Using The Step In Knee With Buakaw Banchamek
In most combat sports that allow them, most knees are thrown from a clinch scenario, or at least when one fighter has some kind of post or arm on their opponent. This is because a knee is a very close range strike and it is a lot easier and safer to throw when you are already close to your opponent.
While it is the case that something like 90 percent of knees are thrown from the clinch, that doesn't mean that you shouldn’t train using them from space. This can be difficult because knees from the outside can have a ton of wind up. It’s also dangerous because you are basically throwing yourself into your opponent's knee first.
There are a ton of small little movements that you need to make in order to throw a long knee effectively and safely. That’s why he has brought in one of the best Muay Thai fighters to ever compete in kickboxing to show us how it’s done.
In this video, Buakaw Banchamek goes over how to use a step to land knees from the outside.
Who Is Buakaw Banchamek
Buakaw Banchamek is one of, if not the most successful Muay Thai fighter to enter the world of kickboxing to date. He made his debut in K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Open as an alternate for someone else. He then went on to beat legendary names like John Wayne Parr and Masato to become the tournament's dark horse and champion. From there he went on to amass an amazing record of 239 Wins, 24 losses and 12 draws.
How To Throw Knees From The Outside
The video starts off with Buakaw talking about the importance of your stance when you go in for an outside knee. You don't want to be on your heels or flat footed, you want to be on the balls of your feet.
This way you will be able to step in fasters and lunge in with your knees more. From there before you actually go to throw your knee you want to check and make sure that you can see all your opponent’s weapons. This way you can see if they try to catch you with something on your way in.
From there, you can step in and throw a knee. You can also throw a switch knee from here, just make sure that when you switch that you land forward to close the gap for the knee. You also want to be loose and flexible so that your knee can reach as far as possible. This is where some hip flexor and back bending stretching will come in handy.
Remember that when you throw your need that you should keep your guard up or frame off of your opponent. In the video Buakaw demonstrates this by using a Muay Thai style long guard when the arm on the side that is kneeing extends out and the other sticks to his head. You need to make sure to do this, because if you get caught on one leg with a hard shot, you are going down for sure.
Buakaw says that you want to aim for the front of your opponent's torso. Basically just under the chest and the abdomen.
Buakaw ends the video by showing how you can do these knees of off caught kicks. Catch your opponent’s roundhouse then step into the knee. You can also pull your opponent in a bit then drop the leg to get a head on collision effect.
Learn More From Buakaw Banchamek
If you like this technique breakdown and want to learn more from the legendary Buakaw Banchamek, then you can check out his complete video series “Authentic Muay Thai Fighting by Buakaw Banchamek” available exclusively on Dynamic Striking!