Catch The Body Kick With Liam Harrison
With kick heavy styles like Muay Thai being so prominent nowadays in MMA and Kickboxing, it becomes really important to know how to defend against kicks. What's even better than learning to just defend kicks is learning how to defend and then capitalize on that defense with a counter. An old, tried and tested way to do this is to catch the kick, this is a great way to not only defend a kick, but also cut off an opponent's combinations and throw off their rhythm, as well as set up devastating counters.
Despite how easy it sounds, catching a kick is fairly difficult and can be dangerous if done incorrectly. In this video multiple time world Muay Thai and Kickboxing champion and current top ONE Championship fighter Liam Harrison breaks down the most simple way to catch kicks to the body.
The first thing that Liam shows is how important it is to step out away from the kick. This might sound counter intuitive, “how am I supposed to catch the kick if I move away from it?” is something you might be asking yourself, but this might actually be the most important step.
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You need to step to the side in order to take some of the power off of the kick. If you don't do this step to the outside of the kick and try to catch it, you will just be taking a kick, which if it’s going to your liver, might put you out of the fight.
Liam demonstrates this by having his partner throw a right kick to his body. Liam steps to the outside of the kick, meaning he steps to his right and catches the kick. The procedure is the same for left kicks to the body just in the opposite direction, stepping to the left instead of the right. Remember to hold on tight to their leg, as if you hold it loosely it will be easy for your opponent to escape.
Liam then talks about the importance of bringing the non catching hand up to your face as you are holding the leg, to defend against any punches that your opponent might throw. This isn’t something that is likely to happen, as your opponent is probably going to be busy trying to keep their balance and remove their leg. However, them throwing strikes might be part of their plan, as it is common to drop your hands after catching a kick.
Liam then shows how to catch a left kick, which as we stated earlier, is the same process just in the other direction. Catching and holding on to your opponent’s leg provides a ton of great options, from all the different counter options that you have to the many sweeps and dumps that are possible. This is a must learn technique, especially if you plan on competing in Muay Thai.
Check out Liam's 3-part instructional Power Muay Thai for MORE insider tips!!