In recent years a certain strike has risen to prominence within all levels of MMA: the calf kick. These, as well as leg kicks in general, have always existed, but weren’t utilized by a majority of fighters. Katel Kubis, a striking coach at American Top Team, was a pioneer of this technique as detailed by The Athletic. He attributes it to a group of Muay Thai strikers from the 1980’s, and he since then has utilized it as a training tool. American Top Team is one of the most prestigious (if not the most) in MMA, and Kubis’s training has provided a plethora of fighters with the knowledge of this strike. Soon this technique ventured out of Coconut Creek and made its way all over the world, and since then, it’s seen on every major fight card across all promotions.
MMA legend Jon Jones was quick to implement them into their arsenal of attacks, using them to keep his opponent at range. He even put his own flair on it by also looking to aim for the obliques in his patented “Oblique Kicks” which hyperextended his opponents’ knees. Look no further than his title defense over Thiago Santos, which saw Jones tear Thiago’s ACL, MCL, PCL, as well as a partially torn meniscus.
Former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson dominated Nate Diaz with a plethora of leg kicks, using them to set up takedowns and combinations. He later used a similar gameplan in his win over Myles Jury in Bellator, where he picked up a UD. He even weaponized the opposite side of the technique as he broke Patricio Pitbull’s leg by checking his calf kicks in their Bellator 160 bout.
Jose Aldo is another guy who loves these kicks and throughout his career, he used them to obliterate his opponents. He slammed Urijah Faber’s legs in their fight so badly that Urijah had to skip the press conference because of a nasty hematoma. Against Kenny Florian, he used them to slow Kenny’s movement, chopping down his opponent like a tree. He battered Kenny because of these kicks, Florian was struggling to stand, let alone fight back. In his title defense against Frankie Edgar, he dropped Edgar with multiple leg kicks to pave his way to a UD victory.
Douglas Lima has multiple TKO wins via leg kicks over the likes of Mikhail Tsarev and Rick Hawn. He used them against Rory MacDonald in a tough UD loss but left Rory with one of the largest hematomas seen in the sport.
Edson Barboza is another guy who has multiple TKO wins by way of leg kicks, with respective wins over Marcelo Giudici, Mike Lullo, and Rafaello Oliveira. He employed them in his UD wins over Paul Felder, Gilbert Melendez, and Anthony Pettis.
More recently, we’ve seen FactoryX gym members Chris Gutierrez and Jonathan Martinez score leg kicks finishes. Gutierrez finished Vincent Morales by slamming low kicks in their bout; Martinez recently TKO’d Cub Swanson with the technique at UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs. Araujo.
As the sport continues to evolve, these kicks will continue to grow in popularity. With fighters from all around the world incorporating them into their game, they will continue to evolve and develop into an abundance of unique strikes. As the sport progresses so do its practitioners, so remember to look out for this technique each and every fight card.
