Fight Breakdown: Head Kick TKO Technique (Round 4)

ANALYZING THE FINAL ROUND'S HEAD KICK KO FINISH

By Evan Lee

It has been three tough rounds now. Round 1: we covered the importance of breaking down your sparring and fight footage. Round 2: why the teep is the "god weapon". And in Round 3: the importance of the clinch and why it is almost a god weapon.

Time to break down the fourth and final round. 

To recap very quickly, Sean had a tough first three rounds. His opponent’s teep is laser sharp, and he has very strong punching combinations.

Sean knows that he’s down on the scorecards. He has to go out on his shield or else he’ll likely lose the decision.

For the epic conclusion to this fight, check it out:

Fight Breakdown: Head Kick TKO Technique (Round 4)

Head Kick KO Loss: Analysis

As you saw, unfortunately, this did not go Sean’s way. His opponent, Phetch, was able to rock Sean with punches and eventually land a brutal head kick.

Even though both knockdowns came from head kicks, it was the right straight that came just right before the head kick that was really responsible for everything. You’ll notice that Sean is first wobbled when Phetch landed the right straight. This broke Sean’s balance. 

As we’ve talked about before, balance is everything. If you can break your opponent’s balance, you can finish them. This is in fact how Peter Aerts became the the king of head kicks (no, not Mirko Cro Cop) with 14 head kicks knockouts to his name (yes, more than Mirko Cro Cop).

Think back to Aert’s fight with Jean-Claude Leuyer, in which he pushed Jean, breaking his balance. As Jean stumbled backwards, Aerts was able to close in with a head kick before Jean could get his hands or even his stance ready to defend.

When you lose your balance, not only do you lose your ability to defend yourself, you also lose your ability to absorb the shot. 

One of the primary reasons why boxers and all fighters frown upon crossing your feet when stepping is precisely because your base can be easily compromised if your opponent pushes forward. If your base is not strong when you’re not, your body will not be able to absorb the blow. And remember that even if the shot does not hurt you, you will still stumble, which makes it look like you were hurt. 

This was a tough loss for Sean, as all losses are. Yet how many legendary fighters are not themselves on the opposite end of someone else’s highlight reel?

Peter Aerts - the king himself - is on the highlight reel of Badr Hari. Hari smashed him with a jumping front kick and a barrage of punches.

Hari himself is on the highlight reel of Peter Graham who knocked Hari out with a brutal rolling thunder in one of the nastiest KOs of all time.

Peter Graham has been knocked out by Mark Hunt. Mark Hunt has been finished by Semmy Schilt. Semmy Schilt has been KOed in 45 seconds by Badr Hari. And the list goes on... 

The point is that anyone can get finished at any moment. It may happen to you, it may not. Your job is simply to learn from it and move forward as Sean did. Even if you take a hard shot, you just keep moving forward. I think I heard that in a movie once...