No man has done more for the publicity of the high roundhouse kick than Mirko Cro Cop; his head kick wins over Igor Vovchancyn, Wanderlei Silva and Aleksander Emelianenko fill highlight reels all over the internet. Cro Cop's head kick is interesting because, unlike the later entries on this list, he never off balances his opponent with a push to bring their hands down (the Peter Aerts method), he simply kicks them in the head from outfighting range. Cro Cop, a southpaw, lacked the slick combinations of other strikers and would have been a simple one trick pony if he had not developed two other techniques to prime form; his left straight punch and his left body kick. Through the use of his straight left punch - which was strong enough to fracture Bob Sapp, Josh Barnett and Kazushi Sakuraba's orbital bones (the latter two from his knees on the ground) - Cro Cop was able to make his opponents forget their strict right hand position - which every opponent held rigidly in defence of the side of their head at the start of their meeting with him. Through his left body kick Cro Cop was able to mop up against the disciplined opponents who kept their hand up at all costs.
Watching this extremely short fight against world class striker and MMA fighter Igor Vovchancyn, it is clear how disconcerting just a couple of Cro Cop's left straights are. Igor comes out of his corner looking disciplined, with his right hand up high and away from his head to soften Mirko's kicks, but just a minute later he is bringing it in after being stung by Mirko's straight. Mirko doesn't even need the hand completely out of the way, as he is content to kick through the less sturdy guard Igor presents.
Here, in Japan's premier kickboxing promotion, K1, Mirko fights New Zealand's Mark Hunt. A former Grand Prix champion who got by on his huge punch and having arguably the best chin in combat sports history, Hunt was able to take the full force of Mirko's kick and get up, but Mirko's set up was picture perfect and the clip has made an appearance in dozens of highlight reels. Hunt's defense has improved somewhat when he meets Mirko and it gives the Croat trouble throughout the fight, but Hunt's attempts to utilize better head movement to evade punches backfire when Cro Cop catches him getting into a pattern. Notice at 5:43 as Cro Cop fakes to attack with the straight, Hunt goes to fire back but pulls short when he realizes that Cro Cop is in position to defend. Mirko immediately fakes again and Hunt leans to his right to slip the straight left. Mirko's left straight and left high kick require the same step with the lead foot outside of the opponent's lead foot, meaning that by conditioning an opponent to expect a straight punch when Cro Cop steps, he can instead throw a high kick without his opponent seeing the foot being placed in position as a telegraphing of the technique. In the most effective cases he can convince the opponent to duck into the kick, just as Hunt does.
Marlon Sandro fell foul of the same mistake in Bellator FC. Sandro is a world class featherweight with phenomenal power, but lacks the technical finesse of the featherweight division's other strikers. Here he makes the mistake against the seemingly overmatched Pat Curran of believing that his defense is as world class as his offense - his overactive head movement and wild sways down to almost hip height get him caught by a high kick with plenty of follow through on it.
Here Mirko picks up another easy knockout from an opponent so concerned with parrying his punches, while simultaneously so inexperienced in doing so, that Mirko can simply kick around his opponent's outstretched arms. Notice in the slow motion replay at the end of this very short clip how Cro Cop doesn't even throw the left straight but instead reaches inside of his opponent's right hand and turns his hand outward, cupping Nagata's wrist until he knows it won't get back in time to stop the kick. A nice little trick from the high kick master which is worth investing the time to learn.
Much of Cro Cop's success with the high kick however can also be attributed to his impeccable flexibility and athleticism. Indeed, as Mirko aged the knockouts began to disappear, and head kicks were almost always blocked by opponents he would have finished in minutes during his prime. Cro Cop's hip flexibility was always stunning, and Bas Rutten observed that it was this flexibility which made it difficult for opponents to discern whether his kick was coming in at leg height, rib height or head height. Peter Aerts is a phenomenal head kicker who has never been known for his flexibility, and he accomplishes his kicks largely (though not exclusively) through the use of off balancing techniques. Watch at 2:06 of this classic K-1 match as Aerts pushes his opponent away from him hard, causing his opponent to drop his hands instinctively to keep his balance. While it would be hard to punch a man that you have just pushed away, a kick is much longer and does not require you to draw back your hands, so it is possible to begin the kick almost simultaneously with the push.
To finish, I'll offer another nice application of the push away head kick seen in the Aerts match above. Here Bantamweight striking master Mamoru 'The Fro' Yamaguchi slows down the fast starting American, Stonnie Dennis in the clinch, before achieving a double handed neck clinch, pushing him onto the ropes and knocking him unconscious with a beautiful high kick. As you can see at 1:42, when Yamaguchi pushes him away Stonnie's hands are in no position to defend himself as he is correcting his balance, making the kick as simple as aiming at his temple.
To finish, I'll offer another nice application of the push away head kick seen in the Aerts match above. Here Bantamweight striking master Mamoru 'The Fro' Yamaguchi slows down the fast starting American, Stonnie Dennis in the clinch, before achieving a double handed neck clinch, pushing him onto the ropes and knocking him unconscious with a beautiful high kick. As you can see at 1:42, when Yamaguchi pushes him away Stonnie's hands are in no position to defend himself as he is correcting his balance, making the kick as simple as aiming at his temple.
No comments:
Post a Comment