Issue 109

December 2013

UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis stunned the MMA world with his ‘Showtime’ kick on Benson Henderson in 2010, but he’s not the only fighter taking to the air as the sport continues its evolution while borrowing strikes from the more traditional martial arts. FO investigates…

A strange occurrence is happening in MMA right now and it’s one that seems counterintuitive to the sport’s principle of evolution. What we’ve seen over the past couple of years, especially with some of the UFC’s top fighters, is a reversion to the more traditional martial arts (TMA) like taekwondo and karate, and in particular their kicking techniques.

At UFC 164, two of the best lightweights, Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis, went head-to-head. Though the result was a submission win for Pettis, it was what both fighters represented that is of note. Each man is a taekwondo black belt, and began their martial arts journey with this traditional system. Equally, both have been in dominating form against other opponents, Pettis using his ‘Showtime’ style to great effect and Henderson a less flashy but no less effective kicking game to rule the 155lb division since 2011. 

They are at the tip of a movement, started by Lyoto Machida’s crane kick, and Anderson Silva’s front kick in 2011, which is now picking up pace. The likes of Dennis Siver, Anderson Silva, Georges St Pierre and Jon Jones have been adding elements from taekwondo, while touted prospects like Conor McGregor and Gunnar Nelson both exhibit a frighteningly effective karate style of kicking and punching. What we are witnessing is a move towards a more dynamic and explosive mix that includes some of the older martial arts.

The question is: why are we seeing this change? The early UFC events debunked the idea of karate black belts having an efficient fighting style when put into the no-holds-barred environment of the Octagon. However, what MMA has done is provide a setting where all martial arts can be studied and trained as they were intended. 

“Something we said at the start at Straight Blast Gym is that it’s not about what techniques you use but about what training methods you use,” says John Kavanagh, head coach to Conor McGregor at SBG Ireland. “You can take any style and turn it into patterns and forms and make it ineffective, or you can take a style like karate or taekwondo and put it into the live environment of the gym, use it in sparring and produce fighters like Conor McGregor or Anthony Pettis.”

The problem for Kavanagh is that when many of the fighting arts from the Far East were transported around the world they became watered down.

“Karate has been around for a long time and the reason for that is because it is effective. It became ineffective for a while but now if you look at how Machida fights you can see how effective it is. The way he strikes, the way he moves in and out and doesn’t get hit,” says John. “It is the same with Conor and the way he fights with a type of karate stance and it’s something I try to teach them from my own background in karate.”

But what no one, especially John Kavanagh, is saying is that just taekwondo or karate, and their plethora of kicking techniques, is the answer for MMA. Athletes still need a complete toolkit with wrestling, BJJ and all the other skills required for the sport.

Instead, as the name mixed martial arts implies, a fusion of skills is paramount. Colin Heron, the head coach at Kaobon Gym in Liverpool – who is one of the UK’s best Muay Thai coaches in MMA and has a background in taekwondo himself – sees a mix of striking styles to be the best approach.

“I think if you can fuse some of the techniques from taekwondo with the practicality of Muay Thai, you get a great kicking system,” says Colin. “In MMA people have really focused on the power of Muay Thai, but now with some of the angles and strikes that taekwondo offers, it changes the striking game completely.

“People are used to defending the roundhouse kick but Muay Thai does offer a lot more than that; the problem is that people aren’t training these elements like the aerial stuff in the same way a taekwondo guy will.”

Having been integrating taekwondo and Muay Thai at Kaobon, Colin isn’t surprised to see techniques such as the front kick (like that being used by Anderson Silva) being so successful. “We’ve been training that kind of stuff for the last eight years and I’m kind of surprised that people didn’t see it earlier.,” he explains. “What happens is that a high-profile individual makes a technique popular and suddenly it comes into effect. 

“In some part it is because the technique is perplexing; it is almost new and difficult to prepare for.”

In that sense, the newness of these old arts comes from the staleness that’s affected MMA’s striking repertoire. It is difficult to prepare for a kick when none of your training partners drill or train anything outside of the standard striking syllabus.

For the Kaobon coach, there is another interesting element to the TMAs. He explains: “What karate and taekwondo do offer is a different approach to kicking. The stance means you’re already in a chambered position so rather than switching stance, or winding up and telegraphing the kick, you can fire off front kicks much more effectively.”

However, as both coaches will tell you, there are benefits to all the fighting arts and it is clearly how you train them that will dictate their usefulness in real combat situations.

“There are benefits to all martial arts. On the outside, karate has superior range but on the inside, boxing is a superior art. The ultimate goal is to be good in both these areas,” says John Kavanagh.

“I think Conor is at the pinnacle of MMA striking right now because he can change his stance and interchange styles. In the end, any style becomes predictable so we try to stay unpredictable at SBG by switching stances and styles. What I saw when I was traveling and training was a lot of hard sparring and a lot of strength and conditioning. It was about becoming faster, stronger and tougher. No one was improving their skill-set. At SBG, it is about being curious, about sharing and learning new techniques, about having fun and improving.”

Clearly, then, whether it is TMAs, western styles or new-and-improved jumping cage kicks, MMA is still all about evolution and improvement. 

KICK-STARTING THE NEXT GENERATION OF STRIKES

jUMPING ATTACKS

“There is nothing as taekwondo as a jumping spin-kick. I think we can expect to see a lot more aerial type attacks now as the whole aspect of the striking game seems to be about one-upmanship, especially as the fighters are becoming more and more dynamic,” says Colin Heron.

SPINNING KICKS 

“We’re only just scratching the surface in MMA. Some of the stuff getting pulled off in the gym is crazy,” reveals John Kavanagh. “The left high kick is a high-percentage move but there are others that follow that same trajectory such as the spinning right high kick which I think we’ll see more of.”

CARTWHEEL KICKS 

“We’re playing with running jump kicks a lot in the gym, but also with cartwheel kicks. Wheel kicks are definitely being used more and with decent effect in MMA and can be set up easily from other attacks,” Colin explains.

THE QUESTION MARK 

A kick used in K-1 but rarely seen in MMA, John Kavanagh sees this as another strike that could soon be making its way into the mainstream. “The question mark kick is something we’ve been playing around with the last six months and, again, it comes off the front foot and is easily disguised.”

AXE KICK 

Another taekwondo staple, the axe kick utilizes the same awkward angle of the front kick and attacks the collarbone and shoulder. “It would be great to see an axe kick in the cage as it’s a highly effective strike if performed correctly,” Colin says.