In martial arts, the tornado kick (also known as inside turning kick, jump inside kick, and 540 kick) is a strike that, when implemented properly, can be absolutely devastating.

The visually stunning and powerful tornado kick is practiced in various disciplines including Taekwondo, Tangsoodo, Wushu kung fu, Shaolinquan, Capoeira and some Karate styles, but is traditionally most associated with the Korean martial arts.

(replay at 3:33 mark)

The most prominent defining feature is that the same leg is used for taking off, kicking, and landing. The other leg mainly helps get the performer into the air, and then the leg is pulled back before the landing.

The ‘540’ has a history in not only martial arts, but in ballet as well, where it is performed as an advanced variation of a ‘barrel roll’. Principal male ballet dancers include the move in their variation (solo) as a crowd-pleasing feat of excellence. The move and a variation of it, the reverse 540, has been present in ballet for quite some time now, and is used commonly by dancers such as Daniil Simkin, Tetsuya Kumakawa and Joseph Phillips. This move has been recently introduced into the world of professional wrestling, where it is commonly referred to as a “jumping corkscrew roundhouse kick”.

The video above comes to us from the Russian mixed martial arts promotion League S-70 and shows undefeated Russian fighter Adam Khaliev attempt a spinning back kick, an axe kick, and then finally put his opponent, Alexei Belyaev, to sleep with an absolutely beautiful tornado kick.

The inept referee then flips the prone fighter over, bouncing his head of the canvas, and reminding all why regulation of mixed martial arts is a good idea.