap.
Where’s the Boxing?
Punching is an afterthought for Magomedov. His hands take on the role of framing, and one of his best tactics is to smother the opponent’s punching with the double collar tie. He used this to shut down mid-range exchanges in his kickboxing career, but has adapted it to MMA and now snags the double collar coming off the fence and after defending takedowns.
Like the aforementioned Michael Bisping, Magomedov is not a big hitter. But like Bisping he can wear on his opponent down over rounds and then look for the double collar tie when they cannot put up much resistance. Landing unanswered knees against an exhausted opponent is a clear route to the TKO even if you cannot deck them with one good punch.
Shara Magomedov is unique in MMA. I cannot think of a fighter who kicks with the same frequency and in multi-kick combinations. I would be even more hard-pressed to think of a fighter like that in the upper weightclasses.
The Unorthodox Kicking Game of Shara Bullet — The Fight Primer
www.fightprimer.com
You will probably be familiar with the idea of combination punching into the low kick because it became such a central tenet in Dutch kickboxing gyms in the 1980s and 1990s that it is considered to be the best part of the Dutch kickboxing style. But Shara Magomedov seldom throws one good punch, let alone a combination.
Instead, every Magomedov fight is filled with small retreats. He never runs away, he simply keeps correcting the distance to just a little too far for comfort. He does this so frequently and consistently that his opponent gets into the habit of trying to recorrect that distance and get close enough before they begin to attempt their own offence. After he has caught their timing stepping forward, he hammers the lead leg just as they plant it.
Another solid rule of kicking is that if you kick a lot, you will inevitably miss a lot. That is not necessarily a bad thing—after all if you try to up your punching accuracy by throwing fewer punches you are only going to hurt your chances of winning a fight. But with kicking the dangers of missing are generally greater because you can absorb counters while on one leg, or have a leg caught, or give up a back bodylock. For this reason, Magomedov makes frequent use of the spinning backfist and the side kick.
Both of these techniques work best when the fighter’s feet are in line. When he misses a big round kick, or a has a front kick parried across the centreline, the fighter’s feet are on a tightrope and his opponent is about to come charging in to take advantage of the missed kick. So the backfist and side kick are part deterrent and part trap.
Where’s the Boxing?
Punching is an afterthought for Magomedov. His hands take on the role of framing, and one of his best tactics is to smother the opponent’s punching with the double collar tie. He used this to shut down mid-range exchanges in his kickboxing career, but has adapted it to MMA and now snags the double collar coming off the fence and after defending takedowns.
Like the aforementioned Michael Bisping, Magomedov is not a big hitter. But like Bisping he can wear on his opponent down over rounds and then look for the double collar tie when they cannot put up much resistance. Landing unanswered knees against an exhausted opponent is a clear route to the TKO even if you cannot deck them with one good punch.
Shara Magomedov is unique in MMA. I cannot think of a fighter who kicks with the same frequency and in multi-kick combinations. I would be even more hard-pressed to think of a fighter like that in the upper weightclasses.
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