Share on FacebookTweet about this on TwitterShare on LinkedInPin on PinterestEmail to someone

The casual UFC observer may be led to wonder why fighters bother kicking repeatedly at the opponent’s legs in what looks like nothing more than a glorified slap. Intrepid MMA reporter Aaron Tru recently discovered what it actually feels like to be on the receiving end of a professionally-delivered kick.

UFC interim heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum took a break from training to treat Tru to a kick to the leg at forty-percent strength. Tru wound up flat on the mat, staring at the ceiling in a semi-comatose world of pain.

Fabricio Werdum demonstrates leg kick on MMA reporter Aaron Tru

HYPING UFC 188

Saturday night, Werdum will be facing champion Cain Velasquez for the UFC’s unified heavyweight title in Mexico City. A surreal pre-fight beef between the two has grown out of which fighter — the Brazilian Werdum or the American Velasquez — is more Mexican.

Fellow UFC fighters overwhelmingly favor the hard-charging Velasquez (13-1 MMA, 11-1 UFC) to win his first fight since 2013. Werdum (19-5-1 MMA, 7-2 UFC) was also a big underdog against MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko — whom he submitted in the first round of their 2010 fight.