Dracula vs. The Defensive Roundhouse Kick

[Cranewings]

There is a point of weakness, maybe, in the Dracula but there is a built in defense that I'm not sure is recognized. Sense most people here get the Dracula, I'll try to describe what I mean by a defensive round house.

Normally a rh is thrown against a stationary or retreating target by turning the hip over and pivoting on a strait support leg which plants before impact. It's a tkd snap kick that can be oriented to any angle. The defensive version, a kick almost no one, anywhere, uses (which all by itself minimizes this weakness in the Dracula) uses a slightly different mechanic. Instead of pivoting, the support foot plants, the knee of the support leg bends, and the abs fold in. This colaps creates space the same way space is made by bending the knee in a muay thai shin kick. This kick isn't as hard, but it is used against advancing opponents so there step in adds power to the kick.

When used against the Dracula, it could be worse because the elbow is up. Not only does this expose the ribs, it opens them making the hi worse. A ball of the foot snap kick pushed into widened ribs is horrible.

Against the entrance step of the Dracula, the kick can only be avoided by finding the killing moment to step in, same as everything else. If the kicker doesn't step back and the elbow is used against the cross, the kick will probably be stuffed as well.

The real problem is in the variation where the defender steps back, avoiding the first slap. In this variation, Dracula hammers down the lead hand while finishing the diamond step (I think). This step gives the kicker literally all the time he needs to do the def rh, the advancing attacker to make it work, and maybe even exposed ribs.

This is where the built in motion of the heavy down slap to the jab comes in. Because the slap comes down at about a 45, it sort of gets in the way of the round house. If the slap against the arm is done with a lose arm, it probably won't help. If it is done with a tensed and bent arm, the elbow will actually travel a path back to cover the ribs from the kick while simultaneously trapping the lead hand normally. If the kicker throws the def rh, there are really high odds he will spear his own shin on the elbow.

Or that's all bs (; something to think about.

[Cranewings]

Now I remember what I felt. The second attempt to remove the jabbing hand comes strait across like a dodger. I thought there would be some advantage to bringing it down at a 45 with a stiff elbow so that kicking becomes dangerous at the same time. I probably should sleep instead of sitting up thinking about this.

[Crafty_Dog]

CW:

Tail wags for your very kind words in the thread about the seminar  

Good to see you thinking about this.  A couple of points to help you get started:

As I announced in the beginning of day one, (and discuss more fully in our "Kali Tudo 3" DVD no one structure beats all other structures.   EVERY structure has potential strengths and potential weakness.  IMHO the Kali Tudo striking game can be very dominating on the high line.   Usually this is what we seek to impose, though of course we may craftily lay a trap or two along the way to set up other things as well

There are two potential areas of weakness in the KT high line striking game.  

1) Wrestling type shoots (single leg, double leg, ankle picks, things of that sort).  This is why I brought in MMA wrestling coach Kenny Johnson as co-instructor on KT 3-- to make sure we have the basics of a good MMA sprawl and some sound follow ups.  Is the sprawl the only answer to the shoot?  Not in my humble opinion  but surely the sprawl needs to be part of our repertoire.

2) Expanding upon your point, there is the matter of the good front leg.  There ARE people in MMA who do have a good front leg.  For example, think of the Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera fight (which I would have scored for Vera btw, but I digress).  I think we can all agree that Couture has a formidable closing game, but Vera was able to repeatedly nail him with discouraging switch kicks to the liver region.

As I explained in my opening discussion of the KT we were not going to discuss this particular portion of things during this particular seminar-- there is only so much that can be covered in two days (In this case, in addition to the Kali Tudo we had Krabi Krabong, Dos Triques, Los Triques, double stick foundation skill sets, and single stick fighting combinations as well as Kali Tudo.) so I limited the Kali Tudo instruction to showing how to achieve the dominance on the high line.

From what you write about the Dracula, I am not sure if you are clear about which hand is doing the Dracula (correctly done it initiates from a matched lead and is done front hand vs. front forearm as the first point of contact) or maybe you are thinking about the variations where the other hand is in the high caveman chamber-- which does uncover the ribs.   I have explored exactly this question with some of my Muay Thai friends (a former pro now turned coach and two seasoned amateur fighters both at Muay Thai/Boxing Works gym in Hermosa Beach.

The various solutions to your question are a mix of footwork, timing (both of him and of when we raise to the High Caveman) and in the use of other KT combinations if the front leg is presenting a problem.  For example, you may remember we had the Zirconia Variations and an example of the Sheering Variations.  

There are others as well. 

The Adventure continues!
Crafty Dog

[Crafty_Dog]

As the material has evolved, we now have "Dracula's Fang" and "Time Machine" as well.