This thread isn’t about the oblique kick but you’ll understand why I used this image three paragraphs into the post.
I invented a new kick (or a kick variation) somewhere toward the end of the 1980s. I have video of myself performing the kick at least as far back as 1999. Over the years, I’ve posted videos of myself doing this kick on MySpace, Facebook and Instagram. I’ve never posted a video of the kick here (or any videos of myself here) but I posted a few detailed descriptions of it way back (when the forum was still under its original name, I think). Probably in a conversation with Asia. I’ve never seen anyone else do my kick.
Anyway, there are a few times I can remember when stuff that happened on this forum seemed like it may have coincided with things that happened soon after out in greater pop culture. Some dudes asking what exercises we thought were best a short while before P90X came out. A thread about Steven Seagal where a suspicious guy defending him asked what traditional techniques we thought were unused in MMA that would work well in it where I recommended the front snap kick up the middle. Someone asking what we thought would be kinda new and badass in an action movie and I said Judo throws (this was around when Ronda was popular, I think); them also asking if action movies were dead and me saying no and that you could make it about anything (even someone killing the main character’s dog). Us all talking about leg locks being sort of excluded from the UFC (when they’d been really popular in other events like Pancrase) right before leg locks made a resurgence. I don’t have any evidence other than having sort of a really good memory (though not eidetic) but I digress.
Jon Jones initially learned MMA (according to him) by scouring the Internet, mainly by watching videos on YouTube. I don’t know if he mentioned forums like this one or Sherdog. I’m assuming he read a lot as well as watching videos. I feel like he’s a cerebral fighter and kind of obsessed with technique. He’s arguably the GOAT in the UFC. I don’t think he’d have beaten prime Fedor but he’s definitely one of the smartest and most innovative fighters in MMA history.
I remember a thread when someone came in here asking for TMA (technical martial arts) techniques we thought would work in MMA. They were looking for stuff we hadn’t seen in MMA that we thought would work in the octagon.
I thought about describing my kick and explaining one of its primary uses (as a stop kick) but decided to hold off on that because I didn’t want someone else to take credit for inventing my kick. I told them I was unwilling to describe my custom kick to them but that I’d tell them about a different kick for the same purpose (a stop kick). I told them about the oblique kick from Ninjutsu. I described it in detail.
I don’t know that Jon Jones was the person who created that thread. I don’t know that it was anyone associated with him. All I know is he claimed to learn a lot online, that probably no one else was talking about that kick online up to that point, and that Jon Jones started using that kick in the UFC at some point soon enough after that thread happened on here (within a year or two) that I thought it was kind of a suspicious coincidence.
None of this may have been connected at all. Maybe I’m putting 2 and 2 together and getting 500. I know it sounds crazy. But, this sort of thing happened to me kind of a lot back when the Internet was young. I remember conversations from AOL chat rooms that seemed like they may have inspired specific stand-up comedy routines (some of it verbatim). There are songs that have lyrics that strongly resemble conversations I had in chats. I remember (vividly) giving one specific dude I knew by name an idea for a comic book on a thread in a comic book forum that he used, that ended up being adapted for television and making him a millionaire. I can’t prove any of this and I’m fine with nobody believing any of it. I’m just saying. This stuff happens. People mine the Internet for ideas. All the time. People from every industry mine the Internet for ideas.
I don’t know that Jones got the idea to use that kick from here. Maybe he read a book by Steven K. Hayes. Maybe he learned it in Karate class. It’s not just a Ninjutsu kick (though it seems largely ignored in other styles – or it did before he started using it in the UFC). Who the hell knows?
It’s just that I’ve seen him branch out into doing kicks more similar to my kick in the last few years. Maybe it’s a natural progression or maybe he followed me to other apps and saw video of the kick. So far, he seems unable to perform my kick properly. It could be he’s unaware of how to do it. It could be he saw it on video but didn’t understand how I was doing it. It looks like he’s trying to do it unsuccessfully (only having seen it and not having detailed instructions).
All of this could be coincidence. The world is weird. You can get zeitheisted in a thousand different ways. Maybe the muses carried my kick away to him but his long thin legs won’t allow him to do it properly. Maybe it’s all just happenstance. I am not jumping to conclusions. Just posting very biased paranoid observations.
Anyway, all this has me wanting to finally share my kick with the world before he can do it and take credit for it. Because, I mean, this is probably the best thing I’ve ever created. I write and draw but this is something in the real world that could really help someone in real life.
I made this kick to solve a specific problem. But, I really found a lot of value in it. As I began studying multiple martial arts I gravitated toward creating a personal style for myself. This kick became the centerpiece of that style. It influenced the way I move and string together combinations. It became my secret weapon. I used it with great suceess in sparring. I used it to defend my life when I was attacked by the very large and very jealous ex-boyfriend of someone I was trying to help. It’s a very useful kick. I like it.
My question is this:
Q.) What should I do with this kick? How should I share it with people? YouTube? Write a book? Make a web page? Make an instructional video?
I made some practice videos last year. That’s one of the reasons I got that Century Bob. But, I’m old. I’m fifty-three now. I injured myself a few times as I started working out again. I wanted to wait until I lost more weight and got in good shape again to make a good video but who knows if I can even pull that off anymore. My blood sugar is in the diabetic range. I’m on Metformin.
Do I really want MMA fighters using my kick though? The oblique kick has been nothing but trouble in the UFC. Guys are destroying knees with it. If I’m partly responsible for that then I feel bad about it. It works but dudes are getting their knees messed up and that’s unfortunate.
My kick can be a lot more gentle as a stop kick (than the oblique kick) but it’s got some brutal possibilities when launched at other targets. It’s perfect for liver shots. When launched at illegal tagets it can be devastating.
Is there a way to offer it directly to the military and law enforcement without it being abused elsewhere? Honestly, it takes a bit of skill to use it – you have to know half a dozen other kicks to understand how to throw it properly and the best ways to take advantage of it – so maybe it’s too complicated for the average criminal to pick up on and use effectively.
It’s become my favorite martial arts technique, obviously. It’s been something I’ve relied on a lot. Even just throwing it once has made guys that wanted to fight me (back in the 1990s) stop and say they don’t want to fight anymore. I was much faster in those days. It’s a confusing kick for people because it looks like another kick but it’s so much faster and nearly invisible prior to impact. I have a few other secret techniques but this kick has been my bread and butter for about forty years now.
I don’t want to die having never shared my best creation with the world. And, I don’t want someone else to figure it out and do it first because they wouldn’t be able to teach it in context and describe its origin and its uses in detail.
I’m too old to do anything with this kick in competition. Teaching it to a fighter or a specific school might be worth doing. Sharing it on YouTube would be the easiest. I could spread it across the whole Internet. But, would that be irresponsible? It’s an advanced technique.
This is a kick you can throw while wearing a backpack, while running, etc. I think it’d be useful for soldiers and law enforcement. For self-defense. I don’t think it’s as useful in sports though it would be a more effective (while less dangerous) stop kick than the oblique kick because you deliver it to the thigh rather than the knee or the shin (unless you’re just mean).
I used it a dozen times in one fight to keep a much larger opponent out of range each time he tried to punch or grab me (multiple times) and without injuring him. It was not difficult even though he was athletic. I could have done it an infinite amount of times. Done that in training. Used it in other fights. I’m saying this to highlight the effectiveness of the kick – not to brag about myself. Some of you guys could probably use it even more effectively.
I’ve often been mistakenly taken for bragging on these forums. I don’t think I’m even capable of that sort of thing, honestly. I’m just trying to be accurate. I am pretty sure I’m OCD (PureO). I’ve only taken an IQ test one time (back in high school) but it was pretty high. I’m not crazy. I’m not an idiot. I’ve said very clearly that any connection to Jones is just a wild theory based on me having a good memory (a borderline photographic memory or maybe just a snapshot memory). I grew up climbing everything and running through the woods and jumping off bridges so I am not the goofball nerd some of you guys have thought I was sometimes. This is a serious question. I’m not trolling. It’s a real kick.
I spent a lot of time on this kick. It’s not trash. It’s a good kick. It’s a beautiful kick.
How do I share it? What do I do with it?
EDIIT: My favorite option is to introduce the kick in the independent comic book I’m creating on nights and weekends (after I work my regular job) but that could take me another five years. Unless we have another pandemic stay-at-home order (which would suck) or I win the lottery.
EDIT: Jon Jones on learning from YouTube.
