As with every form of art, science or mode of enquiry, everything is about the evolution. As time progresses, new techniques are discovered as many become obsolete, the basic movements are perfected and used as a solid foundation for more advanced, sophisticated and nuanced movements.
These new found movements are then integrated into the striking arsenal and practiced relentlessly.
Drill after drill after drill after drill, there comes a point when the movements get incorporated in muscle memory. At this point, the movement is now ready to be practiced not as an isolated pattern, but as a part of a script or a game plan against to be implemented against an opponent.
The flying knee is one of the many weapons that a fighter can use to end the fight in the blink of an eye. But unlike many other relatively safer options to choose from(jab, low kicks etc), a flying knee is a very high risk - high reward mode of attack.
This is a move that can result in a spectacular finish or being spectacularly finished in equal probability.
This is because in the midst of performing a flying knee attack, the fighter opens himself up for many counter attacks and thus, it is a move that most fighters tend to use with a lot of caution or completely refrain from.
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” - Bruce Lee
Practice does lead to perfection though, and repetition is the mother of skill.
A well timed flying knee is a thing of beauty and here are five times when fighters put this technique to good use and reaped the rewards.
#5 Carlos Condit vs Dong Hyun Kim
An undefeated Korean prospect was signed to the UFC and living up to his potential, quickly developed notoriety for his exceptional grappling and well rounded game. After amassing a 5 fight winning streak in the UFC's welterweight division, Kim quickly climbed up the ranks.
But his most difficult test was yet to face him. Kim was matched against a very motivated veteran of the sport in Carlos Condit who was coming off two TKO finishes against Rory McDonald and Dan Hardy.
Riding this crazy momentum, Condit sought to keep the ball rolling, but Kim was not to be taken lightly by any means as even though he was inexperienced, he made up for it by his creativity and ability to adapt.
In this instance however, Kim was about to get scorched and not even get a chance to showcase his abilities.
Early in the first round, both fighters sought to get a feel of each other's movement and striking rhythm. At a moment's notice, Condit caught Kim off guard with a front kick. Slightly wobbling him, Condit saw an opening and landed a beautiful flying knee, flush on the jaw, knocking out Kim instantly, but following through with hammer fists from hell anyway.
With this victory, Condit ended Kim's undefeated streak and added another highlight reel knockout to his resume.
#4 Thiago Alves vs Matt Hughes
Who doesn't love an underdog winning unexpectedly? Not just because of the shock value but also because it inspires belief and action from the spectators.
After the main event, Chuck Lidell vs Rashad Evans had to be put out due to Lidell's hamstring injury, Hughes got the call to headline the event at UFC 85. Thiago Alves was called as the opponent for the dominant former champion. Alves took up the opportunity but surprised many by failing to make weight and came in at 174 pounds.
The speculation was flying that he did not take the fight seriously, though he later denied such allegations. Despite the pre fight blunder, Alves shocked the crowd as he went on to dominate the former champion and legend by picking him apart throughout the first round.
The icing on the cake turned out to be a brutal flying knee that knocked down Hughes and rendered him unable to defend himself intelligently, resulting in a massive upset via TKO in the second round in the favour of Alves.
#3 Yoel Romero vs Chris Weidman
Yoel Romero does not exactly have the best reputation in terms of being a fair play or honest sportsman but you'd have to be an absolute fool to deny his potential inside the octagon.
Boasting an extremely impressive record in freestyle wrestling and representing the country of Cuba twice in the Olympics, Romero is not exactly the guy you would expect to consistently knock fighters out with strikes.
But some fighters just have a natural power in their strikes and even fewer are smart enough to exploit this opportunity fully.
Chris Weidman on the other hand, had shown all signs of being a dominant champion, defeating the likes of Anderson Silva twice, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort in devastating fashion.
This was his first time returning after suffering a TKO loss to Luke Rockhold. So he would have liked to return with a compelling victory over the number one contender in his home state of new york.
However, reality had something else in store for him.
After a closely contested first two rounds that could have gone either way, Romero went into desperation mode. Finding the perfect moment and timing a flying knee in conjunction with a takedown attempt from Chris Weidman, Romero ended the fight in vicious fashion.
Chris Weidman later hit his head on his own knee as he made the fall and was left a bloody mess by the end of the fight. This finish earned Romero the number one contender spot and technically a title fight with the current Champion Michael Bisping.
#2 Thomas Almeida Vs Brad Pickett
Thomas Almeida came into the UFC with an unbelievable record of 17-0. After beating his first two opponents in the UFC with ease, Almeida was matched up against the veteran Brad Pickett.
While Almeida had a kicking advantage, Pickett had the better boxing of the two and gave Almeida a very hard time in the first round by knocking him down twice and almost finishing him.By the end of the first round, Almeida had a bloody forehead, a broken nose and a constant stream of blood pouring down his face while his adversary looked very fresh compared to him.
But boxing was Pickett's strong suite and while he had the faster hands, Almeida had better Muay Thai and variety of attacks, as Pickett was about to learn in a merciless fashion.
In the first few seconds of the 2nd round, Pickett attempted a flying knee and missed it, only by a few inches, but in response Almeida fired off a flying knee that landed straight on the side of Pickett's jaw, knocking him out instantly and cementing Almeida's position in the top 10 of the bantamweight division.
#1 Fabricio Werdum vs Mark Hunt
This fight marked one of the highest points in Fabricio Werdum's career and that is saying a lot, since we are talking about a man who had already submitted some of the all time heavyweight greats in Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and others.
But this was about to be a completely unexpected victory for Werdum and the result was nothing short of surprising.
After being scheduled to fight the then heavyweight champion Cain Valasquez, Werdum prepared for him but Valasquez soon had to pull out due to an injury. This resulted in an interim heavyweight title match up between Fabricio Werdum and the heavy hitting striking specialist and former K-1 champion Mark Hunt.
After being rattled on more than one occasion by Mark Hunt in the first round, it seemed that as the fight would progress, it would become even more hard for Werdum to take down Mark Hunt and force his elite BJJ game on him. Instead, he would have to deal with Mark Hunt's barrage of power punches and the possibility of another walk off KO for the super samoan.
But Werdum and his coaches had a different game plan in mind. There are certain advantages that you enjoy if you are an outlier in one area of the game.
The panic reaction that a fighter would give out when someone like Werdum tries to take him down would be very different in constrast with just another wrestler trying to buy time with a takedown.
Werdum used this knowledge to his advantage. Threatening a take down, Werdum timed Hunt's head movement going down and timed a spectacular flying knee that dropped Hunt and allowed Werdum to finish off with blistering hammer fists.
This was a special victory for a grappler out striking and outsmarting a veteran striker and showed that when variables increase, the method of victory becomes even more mysterious and can catch anyone by surprise.
