Am I wrong, or are leg kicks (other than those targetting the knee for self-defense) a waste of time in modern MMA and street fights?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Sean O'Malley lost his fight, because he broke his own foot while leg kicking Chito, then he lost due to unanswered strikes.

I wonder how many times we've seen fighters break their own foot, ankle, or shin bones while leg kicking over the years. Even Chandler got beat one time due to breaking his own ankle with a leg kick.

[Chazmatazz269]

You are wrong. You mentioned three exceptions. You’re ignoring hundreds of fights in which leg kicks were a factor in the winner’s victory. Leg kicks are still used heavily in professional kickboxing too. MMA is the still in which various forms of combat are tested against others and only the most effective techniques remain, with limited exception. Leg kicks are still used effectively by the vast majority of fighters. The tiny minority of incidents mostly involving poor conditioning and bad technique don’t offset the thousands of successful uses of leg kicks that came before and after.
The only kick i would use in a street fight is a teep to the groin as my attacker advances. I know guys who said that leg kicks worked for them, but i’m unconvinced.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

You're wrong. Just because people did the wrong thing and got away with it, does not make doing the wrong thing right.

You never know when your leg will be the next one to get broken trying this stuff. I used to trade leg kicks with other brown and black belt fighters, and it hurts both people like HELL to do it. It's more trouble than it's worth and you may as well focus on some other technique, such as punching or hand-play for grappling or submissions.

As for a Groin Kick, so what? Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knows that. You don't need a black belt to kick a guy in the nuts very hard. I mean, I used to have a 6000 ft-lbs front thrust kick, so if I kicked someone in the nuts it would damn near kill them, but even an average joe with no training knows to kick the other guy in the nuts.

[NathanDavis]

there's a right way to kick a leg... and a VERY wrong way, to kick a leg... or anything for that matter

especially with the shins involved... the main bone of the shin can be the strongest but also the weakest merely by the angle in which is hit or hits with

knowing the difference is key... and can be a life saver, or a champion maker

and so learning and training is not exactly a waste of time... that's how masters do master

[AI Opinion]

Leg kicks definitely aren’t a waste of time, in MMA or in a real fight 👊

They’re risky, yes. You see breaks when they’re checked badly or thrown without setup, like O’Malley or Chandler. But calf kicks and low kicks have changed modern MMA, shutting down movement, stance, and power.

The key is timing, setup with hands/feints, good shin conditioning, and not overcommitting. Done right, they’re fight-changing, not useless. 🦵🥊

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Muay thai fighters and okinawan fighters use a front teep to check the opponent's advancement. It hits the solar plexus which is a vital target, instead of trying to attack a bigger muscle group and bigger bone group (thigh) with a smaller bone group (shin).

That's why you're an AI and I'm a human.

[Hagar88]

Wouldn't be a leg kicker myself too much but in a street fight you hammer any weakness. Because in most streets only one person can actually fight and trains regularly a leg can work off balancing someone and laying them on their ass or putting them on their knees on which case the fight is over, the risk as always with leg kicks especially as at heavier weight is becoming unbalanced and being put on the ground.