Why does it sometimes seem like fighters start out strong with the calf kick and then forget about it? Turns out there is a multi-layered and fascinating answer to this question. I just had to turn to an actual expert in order to find it.
Also in this week’s mailbag, how colossal of a favorite should Merab Dvalishvili really be for his UFC bantamweight title rematch with Sean O’Malley? And who’s a fighter from the old days who doesn’t get the credit they deserve?
All that and more in this week’s column. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.
Why do fighters so often abandon the calf kick after implementing it effectively in the first round? Alex Pereira for example in his last fight seemed to get off to a good start piling up the calf damage early, then stopped emphasising it..
— Jietzsche (@Jietzsche) April 1, 2025
@Jietzsche: Why do fighters so often abandon the calf kick after implementing it effectively in the first round? Alex Pereira for example in his last fight seemed to get off to a good start piling up the calf damage early, then stopped emphasising it..
Thank you for this question. I reached out to noted trainer and fight coach Eric Nicksick for an answer. The resulting conversation was super interesting for me, so I’m grateful to you for being the catalyst on that.
To hear Nicksick tell it, one thing you have to remember is that the calf kick is not necessarily the same weapon to all fighters in all fights. Some are using it offensively. Others use it defensively. Some are using it to establish or disrupt patterns early on, solely for the purposes of changing up later on.
For example, Nicksick said, when Francis Ngannou rematched Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title, their plan was to use the calf kick as an answer to Miocic’s jab. Every time he jabbed, Ngannou’s instruction was to parry and kick the calf. This was meant as a way of slowing down Miocic’s movement while also convincing him to jab less.
“It’s kind of like, if you get zapped every time you put your hand in the cookie jar, pretty soon you stop reaching for cookies,” Nicksick explained.
But in other fights, such as Sean Strickland’s UFC middleweight title fight with Israel Adesanya, the calf ...
