How To Do The Uppercut Elbow With Edson Barboza
Elbows are a strike that you rarely see, even in Muay Thai. Part of the reason for this is that elbow strikes are the most short range strikes, except for maybe headbutts but that is only for Lethwei and the streets.
That’s why for the most part you only see elbows from the clinch, whether it's Muay Thai or MMA. This is good because not only does being in the clinch get you in range to throw elbows but it also gets you to safety after throwing, because you can hold on to your opponent to stop them from countering.
However just because most elbows are thrown from the clinch doesn’t mean that's the only place that you can throw them. There are a few elbows that are better suited to being thrown from the outside. Keep in mind that this isn’t from too far outside because it is still an elbow at the end of the day.
One of those elbows is exactly what we will be going over today with one of the best strikers active right now in the UFC.
In this video, Edson Barboza goes over the legendary and rarely seen uppercut elbow.
Who Is Edson Barboza
Edson Barboza is a Brazilian MMA fighter who has been competing in the UFC since 2010. He is known for being one of the most dynamic strikers in the entire promotion, so he is 100 percent qualified to talk about striking. He used to compete and was in the top ten of the UFC’s lightweight division. He now competes in the UFC’s featherweight division and is already ranked number 9 in that division. He is also the first person to ever score a wheel kick KO in UFC history
Check Out Edson’s Instructional HERE! Click Learn More!
How To Do The Uppercut Elbow
If you don’t know what an uppercut elbow is, we can’t blame you, it’s rarely if ever used and it’s landed even less. However there is one example of this elbow that you can very easily look up. One of the greatest fighters of all time Anderson Silva once landed this elbow before he was in the UFC. Apparently his coach refused to train him in it, so Anderson had to have his wife hold a pillow for him to get the reps in.
The uppercut elbow has you bring your hand to the opposite hip, kind of like drawing a sword. From that position you thrust the elbow upwards, ideally on your opponent's chin.
The video starts off with Edson saying that he believes that this elbow works really well in MMA. He says that because in MMA you can mix this elbow in with your takedown attempts and feints. If you shoot for takedowns a few times, your opponent will likely bend over to defend against them and sprawl. With this elbow you can take advantage of your opponent dropping their head to land this elbow.
In fact that's how Edson practices this technique. He first fakes the takedown by dropping his level and reaching his arm towards his opponent’s leg. Then Edson pops up to land this elbow. It’s important to keep in mind that this technique only works if its’ thrown from the lead arm.
After you feint, you also want to step in a bit closer because this is an elbow after all.
Learn More From Edson Barboza
If you like this technique and want to learn more from top UFC featherweight Edson Barboza, then you should check out his complete striking video series “Buzzsaw Kicking Mechanics By Edson Barboza” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.