Should kicks to the knee be banned?
Many fighters are not fans of kicks to the knee. Rampage Jackson called the move dirty after Jon Jones used his oblique kicks to attack his knees and few days ago Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson spoke against Darren Till side kicks:
“I honestly think that strike should be made illegal. It could end somebody’s career. You know Robert Whittaker had to have ACL surgery following his first fight with Yoel Romero due to that particular strike. And as you could see, Robert Whittaker made sure to beat Yoel Romero to the punch in their second fight. He threw a lot more than he did this time around. It is just a very dangerous technique. I think a lot of fighters throw that strike but sometimes it is for different reasons. When I fought Jorge Masvidal he used that same side kick to the knee. But when Jorge threw it, he was doing so just to keep me away. Not in an attempt to injure my knee. But when I was in the cage fighting Till it felt like ok this guy is trying to break my leg. It was like he had intentions of ripping everything out in my knee. That’s how I felt anyway. Like this dude is really trying to injure me in here. I think it an ugly strike and that it should be made illegal.”
So should those kicks be banned?
Hell no. Should we ban the most dangerous submission moves (broken bones so many times)? Should we ban slams (careers ended because of this)? Should we ban punches and kicks to the head because in the future fighters who took a lot of damage might have problems and in other sports people actually died?
No right, or else it wouldn't be the fun sport we enjoy watching.
Solution for the fighters who hate this move?
First don't forget that you are a fighter.
So Wonderboy, Darren had bad intentions? So??? You are in a fight not in a karate competion. And don't forget that MMA started to rise because of real fighters not MMA athletes like you. I was a fan before but recently (last two years I guess) I started to really dislike this guy. A fight is a fight, deal with it.
Learn the technique too.
First learn how to defend it and then learn how to do it so maybe you can make a deal with the other fighter and not use it...
Conclusion
I'm getting so sick and tired of fighters complaining and one more thing I'm for a sport that is as close as possible to a real fight so I'd like to see knees to a down opponent, soccer kicks, 12-6 elbows etc. And no I'm not a "just bleed" fan, I love technical fights too, Demetrious is one of my favorite fighters...
Anyway what do you think ???
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Yes they should. Its gruesome looking and can hyper extend the knee and end a fighters career. Sure there are certain risks fighters take but if stuff like head bunts aren't allowed then neither should knee kicks.