Arm Break Fire

 

Abridged move description courtesy of Suka Pass.

 A complex move that damages the opponent's arms in multiple areas simultaneously.

While grasping the opponent's arm, the practitioner moves laterally and after delivering a sharp elbow thrust, he quickly takes a reverse joint hold on the shoulder to sprain the opponent's arm, then leaps on to the opponent to finish in a position nearly identical to a reverse cross defense. This fearsome move results in simultaneous damage to several areas of the arm joint.

This is an extremely complicated composite move, and because the transition from one step to the next move must be smooth, it is extremely difficult.

 

 The full Arm Break Fire is composed of 3 moves:

1. Elbow thrust
2. Reverse joint hold
3. Reverse cross defense

The "reverse joint hold" and "reverse cross defense" are established judo techniques known as ude-hishigi-waki-gatame (Japanese: 腕挫腋固) and tobi-jūji-gatame (Japanese: 飛び十字固め) .

 

Waki Gatame

The ude-hishigi-waki-gatame, or armpit armlock, is one of the official joint lock techniques of judo and comes from traditional Japanese jiujitsu. The technique has been used to great effect in mixed martial arts as well, albeit rarely. Former Shooto/DREAM/ONE champion Shinya Aoki famously broke his opponent's arm using the waki gatame in the process of setting up a takedown.

Shinya Aoki vs Keith Wisniewski Shooto: 1/29 in Korakuen Hall

Former UFC LHW champion Jon Jones used a conceptually-similar technique from a whizzer position in his title defense against Glover Teixeira.

Jon Jones vs Glover Teixeira UFC 172

Despite the move's effectiveness, it is rarely seen in competition. This could be due to the waki gatame's high injury potential and the difficulty with training the technique with resistance safely. Even in MMA or Brazilian jiujitsu where the technique is legal, it can be considered somewhat of a dick move. It can quickly cause injury to your training partner with little warning and before they have a chance to tap/signal you to let go. In judo, it's illegal to use the standing variation of waki gatame as part of a throwing combination for this reason. 

A heated confrontation between former UFC MW champion Sean Strickland and ADCC champion Orlando Sanchez during a sparring session. Sanchez used a whizzer crank (ala Jon Jones) while Strickland was preparing for an MMA fight.

Tobi Juji Gatame

Tobi juji gatame, better known as a flying armbar, is a variation of the juji gatame, or cross armlock/armbar in judo. Though all flying submissions were banned in judo competition in 2018, the flying armbar is still common in other grappling martial arts such as BJJ, sambo, and catch wrestling as well as MMA.

Flying armbars are the definition of high risk, high reward moves. They're flashy and can surprise an opponent. However, if done poorly, it can leave you in a vulnerable position and/or give you a concussion from landing/being spiked on your head. Or worse.

Crawl Cyclone

With this move, the practitioner lowers his body, pins around rapidly on the pivot leg, and using his other leg, sweeps out the legs from under his opponent. Many similar moves can be found in Chinese martial arts and the move appears to have come from Kung Fu.

Abridged move description/video courtesy of Suka Pass.

True to the description, the move can be found in many styles of Kung Fu under various names such as "the iron broomstick" or "the tiger's tail". It is also commonly found in Southeast Asian styles such as Silat.

A classic kung fu demonstration.

While far from being a commonly used fighting technique, there is a surprising amount of footage of it being used successfully in full contact competition and the streets™.

Foot sweeps and leg sweeps in general work by catch your opponent shifting their balance from one leg to the other and pulling the rug from under them. It's a move that requires good timing and prediction which can't be brute forced unless there's a large size or strength disparity. In grappling arts (and striking arts that allow the clinch), the timing requirement can be eased somewhat as you can push and pull your opponent to get them to step in semi-predictable ways. To pull off the Crawl Cyclone where you have no hands on the opponent, there are 2 methods that can be used to set it up.

#1 - Getting your opponent to take a step

Fighters will often retreat linearly by rapidly backstepping away from the opponent. This happens particularly often in MMA for a medley of reasons that I won't go into here. A fighter going backwards naturally has to shift their weight backwards when taking a step back, which leaves them vulnerable to getting swept by the Crawl Cyclone if hit during this moment.

One example was used in the match between former BW UFC champion Cody Garbrandt and Raphael Assunção.

Cody Garbrandt vs Raphael Assunção

Garbrandt first uses a wrestling duckwalk to fake as if he's going to shoot a takedown. Assunção responds to the feint by moving backwards out of range of the expected shot. Garbrandt changes levels again as if he's going to shoot, but instead tries to sweep Assunção off his feet. His timing is a little off however as Assunção had managed to set his weight down, so it ends up being a hard leg kick instead of a sweep.

Here's another example from pseudo kickboxing organization Karate Combat.

Gabriele Cera using the move in sparring and against James Vick

Cera lunges forward as if he was going to blitz with punches. Ex-UFC veteran James Vick retreats out of the way of the expected blitz. Cera instead drops down and sweeps Vick off his feet.

It can also be executed when your opponent is coming forwards by timing when your opponent is about to plant their foot and sweeping them before they set their weight down. When strikes are on the table though, this is riskier as you run the risk of being over.

A subway cop sweeping the leg of a man of questionable sobriety

#2 - Kicking an opponent on one leg

Any time someone is on one leg, they are off-balancing themselves to some degree. A Crawl Cyclone can be used to great effect to take them the rest of the way down. 

First clip:  仲宗根武蔵 vs 関口祐冬

Second clip: Chris Clements vs Stephen Thompson

A common instance is when a person is throwing a standing kick as they have one leg planted by definition. In the first clip, the Crawl Cyclone is used in a Shooto MMA match. The victim is caught on one leg while throwing a leg kick and is toppled over. In the second clip, Chris Clements catches then-prospect (present day former UFC WW title challenger) Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson with the Crawl Cyclone while Wonderboy is attempting a hook kick. This is especially effective on Wonderboy as he uses a more bladed side-on stance that leaves him more vulnerable to being swept in that horizontal plane.

Another instance is when a person is checking a kick. Checking is done by raising their shin into the path of a kick so that the kicker hits bone rather than softer muscle (and possibly hurting their leg in the process). 

Tony Ferguson vs Justin Gaethje for the interim UFC LW championship

In this clip, Ferguson changes levels, potentially faking a takedown, and instead goes for a Crawl Cyclone. Gaethje lifts his leg to check, but the kick lands low on his ankle rather than his shin, sending him toppling to his hands and knees.

Disadvantages

 

The Crawl Cyclone requires the opponent to be shifting their weight away or being off-balanced in some way. If the opponent is rooted in their stance, the kick won't do much damage and you won't be in a position to defend yourself.

As this poor kid who watches too much anime found out.

It also requires full commitment. If you don't spin all the way through, you won't generate enough torque to knock someone off their feet. Consequently, if someone avoids it by stepping out of the way, you're stuck having to make a full circle as you can't exactly stop yourself mid-spin. Even if your opponent doesn't take advantage of your vulnerability, you still end up looking silly.

Hugo vs Torres Caut on Dana White's Contender series. Hugo is the one looking silly.

Katana Mist Slash

 A move by which, like a sickle mowing grass, the practitioner advances one step with the forward leg and delivers a slashing blow to the opponent's side with the palm of the hand.

The movement and stance, indeed the name itself, suggest that this move evolved from a sword drawing move to one used in barehanded combat.

In swordsmanship, horizontal cuts were ineffective because they were blunted by body armor, so it is likely this move was developed relatively recently by the Hazuki Style. If an opponent is focused, he can withstand a blow delivered to the front of the body, but the body is surprisingly vulnerable to glancing blows.

In the Chinese martial arts, blows delivered with the palm, called Cutting Palm Strikes, were one type of the so-called Ultimate Power blows, and many examples exist in the oral tradition. Delving deeply in the mysteries of the ancient martial arts reveals the existence of moves involving the use of secret weapons called the Dark Weapon and the Unrevealed Weapon.

Originally, the Katana Mist Slash was likely one of these moves involving a secret weapon to enhance its effectiveness.

Move Origins

Though not mentioned outright, this move likely originates from Aikido. The move description mentions the technique being added to the Hazuki style relatively recently and fits with the development of Aikido which occurred in the early 20th century. Aikido is also famous for their strikes resembling sword or weapon cuts (possibly as an adaptation or holdover from earlier jiujitsu when the techniques were used in armed combat). It could also be a case of convergent evolution canon-wise as the Hazuki Style has a lot of similarities in terms of development as aikido.

Usage of Open Hand Chops

Striking to the side of an opponent's body can be very effective. The ribs aren't covered by much muscle and can be broken with a strike, severely impacting breathing. A good strike to the liver can shutdown one's body, effectively knocking someone out. But why use an openhanded chop at all? These openhanded chops (knifehand strikes or shutō-uchi in Japanese) have less risk of damaging the hands, making them more useful in a bareknuckle context. Boxers can target the ribs with impunity wearing gloves, but a bad connection might hurt their hands instead if they weren't wearing any. Even with gloves, the risk isn't zero as Arturo Gatti found out when he broke his hand punching Micky Ward's hipbone.

Secret Weapons

The most intriguing aspect is the mention of "secret" weapons in the move description. Secret weapons could refer to multiple things historically in Japanese martial arts:

1. Small, concealable weapons meant for backup/last ditch use. 
2. Weapons disguised as ordinary objects (such as pipes or fans) that could be carried in environments where weapons were not allowed
3. A weapon that a ryūha (Japanese martial arts style/school) secretly specialized in. Ex. a school known for their sword use secretly training in the use of another weapon like the spear

The "mysteries of the ancient martial arts" is firmly rooted in history. Ryūha were very secretive in general to maintain the element of surprise in battle. They often reserved techniques and weapons training from the public eye during demonstrations. They even hid certain teachings from their own students and only taught them to the most senior students who had been with the school for years. In the most extreme cases, these teachings were only taught to the inheritor of the ryūha. All of this was done to prevent a student from a rival school from learning their secrets as a double agent.

The secret weapon in this case most likely refers to a weapon of the first type. One type of secret weapon was the shutōgane, a small bar of iron worn on the hand that enhanced the effect of shutō strikes. A chop to the ribs might break a rib, but a chop with a shutōgane makes the possibility much more certain.

A shutōgane from the collection of Serge Mol, Classical Weaponry of Japan

Unnamed Leg Takedown

This unnamed throw is executed when Ryo has his back to his opponent, ducks, and executes a throw with his legs.

At first glance, this appears similar to kani basami, or scissors takedown. This move has been banned in judo due to high injury potential, but is still legal in MMA and other grappling arts.

The infamous match between Yasuhiro Yamashita and Sumio Endo that led to the banning of kani basami. Endo tries to go for kani basami against Yamashita and ends up breaking Yamashita's knee. The move was banned shortly after this match.

However, the opponent is taken backwards using kani basami whereas Ryo is throwing his opponent forward, similar to a drop toehold as it's known in pro wrestling. The move has its origins in catch wrestling. Here we can see Olympic Silver Medalist Nat Pendleton demonstrating this move, using it to transition to a single leg and finishing with a double wristlock (or koala guard and kimura if you're BJJ-inclined).

Nat Pendleton in a "boxer vs wrestler" demo.

I hadn't seen any analogues for this move in competition until the 2022 Paris Grand Slam. Muzaffarbek Turoboyev executes a sort of kani basami-soto makikomi hybrid where he scissors his legs and takes his opponent forward, just like Ryo does.

Muzaffarbek Turoboyev vs Nikoloz Sherazadishvili

Thunder Kick

 This kick begins as a high outside spin kick, but ends as a heel drop.

For an outside spin kick, the path of the kick is compact, and rather than obtaining power from the spin kick itself, the importance of this move lies in sweeping away the opponent's guard against hte main attack from the heel.

The name Thunder Kick is said to come from the High Thunder Sword stance of the Yagyu Shinkage Style of Kendo Swordsmanship. It is known from written records passed through time that at the end of the Warring States Era, the Hazuki Style and Yagyu Shinkage Style enjoyed close relations.

The Yagyu Hyogonosuke of the Yagyu Shinkage Style is known for devising the High Thunder Sword (also called Upright Body), which involves raising the sword high above the head and maintaining a straight posture, impossible when wearing armor. It was developed form the so-called Kaija Art of Swordsmanship whose practitioners wore the armor of the Warring States Era and maintained a low waist position. As a result of the change, the length of the stroke and its power increased dramatically.

It is probably a fact that, despite the differences between a sword stroke and a kick, because the concepts were similar, the Hazuki Style devised the Thunder Kick by making reference to the High Thunder Sword of the Yagyu Style.

When mastery is attained, it it possible to follow other kicking moves with the Thunder Kick.

Move description courtesy of Suka Pass

The Thunder Kick is more commonly known as an axe kick, or Kakato Otoshi Geri. This technique is common in martial arts such as Karate (particularly Kyokushin Karate) and Tae Kwon Do.

Kyokushin karateka Francisco Filho knocking down his opponent with an axe kick in competition.

This technique, though relatively common in Kyokushin and TKD competitions, is rarely seen in kickboxing and MMA. Axe kicks require an extraordinary level of flexibility and strength to land with any meaningful power and have a relatively short effective distance. If the axe kick falls short or is interrupted in its path, the user is open to a counter or takedown.

Former LHW UFC champion/division GOAT Jon Jones attempts an axe kick against former LHW UFC champion Glover Teixeira. Glover avoids the kick and catches Jones' leg on his shoulder, nearly leading to a takedown before the bell rang.

In spite of this, there are fighters who have been able to use axe kicks successfully at the highest levels of kickboxing and MMA. The most famous fighter to utilize the axe kick is the late Andy Hug. Coming from a Kyokushin background, Hug's unorthodox kicking style saw him winning a K1 World Grand Prix and 2 runner-up finishes. Though he never KO'd any of his opponents with the axe kick, the mere threat of his axe kick was enough to make his opponents respect it. To avoid Hug's axe kick, the opponent had to either create distance or move their hands out of their guard to defend against the kick. Hug capitalized on this reaction by feinting his axe kick setup. As his opponents raised their hands to block the axe kick, Hug flurried with punches at their now-unprotected face.

Andy Hug landing axe kicks on kickboxing greats Ernesto Hoost and Mirko Cro Cop.

The description for the move mentions that a master of the thunder kick can use it as a follow-up after other kicking techniques. In-game this is represented by Ryo throwing a roundhouse kick to the midsection, followed by the thunder kick. Strikeforce MW champion and Sanda World Champion Cung Le shows this exact setup in his book. Le throws a roundhouse kick to draw a leg check from his opponent. Le then throws the axe kick. As the axe kick's setup looks similar to the roundhouse kick, the opponent raises their leg to check, only for the axe kick to go around and crash down on their head.

A real-life example of this setup occurred in the rematch between Mark Hunt and Mirko Cro Cop. Cro Cop, infamous for his lethal roundhouse kicks to the head and midsection, had landed several hard body kicks against Hunt. Cro Cop then throws an axe kick instead of his trademark roundhouse. Hunt raises his leg to check the expected body kick, only to eat an axe kick instead.

Top: Cung Le detailing the setup for the axe kick. Bottom: Cro Cop lands the axe kick against the side of Mark Hunt's head.

While no fighter in MMA has used axe kicks to any great effect like Hug has in kickboxing, there have been some interestin g applications of the move. Kicks to a downed opponent are illegal in most MMA rulesets, but kicks to the body are still legal. MMA GOAT Georges St. Pierre utilized an axe kick to hurt a grounded Jason Miller. The idea clearly resonated with GSP as you can see him teaching Raymond Daniels the same move in order to exploit the "pit" used in the Karate Combat promotion.

GSP axe kicking Jason Miller, who was attempting to lure GSP to the mat so Miller could use his jiujitsu skills.


Yagyu Shinkage Style
The Yagyu Shinkage Style mentioned in the description is a real style of Japanese swordsmanship. I can't comment on how accurate the description of the tactics used in the Yagyu Shinkage-ryu are having never trained in it, but at a layman's glance, there seems to be some truth in it. Videos of the Yagyu Shinkage style seem to show its practitioners using a jodan (sword held upwards and used to strike high targets) stance. One of the reasons why axe kicks are effective and difficult to block is that they exploit the vertical ceiling-to-floor line. While strikes in the vertical axis are quite common in swordsmanship, they are rare in unarmed fighting as few attacks use this line.

A Yagyu Shinkage-ryu demonstration

Sweep Throw

 

 

Abridged move description courtesy of Suka Pass:

This throwing move involves quickly turning and pulling the opponent's neck, then using the leg to sweep up the opponent's inner thigh and throw him.

In Judo, this move is called the Inner Thigh or the Sweep Throw depending on the area of the opponent's body that is targeted, but in the Hazuki Style, the move carries the single name, the Sweep Throw. It can be said that of all the throwing moves of the Hazuki style, which has carefully preserved the nature of the fighting moves of the Warring States Era, that the primary aim is to flip over and drop the enemy rather than throw him a great distance. This is certainly true of the Sweep Throw.

The effectiveness of Jujitsu throws is best demonstrated when the opponent is thrown onto hard ground or a floor rather than on straw mats, at which time, more damage can be imparted to the opponent's entire body than with a simple thrust or kick.

The Sweep Throw does exist in judo and is known as uchi mata (内股) which translates to "inner thigh". The Sweep Throw mentioned in description most likely refers to harai goshi (払腰) which translates to "sweeping hip". Uchi mata is nicknamed "the king of throws" and is one of the moves with the highest percentage of successful use in competition.

While uchi mata/sweep throw is nowhere near as common in MMA as it is in judo, it has been used before at the highest levels of the sport. It is typically used as a counter in MMA, as the opponent driving forward provides part of the setup of the move. This could be used in response to an outside trip attempt:

Former Bellator champion/Olympian Ben Askren gets tossed by Luis Santos as he attempts an outside trip after a failed bodylock takedown.

Islam Makhachev throws Nik Lentz while up against the fence after Lentz tries to use an outside trip

It can also be used to counter forward pressure from an over-under clinch or single leg attempt:

Ricardo Lamas throws Charles Oliveira as Oliveira pressures Lamas into the fence from the clinch

Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey demonstrates both setups in her second match against Miesha Tate.

While the tidbit in the description regarding hard surfaces being worse than soft ones to land on is sort of a "no-duh" moment, there is some historical precedent. In the famous match between Brazilian jiujitsu founder Hélio Gracie and top judoka Masahiko Kimura, Kimura threw Gracie multiple times but was unable to stop Gracie with throws alone due to the soft mats used in the arena.

Kimura pinning Gracie in a kesa gatame (scarf hold) during the legendary match.

Twin Hand Waves

Abridged move description courtesy of Suka Pass:

This move involves advancing a step forward and striking the opponent's chest and jaw with the palm and entire forearm while deflecting the opponent's attack downward with the other hand. This doesn't merely involve hurling the opponent's body backward as with a sumo arm thrust. The impact creates a shockwave that affects the opponent's internal organs.

Originally, it was a move devised in the Warring States Era to strike down samurai wearing armor. Not only was it ineffective to strike the hard torso of an opponent's armor with the hardened edge of the fist or elbow, it also injured the practitioner. For that reason, the softer, fleshier palm of the hand and the entire forearm was used to attack.

I was unable to find an exact 1:1 copy of the move, though there are a fair amount of similar looking moves in traditional martial arts (comment below if you know any real life moves that resemble the in-game Twin Hand Waves).

Top: Xing Yi Quan style splitting technique

Bottom: A forearm strike done during a Tai Chi push hands drill

The idea that the palm and forearm were used to avoid injury to the practitioner does hold some merit. While the description mentions the move being used against a person in armor, hitting even an unarmored person can cause injury to the user's hands if struck wrong. Many boxers in the bare knuckle boxing bouts the 18th and 19th centuries were common working men and could not take matches often as their hands would be too injured for them to use at work the next day. In modern revivals of bare knuckle boxing such as BKFC, broken and/or extremely swollen hands are common injuries. The palm and forearm are comparatively less fragile.

Palm strikes are effective strikes and Ryo has quite a few in his repertoire, so we'll be saving those for a future installment and instead focus on the forearm component of Twin Hand Waves. 

Forearm strikes are rare in modern striking competitions. In boxing, intentional forearm strikes are illegal and forearms are mainly used for defensive purposes to help shield against incoming punches. Though striking with the forearm is illegal, they can still be used to create opportunities to continue punching.

Though it doesn't count as a strike if you hold your forearm out and they run into it, as Conor McGregor discovered.

Floyd Mayweather Jr is a master at using his forearms to control his opponents. He creates a frame with his forearms that he can use to place on and push against the opponent's head. This framing gives Floyd control of the opponent's head and makes it very difficult for them to move effectively (as in the old grappling adage "control the head, control the body"). Floyd can use this to deny an opponent from countering him after he has thrown his combos, prevent or be used to break free from a clinch, and can smother an opponent's hands for a free shot at their unguarded head.

In this sequence, Conor attempts to enter a clinch after avoiding a flurry from Floyd. Floyd uses his left forearm to frame on Conor's head, preventing him from coming forward. Simultaneously, Floyd's right hand covers Conor's left, preventing Conor from throwing his vaunted left hand or link his hands together for the clinch. With Conor's left hand covered, Floyd throws a right hand at Conor's now-unguarded head without fear of reprisal.

Even in striking arts where forearm strikes are legal to use, they are still pretty uncommon.The use of forearms in sports such as Muay Thai or MMA trends more towards defensive uses such as blocking or framing as it does in boxing. At the range that forearm strikes are used, elbows tend to be more effective due to being able to generate more power or potential cuts (as well as being legal in nearly all the competitions that forearm strikes would also be legal in). The forearm strikes I've seen in MMA and Muay Thai seem to occur off of missed elbows or punches rather than intentional use, though committed attempts at forearm strikes do happen on occasion.

Former Rizin/Bellator BW champion Kyoji Horiguchi uses a lead forearm strike to stun Ali Bagautinov

Despite the description for the move explicitly mentioning it being different from sumo arm thrusts (called "tsuki-dashi" in sumo), the person closest to using Twin Hand Waves in real life is ironically a sumo wrestler. Hakuhō is arguably the greatest sumo wrestler of all time, having reached Yokozuna the highest rank possible as well as holding multiple all-time wins and championship records. One of Hakuhō's effective opening move combinations is the harite (open hand strike or slap) and kachiage (forearm strike).

Hakukō parries the initial charge and drives a forearm into his opponent's chest, forcing their posture upward and leaving them more susceptible to follow-up attacks

While technically legal, it's frowned up in sumo, especially by a wrestler of Hakuhō's caliber. However, it's practically as close to the in-game description as you can get and damn does it work.

Another example of Hakuhō slapping the head of his opponent to deflect the momentum of their charge and driving in his forearm. This time, his forearm connects with his opponent's chin, leading to a knockdown.