How would you block a front kick?

          Any UFC fans out there? Whether you're a fan or not I'm sure you've seen the UFC before or at least know what it is. It's where two guys in the same weight class get in the "Octagon" and fight. You can win either by knocking the other guy out, getting him to submit, or letting it go to the decision at the end. Mixed martial arts has become one of the most popular sports today because of how just plain awesome it is. I mean who doesn't like watching two people fight? I would watch two completely hammered dudes fight in a bar, now I can watch two extremely well trained dudes fight on TV. Only in America.
          If you watch TV late at night or early in the morning you probably saw the commercial for the Tower 200 workout system. The main spokesperson for the Tower 200 is UFC Hall of Famer Randy "The Natural" Couture. Randy Couture is a legend. He has held the UFC Championship five different times. Two times as a Light Heavyweight, and three times as a Heavyweight. He is regarded as one of the greatest fighters in UFC history. That brings me to the question of this blog. How would you block a front kick?
          I don't know if you saw the fight this Saturday, or the highlights on SportCenter, but Mr. Couture tried an unorthodox way of blocking the front kick from Lyoto Machida. He used his chin. I'm not a mixed martial artist or seasoned fighter but I certainly disagreed with his strategy. Machida did a Karate Kid inspired crane kick and Randy took it right on the chin like a well paid Vegas hooker. Needless to say he went down like a sack of potatoes and covered up. The ref quickly stopped the fight before anymore damage could be done. Unfortunately that was Randy's last fight as a mixed martial artist and it ended in embarrassing fashion. If you saw this kick, the only thing missing was Mr. Miyagi in the background beating the double sided drum. I'm pretty sure Randy Couture should have tried to wax on, or wax off or MOVE HIS FACE! Of course I would never say any of this to his recently kicked face, but I'm guessing he doesn't read my blog . . . yet.
          So how would you block a front kick? Let's just say, hypothetically, you were in a fight with a highly skilled Karate style fighter in front of 55,000 screaming Canadians. Wait, scratch that, fuck Canada. We'll say it was in the good ole U.S. of A. How's Chicago sound? I just got done watching an episode of "The Chicago Code" on my DVR. Great show by the way. Anywho, back to the story. How would you go about blocking a crane style kick aimed right at your two front teeth? I'm not completely sure how I'd do it, but I do know I wouldn't try whispering to it like Randy did. Maybe a side-step or some kind of blocking technique. I know Randy has been fighting for a really long time and has seen everything. I just can't imagine his thought process was, "well I've blocked kicks in the past, let's see if I can take this on the beard and hurt one of his toes."
          I have to give credit to Lyoto Machida for being one of the more entertaining fighters to watch and taking a page out of Anderson "The Spider" Silva's book with that front kick. It was just crazy to see such a legend of the game go out like that. I also realize that if it were actually me in there fighting either of those guys, the fight would be over very shortly and I'd be spending my share of the purse in some kind of cast. Regardless, it was an awesome way to see a fight end. I just didn't think it would have been the way Randy Couture went out. After the fight I hope he went to the back alleys of Canada and got a Hand-job for a Ham Sandwich eh.