Hook kicks, front kicks, tornado kicks, axe kicks, show-time kicks, in the last few years the arsenal of kicks in mixed martial arts has expanded greatly thanks to the likes of Anthony Pettis, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Stephen Thompson just to name a few.

But back in 2009 mixed martial arts veteran Brian Ebersole had other unorthodox movements he used in the ring and cage long before movement coaches were considered the next big thing in mixed martial arts.

A native of Indiana now residing in Sydney, Australia; Brian Ebersole (50-17) squared off against Australian Muay Thai specialist Shannon ‘F16’ Forrester who was making his mixed martial arts debut at XFC: Return of the Hulk on March 14th 2009 in Perth, Australia.

With Ebersole in a south paw stance he proceeded to cartwheel in the direction of Forrester and amazingly connected with his rear foot crumbling the Muay Thai specialist to the canvas and giving Ebersole the knockout win in Round one stunning commentators and fight fans in attendance.

A lot of martial arts talk about what’s called broken rhythm, kind of creating chaos for the other guy. That’s exactly what my cartwheel is. Ebersole explains to a class at Tiger Muay Thai/MMA.

I actually fake a shot or punch sometimes, and then just follow through. Truly the big thing is accuracy; the cart wheel movement gives you the momentum and power.

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Two years later Bryan Ebersole was able to showcase this move on the big stage when he stepped in to replace an injured Carlos Condit at UFC 127 facing off against fellow veteran Chris Lytle. With a giant ‘hairow’ shaved into his chest Bryan Ebersole executed his trademark cartwheels on Lytle notching himself unanimous decision victory in his UFC debut.

He would go 5-2 inside the Octagon.

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