With his victory over Rafaello Oliveira last Saturday, Edson Barboza has become the first person to finish two fights by TKO via Leg Kicks in the history of the UFC (and any ZUFFA-acquired promotions therein). His first TKO victory via Leg Kicks was achieved at UFC 123 against Michael Lullo at (0:26) of the 3rd round. Beyond just leading the UFC in leg kick TKO’s, the greater implications of what Edson Barboza accomplished last Saturday really make him stand out amongst an organization that is replete with skilled fighters.
Leg kicks are a part of just about any MMA fighters striking repertoire. They are one of the main cornerstones of Muay Thai, and have become so in Mixed Martial Arts as well. When a fighter lands kicks on his opponent’s leg, he can damage that leg and negatively impact his opponent’s effectiveness in just about every facet of MMA. A fighter who is on the receiving end of some well placed leg kicks will find that his abilities to shoot for takedowns, use footwork and speed to effectively strike and evade his opponents strikes, and even his general movement will be adversely effected and slowed, and the pain from repeated kicks to his legs could quite possibly begin to sap his will to fight in general.
Jose Aldo is a name that comes to mind when you think about a victory that was achieved, in no small part, by the brutally efficient execution of leg kicks. When Jose Aldo faced Urijah Faber at WEC 48, he hit Faber with a total of 32 leg kicks over the course of their five-round fight for the WEC’s Featherweight Championship. After weathering a fair amount of kicks, Urijah Faber was noticeably hobbled by the effects of the kicks, even falling to the canvas as a result of them. The overall impact of Jose Aldo’s effectiveness in hurting Urijah Faber’s legs resulted in a fight that saw Faber unable to mount much offense. Handily dominating their fight, Jose Aldo out-struck Urijah Faber by a ratio of almost 3-1, leaving Faber largely unable to utilize his highly vaunted wrestling skills with the effects of his leg kicks clearly affecting him adversely. Other notable MMA fighters to use leg kicks with great effectiveness are Forrest Griffin in his Title Fight against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, as well Pedro Rizzo in a slew of his fights.
Edson Barboza wasted very little time before utilizing the cornerstone of his strategy, blasting Rafaello Oliveira with a leg kick in short order to begin the first round. Olivera’s troubles seemed to be mounting quickly, where he was noticeably staggered by a fourth kick to his lead leg at (3:47) in the first round. At (0:46) Oliveira was again hobbled after taking the eleventh kick to his lead leg alone, and began limping a bit as a result. At the end of the first round, Rafaello Oliveira was on the receiving end of 14 kicks to his lead leg. After taking his fourth leg kick of the round at (3:57) of the second round, Oliveira was again hobbling in pain. Edson Barboza immediately landed another thudding leg kick, sending Oliveira falling forwards, trying to salvage his involuntary collapse into some sort of takedown attempt, from which Barboza easily backed away from. With a sixth leg kick, Barboza sent Oliveira crashing to the mat again at the (3:36) mark, backing away to let Oliveira attempt to get up and ostensibly take more punishment. When Oliveira got to his feet, he was noticeably limping as a result of the damage to his leg, leaving him in a precarious situation as the fight continued. Edson Barboza landed his seventh and eighth leg kicks in the span of three seconds, sending Oliveira crashing to the mat again. Clearly unable to get up and continue to take such mounting punishment, referee Herb Dean waved the fight of as a TKO stoppage at (3:17) into the second round.
With a total of twenty-two leg kicks, Edson Barboza left his opponent unable to stand in less than a round and a half. While the fight also showed his ability to fend off any attempts by Oliveira to bring the fight to the ground, Barboza’s striking acumen and brutal utilization of leg kicks really were his crowning achievement in the fight. With his ability to use leg kicks so effectively, Barboza presents a daunting opponent for fighters of a striking or grappling persuasion. As evidenced in many of his past fights, fighters looking to strike with Barboza are often subjected to a fast-paced and dizzying array of strikes, often to their detriment. A grappling based fighter, such as Oliveira, will also be on the receiving end of a great deal of strikes in their attempts (or inability) to close the distance and get Edson Barboza to the ground.
With only a single UFC loss to his name, an upset of a TKO loss to Jamie Varner, Edson Barboza is certainly poised to make waves in the UFC’s Lightweight division. Barboza requested a match-up against a Top-Five opponent for his next fight, which I sincerely hope the UFC will oblige him with. At this point, I think there might be some fighters in lofty positions in the Lightweight division that aren’t necessarily looking forward to such a match-up. Time will tell whether this is the case.
As I said before, almost all MMA fighters utilize leg kicks, but very few of them utilize them to the degree that Edson Barboza does. Edson Barboza is a scary prospect for anyone to face in a fight, or at least anyone who enjoys his or her ability to walk.
I certainly would not want to be on the receiving end of dozens of leg kicks from Edson Barboza. Generally speaking, I do enjoy my ability to walk quite a lot.