Who do you think has the best leg kicks in UFC history?

[Subline]

FLW: Alex Perez
BW: Aldo or Martinez
FW: Aldo
LW: Barboza or Gaethje
WW: Thiago Alves
MW: Adesanya
LHW: Pereira
HW: Pedro Rizzo

 

[JBJ was here]

Those are cool but I actually like the opposite, like the Dutch guys who completely turn the shin into the opponent's leg. It's a lot more telegraphed but damn does it look good and it's safe for the thrower since it lands with the harder front of the shin. Hoost was perfect at it.

Manhoef loved throwing these too.

Putting that kick at the back end of a lengthy combination right after a same-side power punch can do a pretty good job of hiding the tell when the rest of the combination lands first. The hip and shoulder movement of the tell are also part of the immediately preceding punch, and closing the distance during the combination makes it harder to see the leg.

 

[Necrocrawler]

Honorable mention to what kaue fernandes did on his last fight and tarec saffiedine career

 

[Elvis.]

Aldo , but there are lots of worthy candidates

 

[StewDogg11]

In particular order:

Thiago Alves
Justin Gaethje
Jan Blachowicz
Edson Barboza
Pat Barry
Benson Henderson

And no Jose Aldo doesn’t get a mention because he largely abandoned them once he came to the UFC. One of several baffling choices he made in his career.

 

[HHJ]

And no Jose Aldo doesn’t get a mention because he largely abandoned them once he came to the UFC. One of several baffling choices he made in his career.

Actually he does get one, Im mentioning it right now. Aldo's leg kicks, Done.

 

[Pierce 34]

Gilbert Burns was a underrated leg kicker. If he used them against Chimaev instead of brawling he coulda won

 

[JoeBobbaLou2]

Barboza

 

[StewDogg11]

Actually he does get one, Im mentioning it right now. Aldo's leg kicks, Done.

Good for you. Abandoning your best weapon. One of numerous baffling decisions Aldo made in his career. Probably why he ended up racking up double digit losses.

 

[HHJ]

Good for you. Abandoning your best weapon. One of numerous baffling decisions Aldo made in his career. Probably why he ended up racking up double digit losses.

Probably why he ended up with seven title defenses.

 

[StewDogg11]

Probably why he ended up with seven title defenses.

I’d say over half were against mediocre competition. You had guys like Lamas, Grispi, Gamburyan, Hominick, etc. getting title shots lmao.

 

[Spath]

Best of ”the olden days”: Rizzo
Best of ”the golden days”: Aldo, Barboza,
Best of the modern era: Pereira, Gaethje (Gaethje kinda in between modern and the golden era?)

Pereira doesn’t finish his opponents with leg kicks, just uses them in a brilliant way to set up everything else. No wind up calf kicks leave his opponents limping and vulnerable. They start anticipating the leg kick and eat some bombs instead.

Aldo was the master when he used the leg kicks more. As he got older he kicked less, but in his latest fights he’s showed us he still can blast ’em. He also checks kicks and even defends calf kicks really well. He’s just so damned fast and technical in that aspect(, too).

Barboza was just a ball of explosive muscle and had the technique to go with that, great leg kicks. He would blast them often and was never gun shy. He also possessed probably the greatest switch kick in the sport AND the wheel kick… Whew!

Gaethje never lost a leg kicking contest, ever. Even against Barboza it seemed he got the best of him (before knocking Edson out… after eye-poking the shit out of him?). He could blast accurate leg kicks even from clinch! That was weird to see, but a good weapon in his arsenal. I think he has great hips for the leg kicks and implements those well. Gaethje never seemed too smart, to me, but he and his coach(es) really have done some great stuff inside the octagon.

What would you add buddeh? @TheMMAnalyst

 

[Spath]

I’d say over half were against mediocre competition. You had guys like Lamas, Grispi, Gamburyan, Hominick, etc. getting title shots lmao.

Different times, buddeh

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

Best of ”the olden days”: Rizzo
Best of ”the golden days”: Aldo, Barboza,
Best of the modern era: Pereira, Gaethje (Gaethje kinda in between modern and the golden era?)

Pereira doesn’t finish his opponents with leg kicks, just uses them in a brilliant way to set up everything else. No wind up calf kicks leave his opponents limping and vulnerable. They start anticipating the leg kick and eat some bombs instead.

Aldo was the master when he used the leg kicks more. As he got older he kicked less, but in his latest fights he’s showed us he still can blast ’em. He also checks kicks and even defends calf kicks really well. He’s just so damned fast and technical in that aspect(, too).

Barboza was just a ball of explosive muscle and had the technique to go with that, great leg kicks. He would blast them often and was never gun shy. He also possessed probably the greatest switch kick in the sport AND the wheel kick… Whew!

Gaethje never lost a leg kicking contest, ever. Even against Barboza it seemed he got the best of him (before knocking Edson out… after eye-poking the shit out of him?). He could blast accurate leg kicks even from clinch! That was weird to see, but a good weapon in his arsenal. I think he has great hips for the leg kicks and implements those well. Gaethje never seemed too smart, to me, but he and his coach(es) really have done some great stuff inside the octagon.

What would you add buddeh? @TheMMAnalyst

Damn bro you going to drop fire posts like this you don't need my dumb ass haha. Epic post, nicely done.

To add to what you posted - Old School should include Marco Ruas/Cro Cop, Golden Days should include Manhoef/Shogun, Modern Era should include Izzy/Jon Jones.

Honorable Mentions for guys that used them uniquely well or blended into their games should include Volk, Munhoz, Martinez, Alves, RDA, Barry, Hardonk, Blachowicz, Roundtree Jr.

I personally think Barboza/Aldo are the best of all-time at throwing them - in terms of set-ups they had a bunch of other kicking techniques so that they blended them to make them impossible to read and they also threw with such speed and timing it was almost impossible to read and/or check.

Gaethje probably the hardest leg-kicker P4P, but he always just kind of throws them with little to no regard for distance/timiing/spacing (kind of like Jan B. he doesn't mind if it gets checked, he's happy to take car crash damage as long as he's inflicting it).

Fighters have gotten a lot better at checking kicks defensively over the years so most fighters have focused on calf kicks because it's tougher to time the check and even if checked it can still do plenty of damage. The funny thing is most fighters still aren't good at setting them up, they still tend to throw them naked without using jabs or feints to draw a high-guard and distract from the level of attack.

Nothing quite like watching a fighter stumble around like a drunken Bambi because his legs have been chopped to pieces and he can barely stand without his knees buckling.

 

[HHJ]

I’d say over half were against mediocre competition. You had guys like Lamas, Grispi, Gamburyan, Hominick, etc. getting title shots lmao.

No one was complaining about that at the time.

Your attempts to smear a two time champion/hall of fame legend is pitiful and embarassing.

 

[StewDogg11]

No one was complaining about that at the time.

Your attempts to smear a two time champion/hall of fame legend is pitiful and embarassing.

Yes. Mark Hominick was one of the weakest title challengers ever even at the time.

 

[HHJ]

Yes. Mark Hominick was one of the weakest title challengers ever even at the time.

So what bro? You basin dude's entire career on that? OH NOES HE SLOWED DOWN ON LEG KICKS

Can't take anything you say seriously tbh.

 

[Fedorgasm]

I think Rizzo wins this

Yeah pretty crazy that in 20 years no HW has even come close to having leg kicks as good as Rizzo's.

At least the lighter weights have guys that are close

 

[PeterGriffin]

Those are cool but I actually like the opposite, like the Dutch guys who completely turn the shin into the opponent's leg. It's a lot more telegraphed but damn does it look good and it's safe for the thrower since it lands with the harder front of the shin. Hoost was perfect at it.

Manhoef loved throwing these too.

I know the discussion was UFC, but whenever a discussion comes up about leg kicks... Hoost's combos were savage beauty at times. Turning his hip over turned a log into a whip. It always baffles me how little guys put together 1-2 head combos and simply reset in the UFC without following it up with a hammer to the fucking leg. Doesn't matter if the opponent checks it. A lot of times it's an extra shot that adds a ton of attrtion quickly and you're already in motion.

Poatan. No one has been as effective against high level opponents who actually know how to defend against it

I actually made a thread years ago saying he’s the best at it, because of the way he bested Adesanya. MMA math doesn’t work but in certain aspects you can see where someone was completely shut down, and Adesanya used to win titles like that. He beat Costa with low kicks alone

Poatan's an oddity. I'm convinced his limbs are just painted concrete. He's like George Foreman. He had crazy power in his hands, and it wasn't fast or pretty, it just really fucking hurts when he touches you. Most of Alex's strikes aren't blinding fast, and he doesn't even try to hide power strikes behind jabs. I don't care what anyone says, I saw fear in Ank's eyes during the course of that rematch, and those shots hurt him badly. Poatan's calf-kick is a thing of beauty and is very tactical though.

Yep. He was a good striker, though, especially for someone in a crazy "no rules" tournament in 1993.

He also fought Royce with a broken hand and broken foot. I think they may have matched him against a sumo then another kickboxer (Rosier/Frazier winner) hoping something like that would happen in a bareknuckle event against large opponents. Royce's own brother was heavily involved in the early UFCs.

I don't think a fresh/healthy Gordeau would beat Royce, but he'd have more of a puncher/kicker's chance without the broken bones.

That first UFC was absolutely an informercial for BJJ, but that shit was also staged as hell. And I believe the first kick in UFC was thrown by GC, but it was against Teela Tuli, not Rozier (I think it was the other guy that said that). They fought in the semifinals. Tuli charged GC, and GC broke his hand and foot in a quick one-sided TKO. A tooth got stuck in Gordeau's foot. He beat Rozier with a broken hand and foot in the semis, and then got subbed by Royce in the finals.

GC and Royce were supposed to face off in the quarters until they fought out Gordeau had some grappling experience. And big-name kickboxers with no grappling experience were specifically targeted by invitation to that tournament. It really was a work to expand and promote Gracie BJJ. Most of the big name kickboxers at the time knew it was a joke and a setup and they declined. Anyone who posed a real threat wasn't invited or "eliminated" as a potential candidate.

Gordeau would have beat the shit out of Gracie if he was 100% healthy. Besides the fact he hit hard, he really was a dirty hateful fucker. He was the kind of guy who liked hurting people, but you can't plant your weight on a broken foot and couple that with a broken hand and you're basically a handicap at that point. I always wanted to see those two rematch at 100%.

Lol, winning prize was $50k for 3 fights. Dana would have been soooooooo proud.

 

[mkt]

That first UFC was absolutely an informercial for BJJ, but that shit was also staged as hell. And I believe the first kick in UFC was thrown by GC, but it was against Teela Tuli, not Rozier

The first leg kick (since that was the topic) was thrown by Gordeau against Rosier in UFC 1. He landed a couple of good ones as the commenters mentioned, the melted Rosier (who also had damage from his first fight) by other striking.

But you're correct that the first kick (head kick) in a UFC was also thrown by GG against Tuili.