interesting video on front leg kicks

[sensei8]

Well, in the video his groin is wide open, but he's teaching. His kicks have been clocked at 60-70 mph. His opponents knew he was going to kick, therefore, it became a matter of if he will kick, but when. And when he did, they couldn't stop/defend against it. Kicking that fast, imho, negates the wide open groin because his opponent weren't worried about that, they were worried about keeping their heads attached.

Sure but that's Bill at the peak of his professional life. Most of us including me aren't ever going to approach the speed limits with a lead leg kick, which is almost completely dependent on leg muscle. In fact, I believe that his world record kick was clocked with a rear leg kick. There is no way Bill can clock a 60mph kick with his lead leg.

Anyways I recall several of his professional fights. He tended to use his lead kicks like boxing jabs. I don't remember any knockouts by them. And I don't remember any opponents fearing them like they would a Cro-Cop head kick.

Good points! It was his rear leg that was clocked, and it was his primary weapon as well as a back fist strike. I stand corrected, thank you for correcting my boo-boos.

[brickshooter]

Well, in the video his groin is wide open, but he's teaching. His kicks have been clocked at 60-70 mph. His opponents knew he was going to kick, therefore, it became a matter of if he will kick, but when. And when he did, they couldn't stop/defend against it. Kicking that fast, imho, negates the wide open groin because his opponent weren't worried about that, they were worried about keeping their heads attached.

Sure but that's Bill at the peak of his professional life. Most of us including me aren't ever going to approach the speed limits with a lead leg kick, which is almost completely dependent on leg muscle. In fact, I believe that his world record kick was clocked with a rear leg kick. There is no way Bill can clock a 60mph kick with his lead leg.

Anyways I recall several of his professional fights. He tended to use his lead kicks like boxing jabs. I don't remember any knockouts by them. And I don't remember any opponents fearing them like they would a Cro-Cop head kick.

Good points! It was his rear leg that was clocked, and it was his primary weapon as well as a back fist strike. I stand corrected, thank you for correcting my boo-boos.

No no. I'm not saying that Bill is doing it wrong. It's just that for his time it was the correct thing to do. One can apply Bill's principles to today's fights if slightly modified. For example, Bill used to slide his supporting leg to close the distance. The problem is that this doesn't provide enough KO power.

Instead, if one were to take an aggressive forward step with the back leg before kicking with the lead leg, one may be able to get enough rotation + weight transfer into the lead kick for a KO. My point isn't that a lead leg high kick is vulnerable, but any high kick without KO power is vulnerable.

BTW, once Bill entered full contact kick boxing, he went away from the backfist and relied on big giant hooks. In fact everyone making the transition into Boxing from Karate threw the big giant hook for some reason.