Beating Taekwondo

[Johsak]

Stupid story plus question.

A few days ago a Taekwondo specialist (black belt) started at my gym, we sparred. Initially he gave me a lot of trouble, he was a bit taller than me and his kicks were long meaning it was hard to get in. Eventually I realized I could just leg kick him as he stood in a wide stance and had no idea how to check, 10 leg kicks later he basically couldn't stand and he decided to try some sort of parkour leg kick dodge where he raised his legs while dropping to the ground attempting to sort of worm over my kick, instead he dropped his head straight into it and got himself a concussion (and I got a bruised shin). It was perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

HOWEVER the guy is definitely going to learn to check leg kicks soon so that strategy will be harder and he was initially giving me trouble, bearing in mind this is stand up sparring so I can't just take down and submission/GNP what are some viable strategies against Taekwondo guys?

Dumb stories about sparring them also appreciated.

[Fuzzy]

Good job on the leg kicks, that's my usual go-to as well. Other option is to cover up and charge in for the clinch, just watch out for spinning kicks if you do that.

[Ulsteryank]

Uppon seeing the thread title I was going to say leg kicks, so nice one there. It will still take him a while to get used to checking.

Is there no take downs at all? In my old TKD and Karate days we could still hip throw, leg sweep, etc and get the ippon from there. They usually retract and not follow through with their kicks(uunless It's something spinning), so I wouldn't be afraid to eat, perry, or grab them(even though it's a bad habbit), but that's just me.

Other than that do what you can to close gaps for the clinch and dirty boxing.

[Johsak]

To the TKD practitioners, question, I have basically no experience with the "spinning shit" (coming from muay thai it's not big on the curriculum) how much balance does one have when going for those cool as shit looking things (like the wheel kick) is it possible to just barge in and trip/throw during the spin? Is that something TKD practitioners will experience in training/comp. Also is the general trend I am getting that TKD guys are weaker on the inside? They don't train clinch at all? What do two TKD guys who end up super close generally do?

Thanks for all the answers, I have a feeling this guy is going to spend the two weeks between our last sparring and next sparring learning to check and may have developed some resentment from last time :P

[plasma]

What ruleset are you fighting under? I would close the distance and fight from the clinch. But mainly because my striking is terrible.

[goodlun]

How well will he be able to check leg kicks and keep that wide stance that gives him the extra range that is giving you so much trouble?

[Johsak]

Muay Thai rules though we just touch the elbows because otherwise we get cut too much. Yeah clinch fighting is sounding like a legit gameplan at this point. I don't know if TKD do any clinch stuff.

[Johsak]

How well will he be able to check leg kicks and keep that wide stance that gives him the extra range that is giving you so much trouble?

Well that's an interesting point, I have never tried a wide stance can you check from there?

Also it's not just the stance he is also taller and legs are longer than arms so it gives him a fairly big reach advantage.

[Permalost]

As he gets better at checking leg kicks, his stance and mannerisms will start to resemble those of muay thai more, which will make his technique more orthodox from your point of view.

[MrGalt]

To the TKD practitioners, question, I have basically no experience with the "spinning shit" (coming from muay thai it's not big on the curriculum) how much balance does one have when going for those cool as shit looking things (like the wheel kick) is it possible to just barge in and trip/throw during the spin? Is that something TKD practitioners will experience in training/comp. Also is the general trend I am getting that TKD guys are weaker on the inside? They don't train clinch at all? What do two TKD guys who end up super close generally do?

Thanks for all the answers, I have a feeling this guy is going to spend the two weeks between our last sparring and next sparring learning to check and may have developed some resentment from last time :P

You can't stand in a deep/wide stance or too far sideways and check leg kicks at all.

For clinch range I have watched WTF TKD practitioners actually throw their arms out to the side and chest-bump each other when they got too close to kick because they wanted to make it very clear to a judge that they weren't punching. After the chest bump, first person to land an inside crescent kick scores, I guess. (Yes, I witnessed this thing actually happening at a school called "Takai Mine" in Albuquerque in 1997. Maybe I'm wrong and it's just an inside joke at the school.)

I used to be pretty good at reading when people were about to spin without a setup. I preferred to just rush in and push them, open-palmed, as hard as I could. The choice then is between falling down or running out of the ring to keep your balance. Worst of all, it's embarrassing to let somebody just push you over in a sparring match. This only works against showoffs who think they can just stand there and wheel kick you flat footed with no lead-in. I haven't sparred a TKDer in ten years or so though.

[gregaquaman]

As he gets better at checking leg kicks, his stance and mannerisms will start to resemble those of muay thai more, which will make his technique more orthodox from your point of view.

except the constant hassle of having to worry about some freakish kick coming out of nowhere.

Honestly as he cleans up his leg defense he will look more like karate than Thai. So worst case scenario would be he he becomes Andy hug.

[Mr. Machette]

First answer:


Second answer:
It's impossible to beat TKD and I can back that up with vids.

[Ulsteryank]

Well if China O'Brien is coming into the picture that changes everything!

[Johsak]

except the constant hassle of having to worry about some freakish kick coming out of nowhere.

Honestly as he cleans up his leg defense he will look more like karate than Thai. So worst case scenario would be he he becomes Andy hug.

Well shit.

But yeah that does seem to be the case increasingly even in MMA, if you can do everything else having some background in taekwondo will add an extra dimension to your striking that can keep people guessing.

[gregaquaman]

Well shit.

But yeah that does seem to be the case increasingly even in MMA, if you can do everything else having some background in taekwondo will add an extra dimension to your striking that can keep people guessing.

There is a tkder in one of the mma schools locally. And by reports his striking is up there.

Interesting idea for mma. If you chamber. Like a krotty/tkd guy and so land with a bent leg. Your single leg defence is halfway on if your kick gets caught.