The roundhouse / side kick combo may be one of my favorite combinations to throw. It’s not a powerful technique, but a point getter for sure. What is great about this kick is that you can set it up in advance by just throwing your roundhouse kick to the head. Take a look at this quick video below to get a sense for what I mean.
Start by throwing roundhouse kicks to your opponents head level. These roundhouse kicks should be pretty quick. You want your opponent to get used to seeing how the roundhouse chambers, how it’s extended, and how they can block it. Once you feel like you have them adequately set up, get just outside of your kicking range.
Next, chamber your leg and turn your pivot foot over. I like to slide in when I kick, so I drag my pivot foot toward my opponent as I’m starting to kick. The knee should be nice and high and you really want to sell the roundhouse by bringing your foot all of the way back to your butt.
Next, you will want to slide in as you are kicking your leg out. Look how much distance I have covered between the time I started my chamber and when I extend the roundhouse kick out. Notice that the apex of my kick is not on target. It’s intentionally left a little bit from his head. I want him to reach a little for the block and get his hands up. Remember, prior to this we were setting him up with those roundhouse kicks at head level.
Now, as your opponent’s hands come up, you will want to start folding your leg around his block.
Finally, once your kick has cleared your opponents block by folding under it, extend your kick out. Here, I reach for the side kick so far that it almost becomes a hook kick.
Remember that you want to have your knee in the same position. This way your opponent will lose track of your foot and not know where they need to block next.
I hope you found this little combination helpful. Speed and flexibility are amazing skills to have in point fighting and they will certainly help you win matches. But, the thing that will help you the most if having a high Fight IQ and knowing what combos to throw, when to throw them, but most importantly how to set them up with timing and distance.