Soccer kicks are outlawed in the United States, among other places, because it’s very difficult to get mixed martial arts (MMA) sanctioned when fighters are having their heads kicked into the fourth row of an arena.
Fortunately, the decaptitaiton laws in Japan are much more liberal, so combatants who find themselves grounded would be wise to duck and cover. That’s pretty much the opposite of what Koichi Ishizuka did at DEEP Cage Impact 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, getting his brain scrambled by Hiroto Uesako in last weekend’s featherweight title fight.
I could only watch that once.
The now-defunct PRIDE FC has a treasure trove of soccer-kick knockout highlights, for those fight fans who have the time (and grisly desire) to seek them out. The one that always pops into my mind is Shogun Rua doing the Shirley Temple on Rampage Jackson’s face.
So ... what’s your favorite soccer kick KO of all time?
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