In MMA, when opponent is on the ground, are you allowed to grab an ankle and just kick incessantly at the leg?

Question

I've never seen any fighter do this when his opponent is down on the ground, so I'm wondering if it is illegal. I mean, I think that's the best way of pounding a guy's leg without getting hit back yourself, as long as you don't let go of his ankle.

Also, can you grab both ankles and drag your opponent around, while at the same time kicking his legs?

Answer 1

it depends where and you do it  for example if we are sparring in class its full contact and whe can do what we want pretty much(just try not to hurt someone so badly that somthing gets broken)  but if we entered a tournament we would be disqualified for doing something like that.

Answer 2

You can absolutely do that.

Watch any fighter of Anderson Silva's to see why it is a bad idea.

While both hands are holding on to that ankle, nothing is protecting your head from his OTHER leg which will be upkicking you in the face.

It is legal to do, and Sakuraba did it to Gracies back in the day, that is until some fighters learned to upkick, and heelkick people in the face for doing it.

Anderson Silva has destroyed people with upkicks from his back.

So yes you can do it, but most people do it sparingly, because it's low reward/high risk.

Meaning you won't get a lot of use out of kicking his leg this way, and you risk taking a lot of damage yourself in the process. You just won't hurt him that much in comparison to how much he can hurt you.

Hence you see it done sparingly in short bursts, especially to set someone up so that they can drop a punch or elbow down from altitude.

Hope that helps.

Again, it can be done,

Answer 3

Yes you are allowed to do that, you can't knee a downed opponent though. You could drag them around but I doubt they'd let you go far. So yes both things are legal to do.

Answer 4

Judomofo is right, just wanted to add a couple things. when your kicking a downed opponents legs it isnt doing that much damage because his feet arent planted, dont get me wrong it still hurts and does some damage but not nearly as much as kicking a standing opponent in the leg. You also have to plant your front leg when you kick a downed oppent in the leg and when you do that the downed fighter can kick that planet leg of yours, upkicks and heelkicks to your knee dont feel good.

On top of all that it isnt that easy to get a good hold of someones leg if they dont want you to have it, if you were holding on tight enough someone could pull you down while upkicking with a free leg, that would be a nasty result as well.

Answer 5

Yes it's legal and done quite often. I can picture one fight in my head right now, but I can't remember who the heck it was. But anyway, yeah legal and done a lot.

Answer 6

I believe that they can do that.  The organization only said not to kick or knee on the grounded opponent's head.

Answer 7

You can do that.Many prefer to try and pass round there opponents legs though to land more valuable head or body shots or try for a submission. I have never heard of fights being ended by someone kicking a downed persons legs.

http://markstraining.com Fighting and Training Methods for Uanrmed Martial Artists

Answer 8

find old videos of kazushi sakuraba.

he did exactly what you mentioned, more than once.

its not without risk though.  anytime you reach to grab his feet you are in position to be kicked in the face by the man laying on his back.  ive seen fights end that way too.

Answer 9

Depends on the organization making the rules... In the old days of PRIDE you could also kick to the head.

Now though only body kicks are allowed in the UFC