ITF TKD is 50% hands and that means to the head and face. A good ITF school does work hands sufficiently and their fighters are good at defending from them and using them. WTF of course does not, but those are 2 different styles, just don't think of all TKD as the same.
Spetnatz, you are absolutely right about TKD 'ists not knowing how to execute and defend leg kicks, that was my biggest weakness when I started muay thai 6 years ago.... 7 years? Damn Im getting old and losing track of time haha. However I dont think muay thai is a more complete kicking art based on the practice of leg kicks... it is the same kick to three levels..... Muay thai fighters have a huge weakness for some kicking angles of attack from TKD because they too do not defend all the angles and therefore dont have a reflex reaction or counter for them. I'm not just saying this out of wishful thinking like alot of posters... I've sparred a lot of pro fighters in Thailand and noticed the same things over and over. Doesnt mean a pro couldnt kick my butt, just that they get caught by the same trick angles almost every time. If you keep using the same trick though... a good pro learns and adapts quick enough to take advantage of it before the end of the fight... so the moral of the story is you better knock him out before he learns or dont over use the same new angles.
And... a good TKD school should be teaching leg kicks of various types as self defence at the least. But practicing how to kick the leg as self defence doesnt make it ingrained refex and there is rarely ay trainig to defend from the leg kick so absolutely no reflex for that at all.
Damian Mavis
Honour TKD thailand
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