GUEST POST: Poirier vs. McGregor III - Adjustments for Kick Defense
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
The following article is a guest submission from Discord patron Silas Martin. He has no combat sports related social media to share, but check him out on SoundCloud!
Opinions expressed in this piece are the author’s alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Fight Site staff.
In the lead up to the rubber match between UFC lightweight contenders Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor, this writer has been thinking a lot about general attitudes towards kicking defense in MMA and what MMA strikers could learn from pure striking arts such as Muay Thai. In their second bout, McGregor was undone primarily by the dreaded, meta-breaking calf kick. Poirier debilitated McGregor’s lead leg by countering his entries with the calf kicks, seriously compromising McGregor’s power punching as well as making him more hesitant about closing distance before Poirier was able to push his up against the fence and knock him out with a barrage of punches. Much like when Max Holloway lost the UFC featherweight championship to a concerted low kicking performance from Alexander Volkanovski, the big question most observers are asking going into an immediate rematch is “has he learnt to check kicks?” and as Holloway would show in his second match with Volkanovski, focusing purely on checking kicks may not be the answer, so let’s look at why.
First of all, let’s just clear something up about the calf kick. You can check it. In-fact it may even be easier to check and more dangerous for the kicker than a more traditional low kick to the thigh, as the kick is already aimed at shin level so it is not even necessary to raise the leg to check. Simply turning the shin out into the arc of the kick can be very effective and also very damaging to the kicker as your weight will remain planted on checking leg, as seen in the recent bout between Chris Weidman and Uriah Hall (I’m sure I don’t need to include a GIF). However, investing mainly in checking kicks may be an over-simplified and short-sighted solution. Many more casual overserves will speak about checks as if they are a video game move which can be unlocked and slotted into any fighter’s style, without considering the mechanics of checking. You will typically see Muay Thai fighters, who are incredibly defensively specialized to deal with kicks, stand in a much taller and squarer stance, keeping a very light lead leg so as to be ready to raise it and turn it out. That being said, I would not advise Conor McGregor to change his entire stance in order to defend one specific tactic which gave him trouble in his last outing, as this could compromise the power of the straight punches that are McGregor’s bread and butter, as well as the jab and head movement which have become more significant fixtures of his game since his boxing match with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
This would be philosophically reminiscent of Daniel Cormier’s adjustments in his third match with Stipe Miocic. In their second fight Cormier’s “mummy guard” variation gave Miocic significant trouble establishing his jab in the earlier rounds, before realizing he could hook underneath DC’s guard to his body, which opened up the finishing sequence that retook the heavyweight strap for Miocic. In their rubber-match, DC essentially abandoned his usual guard, keeping his elbows tight to his body in order to block body-shots, however this meant Stipe was able to jab freely and mostly headhunted to a decision victory. Much the same if we see a new Bangkok-ready Conor McGregor come into his own trilogy match standing tall and bouncing on his lead foot then Poirier may just be able to box him up with ease.
One of the in-fight adjustments McGregor did make to the calf kicks was to try catching the kicks so as to throw Poirier off-balance and extend the time which he is on one leg for, in order to put himself in position to counter. The problem with the calf kick in this regard, compared to a thigh or body kick, is that they are much more difficult to catch and parry because of how low they are aimed. By the end of the fight, McGregor was leaning so far forward over his front foot to be ready to catch, that he could barely drive his shoulder forward to punch when countering. McGregor then tried picking the kick up and pushing Poirier back the fence, so as to allow himself to reposition to throw the follow up strike but this also gave Poirier time to react to the counter and defend. In either case, McGregor was not stepping out in the same direction as the kick or doing anything else to reduce the impact so he was just eating them clean with his full weight planted on the leg. Another idea McGregor toyed with in the fight was to hit a same-time counter while Poirier was mid-kick, which may have been a good idea, however the only instance of this came in the form of a spinning hook kick which fell short as Poirier just fainted the kick and stayed out of range, seemingly making McGregor reluctant to attempt more same-time counters.
So, what could be some other adjustments to deal with kicks more effectively? One of the most effective ways of defending kicks is through distance management, as all strikes have their own defined range of effectiveness. If a kick falls short, the kicker will be momentarily out of position and have to reset their feet back into stance and if a kick is thrown in too close of a range It will not have full the extension to achieve good power, while leaving the kicker on one leg in punching range. For these reasons, many Muay Thai stylists will opt to defend low kicks by pulling their leg back out of range and treat checking as a last resort when they are caught out of position or as a way of defending while persistently moving forward and maintaining pressure, as checking kicks still hurts and does not leave you in as good of a position to counter as when you are still planted on both feet and your opponent is spinning around on one leg to get back into stance.
This also applies to high kicks, even more so as taking powerful kicks to the arms will inhibit one’s ability to throw rear straight punches and can even lead to arm break stoppages. If you have the reflex speed and trunk dexterity, it is much better to lean back away from high round kicks and allow them to miss rather than absorbing the impact. Take Robert Whittaker and some of his recent opponents for example. Whittaker likes to set up his high kicks by faking his straight right hand so his opponent will slip to the outside and duck into his right high kick. This is a classic switch-up which has led to some of Bobby Knuckle’s most spectacular finishes. He was able to land it almost instantly against Kelvin Gastelum, causing Gastelum to stop slipping right straights and stay behind his guard. This meant that while Whittaker did not land many more clean kicks to the head in the rest of the fight, he was racking up attritional damage of Gastelum’s arms, limiting his volume and power. This also opened Gastelum up to left hooks as he was so focused on blocking strikes from Whittaker’s right side. In Whittaker’s bout with Darren Till, Whittaker struggled to land high kicks as Till was able to lean back away from them fairly consistently, avoiding any attritional damage and making Whittaker more tentative about attempting one of his signature moves. For linear kicks like side-kicks and teeps, it is better to avoid these with lateral movement as they move more range but come out completely straight with no arc. Sliding out of the way of linear kicks can also put you in an excellent position to counter while your opponent is off balance and resetting
Another way of inhibiting your opponent’s kicking is to smother the kicks by forcing them back and staying at a close range where the kicks are ineffective, as it is very difficult to kick while moving backwards and constantly in the pocket, a strategy which has prevailed many times against one of MMA’s finest kickers Edson Barboza. This can also put you in position to land counter punches if your opponent attempts to kick within punching range. There has been plenty of instances in MMA of people throwing reckless naked low kicks at close range and being instantly knocked out for it. Perhaps for Conor McGregor, rather than trying for meme spin-kick knockouts and then immediately giving up on the idea, he could try using his jab to draw out the counter low kick from Poirier and then counter back.
Another important tactic for closing distance on a dangerous kicker is to kick them back. Many people will speak about kicking with good kickers as if it is comparable to swinging hooks in the pocket with a sharp and heavy-handed counter puncher, giving your opponent the edge by stepping into their wheelhouse. This is not the case. When facing a dedicated kicker, it is important to show that you will not concede the entire slice of range in which kicks can be landed but punches cannot. Throwing kicks also gives you a means of closing distance without stepping in and opening yourself up to counter low kicks, as well as limiting your opponent’s ability to kick if they are picking up their legs to check. In the recent bout between Edson Barboza and Shane Burgos, Burgos spent much of the first round trying to pressure behind an active jab and eating hard low kicks whenever he stepped in with his lead foot. Between the first and second round, Burgos’ head coach Tiger Schulman advised him to abandon his jab in favor of a lead front kick. This tactical adjustment led to Burgos most successful round of the fight, as it allowed him to get in close where he wants to throw hands in the pocket without being counter-kicked for his entries, as he was constantly raising his lead leg to stab Barboza in the ribs rather than planting on it.
Almost all of the ideas discussed in this article can be seen in practice in Max Holloway’s second fight with Alexander Volkanovski, in which Holloway made several adjustments from the first fight which led to a performance that many viewers thought should have been enough to retake his old belt. He came in with a much narrower stance and kept a very light lead leg to be ready to check or pull away from low kicks. The active lead leg also made it easier to get quick lead kicks off, often using a teep to the thigh the jam Volkanovski’s entries as he tried to step in. He also kicked much more actively with Volkanovski, both getting one back whenever he ate a kick and using them as an entry into the pocket which could not be countered with a low kick. Max would also faint his jab to draw out the counter low kick from Volkanovski in order to counter back with his own right straight.
In conclusion, Conor McGregor has a lot more options for how he approaches his third match with Dustin Poirier but in any case, Poirier has clearly become a brutally difficult style matchup for McGregor since the early knockout in their first meeting back in 2014. Over the years, Dustin has become much sharper with his striking defense and counters off of the back foot, as well as being an absolute buzzsaw when he has his man’s back to the fence. Poirier also has incredibly heavy hands, pushes a hellacious pace for 5 straight rounds and even appears to be more physically durable than in his featherweight days, possibly as a result of a less draining weight-cut or perhaps just a function of experience and being more confident in dealing with uncomfortable situations. All of this combined with Dustin’s under-rated offensive wrestling and grappling game makes any win over him at this point incredibly impressive.
“Often in MMA as one adaptation can be slotted in, another springs out like a 90’s board game.”