*You don't need to use or know how to throw a kick in order to be the best fighter*

[Mattitude V1]

He didn't say it was ineffective, he said you can be very successful without learning that skill and provided strong examples as evidence that it is true

How do you know whether or not any of them have learned the skill? Just because kicks aren't part of your game doesn't mean you don't know how to throw them.

Rashad Evans is a BJJ black belt, but never attempted a submission in the UFC.

 

[Amerikuracana]

How do you know whether or not any of them have learned the skill? Just because kicks aren't part of your game doesn't mean you don't know how to throw them.

Rashad Evans is a BJJ black belt, but never attempted a submission in the UFC.

The way the last 5 years went, maybe he should have.

 

[submerged88]

Theres a pretty good fighter in the UFC whose fighting strategy is heavy on the kicks.
His name is Jon Jones. You should watch some of his fights sometimes and see how effective kicks can be.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

as long as it didn't diminish your other skills I don't see how adding another weapon
to your arsenal wouldn't automatically make you better

As the TS i'm gonna reply this, so it gets clear:

Who says a "kicking" game won't make you better? Of course, if you have good kicks you'd be a better fighter.

What i'm saying is you could be the best of the best without being a good kicker. Kicks are not a "must have". Good hands and an elite grappling game would do the job. Period.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

Khabib is a bad example because he mostly grapple and DC is a heavyweight... how many heavyweight can even throw a head kick without telegraphing it?

LOL. Actually Khabib is a great example "because he mostly grapple". DC is a LHW champ. There are a lot of LHWs with good kicks.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

He didn't say it was ineffective, he said you can be very successful without learning that skill and provided strong examples as evidence that it is true

Thanks.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

How do you know whether or not any of them have learned the skill? Just because kicks aren't part of your game doesn't mean you don't know how to throw them.

Rashad Evans is a BJJ black belt, but never attempted a submission in the UFC.

LOL. That's what we're talking about. Actually that would prove my point even better: guys that know how to kick but decide not to use them as a main weapon.

 

[Seiryoku Zenyo]

Theres a pretty good fighter in the UFC whose fighting strategy is heavy on the kicks.
His name is Jon Jones. You should watch some of his fights sometimes and see how effective kicks can be.

Yeah, but he's also a great wrestler and striker. Without that he would be schooled, like Khabib did to Barboza.

 

[boss429]

I kind of agree with you OP's statement, BUT streets fights =/= MMA, in a lot of ways... The kicks that MMA fighters have are storms compared to what a random street fight guy can send (except the real street fighters of course)

Yeah I kind of misread the OP and thought he meant fighting in general when I posted that and agree kicks are very important in professional competition.

I was actually just curious about the guy I responded to who's contribution to the thread was "You've obviously never fought" and having been under the impression that the OP was talking about fighting in general at the time and the poster not having a pro fighter tag I was curious what his experience was since, like I said, kicks had never really been a factor in all the fights I've been in. (I was kind of an angry and aggressive person growing up into I mellowed out in my mid 20's, lol).

 

[boss429]

If you mastered a good highkick every fight you were in would have ended in seconds

Maybe, I had mastered Boxing though so most of them did anyway.

 

[boss429]

Look at this fucking bad ass

Yeah totally, who would have ever guessed someone who is drawn to combat sports would have been in streetfights in there younger days. fuckin crazy eh.

 

[boss429]

Oh your extensive street fighting career probably translates perfectly to top 10 fighters in the world....... lol

Yeah, as I've already explained I misinterpreted the OP and agree that a good kcking game is definitely important at the Pro level. I thought the OP was talking about fighting in general and regret posting that comment now.

 

[boss429]

Nothing more bad ass then bragging about fake street fights online. My favorite part was the guy kicking you in the balls because you were boxing his ass up lol

Really have no interest in trying to impress some idiot I don't know on the internet bud and I really don't give a fuck if you believe me.

I Boxed for many years so yeah, I was better at it than your average kid but yeah, totally making it up to impress you cause obviously no one who posts on an internet forum could have possibly had any actual experiences in there lives, lol.

 

[tasticles]

The single strongest strike in all of combat sport is ineffective?

Its odd TKD fighters rarely defeat muay thai guys with deadly kicks such as this.

 

[BlankaPresident]

Having said that having kicks in your arsenal is not a bad thing. MMA is constantly evolving, there might be a time where kicking is absolutely necessary to win a fight. Fighters kicking game is very basic right now. There's a whole other level to kicks that we only tend to see in traditional martial arts. If MMA guys learn to incorporate this into their overall game it could end up being an extremely powerful weapon.

If do right, no can defense.

 

[gono btw]

Well you certainly need to know how to defend kicks. BJ Penn is also another great example he rarely threw a kick and was a great champion. But when he did kick against Diego Sanchez...

Having said that having kicks in your arsenal is not a bad thing. MMA is constantly evolving, there might be a time where kicking is absolutely necessary to win a fight. Fighters kicking game is very basic right now. There's a whole other level to kicks that we only tend to see in traditional martial arts. If MMA guys learn to incorporate this into their overall game it could end up being an extremely powerful weapon.

Alot of under utilised techniques such as the side kick. Can be more effective than a jab if done correctly. Think about it, it will hurt more than a punch and you can cover more range with a kick.

We started seeing guys like Conor use that front kick to the body very underrated and under utilised move. When guys learn to kick properly it will be as effective as boxing. Just we are still in an evolving sport that's in it's infancy.

 

[Zanmato]

How do you know whether or not any of them have learned the skill? Just because kicks aren't part of your game doesn't mean you don't know how to throw them.

Rashad Evans is a BJJ black belt, but never attempted a submission in the UFC.

because they've been seen to throw these techniques poorly in their fights and their entire gameplans have been built around other, stronger skills they have

no one has said they've never thrown a kick in training or their fights but it's clear that you don't have to have mastery of this skill to become a high level pro, several champions have done it

 

[Blayt7hh]

TS isn’t exactly wrong but it is wrong to take this fact and assume you shouldn’t learn how to in mma

 

[Maaj19]

You need a deep understanding of kicking range, kicking defense and kicking counters

If you have those, you can use boxing primarily like Conor and DC

You can see this with RJJ, he knew all the fundamentals inside out which is why he was able to sorta throw them away in a sense and do what he did in the ring eg not jabbing a lot and instead using a hook

 

[Shabutie]

It's certainly possible you don't NEED to know how or use.

In some alternate universe a pure grappler could be the best without having to throw a punch or kick whatever.

Extremely unlikely to be the case though.

 

[Mattitude V1]

because they've been seen to throw these techniques poorly in their fights and their entire gameplans have been built around other, stronger skills they have

no one has said they've never thrown a kick in training or their fights but it's clear that you don't have to have mastery of this skill to become a high level pro, several champions have done it

That’s true for everything. Lots of fighters have shit guards. Carlos Condit and Shoguns had successful careers, basically unable to wrestle. But you have to understand kicks and every other aspect of the sport you compete in.

Jon Jones isn’t a great boxer by any means, so he just doesn’t do it. He can punch, but he’s just throwing everything at you and denies opponents the boxing range.

 

[submerged88]

Yeah, but he's also a great wrestler and striker. Without that he would be schooled, like Khabib did to Barboza.

But the kicks are what he relies on to set keep others at range, stop their offense, or as an offensive strike. Take away his kicks and who knows how Jones would have done if he had relied purely on striking and wrestling. Jones feels the kicks are important or else he would not be using them in all of his fights. He knocked out another great fighter, DC using kicks. Perhaps you should watch that fight.