White Dragon
A Round Kick Is A Fight Ender
A round kick is a very basic technique and probably the kick one will most often use in a fight. It is used more than any kick. It can be a fight ender. The regular round kick from most martial arts systems use the lower shin area and instep, top of the foot for impact. Karate being the most popular art for decades last century has emphasized kick snapping kicks with the instep to targets on an opponents body. Taekwondo, coming from Shotokan then became the next world’s most popular martial art and held that title for a very long time. Taekwondo kicks much like Karate because Taekwondo basically is a kind of Karate since it has a strong historic link to Shotokan Karate. Shotokan round kicks and Taekwondo round kicks are basically performed the same.
It is very hard for the average know-it-all MMA fanboy or Muay Thai guy to understand that you do not always have to hit with the shin, use a loose and wide swinging leg, and turn 360 degrees after every round kick you throw. You can simply kick the way Karate kicks and hurt someone badly.
Last night on the UFC Fight Night Lyoto Machida used a basic Shotokan round kick and hit DB Dolloway on the body and crumbled him. Dolloway slowly began to fall as Machida went in for the kill with multiple punches until he was on the floor doing nothing about it as the referee stopped the fight declaring Machida the winner. All Machida did was use timing, brains, and focus. He saw a target available and threw a very hard round kick with his instep making impact. His leg was chambered like a Karate kick with the knee aiming at the target and BAM! it hit. It was a delayed reaction for a split second before Dolloway held his rib and tried to pretend he was not hurt but to no avail he had to react to the pain and misery of the kick and eventually fall.
Round kicks are serious business. You do not have to use a Muay Thai style shin kick where you spin 360 degrees if you miss. Often times people who want to shadow box with kicks will make sure you damn well know they know real fighting by spinning around in a full circle after throwing a round kick. If someone does not go into a 360s degree spin after their round kick people will think they are simply “Karate dorks” or “Taekwondo idiots” who don’t know how to REALLY kickbox. It is pretty pretentious. The truth is, most often you can tell a beginner and low experienced level fighter by their intentional spins after throwing round kicks for absolutely NO reason but to look cool like they know the REAL way to Kickbox. Like they know Muay Thai.
Karate kicks and Taekwondo kicks are faster, more agile, and can be performed with pinpoint accuracy. Whereas a standard Muay Thai kick is heavier, often a harder impact (not always though), yet it’s impact covers a wider range on the opponents body with less pinpoint accuracy. Shins are devastating and it is important to understand how to kick with heavy rotation like Muay Thai, but it is not the only way to throw a round kick and knowing the fast and quick retracting kicks of Karate and Taekwondo are also important. They allow for traveling forward and covering distance and enable aperson to throw multiple kick combos using both legs. Most often a Muay Thai kick will be thrown once and very hard but not too many combos are available when overexerting. Know exactly how much force you need to use to defeat someone is a skill that only expert martial artists understand. Not the average MMA fan. So hopefully the amazing round kick of Lyoto Machida that landed last night will help get rid of the negative stigma that current low-brow pop-culture followers, who think they are fighters and MMA masters at Buffalo Wild Wings UFC night have against anyone who wears a uniform and colored belt when they train. It seems the only people allowed to wear a gi and colored belt are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu people, but anyone sporting a Karate gi or Taekwondo dobok is shunned.
One time I was able to pull of such a devastating round kick. It was a left leg round kick just like Machida’s. It was at the University Fight Club I started at my university for MMA and all martial arts. A wrestler guy came in and wanted to strike with me. Of course such a fight always starts out with the agreement that its low to medium contact and eventually throughout the sparring session someone’s ego gets in the way and they start throwing full power blows. The wrestler of course did not like my kicks and began to throw hard punches hitting me in the face. I threw a leg kick or two and he punched me some again and then I had had it with his nonsense so I round kicked him in the ribs full power and he fell to the ground for about 2 minutes reeling in pain and out of breath. I kind of felt bad but then again he asked for me. I may have fractured his rib, but I am not sure. Quite possibly Lyoto last night broke Dolloway’s rib as well. What an inspiration!
Thank you Lyoto Machida for being a great representative of a true martial artist and fighter and showing the world that Karate and other traditional martial arts have a real place in the fight world and are effective fighting systems that should be respected.
White Dragon Dojang 
Great post! I never understand why people would look down on TKD / Karate round kick . they said the snapping motion of the kick is weak and ineffective, when in reality they really don’t understand how to snap it properly. On the contrary, I think spinning 360 degree after a round kick is more likely to make a person vulnerable for a front kick or a tackle. I love throwing snapping round kicks during a friendly sparring match with one of my buddies, guy was a kickboxer and was known for catching his opponents kick and sweep them off the ground. I kid you not, during the match, he was barely able to grab my leg thanks to the snapping motion of the round kick , ( which I think is the purpose of the snapping back motion, to avoid being grabbed ). Anyways, loved your stories and posts, I’m looking forward for more posts that contain practical and powerful Taekwondo techniques like this one.
Thank you man it is encouraging to know I have readers who are interested in this stuff.
Yes, the snapping motion is to avoid your leg being grabbed. Some people claim it is not powerful and just taps you, but that is not true. They are watching too much “karate sport tag” and not understanding that real Karate and Taekwondo kicks through the target but then pulls their leg back after the full impact.
Yes the typical snapping kick sacrifices power but it does not mean that it is not powerful. Yet, Karate and Taekwondo do have fully rotating heavy kicks and use of shin as well in the curriculum of study. Basing a martial arts effectiveness for combat on its sport version is not giving justice to the complete art.
Spinning 360 to me is only to train if you do a “heavy rotation kick” and you miss their leg. Going all the way around is faster than stopping after huge power is through that misses the impact zone. But, knowing how to stop your own legs in the air and not spinning all the way around is also important to learn because its faster and keeps you steady and facing the opponent. Learning both ways is important.
I think it’s stupid that the ignorant MMA fanboys who know nothing about martial arts say to you ” if you don’t spin in a full circle when throwing the roundhouse kick then your kick sucks” which I think is bs. I can kick harder and faster then the average MMA fan could imagine. I believe the Muay Thai kicks are too slow anyway and can be countered. I always thought that taekwondo masters have better mastery of their kicks then the MMA fanboy does.