Coach Explains Alexander Shabliy’s Knockout Kick on Tofiq Musayev at Bellator 292

The coach of recent Bellator MMA victor Alexandr Shabliy broke down the controversial kick that earned his fighter the win.

At Bellator 292, Shabliy scored a front kick to the lower midsection, and his foot slid down to strike the cup of Tofiq Musayev in one fluid motion. Referee Jason Herzog intervened and determined that the incidental contact with the groin was not significant enough to merit a foul call, and Shabliy earned the win by technical knockout. As it turned out, the specific kick the Russian threw was a technique heavily practiced at American Top Team, as ATT striking coach Katel Kubis informed Sherdog of this in an interview on Thursday.

“It’s a very technical kick that requires timing and precision, and is normally applied between two punches,” Kubis explained. “You can see Tofiq was throwing an overhand, and when Tofiq turned his body, he opened the space Shabliy needed to apply that frontal kick to the abdomen, on [the] navel area, using his left hand as shield. When hitting in the right place, this frontal kick immediately paralyzes the opponent, as we could see. We practice that a lot in ATT, and we are very happy and proud that Shabliy could use that.”

According to the coach, that technique gained prominence when his master Fabio Noguchi introduced it many years ago.

“Master Noguchi always taught us to attack weak points of our body,” the coach stated. “Like calf kick and two types of frontal kick that immediately paralyzes the opponent. Besides that one [to the] abdomen, we also use a frontal tip [to the] solar plexus that causes a similar effect. Our athletes are practicing that a lot, just like [the] calf kick that [has] started to be applied by ATT fighters and later became more common, soon [it] will be seen more frequently.”

Coach Kubis has recently been promoted to a new position within the American Top Team family. After many years training striking in the main camp of ATT, he is now taking the reins of the very first ATT striking-specialized branch.

“It’s dream coming true,” Kubis celebrated. “After 12 years working in ATT’s main headquarters, we are having the opportunity to [build] of the first ATT branch 100% dedicated to striking. Together with me, taking care of that amazing academy located in Coral Springs, 20 minutes away from main headquarters, are Thiago [Alves], Luciano Macarrao, Fabricio Alemao and, of course, master Conan [Silveira]. We already have athletes coming from Poland and Germany. And we are sure that it will be a great place for strikers.”