Axe Kicks? What the Heck are they good for?

[jules]

I have seen alot of K-1 fights and as i have stated before the only person that have used the ax kick with any consistant sucess was Andy Hug.

[Damian Mavis]

What are you a parrot? haha 3 times you said you only have seen Andy Hug has used it, that's great. I'm telling you I have seen it used several times on television in high end kickboxing/muaythai matches. It's not common but it works, and why does it work for those that use it? Because they frickin practice it. So my point is that it's not the kick that is the problem it's the majority of fighters effort into mastering it to an effective level.

Bottom line I agree with you that not many people use it, I'm just saying it doesn't mean the kick is bad, it simply takes much more practice to use effectively than roundkick or front kick so not alot of people put in the time and energy to get to that point so never find a use for it.

Anyone can use this kick effectively, they just need to put in the time.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[eXcessiveForce]

except midgets. they are too short to throw ax kicks in high end muay thai competitions.

[jules]

What are you a parrot? haha 3 times you said you only have seen Andy Hug has used it, that's great.

I repeated it for a reason, meaning if it was more usefull more fighters will use it.

I'm telling you I have seen it used several times on television in high end kickboxing/muaythai matches.

could you give some examples? You are basically telling me to "take your word for it".

Because they frickin practice it. So my point is that it's not the kick that is the problem it's the majority of fighters effort into mastering it to an effective level.

Don't you think that fighters who make a living by fighting will know better than you or I what works? Or perhaps the effort is not worth the rewards.

[Damian Mavis]

I can't claim to make a living fighting, not even if I turn pro... the pay for fighting in Thailand isn't enough to live by my standards heh so I'll never make a living fighting. But my point is, I use it in my fights... I've seen other Muay Thai pro's use it on TV and in person. Can I give examples? No I didn't think to write it all down as who was fighting who and when but why would I lie? haha

You nailed it exactly! The EFFORT IS NOT WORTH THE REWARDS! To put in time training new techniques in the middle of your fight career is not an option for most fighters. The guys that use these kicks are most definately coming from a background where they spent years training these techniques previous to starting fight training.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Kosh]

Axe kicks are good for dealing with some forms of kicks, namely side kicks. A sort of side-step jumping axe kick to the side of their knee puts their leg down and hurts alot too. You dont need to swing your leg high as you would for a head hit, so its faster too.

[dfissionr]

I never saw the event which Cung Le did his axe kick but I do have a picture of it from his website. I think I read somewhere though that this kick hurt the dude's shoulder pretty bad.

Here's the picture.



Cung Le is a good example of what Damian is trying to say. Cung has trained in TKD and Vietnamese Kung Fu early in life and you can tell he's been working on those "uncommon" kicks. Like the rear spin kick and back spin heel kicks because he can whip them with power and speed. Another example would be Benny "The Jet" this guy's nickname is a result of how fast he can pull off the back spin kick which he rightly knocks the poop out of people with.

Oh I forgot to mention. There is a middleweight version of K-1 cxalled K-1 MAX. It is generally much more fun to watch then the heavyweights because these guys go fast and tend to be more technical.

[Garth Barnard]

The correct form for an Axe kick is the drive the heel of the kicking foot downwards on to the head, just above the forehead. The only real defence (if it is correctly executed) is to 'slip' the kick and take it on the shoulder and guard (arms).

The Axe kick is particularly useful as a front leg technique for lowering a guard (arms) before following up with an Obverse upper section punch.

The front leg Axe kick is a particular tournament favourite of mine.

Regards,

Garth Barnard.

[Damian Mavis]

If I see an axe kick coming I just block it..... you must do TKD in the WTF?

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[Garth Barnard]

IMO a well executed front leg axe kick is very difficult, if not impossible, to defend, purely because of it's speed. Sure you can block it with an outer forearm rising block (in fighting stance) etc, but you'd have to be very quick and very strong. I certainly wouldn't commit both arms in a raising 'x' block though.

I actualy won the British middleweight (ITF style (GTI)) Championship with a front leg axe kick in 1998.

Out of interest Damian, what's your best/recommended defence from an axe kick?

Regards,

Garth Barnard.
B.F.M.A.A.

p.s. nice website BTW.

[Damian Mavis]

Thanks! I put alot of thought into my schools website.

Yes I agree front leg axe kick is next to impossible to see coming when it's launched at close range, if I do see it though I will do high block (outer forearm rising block).

I've always done high block for axe kicks (the ones that I saw at least heh). At one tournament my opponent threw a strong rear leg axe kick while he was moving in and I blocked it and slid back 5 feet from the impact. He didn't score but he totally moved me out of counter range. I had to run back in to fight him heh.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[fullcircle]

If you tried to block my axe kick with an outer forearm guarding block, I'd break your arm. Even if it didn't break your arm, there's no way in hell my kick isn't going to go right through the block.

[Thai Bri]

Big Talker.

[Damian Mavis]

No shit haha. How do you know my arms arent giant cables of steel like muscle? Well they aren't.. but my point is blocking has always hurt, but it's better than getting kicked in the head.

I've blocked full contact axe kicks no problemo, if they caught me with their bony heel maybe it wouldn't have worked so well but I always blocked them around their achiles tendon and it worked just fine.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

[tai-gip]

dont you just push the leg up and the kicker over with or without a sweep though like anyother technique they have there purpose and can work when correctly used and can create a vunerability when incorrectly used