A two part article from our military Elite CQC Master Instructor and Combat Sports Head Coach

Since the recent sidekick generated fight injury in the UFC we have received numerous communications from followers of both mixed martial arts and military close quarters combat.

The reasoning has been simple in that unarmed close combat stamp kicks are our signature primary tradecraft means of unarmed enemy incapacitation. The Todd Group, formerly the Baldock Institute is the oldest private specialist training provider of our European military CQC, being established in 1927. This gives us a unique perspective of over 90 years as military close combat and combat sports training providers on both mil stamp kicks and combat sports codes kicks.

Most of the military CQC skills would not be permitted under the rules of combat sports competition for the reason they are meant to deliberately cause wounding/injury or death. Military close combat stamp kicks in combat boots are designed by the nature of their execution and application to destroy ligaments, decentralise the enemy and leave them exposed to further hostilities.

Even basic CQC training includes up to 10 stamp kicks or variations of stamp kicks so exponents can select stamp kicks that best fit with their make-ups.

The reasoning is that in compromised unarmed actions on the closest part of the enemy’s body to the combatant that can be targeted to achieve incapacitation is the lead leg.

The human forces that can be achieved with downward through target momentum by skilled highly committed combatants are many times more force than it takes to destroy the ligaments of the knee cap and knee joint.

European military CQC stamp kicks are very different to our combat sports sidekicks starting with the biggest difference being hard soled combat boots.

The old CQC saying of bare feet are for bathing and boots are for combat rings very true when you consider the considerable advantages of the arch heel and sole of a combat boot to a bare foot.

Military stamp kicks are directed on or below the knee joint diagonally through the target leg to the ground and the first advantage is achieved when the hard arch of the combat boot sole contacts with bone, minimal tissue and nerves of the lower leg.

Nothing is 100% guaranteed but the chances of lower leg ligament destruction with combat boots military stamp kicking provides higher chances of objective achievement than our combat sports bare feet options.

This is one reason there have not been many more such injuries in combat sports and the second is there are not high numbers of such kicks used in competition.

This initial hard contact of combat boots stamp kicks often causes autonomic reactions that increase the chances of enemy incapacitation.

In the tradecraft and gross motor skill military science of our European military armed and unarmed combat and military self-defence, tactics and skills are based on best tools means and methods of enemy incapacitation or elimination.

Your leg being your longest extremity and most powerful combined with the inanimate hard sole of the combat boot used in a destructive diagonally downward through the lower leg action provides the most guaranteed means of enemy incapacitation at kicking range.

An incapacitated enemy decentralised as a result of a stamp-kick knee joint/knee cap ligament destruction is then exposed to ground stamp kicks to the ankle joints, knee joint, achilles tendon and other military close combat anatomy targets of the human body in relation to required objective achievement.

While many people would use a variation of a stamp kick for say breaking firewood by means of the sole of the boot not many if any would choose to use their barefoot or tender lower leg.

Over the past 90+ years our military stamp kicks have been tested and proven many times over as the safest and most effective means of enemy incapacitation.

There are more than 10 types of military stamp kicks included in our various training packages for different roles, services and objective achievement outcomes.

Some are for defensive tactics and detainee handling where the objective is control, containment and subject movement.

Then there are variations of the more than 10 types of military stamp kicks for different roles, duties, services and in relation to rules of engagement and laws of self-defence as in urban actions on.

The stamp kick employments complete strategies include components to interfere with visual and mental focus, distract and cause confusion including overloading the enemies capabilities to deal with combined disruptive and/or disabling stamp kick setup actions.

Our stamp kicks include full strategies and contingency options to deal with changes in situation and threat at real time.

Like a sharp stick in the eye a hard soled combat boot delivered with high level velocity to the tender lower leg provides probable high level objective achievement outcomes.

Over our 94 years of close combat training provision the stamp kick has proven very effective for combatants in unarmed actions on and as such has a proven record of objective achievement.

The stamp kick being able to be executed at close to point-blank bodily contact range including when the enemy has been seized and secured is another means of increasing the levels of objective achievement incapacitation by destruction of the ligaments of the lower leg.

These military combat and military self-defence stamp kicks are very different to our combat sports sidekick and are employed for different purposes where there are no rules, referee’s or safeguards.

Often in military close quarters combat a stamp kick to incapacitate the enemy is employed because enemy elimination is not immediately possible, however once they are decentralised by destruction of the knee joint/knee cap ligaments, enemy elimination is made much easier.

The destruction of the ligaments of the knee joint/knee cap and sometimes combined injuries to the lower leg like fractures including compound fractures and ankle joint ligament destruction is a devastating injury that takes away the ability to stand, fight or escape and evade.

Even a military leg stamp or oblique stamp kick that has failed to achieve knee cap/ knee joint ligament destruction or fracture the lower leg may well incapacitate the enemy by smashing the small bones of the instep restricting mobility and combative power generation.

Competitive type kicks rely more heavily on timing, target availability, physicality and high level technique capabilities often combined with working out opponents weaknesses and exploiting such weaknesses in competition.

European military close quarters combat stamp kicks are based on the weapon of the combat boot powered by high level momentum set up by dirty tricks with the intention of disarming, disabling and disposing of the enemy in a life or death battlefield actions on.

While serious injuries in combat sports through low side kicks are not common possibly because they are not commonly employed in a knee ligaments destructive manner the reality is with two committed connecting opposing points of contact even with bare feet the outcome can certainly result in serious injury.

Part two from a combat sports perspective by Combat Sports School Head Coach Caleb Steven

Due to this recent injury and all the talk generated in the fight community, and from people reaching out asking around this issue, The Master Chief asked if I could contribute my thoughts on this from the perspective of a martial artist as well as from the perspective of a Military CQC exponent point of view.

I have been the Head coach at Combat Sports School for a number of years now, and a member of the Todd Group for around 15 years, Upon starting my phase 1 basic training at the Todd Group in Military CQC under Master Chief instructor Geoff ‘Tank” Todd it wasn’t long before he told me about the combat sports aspects of the gym, so upon the Master Chiefs suggestion I decided I would head up the stairs after training in phase 1 to go and train in both the wrestling and kickboxing, I had wrestled when I was younger and had trained on and off in wrestling from the age of 5 having some successes in South Island Championships and in intercollegiate tournaments and learning from Steve Wylie many great lessons, as well as some of the other coaching staff in that gym, in between doing bouts of wrestling at a younger age I trained in various forms of traditional striking arts like Tae Kwon Do, many years later I was back into wrestling and doing another striking art in kickboxing.

I wrestled under Coach Alan Rolton for a number of years as well as Scott Hewitt who came to New Zealand from the United States for a period of time who was an excellent collegiate wrestler and amazing coach, eventually I took over the role from Alan as the head wrestling coach, before long I also learned Baldock Jiu Jitsu and Grappling from Karl Webber and started to compete in grappling to a good level of success here in New Zealand before entering into and fighting in mixed martial arts competitions again having good success, competing up until I took over the head coach role before stepping back to focus on my competitors with them achieving great successes both national and internationally in combat sports, this allowed me to spend some more time doing my phase 1 and training and testing, then phase 2 training in military CQC on exported courses in Thailand on some of the military bases that the Todd Group conducts courses on there and even getting the opportunity to teach ‘enemy fighting arts’ to the Thai military forces and other exponents on the courses.

These combined experiences give me a broad view of moves and techniques, as well as a biomechanical understanding I have from my work as a massage therapist and personal trainer/ strength and conditioning coach and I would like to share some of my thoughts around the difference of the application of technique as it may be used or taught in a sport fighting situation vs the application of use in a real world actions on scenario.

During UFC Vegas 36 we saw light heavy weight Khalil Roundtree vs Modestas Bukauskas, Rountree with a record of (now) 10-5 was dominating the fight from start to finish, his Lithuanian opponent managed to start getting himself back into the fight about halfway into the first round coming back from being battered about and having an injured nose, but still not stopping Rountree and his onslaught of forward pressure, but making it now into the second round, Roundtree still controlling the action in the 2nd round had noticed something however in the first round and planned to take advantage of a small opening, what he had noticed from Bukauskas is a very heavy lead leg when throwing his jab, he would step with a hard lead pivot to try create more rotation, reach and force and at 2:30 into the 2nd round Rountree managed to exploit this opportunity, Bukauskas being backed up attempted to throw a jab (often when people feel crowded when an opponent keeps moving into striking range they are forced to retreat and often will try and jab to buy some time to move back and breath, I call this pressure by presence), it was at this point in time Rountree fired a counter offensive sidekick to the lead leg of Bukauskas, causing him to let out a scream of pain as he absorbed the kick and he immediately fell to the canvas clutching onto his now injured leg and the fight was stopped by the referee, declaring Rountree the victor by TKO in 2:30 of the 2nd round.

So let’s discuss the kick that sealed the victory for Khalil Rountree, it wasn’t precisely placed but was very well timed, it hit roughly mid-thigh, but because of the force applied and the angle of the leg it caused an inwards collapse of the knee (valgus) these valgus forces on the knee created force in a way that only the ligaments were resisting the impacts (the knee is a hinge joint that operates in flexion and extension, and isn’t particularly designed to absorb high forces in other movement planes) and the amount of force delivered was more than the knee could handle, the ringside doctor suggesting that Bukauskas had suffered a blown ACL, MCL and PCL, though MRI scans are still pending as to the final result of the injury itself, a lot of the fighting world seemed to be in an uproar to get this kick banned from the sport, whether it be what is called an ‘oblique kick’ close to a CQC axe kick, or the side kick to the knee, close to the CQC leg stamp.

The difference in how these strikes are being thrown in MMA is they are thrown with a horizontal force projection, where in Todd Group CQC the leg stamp and axe kick are thrown with a deliberate force trajectory that would stamp down through the joint to the floor, the horizontal variants have no set end point, now in thinking of that, it cannot continue to travel beyond a certain point, for one, we can only reach so far because of our stationary planted leg that is used to balance and obviously stand, and two, usually the kick will be decelerated for the sake of maintaining balance and then retracted to resume stance or a 2 footed standing position, so there is less danger (however can still be debilitating) presented in the sport fighting version of these kicks than in the military CQC based versions, however, fighters know what is dangerous and what is an effective technique, for years some fighters have called for these attacks on the knee directly to be banned from the sport and it’s not because it’s an ineffective technique like how the head-butt of ’12 to 6’ elbow is viewed, it’s because the kicks directly to the knee can be career ending, if not ending someone’s career it will certainly stop them from training and for competing for a very long time, they want these techniques banned for the simple fact that if landed correctly are one of the biggest threats if not the biggest threat to their ability to fight, for a long time heel hooks were not allowed in many grappling competitions for the same reason which was the amount of damage it was causing to peoples knees.

This is arguably the very first time in a UFC competition that this move has ended a fight, however if you ever watch MMA itself and know anything of military close combat you will see a vast difference in how the techniques are used, I myself when sparring in kickboxing/Muay Thai will frequently teep (front kick/front snap kick, where the ball of the foot is used to strike in a straight line kicking attack) the lower thigh just above the knee, In essence this is used very much like a jab and also to disrupt balance and keep distance as it can cause the leg into extension forcing the hips back causing a halt in the forward motion of the lower body, but can cause the upper body to lurch forward to maintain balance, also since combat sport is undertaken in bare feet (most striking sports, minus Savate, off the top of my head) so trying to use the ball of the foot or even side of the foot to kick below the knee comes with a high amount of risk.

This however even with ill intent is unlikely to cause much in the way of damage, because the strike is occurring above the knee, the angle of the knee itself can dampen and dissipate force meaning that the joint may not end up in extension, hyperextension, valgus or varus where damage to the structural integrity of the knee will occur, think of it from the perspective that the angle is not favourable, the kick is coming from the angle of the height of the hip and extends (in this case) at a downwards angle towards the thigh/upper knee, the knee itself will more than likely in most stances be in front of the hip and over the front foot, this means the angles themselves will be less favourable to cause extension or hyperextension without an excessively large amount of force and even then isn’t guaranteed to achieve very much. The fighter factor of doing everything to prevent contact equates to such injuries being uncommon.

Now in my experience, when pressure placed below the knee joint itself will more than likely send the joint into extension, I use this same type of pressure when teaching wrestlers to do a low single leg takedown, the leg is grabbed by the heel to prevent the foot from moving back to dissipate force, and the shoulder is used to drive force below the knee horizontally (hence the need to grab the foot), this means that since the foot cannot move from where it is being anchored in place all of the force and stress is moved upwards into the nearest joint, the knee, once the knee is forced back and locked into extension, the bodies proprioceptive(autonomic reaction) feedback mechanisms will try to alleviate stress on the joint however possible to preserve the integrity of the joint and avoid injury, so in my experience once the knee is locked out, the body will move directly away from the pressure, causing the hips to fly backwards and putting the opponent on the ground, highly skilled opposition may end up in a hurdlers stretch position still ready to defend and engage once pressure is alleviated.

This is the same type of pressure that is exerted on the knee with a CQC leg stamp or oblique axe kicking motion, the kick is placed on or below the knee joint, often because of the downwards force and angle of the kick, the weight that ends up on the foot of the leg being targeted means that it is not possible to easily slide or move the foot to alleviate pressure (rather than if the kick was executed in a more horizontal motion), so again the joint will lock into extension and the body will move away from the pressure, the difference now between the takedown and the kick is the velocity/momentum that the kick can achieve in relation to how fast the body can move when executing a take down, the strike will pass through the joint quicker (in most cases) than the body can move to alleviate the forces executed against it, this is made possible by having a deliberate and set end point of the kick on the ground (passing through the limb) as opposed to the end point being the target limb itself, combined with hard cover guarding allowing for continued forward momentum even after the stamp kick has been delivered (if the primary option was to fail, you would still be forward moving in attack), where often in combat sport fighting there are many exchanges that take place in a fight, it is usually done in a manner where an opening or opportunity to strike is identified, speed and positioning is used to close the distance, throws strikes either singularly or in combination then exit to a safe distance either rearward or off to the side of the opponent and off the line of confrontation to avoid being attacked or counter attacked.

Often (if you watch much sport fighting) you will see when someone lands a shot that stumbles an opponent, you will see them realise after the fact and then have to stop any type of retreat motions and rush in to try and finish their opponent, in my opinion this is because sport fighting is a case of many cumulative engagements trying to figure out your opponent and trying to finish the fight, you might knock an opponent out in the first engagement or the 36th engagement, but the whole fight you are trying to win, vs CQC where the same overall goal is the same in winning but by lethal takeout, once engaged, you stay engaged with continuous forward moving aggressive assault using primary attack options, as you don’t want to disengage and allow the opposition to have a chance to regain their mental or physical bearings and re-establish or mount any defensive or counter offensive capabilities, the risks are simply too great, where sport fighting comes with wins or losses over time, a real world actions on scenario means your first loss may be the loss of your life, as the Master Chief says “the greatest trophy you will ever fight for is your life.”

I have a great love of sport fighting, have been and still am an active competitor is combat sports, I also think it is important to understand the possible limitations of directly applying sport fighting to a non-sport fighting engagement on the street or any other hostile environment where your aggressor is trying to cause grievous bodily harm. In close combat and street fighting there are no rules or referees to assist you when you’re in danger, these situations require the best of battle tested and proven systems, there are small differences when looking at a base level of the kick that started this article, but by application the techniques are worlds apart.