Front kick in MMA

[Alan Armstrong]

As martial artists the leading leg front kick should be used as quick as or used like a front jab. Rear leg front kick like a reverse punch with power. That's just the basics.

Counter kicking techniques are great with front kicks; it is also the most versatile weapon from the waist down.

Front kicks can be effective when standing still or moving, in the air or when ground fighting.

Front kicks any time any place, has the possibilities to end a fight with one kick to the: groin, stomach, solar-plexus, larynx, jaw, nose...

The human body is designed perfectly for front kicks. The human leg (from the knee) doesn't bend left or right or forward, but works perfectly for bending backwards for walking and with practice; front kicking.

Front kicks:

Snapping

Thrusting

Jumping

Pushing

Sticking

Deceptive

Flying

Deflective

Low

Medium

High

Sliding

Single

Double

Multiple

Pendulum

Rising

Reaching

Blocking

Combination

and variations there of...

[Alan Armstrong]

Front kick knockout, the way to go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMNM51Bwcgg

UFC one kick knockouts, THE KARATE KICK front kicks included.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gvv9urOC7s

[el-peligroso]

Silvia and now Machida have recently used this technique with great sucess. I wonder if this is going to be used more. Any thoughts?

Apparently Machida and Silva didn't know anything about the front kick until Steven Seagal taught them it. haha.

Anyway, go take a look at the first few UFCs with Royce Gracie and you'll see that he used the front kick a few times before taking his opponent down.

[Alan Armstrong]

Machida's dad is a Shotokan master, I would guess that (the front kick) would be something he learned at a very young age from his father and not from anyone else.

[TJ-Jitsu]

I think peligroso's comment came with a heavy side of sarcasm....

Its taken a while for kicks to become accepted in the MMA world. One has to consider that a vast majority of MMA fighters focus their techniques on wrestling and boxing. Granted this is a very very broad statement, but most wrestlers will eat a leg kick if it means getting a takedown- hence the reason they throw it infrequently.

So, IMO its a little less about whether a technique is practical or not (since thats a relative statment altogether) and more about HOW its delivered and set up.

[sensei8]

Silvia and now Machida have recently used this technique with great sucess. I wonder if this is going to be used more. Any thoughts?

Apparently Machida and Silva didn't know anything about the front kick until Steven Seagal taught them it. haha.

Anyway, go take a look at the first few UFCs with Royce Gracie and you'll see that he used the front kick a few times before taking his opponent down.

For Royce, the front kick, was more of a feint than anything else, before he went in to take down said opponent. Royce's front "kick" wasn't a front kick that contained a lot of what a determined and focused front kick normally would have. However, in the manner of how Royce used his front kick was vital to his strategy, and so much so, that it opened up his opponents the way that he wanted them to open the door for him to come on in. For Royce, his front kick was text book; it served his purpose!!