Classic Kickboxing Combination With Ilias Ennachachi

In most Kickboxing styles, Whether it’s Dutch, Muay Thai, Sanda or whatever, it is generally taught that you should set up your kicks with punches. The main reason that this is taught is because kicks are generally not as quick as punches and usually have more telegraph. This makes kicks a whole lot more risky to throw, especially without any set up, what is generally known as throwing a kick naked.

If you throw a kick naked, it is more likely to be defended against or worse, it’s more likely to get you countered and since you're going to be on only one leg, it’s going to be a lot more devastating. This is why throwing punches before kicks, especially kicks with the rear leg, is highly recommended, especially for new fighters. Throwing punches will get your opponent thinking that you're only throwing punches and they won’t be expecting a kick. The surprise of the kick will make it a lot harder to defend against 

Punches to the head will also occupy the vision of your opponent, which will make your kick literally harder to see coming. For these reasons, one of the most common and fundamental combinations in sports that have both kicks and punches is taught to pretty much every new student on day one.

In this video, Ilias Ennachachi goes over the first combination that any kickboxer should learn and drill constantly. Ilias Ennahaci is a Moroccan born kickboxer based in the homeland of Dutch Kickboxing, the Netherlands where he trains out of SB Gym. Currently Ennachaci competes in ONE championship under their super series banner. He currently competes in the flyweight kickboxing division and is in his first reign as it’s champion with one defense. 

The combination is something that if you have taken a single Kickboxing, Muay Thai or MMA class, you’ve seen it before. Even if you only watch combat sports on TV, you probably have seen it. It’s a very basic jab, cross, lead hook, to rear low kick. This combination is a great way to set up low kicks for a lot of reasons. 

First it starts off with a fairly standard boxing combination. This will get your opponent to only focus on your punches and basically forget about kicks. The combination also ends with a strike from your lead side. This will help set up your kick as it’s a rear leg strike. The punches also end on a lead hook. This will get your opponent heavy on their lead leg, making it much harder for them to pick up their leg to block or dodge your leg kick.

Make sure that you drill this basic combination a lot. It is highly effective so you want to be able to rely on it even when you’re tired. Most of the time you’ll find that landing the punches doesn’t matter that much, you are more or less occupying space in your opponents vision and mind to help make sure you can land your low kick. 

This is why you can throw the punches very fast without much power behind them. Remember that you should still be using proper technique as you still want to sting your opponent if you happen to actually land the punches on your opponent's face. 

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