Thoughts on the stigmas of using certain techniques
Jone Jons is probably the biggest name in UFC to use techniques that are considered too dangerous for sport fighting because of the long lasting effects. In particular, the low-line sidekick and the oblique kick to the knees are considered dirty because the knees might sustain permanent damage. I'm not sure that kickboxing/boxing/mma culture has gotten to the point of acknowledging the brain damage is something that might have longer lasting effects than it seems. There are have been cases of certain fighters having a relatively shorter career and sustaining serious problems as a result of brain damage such Krzysztof Soszynski or fighters that last longer such as Muhammad Ali whose fate was to suffer boxing induced parkinson's after retirement. We see fighters occasionally die from head trauma in the ring or cage but sometimes the damage isn't so obvious but instead affect us ways that we don't notice.
The point is that fighting is a sport that requires one to come close the killing the other person and the arbitrary stigma that the pair of straight kicks to the knee have hinder certain fighters. In a sport where one's own livelihood is on the line, I would expect fighters to have less qualms about using techniques such as these.
UFC 209 has a series of interesting fights, two fights of which were darastically changed by the low line side kick use or lack of. David Teymur bested Lando Vannata in very competitive match. One of the key weapons that Vannata has to halt any forward movement is the low line side kick. Stopping his opponent from rushing or deterring them from having their weight on the lead leg, Vannata shoots the low line side often and with ease. In his previous fight it was used as a set-up for the wheel kick that knocked out John Makdessi the owner of particularly nice wheel kick of his own. Vannata started to halt his use of the kick as the fight went for one reason or another. Regardless he had an easier time when he was using it. It limited his opponents likely directions of movement.
If we compare this fight with the title fight of Tyron Woodley vs Stephen Thompson. We see during the entire fight Thompson had Woodley up close to the fence limiting Woodley's movement to the lateral directions and forward. The low line sidekick or oblique kick would have limited Woodley's opportunities to move forward by a lot. I'm not claiming that Thompson hold the stance that these kicks are dirty or too dangerous but regardless point stands that he would have benefited in the use of the straight kicks to the knee.
The point is that fighting is a sport that requires one to come close the killing the other person and the arbitrary stigma that the pair of straight kicks to the knee have hinder certain fighters. In a sport where one's own livelihood is on the line, I would expect fighters to have less qualms about using techniques such as these.
UFC 209 has a series of interesting fights, two fights of which were darastically changed by the low line side kick use or lack of. David Teymur bested Lando Vannata in very competitive match. One of the key weapons that Vannata has to halt any forward movement is the low line side kick. Stopping his opponent from rushing or deterring them from having their weight on the lead leg, Vannata shoots the low line side often and with ease. In his previous fight it was used as a set-up for the wheel kick that knocked out John Makdessi the owner of particularly nice wheel kick of his own. Vannata started to halt his use of the kick as the fight went for one reason or another. Regardless he had an easier time when he was using it. It limited his opponents likely directions of movement.
If we compare this fight with the title fight of Tyron Woodley vs Stephen Thompson. We see during the entire fight Thompson had Woodley up close to the fence limiting Woodley's movement to the lateral directions and forward. The low line sidekick or oblique kick would have limited Woodley's opportunities to move forward by a lot. I'm not claiming that Thompson hold the stance that these kicks are dirty or too dangerous but regardless point stands that he would have benefited in the use of the straight kicks to the knee.
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