WATCH: Liam Harrison’s ingenious way of guarding and attacking against a knee strike

ONE Championship's bantamweight Muay Thai star, 'Hitman' Liam Harrison, is one of the most underrated tactical geniuses in the sport today. It's quite easy to mistake him for a conventional brawler, as most of his fights turn into all-out firefights. To the initiated eye, however, 'The Hitman' is a master of setting traps and subtle feints to get the upper hand, even in the middle of chaos.

With a pro career spanning three decades, Liam Harrison has accumulated a level of knowledge and wisdom that are unmatched in the game. One of his most effective weapons is his sense of distance and timing when landing his signature leg kicks.

Here's a video of Harrison demonstrating how to land a hard leg kick off of a knee strike:

In the video, Liam Harrison said:

"His right leg is going to be looking to drive the knee into there [my torso]. Okay, a nice defense I like to use against this one open palm glove into the throat, so as Andy comes there [knee strike], I will push there into his throat."

'Hitman' continued:

"The reason we're doing it into the throat is because if you go a bit lower when you're fighting, there's sweat, there's vaseline. If I go up there and I slip off, I could slip into an elbow. It's dangerous. But into the throat, there's not much sweat or vaseline underneath there. So when it comes to knee, it's easy to just stop him dead. What I'll do as well just to make sure the knee doesn't hit me, I'll stick my backside out just a little bit just to give more room there... this will also give me a bit more momentum as I go land the power low kick."

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Liam Harrison to face John Lineker in a Muay Thai bout at ONE Fight Night 18

On January 12, Liam Harrison will face former ONE bantamweight MMA world champion and one of MMA's most powerful punchers, John 'Hands of Stone' Lineker. The two powerhouses will lock horns in a 3-round bantamweight Muay Thai fight at ONE Fight Night 18 inside the legendary Lumpinee Boxing Stadium.

'Hands of Stone' might be the perfect fighter to greet Harrison back inside the circle. The Brazilian slugger is a forward-moving puncher who almost always swings with bad intentions. Harrison will need to utilize those power leg kicks once or twice to stop Lineker's steel locomotive on its tracks.

ONE Fight Night 18 will be the first Amazon card of the year for ONE Championship and is available live and for free to all Prime Video subscribers in North America.