had an interesting experience. we were sparring in my dojo. Since it was just light sparring, Kyokushin rules were'nt seriously kept. Any wahs i was paired up with a brown belt shortie. he was about 5.3 or 5.4 feet. i'm 6.2 Any ways so we're close up, exchanging blows, when he parries my thrust towards his chest, uses his fist to pin my hand on my chest and gives me a whack on the side of my face, mawashi geri style *roundhouse* on my exposed side. it didn't have much power in it ofcourse. only hurt my pride. But the thing is. he pulled it off with less than his forearm distance. I asked him if this was viable in self defence, he said he couldn't say, he just did it cuz he wanted to see if he could kick my face. But here's the thing. the way i see it, this tech is pretty interesting. high kicking someones face from that close has the risk of him simply pushing you to disbalance you. but then being this close means you cant keep see both his hands and feet at all times, so one would not see this kick coming.... now of course one can say that in such a situation a groin kick would be better, but that's besides the question. i just wanna know what you guys think about this strategy without comparing it to say groin kicks and stuff. Viable strategy? would you use it on the streets and the ring? I'm thinking i'm gonna practice it with a sparring partner. will let you know how it goes.
Works for the Zohan... More seriously, I think you're right about balance. On the upside, it's a surprise and might deliver a good enough clonk to the face to make an opening. So... High risk surprise move, I wouldn't use it "on the street" or sparring much. Also, depends how confident you are about dealing with a leg trap when you're 2ft way from the opponent - which could happen here.
I remember MAPer Van Zandt (it had to be him) managed to do something similar "on the street". Would have been interesting to see the guy's reaction!
kyokushin guys in high-level competition do it all the time. it's kind of half-crescent, half-roundhouse, but it's all the same crap anyway. if you can get the guy's arm controlled so he doesn't intercept your leg on the way up, it's just a matter of landing it hard before he punches you.
I saw my son lift a kid off the ground with a sidekick under the chin. He was easily within punching range. Some people can headkick at extremely close range.
snap kicks done properly can also be done powerfully from very close in at mid level, particularly front kicks and tip/ball of the foot roundhouses. it has a lot to do with how well you can move your center of gravity.
I used to do it in sparring rarely, but found it hard to produce power. I think it is most effective on someone same height or higher.
I think if you can do it it could be a useful tool in your toolbox provided it's the right type of situation for it. One of my sensei who has since moved to California was incredibly flexible and could smack you with a high kick while practically standing on your foot. He credits a lot of yoga to it. It was very sneaky and hard to see.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf8xZr3tSZI&feature=related"]YouTube- Kagawa sensei démontre mawashi geri[/ame] obligatory masao kagawa clip
When I sparred (TKD), no leg traps or any sort of pushes were allowed, so aiming for the head at any distance was encouraged. But, in a closer to or actual combat situation, you are prone to the disadvantages already laid out. In sparring, however, do so in a controlled manner. The state of the opponent's offensive & defensive focus should vary in a fight. For example, you can shake him up with a sturdy leg kick or try at the man-jewels. Fake to do so again, disguising your intentions by looking down, and boom (assumming you're one of the more flexible ones). Individual results lie in the ring- Let me know how it goes, Geek! -Matt
You see, this sounds really cool in a wild generalisation kind of way, but if you actually look at it, it's nonsense. In an "actual combat situation" you don't hit, fake to do so again and hit somewhere else. That's sparring. In self defence you seize and keep the initiative, you strike and strike and strike and strike and keep going until they offer no resistance or you can leg it. Iain Abernethy describes the ebb and flow of sparring as "It's my turn, now it's your turn, now it's my turn." Fighters cannot keep up the intensity of continuous attack for the space of a whole bout, they must move between attack and defence many times during a bout. He describes self defence as "It's my turn it's my turn it's my turn it's my turn." The 30 seconds or so of a self defence situation requires immediate, explosive, aggressive movement. It's drag racing against circuit racing, and getting the drop, nailing it, and being able to keep the throttle wide open for a short period is what matters. mitch
Look Matt, I don't post this stuff because I enjoy taking pot-shots at you, it's just that you tend to type stuff that simply does not ring true, and we all know what your history on MAP is. Here's an idea. Why not sit back and learn a lot, read a lot and post very little. Don't jump in, just absorb. Don't give people the impression you know tons about a subject then just say, "oops!" when called on it. In other words, why not join in on MAP in the way most other people do, by asking questions about the stuff they don't know about in order to learn, and saving authoritative posts full of advice for when they actually know something about the subject. I don't understand what you're doing at the moment, posting something then immediately saying "It was all nonsense really!" Don't you understand how that makes you look? Mitch
I thought Matt-99 was banned because he slandered the site, lied about his age and experience and his general non-sense about starting his own style.
This, I use this all the time in TKD sparring. Nearly K.O.'d someone with it in a comp. Im really not sure how usefull it would be in an open rules match or "on the street" Its too easy for your leg to get stuck up there against their head! then they just have to off balance you and you fall over.
I have never seen head kicks in any real fights/ recordings of real fights. most kicks that do any good are to the ribcage, stomach and legs. See my posted videos in the other topic about real fight videos for examples of this.
You obviously didn't see Van Zandt's fight when he was moonlighting as a Santa Claus. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeY83qBMSps"]YouTube- Don't Mess With Santa ![/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5efA1aKEeBI"]YouTube- Kick Of Death[/ame] Also, before anyone tries to tell me it's not a "real fight", try one first.