Considered the pentathlon of combat sports, the short history of MMA has been marked by constant changes caused by the arrival of new techniques to the game. After Royce Gracie’s submissions, Marco Ruas’ leg kicks, Mark Coleman’s ground-and-pound, Lyoto Machida’s karate and Jon Jones’ elbows, the calf kick is fighters’ new nightmare.
The average fan started to notice after Conor McGregor stated that he had “never felt such pain” after his calf kick-driven defeat by Dustin Poirier at UFC 257. But that technique has actually been around for a long time, and it is getting rare to see an event where it doesn’t appear to decide a fight: Douglas Lima vs.