Another Machida mae geri?
Lyoto Machida has delivered another keage geri (snap kick) win - this time a body shot (a kick to the liver) - to finish CB Dollaway at only 1:02 into the first round (after some punches on the ground). At first I thought the kick contacted with the ball of the foot but closer examination shows that the kick landed on the instep near the top of the toes. It seems possible that Machida was going for a toe kick but changed angles at the last second. [The toe kick might seem strange until you realise that it's been done before - see my article on this very technique .] Anyway, I've often taught this very application for the Chen Pan Ling taijiquan kick (which seems to use the toes but with the right target uses the instep). Alternatively, Machida can be said to have effected a kind of hybrid mae geri / mawashi geri: the so-called "triangle kick". I prefer the former analysis, ie. a "late conversion" from one to the other -...