Khalil Rountree delivered a finish worthy of a highlight real. The American light heavyweight fighter was on a two fight losing streak when he decided to try something controversial – he delivered an epic oblique kick to finish Bukauskas.
Rountree delivered a first finish with the technique. While we’ve seen these kicks before – often to a great detriment of the fighters there’s never been a finish like this.
Let’s examine this technique through time. Miguel Torres threw one of these to a similar effect in a kickboxing match.
https://youtu.be/WeTe4xp41qY
While these both look brutal it takes quite a bit to actually cause an injury with them.
Here’s a UFC example – Vera stomping Jardine’s knee a long time ago:
This technique is a favorite of many established names in the sport – namely Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Conor McGregor.
And here’s McGregor throwing it at Diaz:
And finally Jon Jones throwing it at Rampage
At the time Rampage called for the oblique kick to be banned saying:
It should be called the illegal kick. It should be banned and it shows a lot about the fighter’s character that he would throw it. How would he like it if somebody threw it at him and stopped him working for a year?
I thought it was an illegal move. I think spinning elbows should be illegal too because they land on the back of the head. But I appreciate a good fight, a good scrap, I just wonder which rule fighters will bend next.
Jones didn’t take too kindly to these comments – because in a sport where victory means giving the other guy brain trauma, is a knee injury really unfair?