Crane kick


The crane kick is a fictionalized version of the Mae tobi geri . The move was created by Darryl Vidal for the classic film The Karate Kid. The move is taught by the character Mr. Miyagi to Daniel LaRusso and eventually used in the final scene with his arch rival Johnny Lawrence. The move involves a one-legged karate stance and launches into a flying jumping kick. The movie became synonymous with karate in the United States and helped popularize the martial art in the country.

Mixed martial arts

The move's effectiveness and practicality has been questioned by critics. The premise of the technique is to lure the opponent to move forward into a counterattack by appearing vulnerable, in practice this is not tactically sound. Standing tall with one foot flat on the ground creates a stationary target for an opponent to strike while spreading arms wide leaves the head and center of mass undefended. It is also an extreme feat of athleticism for any fighter to leap off one foot to deliver an effective strike with that same foot. Modified versions have been used effectively in Mixed Martial Arts, most notably by Lyoto Machida. Starting from a southpaw stance, Machida quickly feinted with his left leg before leaping off his right foot to deliver a knockout upwards right kick to the mouth of legendary former UFC champion Randy Couture. Commentators Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan immediately noted similarity to the Crane kick.