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Just curious, Is the turning side-kick to the front knee not used in MMA because its a douchey thing to do, or because its not practical? For instance in a street fight, where the person deserves to have their knee flamingoed.. Would that be a logical move? I just remember seeing that video of Joe kicking the bag and thinking "If he aimed low with that.. Someones never walking again".
I have a couple thoughts on this. First, if you listen to the way Joe explains the turning side kick I don't think you can generate the same kind of power kicking down. Second, Joe has said a couple times before its not easy to land it's not like people are landing it all the time in mma to the the body much less to a smaller target like the knee. Third It's not as easy to destroy people's knees as they make it look in the movies, maybe if somebody standing straight up with there knees locked but someone in a fight stance. I would think you would be more likely to hurt yourself. These are just my theories I'm interested to hear what an experienced striker has to say about it.
That kick was designed for the body. The problem is the accuracy and commitment. You don't even see it used to the head, much less the knee. High risk/high reward. You see the little inverted push kick thingy to the knee sometimes. I'm not a big fan of striking the knee, very difficult to actually do damage. How hard is it to secure a knee bar? Your hip and ankle should allow motion to protect your knee. Also, striking bone could be a bad idea. Might injure your foot if his knee is bent alot.
Its a slightly douchey thing to use in the gym. You can injure someones knee if you catch them off guard. Its hard to use in a fight because its not something you really want to throw at your training partners all the time while sparring. So you end up not thinking to do it while your adrenaline is going. The same with why a lot of people dont throw much elbows. Its hard to practice them while sparring and grappling. You have to be able to really really trust your training partners skill level and control