Why doesn't MMA use more kicks?

[Tim McFatridge]

Footwork

Heroic,

If you have a garage or some place where you train on your own away from the tae kwon do friend then take some duct tape and draw the footwork patterns out on the floor.

1) make a triangle out of the tape (or atleast have it in your mind the shape of a triangle) on the floor.

2) Make a female triangle ( a "V" that opens away from you)

3) Make a male triangle (a "V" that opens towards you)

4) Make a cross or "+" sign on the floor and then make an "X" on top of that. This will give you all the different directions you can go. So now you will be able to see how you can zone off at a 45 degree angle from an attack.

1/4 turns are very simple as well. Lets say you are in a left lead, to do a 1/4 turn you will simply pivot on your left foot turning to your right moving your right foot behind you. You will now be facing a new direction but will still be in a left lead. The "+" shape is great for working your 1/4 turns.

Also, once you get the 1/4 turns down you add your reverse footwork to it so when they attack you can 1/4 and take a step back and be in great position for a nice thai kick as they turn to come at you. Also, once you get the turns down then you can add your zoning off to it. Lets say you friend throws a front kick at you. You will step up with your left foot moving up and zoning out at a 45 degree angle and then 1/4 turn out. Do not forget as you step up and zone out you can always land a nice straight right to the head or body. When you 1/4 turn out you can land a nice little body hook as well.

Hope this helps

[Marksmarkou]

To be honest, I see more people trying different kicks rather than just sticking to round kicks. I think fighters like GSP Machida and Cung le have proved that kicks can be effective if you train them just as much as other strikes. Roundhouse's will always be number one though.

[Tim McFatridge]

I even saw Josh Barnett land a spinning back kick on Monsoon in their fight.

[cakegirl]

Georges St Pierre does spinning back/side kicks. Machida uses sideways movements with his kicks. The thing to remember, though, is that both these guys come from a karate background - they have spent years practicing their kicks before they came to MMA.

[sherwinc]

An observation I've made is that most MMA matches nowadays tend to only see the muay thai roundhouse kick (well, and the soccer and stomp kicks) used with any frequency. I'm really curious as to why that is, since from personal experience, front kick, side kick, and axe kick can be applied quite well in full-contact, free-form sparring. Do MMA fighters not want to risk having their kicks caught? Even so, a single good kick of any of the above hurts enough to be more or less worth the risk (in my opinion). Or is it just a matter of time before MMA starts incorporating more kicks?

The primary intention of the fighter who uses kicks is to push his opponent away from him leaving an another good distance.....

while....

The primary intention of the fighter who uses punches is to destroy his opponent infront of him..... making no way for the opponent to have a distance and to recover.....

[jannypan]

you have to remember that those kicks might work great within the realm of the context in which they're being used (I'm assuming TKD/point-karate/American full-contact), but once other elements are added/combined, things change. One cannot box in mma the way one boxes in boxing. Nor can one grapple in mma the way he would in a submission grappling, sport bjj, judo or wrestling tournament without striking. The same holds true for kicking the way it's performed in the above TKD/pk/afc formats.

[CNIDog]

MMA Kickers Get KO'd

I have certainly seen your observation to be true. Kickers open themselves up to the quick counter-punch. Rarely have I seen effective kicks actually land. Kicks to the body may wear an opponent down (getting kicked hurts, I don't care how big you are), but they also sap a lot of strength. It's very important to set up your kicks well or it's simply a waste of energy that also makes you temporarily vulnerable. Kicks are fun to watch and make MMA exciting, but they're not so pretty good for the kicker, for the most part.

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CNIDog - Webmaster http://www.wcfc.com

I think we'll see fewer kicks.

But I think the kicks that are thrown will be set-up better, and will land harder and more often.

Kicks, lately, seem to get the kicker knocked out.

Punchers are closing the distance and punching the chin more often as a response to kicks.

I think this will lead to kickers spending more time setting up their kicks.

Kicks suck.

It's all about the hands.

[aseepish]

Here are some kicks for you. Not all of them are from MMA, but they all look pretty effective to me.