Setting Up The Switch Low Kick With Marlon Moraes
When we Think of Muay Thai fighters, the first thought that comes to mind is their ability to throw kicks that will break through the opponent’s defense with crushing power, and the way they do it is through the usage of their conditioned shin bones often compared to “steel rods.”
We must understand that the low kicks can do a lot of damage to the leg, as it aims directly at the largest nerve in our body the “sciatic nerve,” and once the nerve is damaged the leg will limp and feel “dead” but is it that easy to land the leg kicks and hurt our opponent?
The answer is going to be - no; the low kicks are one of the most effortless kicks to master, which means most practitioners are used to a leg kick thrown at them in training, and this leads to decent defensive ability and good reactions to the low kick for most fighters.
To land our low kicks on opponents used to it, we must use a good setup to give us an opening to throw the kick while denying our opponent reaction and ability to defend it.
Three simple setups we use are:
- Hooks - this will move his weight over his leg, so he cant block
- Distractions - making him think we are throwing something else
- Variety - changing the type of leg kick we use, so he is constantly guessing
Who Is Marlon Moraes?
Marlon Moraes is a Brazilian MMA fighter with a black belt in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Marlon is the bantamweight champion for WSOF, defending the title for almost three consecutive years. Marlon is currently signed with the UFC, where he secured wins over big names like Jose Aldo, Aljamain Sterling, John Dodson, and Jimmie Rivera.
Check Out The Savage Switch Kick Series From Marlon Moraes! Click Learn More!
Marlon Moraes will show us how he sets up the low switch kick using his hands as a distraction in the following video.
Setting Up The Low Switch Kick With The Hands
The video starts with Marlon Moraes telling us that we will throw the leg kick off the punches. Setting our kicks like that is important, especially since we are using switch kicks and most people are not going to switch fast enough so the opponent cannot react, so we will always distract our opponent with our hands before throwing our switch kick.
Now to throw the kick off the punches, we will perform a little drill that will get us used to it; the drill goes like this: Jab - Cross - Switch kick - Two punches, notice that it doesn’t matter which punches I use to finish the sequence as long as I make sure I’m ready in position after the kick.
Remember, when we are drilling the kicks, we tend to forget about our technique with the punches, make sure you are throwing them correctly, and develop good habits that will later save you.
This drill will help us trick our opponent as I make him think about the punches, but I’m throwing the kick. I never want him to know that my target is his legs, so I must get his attention up top before cutting his base with the kick.
Because we start using the switch kick, we must first drill it alone until it is fast enough for us to use, and when we drill we are going to change the pace as I start slow with the punches and suddenly explode with the switch kick.
Remember that we aim at his thigh with our foot and not the shin because he can take us down if we are too close.
Learn More From Marlon Moraes
If you liked this breakdown of the switch low kick, you can get the entire Switch Kick series to make sure you don’t miss anything - “The Savage Switch Kick - By Marlon Moraes” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking.