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Posts mit dem Label "thoughts on combat sports" werden angezeigt.

Thoughts on Combat Sports: Countering the Rear Roundhouse Kick

For me, personally, the rear roundhouse kick has always been a rather difficult technique to counter directly. You see, although I’m originally from a TKD background, the idea of kicking below the attacker’s leg has never worked out for me particularly well. On the one hand, I’m shorter than most guys in my weight class, so my range tends to be limited. Therefore, most times, I just can’t match a good kick’s distance. On the other hand, the whole thing only works if an unoccupied straight line exists from the defender’s hip to the attacker’s belly. Consider the image below, where Chris and I demonstrate the concept: This counter works by dropping the center of gravity below that of the attacker and then bending the torso backwards so that the attack misses, while the counter hits the lower belly. Naturally, this becomes an issue when the original attack is aimed low, e.g. at the hip or slightly above. Dropping beneath that attack is... inconvenient, to say the least. Hence, I was...

Thoughts on Combat Sports: How MMA promotes grappling

A couple opf days ago, Chris told me of this great fight between Miesha Tate and Julie Kedzie. I must admit I really enjoyed watching the fight. Still, the whole thing made me think... Before I spoil anything, however, take some time to watch the fight in the below presented video - it'll be well worth your time, in my opinion. So, over the course of the fight, Kedzie was definately the better fighter when it comes to the striking game - I seriously doubt anyone would disagree on this point. Still, Tate saved the day with an armbar. Like so often in MMA, grappling beats striking (no pun intended). Ever since Royce Gracie presented BJJ to the world at the UFC 1 back in 1993, grappling is huge in the MMA. There's been a boom on BJJ, some even consider it the ultimate fighting style. Let's be absolutely clear about this - I have no problem with grappling whatsoever. In fact, I did some BJJ before transitioning to Judo. Grappling is a very important aspect of any well-r...