The Flying Knee: What makes the technique effective?

Today’s a day for the subscribers. Flying knees for days!

Note: this is a post for all premium subscribers. I’ve included the first section for everyone for free so you can get a preview of the entire post. If you enjoy it, please consider signing up. It’s only $5 and it goes to things that makes the Substack better!

The flying knee is romanticized in the sport of mixed martial arts. Appropriately so, the knee is devastating and is among the sports best highlights. The technique is seen as a Hail Mary of sorts but has some important aspects that goes into a flying knee.

Today we will be looking at the best examples of the flying knee and what makes the technique successful.

Jorge Masvidal vs Ben Askren: The perfect flying knee

Let’s get the obvious example fleshed out first. Many fans will groan when Jorge Masvidal’s flying knee knockout of Ben Askren is brought up and deservingly so. This finish has been shoved down our throats for so long that it’s shine is gone like a TV show we’ve seen a few too many times.

But the fastest knockout in UFC history is worth taking a look at. Masvidal’s knee is a fantastic example of nearly everything that makes a flying knee successful.

The two basic tenets of a successful flying knee are as follows:

• Misdirection

• Explosivity

Jorge Masvidal wrangled both of these into the knee.

Going into that fight, Jorge Masvidal knew where Ben Askren was going to want to take the fight. Askren almost always ducks into a takedown immediately.

Masvidal’s flying knee had several points of misdirection. (1) Starting out, Masvidal strolls slightly to his right. (2) As he approaches his corner, he will (3) take off at a sprint heading to his left.

The sequence above is a good example of the two tenets of a flying knee. Masvidal brings two forms of misdirection by starting out with a stroll to his right and a sprint on a dime to his left. The second part, explosiveness, comes from the dead sprint towards Askren.

Varying the speed at which you move and attack is just as effective as a feint if it’s used correctly. Fighters like Ciryl Gane and Israel Adesanya have used varying strike speeds and rhythms in tandem with feints to get off effective offense. Masvidal is doing the same here, albeit not as complicated.

The single biggest factor in this knee was the changing of speed in his run. Over the two steps taken towards Ben Askren didn’t give him time to adjust to the change in speed and not duck into anything. He was thinking, “I want to take him down as soon as possible,” which would be his undoing.

As Masvidal (4) launches himself into the air bring more explosiveness. In fact, the launch is always meant to be as explosive as possible. Jorge Masvidal jumps off of his right leg, which is his rear leg, as he plants off of the leg, he uses the force created from the leap to (5) connect with Askren.Picking this to open the fight also added a hint of unpredictability. The lead into this fight was ugly with Masvidal and Askren going at each other verbally. The blood was bad. Each had their plan to hurt each other. Masvidal’s was the one that won out in the end.

In the next sections, we talk about Cory Sandhagen finishing Frankie Edgar, Michael Page’s gruesome knee of Cyborg Santos, and Jose Aldo’s seven second knockout of Cub Swanson in WEC. Sign up below and you’ll unlock all of that flying knee goodness!