Why don't we see the rear leg straight kick more in KB/MT/MMA?

sakfjgadsyukgf

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Sorry, it's so obscure that I didn't know exactly what to call it lol. I'm talking about a snap kick/teep from your rear leg. When I took karate as a kid a million years ago, this was one of the staple kicks, and it's versatile- it can go to your opponent's stomach just as easily as their groin.

I was just watching the Muslim Salikov fight where he threw it repeatedly. It's clearly effective for him- why don't we see more of this in striking sports? It's quite fast and requires little setup, it's reasonably powerful in that you're using your quads to drive forward. You're not that easy to counter when you're throwing it. I don't think it's incredibly powerful in that it's likely to get a guy out of there (well at least not unless you can hit the groin), but it could be added to mix as a good long distance strike. No one wants to get front kicked to their guy 5-10 times in a fight. Just not popular at the moment?
 
It's a lot slower than the front leg teep. There is a nice fake though from rear leg roundhouse to push kick.
 
Assuming we are talking about same stance match ups. Besides being easier to see because it’s from farther away, I also don’t think it lines up very well unless it’s an open stance match up. Very easy to get blocked/caught and to catch an elbow.

I think it’s a very good weapon from southpaw orthodox. But even then everyone I know who throws this with force always damages their toes and bottom of their feet pretty badly. If they throw it with a snap instead of a push
 
It's called a front snap kick. Most current fighters didn't come from a competitive TMA background where the technique is more prevalent. The guys that did (Machida, Kikuno, Anderson) actually have a damaging front kick. Like any kick, it has to be practiced religiously before it's useful. Like anything, the better technique is the one the person can land.
 
It's called a front snap kick. Most current fighters didn't come from a competitive TMA background where the technique is more prevalent. The guys that did (Machida, Kikuno, Anderson) actually have a damaging front kick. Like any kick, it has to be practiced religiously before it's useful. Like anything, the better technique is the one the person can land.
I remember machida and Anderson getting their highlight reel KOs with it, did they incorporate it into their stand up in general? I can’t remember but maybe it was one note mixed into the song and didn’t stand out.
 
This is the snap kick I think we're talking about seeing here in MMA. Thinking about this now, I really don't recall the teep being used much by the MMA guys I used to train with, or in fights much, due to takedown risk is my thoughts on it. But I do recall once this kick came out seeing people in MMA use it quite a bit. A quick snap kick to the chin right up the middle. Looks effective but I never practiced it. Seems like easy to injury your foot. Seems MMA has adopted more of a snap than push style front kick

 
This is the snap kick I think we're talking about seeing here in MMA. Thinking about this now, I really don't recall the teep being used much by the MMA guys I used to train with, or in fights much, due to takedown risk is my thoughts on it. But I do recall once this kick came out seeing people in MMA use it quite a bit. A quick snap kick to the chin right up the middle. Looks effective but I never practiced it. Seems like easy to injury your foot. Seems MMA has adopted more of a snap than push style front kick


I’ve never been able to reliably throw a front kick due to paranoia that it getting blocked would fuck up one or more of my toes.
 
I don't think it is an easy technique to land. In TKD people use it to counter big, spinning kicks, but everyone has pads on and the elbows aren't in the way. If someone has a boxing guard and they are far enough away that you might want to throw a straight, rear leg, they can flinch their elbow in the way and shred your toes, which sucks. And in MMA people at rear straight kick range aren't usually lunging into a big move, but instead are advancing cautiously.

And then when you hit, it might not even do much. You won't hit the liver, and since they see it coming, they'll respond with their breath and eat the damage. It won't feel good, but it isn't like surprising someone with a liver-knee. You'll either kick them in the balls, or you'll hit them in the single best place for them to take a shot.
 
I remember machida and Anderson getting their highlight reel KOs with it, did they incorporate it into their stand up in general? I can’t remember but maybe it was one note mixed into the song and didn’t stand out.

They blended it in with other kicks. I recall Siver used to do it frequently but he was too short. But probably the best in combat sports is Semmy Schilt in kickboxing. The kyokushin style guys applied it much better than TMA karate guys
 
They blended it in with other kicks. I recall Siver used to do it frequently but he was too short. But probably the best in combat sports is Semmy Schilt in kickboxing. The kyokushin style guys applied it much better than TMA karate guys
…kyokushin is a traditional martial art, and is karate…

can we as a community just drop the term TMA, as it’s meaningless?
 
That's my go to kick. Southpaw, and always teeping / front kicking with my left leg, never with right. I'm not even aware what stance I stand when I do it. I kinda switch stance without thinking about it. I got my specific technique how I always throw it. Basically just lift it quick, usually when other guys tries to strike and just "drop" my weight into my leg and flex / push. No wind up. I target mostly the liver.
 
I think Usman does it to the body quite a bit in his fights and it seems to be effective. I could be wrong but it seems like more of a snap with him than a push/teep. It's not a hard kick to throw but it's probably easy to defend because it's coming straight down the middle in your line of sight in addition to the distance. Michael Chandler and Anderson Silva have scored knockouts with it but I think if we saw them using it more frequently before the knockout it would've become predictable and less effective. I think we could compare those knockouts to Leon Edwards knockout of Usman even though it was a round kick in that fight. Usman didn't expect it because Leon Edwards never threw it until he was ready to go for the kill. That's probably the most effective way to land that kick or most kicks that are intended to end the fight.
 
This is the snap kick I think we're talking about seeing here in MMA. Thinking about this now, I really don't recall the teep being used much by the MMA guys I used to train with, or in fights much, due to takedown risk is my thoughts on it. But I do recall once this kick came out seeing people in MMA use it quite a bit. A quick snap kick to the chin right up the middle. Looks effective but I never practiced it. Seems like easy to injury your foot. Seems MMA has adopted more of a snap than push style front kick


Yeah, that's more what I thinking. I think the rear leg snap kick has become incorporated enough that I'm not surprised when I see it. Compared to 10 years ago when Anderson Silva dropped it on Vitor and every karateka in the world suddenly got a "see I told you" hard on (myself included).

The push style of that kick is what we don't see in MMA for all the reasons people have already said. It's slow, it's easy to see coming and it doesn't give you significantly better power from the rear compared to the front to make up for the lack of speed.
 
I think Usman does it to the body quite a bit in his fights and it seems to be effective. I could be wrong but it seems like more of a snap with him than a push/teep. It's not a hard kick to throw but it's probably easy to defend because it's coming straight down the middle in your line of sight in addition to the distance. Michael Chandler and Anderson Silva have scored knockouts with it but I think if we saw them using it more frequently before the knockout it would've become predictable and less effective. I think we could compare those knockouts to Leon Edwards knockout of Usman even though it was a round kick in that fight. Usman didn't expect it because Leon Edwards never threw it until he was ready to go for the kill. That's probably the most effective way to land that kick or most kicks that are intended to end the fight.
The snap kick isn't that easy to defend even though it's coming through the center.

As humans, we have a harder time spotting objects that are coming up from below our eye line, compared with movements that come around from the outside. If you can keep the opponent's eyes above your waist then the snap kick has a decent chance of not being detected until too late.

The problem with the push version is that you raise the knee up above your waist before the push, this puts the leg into the defender's eye line and gives him a better chance of seeing it and defending it.
 
I think it's the toe damage thing a lot of people are talking about. I remember doing kicks like this in Tae Kwon Do 40 years ago. Never bothered me then. (although I was a kid so little to no sparring). Now as a middle aged dude (who admittedly has bad feet from decades of running) a slight mistake would damage me considerably. I suspect a lot of people have some version of this, although maybe not as bad as me. So in the end, risk/reward ratio is poor. Less dangerous just to get inside and do something with the hands or a knee.
 
Assuming we are talking about same stance match ups. Besides being easier to see because it’s from farther away, I also don’t think it lines up very well unless it’s an open stance match up. Very easy to get blocked/caught and to catch an elbow.

I think it’s a very good weapon from southpaw orthodox. But even then everyone I know who throws this with force always damages their toes and bottom of their feet pretty badly. If they throw it with a snap instead of a push

Nice analysis sir.
 
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