Ian Ransburg Top Level Gym Dragon Leg Style Muay Thai Seminar

Warm-up: 50 jumping jacks

Catching the Kick Series

Range find by rocking up on the toes of your rear leg, straightening the lead leg, extending your lead hand and touching your opponent’s hands. You should be just be able to touch them. This allows you to find them but be far enough out of range to counter.

When you kick your base leg straightens and your posture remains as erect as possible.

Your opponent uses the range finder to set-up the rear kick. Catch this kick at the ankle, stepping with the kick and wrapping your arm over and pulling your hand high on your chest. You will typically try to drop this to your hand and then throw across your body, spinning your opponent’s back to you allowing you to kick them.

They can counter this throw of their leg by squaring up with you, as if they had thrown a tiip and then curling their kicking leg back as if to load another tiip, pulling you forward. They then deliver a tiip to push kick you away.

If your opponent attempts the tiip counter, pull their foot laterally and step medially to it, reaching across to grab the neck and delivering a same side knee. Without letting go of their kicking leg, step forward with your kneeing leg and deliver a same side elbow. Now step back with the knee leg to clear their leg you are holding and throw it to the opposite, spinning their back to you. Deliver a kick.

If they have your tiip grabbed with the mirror opposite hand, roll your foot medially and twist to the floor. Keep your eyes on your opponent and land on the ball of this foot. If they close, throw a rear side/thrust kick, then step away and pivot back to face them.

“Combat Hug” Clinch

Your opponent is using the range finder, as you parry they reach to clinch, tuck your chin and cover with the elbow high. Stop their opposite biceps with your contralateral hand. Put your head on this side as you wrap your high cover arm around their neck, their neck in the antecubit of the arm, your wrist curled around the opposite side of their neck. Square your legs up, your midline in front of their hip on the arm control side. Drop this elbow in to their side. Turn your face away from your opponent.

Put your forehead on their shoulder so you can see their legs. Throw a curve knee on the side opposite your head. As they return the mirror knee, pull on their neck and drop step 45° on this side, return the knee on this side. They throw the opposite curve knee, pull on their arm and drop step 45° on this side. Repeat on the original side.

If you wish to throw your opponent, look for them to throw the curve knee on your arm control side. As they do, pull their neck by twisting your body and drawing the arm inferiorly toward the hip while simultaneously pushing their arm.

To defend this clinch, underhook the arm wrapped around the neck by placing the palm of the glove on their face. Rotate the shoulder and hip forward, locking their arm out. If they retain a grip on the other arm, rotate over the top and deliver knees. Drop step to bring their head down to deliver knees here.

If an opponent is pushing away as above, when you clinch overhook this arm, cinching proximal to the elbow. Take a slight step back, sliding distal to the elbow, and bring your arm medially and superiorly twisting their elbow medially. Pass their other arm underneath this glove and trap it. Now deliver elbows with your free arm.

"That's NOT Kickboxing!" when your son's second class has made him an expert

Defending the “flying” side kick to the knee (seen more often in MMA as of late):

• Step back
• Point the knee
• Drop the lead leg back to evade, land on your toes and return a kick to the head
• Step out 45° and circle step to kick the back of their leg

Plum defense

• On the grip side, bring your shoulder medial and superiorly popping their grip off, inserting your hand inside
• Overhook by grabbing their neck, pivot your shoulders toward midline

Catching kicks with more panache. Step with the kick, overlooking at the ankle, take a half-step back with your rear leg and drop their heel to the palm of your glove. Keep the leg off-line with your body.

• Throw across your body and follow with a kick
• Fake the cross body throw then pull back to the original side and throw their foot this way, follow the a kick
• Pull their leg straight back as you rotate your hips to throw a head kick
• Pull their leg straight back as you throw the round knee to the solar plexus, your free hand goes to their face, step forward and throw the elbow
• Pass their foot to the opposite hand, either step back with your lead leg to reach across their body and trip or step in with your rear leg as you reach across to trip with the contralateral leg to the foot grabbing hand

Catching kicks means using your head...just not literally

I’ve always considered myself an expert at catching kicks…I mean that I’m really good at getting kicked in the legs, liver, and head. Apparently there is a better way. Always step laterally with the kick to decrease its kinetic energy.

Overwrap catch: As you step laterally away from the kick over wrap the kick and tuck their shin into your trapezius. You can wrap at the knee or the ankle. For these variations we are doing it at the ankle.

Elbow Underwrap: Reach across your body and cup the kick pulling the kick into the ipsilateral elbow. Literally, pulling the kick into your elbow to damage their shin.

Overwrap Series Kick to Rear Leg Side:

• Pull their leg by twisting at the hips and throw a cross
• Obtain cross control of their neck with your free hand, step forward with rear leg and deliver knee opposite their kicking leg
• Obtain cross control of their neck with your free hand, step forward with rear leg and kick sweep their base leg with ipsilateral leg, simultaneously pull their head

Underwear Series Kick to Rear Leg Side

• Pull their leg and throw cross
• Pull their leg, step forward, and deliver rear up elbow
• Pull their leg across your body, step behind them, reach across their anterior body to their far shoulder, lift their leg, push backward, and kick sweep their far leg. This works best if they are leaning backward or bending their knee to defend the knee clinch.