(Video courtesy of YouTube/yegoyan818)
The Brazilian kick, AKA crescent kick, AKA question mark kick is an effective move that could net positive results against an opponent who doesn’t close the distance and who pays close attention to your hip movement in an MMA or kickboxing bout. Adding it to your arsenal offers another option when an opponent is reluctant to engage or is tired or hurt and is dropping his (or her if you’re Brett Rogers) hands in the later rounds of a bout.
Guys like Lyoto Machida and Georges St-Pierre have incorporated the unexpected move into their stand-up bag of tricks
Here’s how to do it:
First, fake a front roundhouse kick by throwing your hip around with your shin drawn back. As your opponent reacts to the movement and braces for a leg or body kick, twist your hip and snap your shin up mid-movement so that it is now moving in the direction of your opponent’s unprotected head while snapping your lower leg back, pointing your heel towards your opponent. These moves must be performed in unison and will take a great deal of practice to put all of the movements together. Flexibility is key, so stretching will help prepare you for the move.
Joe Rogan explains the kick in more detail and Glaube Feitosa demonstrates how to decapitate someone with it after the jump
(Video courtesy of YouTube/TwisterEddie)
(Video courtesy of YouTube/joey408408)
Are we to begin naming the striking game ala Bravo? Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace did this sneaky kick shit all day long like thirty-five years ago. My own personal experience with it is that if I turn my hips too much with the fake, I end up with a final strike that lands very often but is the equivalent of a kickboxing slap in my op’s face. So super tricky to both successfully fake AND get the power out of it. I can do it on a bag 100% but find that I get my hip position and hit hard about 10% while sparring hard. I guess it’s all about more practice and composure. 100% legit move, just difficult to land hard as others have pointed out.