How To Safely Throw Low Kicks With Pedro Rizzo
Leg kicks, especially calf kicks, are becoming more and more popular as MMA fighters on the largest stages are beginning to realize just how effective and devastating they can be. A few good kicks to the leg can really take the power out of your opponent's strikes and really mess with their movement.
The realization of how effective these techniques are have made a ton of fighters quickly add them to their arsenal. However most of those fighters only learned how to throw the technique, not how to properly set up the kick to throw it safely.
This is why we’ve started to see a rise in people breaking their legs when throwing low kicks in MMA. This happens because people forget that their opponent can check their kick so they just throw the calf kick without any set up.
This is pretty risky and even if your leg doesn’t break, getting your kick checked is still going to hurt and that's going to make you think twice about throwing the technique. This is why learning how to set up the technique is an absolute must.
That’s why we have a legendary kickboxer in here to show you how it's done.
In this video, Pedro Rizzo goes over how you can set up the low kick to make sure that your opponent can’t defend against it.
Who Is Pedro Rizzo?
Pedro Rizzo is a retired heavyweight Mixed Martial Artists and Kickboxer from Brazil. He even competed in the UFC’s heavyweight division and challenged for the title on three separate occasions. He holds victories over a ton of top fighters like Mark Coleman, Dan Severn, Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski and Ken Shamrock.
How To Set Up The Low Kick
The video starts off with Pedro throwing a naked low kick. A naked low kick is a low kick that is thrown without any strikes or feints to set it up beforehand. Because the kick didn’t have any set up, Pedro’s partner can easily see it coming and check it.
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What you need to do to make sure that your opponent can’t check is to take away their ability to see the kick coming. You can do this by throwing strikes or feints before throwing your kick. If you really want to guarantee that your opponent isn’t able to check, then you also need to get them heavy on the leg you're kicking.
You can do both these things that are done with one of the most fundamental kickboxing combinations. This combination is the good old jab, cross, lead hook to rear low kick. This not only takes away your opponent’s vision but the lead hook also gets your opponent heavy on their leg and takes away their vision.
Even if you don’t want to throw a big combination or a hook that is fine. You can even just throw one jab then the low kick, you just need to throw something first.
Pedro also points out that when you throw the low kick, you shouldn’t throw it in a way that keeps you in front of your opponent. When you throw the low kick you should step out on a 45 degree angle. This way after you return your leg to your stance you shouldn’t be in front of your opponent. Remember to land with the shin bone and not the foot, this way the kick hits harder.
Instead you should now be in a solid angle off to your opponent’s side. Remember to always keep your lead leg facing your opponent. This way you can return with follow up shots or defend yourself.
Learn More From Pedro Rizzo
If you like this low kick technique breakdown and want to learn more from Pedro Rizzo, then you should check out his complete low kick video series “Safe and Savage Leg Kicks By Pedro Rizzo” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!