Use leg to block a roundhouse kick

When you use your leg to block your opponent's roundhouse kick, whoever has strong shin bone will win. When your leg hits on your opponent's leg, it will be too late to pull it back. The issue is how will you know that whether your shin bone is harder than your opponent's shin bone, or the other way around?

What's your opinion on this?

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVRtoSnMEyE"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVRtoSnMEyE[/ame]

 

That block was with the knee - it's Kali/PFS technique

It also didn't help that Anderson failed to turn the leg "over"... Which is the difference between a bruise and a break

 

Looked to me that he turned the leg over too soon.

You don't check a kick with your shin, you check with the bottom of your foot or with the knee. You also don't check at the full power point of a kick, you intercept the kick before it gets to full power... best not to take more than 50% of the full power.

The only time I've ever heard someone try to explain blocking with the shin was my BJJ instructor. He told me to block with my shin and keep my toes up for stability. Maybe there is some secret kick block in BJJ using the shin. I took what he said but later approached him on it, stating my teaching of intercepting with the knee and keeping the toes down to tighten the area around the knee for protection against injury.

If you really are trying to block with your shin, your opponent will just go lower, underneath your foot and kick out your back/supporting leg. You might catch them with your shin but they will power through to your back leg with their kick.

P.S. If you have good shins, one of the best targets for a low kick is the opponent's shin. Aim right for their shin with your kick and if it hurts them, you know you got them.

 

Anderson didn't turn the leg over. He came up for the inside leg kick at a 45 degree angle (give or take a bit) and smashed his leg directly off of the other fighters knee. It was a poor strike.

Kicking the shin directly on purpose for effect really isn't recommended. When attempting throws and sweeps sure, but a full on kick to a stable shin? You're mad! You're just asking to break your own leg.

When you leg block try making a small skip in the same direction the kick is travelling to take some of the force out of the strike (much like how you should when you catch a kick). The idea isn't to take the full force of impact.

Also you really don't want to be blocking with your foot or ankle area if you can help it. I've seen alot of Kickboxers do this and always cringe at them taking the shot. They're weak areas compared to the shin and will likely get broken. All that will happen is the other fighter will aim lower and still get the same effect they wanted but with the additional bonus of kicking through your foot!

Also I'd recommend to point your toes down toward the floor to avoid risk of the kick smashing off of raised toes and breaking them (the same reason you point them down when throwing a knee). If you're bothered about your supporting leg being taken out then take a step back into southpaw, use your teep, or kick their supporting leg out from underneath them when they kick (demonstrated this technique at the last MAP meet).

You can use your knee to spike or your foot to oblique but if competing you're only going to end up with limited mobility once a shin has been smashed off of it a few times so use that technique with caution. Also take into account the limitations for a counter kick.

There's a reason the Thai's use their shins to block. You'll see numerous shin breaks in MMA or Kickboxing but rarely see it happen in Muay Thai (especially taking into account the amount of fights in Thailand). With proper shin conditioning there's no reason you shouldn't use it to block leg kicks. The chance of injury isn't as high as you think if you do it right and kickers tend to get injured more because they're kicking wrong or not setting their kicks up correctly.

 

I'm not agreeing with this. Look at the direction Silva's foot is pointing. Silva turned his leg over too soon to be a good cut kick. Instead he used a power kick. Both kinds of kicks can be used on the legs, but the cut kick in the staple leg kick in Muay Thai.

Here is a proper cut kick to the leg. The leg isn't turned until the very end to open the hips.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MR0vq02NYQ"]Muay Thai Techniques - Leg Kick (1) - YouTube[/ame]

And here is a low power kick. A kick that you better make sure isn't going to be checked by a knee.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACqW12LNUoo"]How to break a bat with one kick - YouTube[/ame]

It isn't so bad with a proper cut kick, but only if you have good shins. This is a trick to use on inexperienced fighters that are NOT Muay Thai trained fighters. The first shin to shin hit often throws them off. However, if it doesn't work, it isn't something to keep using.

I don't agree with this either. moving away and then putting your leg up basically puts your leg at the full power point of the kick. This is not the same distance as catching a leg, which is done further, after the kick has lost power.

The spot to block a kick is inside its power. That's ideally at the halfway point (50%) but even catching it at 70% is really good.

Keeping the foot up (toes up so that foot is parallel to the ground) can stop them from kicking through your leg, although for the life of me, I don't know why that is anything other than as a last resort.

The shin blocks are because of raising the knees for a teep or push kick. Sometimes the opportunity for a push kick is missed and the shin is there to block with. I believe the push kick would be preferred over the shin block.

I think the shin breaks in MMA are because MMA folks only really use the power low kicks. Basically this is the same kick that is used to the body, but used to the leg. :bang:

However, the cut kick is not the same as a kick to the body. In Muay Thai the cut kick (e.g., see video above) is used much more often IMHO.

 

I'm on a phone (& at work) so quoting isn't happening.

What type of kick it was doesn't really matter to me. For me he didn't turn it over enough and it wasn't high enough either. If he had of done he wouldn't have landed just underneath the knee of a leg that was only slight elevated (the other fighter barely reacted to it by a few inches). He would have landed more on point or above it if targeting the middle of the inside of the leg, his foot would have been turned over at a more downward angle (think a less exaggerated Dutch style) and slid down the leg more rather than hit a downward angled cross block direct under the point of the knee. It was, quite simply, a poorly landed kick with a very unfortunate result. Almost like he changed his mind on the type of kick he wanted it to be half way through. He lacked in his placement and setup and got punished for it.

Personally I'm not a fan of inside leg kicks outside of using them to setup something else. Throwing them at high power without a really good setup is just asking for a break.

Leg blocks are used because it's better than having broken arms or ribs. Shins are denser than both (especially after heavy conditioning) so are naturally stronger (there's many a fighter who's had arms & wrists broken from blocking a Thai roundhouse, very few have had shins broken from blocking them, I couldn't name one actually). That you can throw a teep off a block (which is a legitimate technique) for a quick counter is a bonus. Defence is a priority. Block, counter & score, or counter & score.

Skipping away during the block does minimise damage, not really going to hurt much less however). You're not at the full power point of the kick because you are moving away from the targeted point. If you stand on the spot and block it will hurt alot more than moving and blocking as while the kick will still follow through it wont hit the intended point of contact taking some of the sting out of the shot. Tried and tested in sparring, interclubs and fights by myself. It works for me. It's also been taught to me by two different traditional Muay Thai instructors (one who spent 20 years in Thailand and had 40+ fights, the other whom is a multiple champion and whom has helped to train the likes of Iman Barlow among other well known fighters), I would doubt they are wrong.

And with respect to shin kicking shins, I'm not going to do something that's only useful against inexperienced fighters. It just breeds bad habits when taking on people who are better or who have better conditioning (& for the record I've tried this numerous times too when I was more inexperienced myself, it just doesn't work against good fighters). It also makes you look weak in the (Muay Thai) judges eyes if you fail.

If you want a good example of Thai style in MMA then really you should check out Joanna Jedrzejczyk. A legitimate Muay Thai fighter (not just Muay Thai for MMA) with extensive Muay Thai experience (70+ fights) that is used to devastating effect.

 

He did turn his hips early, which meant when he reached the target he was under turned. This is a silly argument Rebel, his leg broke because the dynamics of the impact were against him because his hip was under turned. How he got to that point is irrelevant.

 

It's a fairly obvious application of Hok Ma, or the front knee from the dragon forms (indeed the concealed attack would be a dragon expression)

 

UC and Ben did the explaining for me

But just in case there is still any doubt here is a living God offering his view.....

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFsGDlldNTc"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFsGDlldNTc[/ame]

 

I don't think it is irrelevant how he got there. He used a dangerous technique for the target area. It's like a boxer using an overhand right without hand or wrist protection. Not a good choice.

I can see that the technique was poor as the leg wasn't brought in high enough for a good angle.

That makes more sense to me, especially the kick wasn't high enough. The leg would have been better at waist height.

I'm saying he was over rotated (rotated too early) for a cut kick. But I can see he is under rotated for a power (chop) kick. In either case, the flat of the shin hit bone, which is not good for the kicker as seen by the results.

Interesting that you think he could have changed his mind. I didn't see that, but now I do.

On the hard inside kick, I've learned best only to use on the supporting leg. For instance, opponent kicks with his right leg, then you kick the inside of their left leg before the opponent can fully recover from their right leg kick.

IME, there is another situation for the inside cut kick that comes up really only when the opponent's legs are wobbly and they square up with a wide base. It's a lead leg kick to the inside thigh to "make them do the splits".

I guess I'm looking at what ever is closest to the area. The knees and shins can be used to protect against low attacks. The same as elbows and forearms to protect against higher attacks. To me this is more the last line of defense, with moving out of the way (fading) or intercepting as more favorable.

So I see the combination as more Teep first, then raise the knee as if kicking again to protect against a counter kick or to get the opponent to react thinking you are throwing a second kick.

I figured I misunderstood what you were saying. Skipping away during blocking makes sense to me. It is more absorbing the impact or bleeding off the power. I misunderstood what you were saying as move away then block, sorry about that.

If a visual helps, it is the inside kick demonstrated by Sam-A at 25 seconds in this video:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbXXdnkhjzI"]Muay Thai: Sam-A's 5 Essential Roundhouse Kick Combinations | Evolve University - YouTube[/ame]

Back in the 1980s, folks came over from Japan and that was the first time I experienced the leg kicks and it was like a new trick to me. Some time in the early 2000s, I was introduced to the shin on shin tap, and my shins weren't really ready for that, so it became like a new trick to me.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

This is true,but also if you block with your leg at an angle so your opponents leg slides up or down your shin slightly the impact is spread out on your shin but not theirs.

So even with correct technique it should hurt their shin more than yours.

 

Really good video. Too bad there's only one video on his channel. How come he doesn't make more?

 

Be careful what you ask for, you might get Bas overload:

https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialBasRutten

 

Unless you are a Contemporary JKD exponent and use the knee of course......

 

i tend to agree with this, but after watching Edson Barboza v Anthony Pettis i have a new found respect for inside leg kicks as punishing kicks lol

 

For a low low kick?

 

Most people low kick to the thigh, which is above your knee. Personally I like a well timed shot to the calf, but it's not what you typically see.