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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

How come I don't see the Front Snap kick in MMA that often?

I enjoy watching the UFC fights when they come on cable TV. Most martial artists who study traditional martial arts have poo-pooed MMA since its inception but I enjoy watching it. Most of the fighters are highly conditioned athletes. The UFC has come a long way since its inception. It used to be no rules, no weight classes and no gloves. If you watch mixed martial arts nowadays, it is more akin to boxing in terms of regulations and rules for the fighters.

I have watched many UFC fights and it seems that although mixed martial arts is supposed to be a hybrid of striking (mainly boxing and kick-boxing) and grappling (mainly jiu-jitsu and wrestling), you don't always see all the techniques from kick-boxing and grappling appear in the matches. There are a certain subset of techniques that I see most fighters use in a majority of most fights. The roundhouse kicks, jabs, hooks, elbows, uppercuts and knees seem to encompass about 95 percent of the strikes. Rarely do you see a hammer fist or a back fist thrown although I have seem some fighters use them. Most of the leg techniques I see thrown are round house kicks to the legs or head. I rarely see fighters throw Front Snap kicks which seems like it would work pretty well and could be delivered faster than a round house kick especially to the mid-section.

Next time I see a fighter throwing front snap kicks to the body, he is instantly becoming my favorite fighter.

5 comments:

Webmaster said...

Hey,

I just stumbled upon your post. One reason why the front snap kick isn't used as much is because it's hard to stop a fighter's forward drive with it. Most (though not all) techniques in MMA are designed to do that because if an opponent can close in with you as you punch or kick, he can take you down and go into a dominant position.

I like the front snap kick a lot. But if you look at all sorts of full contact fighting, you'll see it's hardly ever used, simply for that reason.

Just my 2 cents.

Wim

Anonymous said...

That makes sense. I thought about it and front snap kicks are most effective when thrown to the groin or solar plexus. Since groin strikes are illegal in MMA, this would take away many of the chances you would have to use it.

Although a well timed front snap to the solar plexus would stop most forward progress. Having been hit with one I can attest to that. Another possible use would be to use it when someone does a wrestling shoot although the timing would have to be exact.

Webmaster said...

Oh yeah, they do hurt when they land. Big time. But like you say, the timing needs to be pretty good.

Hope you're enjoying the Holidays,

Wim

Koshin said...

Happy holidays. I would like to get your feedback on the blog and let me know if there are any articles you would be interested in seeing.

Wim Demeere said...

The blog is pretty cool and you're covering a variety of topics, which is what I like. So my vote goes for just keep on going down the road you're on right now.

Hope you had a great New Year's Eve.

Wim