In the world of martial arts, it’s no secret that getting hit in the liver hurts. A clean poke to this organ, even at half power, can be enough to send even the toughest fighter to the canvas, and it’s for this reason that targeting the liver is an intelligent tactic used by many of the world’s top fighters to win a bout.

In this article, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about targeting the liver in Muay Thai. We’ll give you some liver-targeting tactics and explain how to make your liver shots most effective before giving you 4 great liver-targeting combinations that can incapacitate opponents and win fights. But, before we go into that, let’s start with some basic information on the liver’s location in the body and why it is so vulnerable to attack.

Why The Liver Is A Great Target

The liver sits in the upper-right-hand side of your abdomen, just below the diaphragm. This means that, unlike many of your core organs, it isn’t entirely sheltered behind your ribs, making it an easy target for body shots if your strikes are traveling at the right trajectory.

The liver is a sensitive organ that is packed with nerves and blood vessels. When it gets shocked by a strike, all of these nerves fire at once causing a sudden drop in blood pressure. This drop makes it difficult for oxygenated blood to get to your head, making you dizzy and as a natural protective response you will feel the urge to keel over, lowering your head to make it easier for blood to reach your brain. The pain alone is enough to distract even the toughest fighter and if it doesn’t drop them for an eight-count or TKO, they will usually drop their guard, protecting their body but leaving their head exposed.

How To Throw An Effective Liver Shot

The liver is on the right-hand side of the body so, if you want to target it, it’s best to target it with punches, kicks, and knees from your left-hand side. These strikes should look to target the soft area between your opponent’s hip and ribcage where the floating rib sits. Your strike should travel upwards at an angle as if you are trying to force their floating rib out of their left armpit. This trajectory not only ensures your fist, knee, or shin, connects with the bottom of the liver, it will knock the floating rib into the organ for extra damage.

If you want to land a clean and devastating liver shot, you need to get your opponent to expose their ribs. It is usually easier to get your opponent to raise their guard up high by throwing a number of punches to their head, forcing them to cover. Alternatively, you can also wait for your opponent to throw a punch with their right hand, using the extension of their punches as the opportunity to target their uncovered liver.

With this in mind here are 4 liver-targeting combinations (for orthodox fighters) that, if thrown correctly, are almost guaranteed to send your opponent to the canvas. For each example, we have provided options for head strikes that can finish your opponent if they manage to stay standing:

The Top 4 Liver Shot Combinations For Muay Thai

1) Jab, Cross, Body Hook, High Kick

This simple combination uses two initial head strikes to force your opponent’s hands high and their weight back so that it is difficult for them to counter you as you drop your weight for a liver-targeting body hook.

If you successfully damage the liver with a heavy body hook the first few times you throw it then your opponent is likely to pre-emptively lean forward to defend themselves from the strike, lowering their head. If you see them doing this, take some power out of the body hook and use the punch’s rotation to set up a powerful right kick to the head or upper-cut elbow, that will stab between their gloves for a massive finishing strike.

2) Jab, Cross, Switch Knee

If, as you throw your straight punches, your opponent steps back out of range, you can use this to your advantage in this aggressive liver shot combination. After throwing your jab, take all power out of your cross and use the extension of your arm to conceal a forward step with your right leg. Land in a southpaw stance so that your right foot is in front of your opponent’s lead leg and fire your left knee to the right side of their body, just below their rib cage.

As this knee is targeting the liver, don’t stab straight ahead with it. To maximize the damage to their liver, twist your hip as it lands, almost as if you’re throwing a body kick so that your knee turns from their left side and through the center of their body.

If they are still standing after the knee, use your momentum to land forward with a massive elbow that connects with their temple as your left foot lands back on the canvas.

3) Jab, Cross, Switch Kick

This combination works on an identical premise to the step-through knee. The only exception is that your opponent has retreated too far for you to land an effective knee, so you throw a left kick behind your step-through cross instead. To maximize damage to the liver, don’t turn your shin over so that your foot is turned horizontal. Instead, let your leg cut a slightly more vertical line so that your shin connects to the soft tissue below the ribs and travels up and out under the left armpit.

4) Parry, Switch Kick

If you are facing a heavy-handed opponent who likes to stalk forward with punches then you don’t need to worry about striking high to lift their guard, their attacks serve as the perfect opportunity to target their exposed liver.

Stand just slightly out of your opponent’s affecting punching range and wait for them to attack. As they step forward to throw a jab-cross, use your rear hand to swat their jab across your body while simultaneously switching your stance. You want to switch with your right foot planted wider than you normally would, so your head is away from their following cross and, as their arm extends to expose their ribs fire your switch kick to the body, making sure your shin travels in the same arc as it did in the previous combination.

If they are still standing after this, land back in a southpaw stance and immediately fire another left kick up to the head because chances are, they’ve dropped their hands to protect their damaged liver.

In Summary

Targeting the liver is a great tactic for getting a knockout finish in Muay Thai. If you want to target this sensitive organ, then you need to use left-sided strikes that travel upwards through and across your opponent’s body. The liver will usually be protected by your opponent’s elbows, so make sure to get them to expose their ribs via rapid headshots or by waiting for them to throw a right-handed punch before you try to hit it.

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