Fouetté / Whip Kick
Fouetté
A whipping, circular kick in savate that strikes the opponent from the side with the point of the boot, similar to a karate mawashi-geri but with a more pronounced whipping arm motion.
Quick Facts
Definition
Fouetté is one of the fundamental kicks of French boxing savate, and its name literally means whipped, referring to how it is executed - the leg snaps out in an arc like a whip and is sharply retracted at the moment of impact. Unlike many other martial arts, savate requires the attacker to wear special footwear called boxeurs or chaussons, since the rules forbid barefoot kicking and all techniques are performed exclusively with a booted foot. Fouetté is classified by target height into fouetté bas (to the leg or knee), fouetté médian (to the body), and fouetté haut or figure (to the head), with the higher variants demanding considerable hip flexibility. In competitive savate (boxe française), the technique is judged particularly carefully, since the scoring system rewards precision and elegance of execution rather than raw impact alone. Fouetté is one of the five officially recognized kicks of the discipline, alongside chassé, revers, coup de pied bas, and coup de pied de côté.
Related Terms
Traditional French martial art combining Western boxing with precise kicking delivered in padded boots.
Chassé / Thrusting KickChasséA direct, piston-like kick in savate delivered forward or sideways with the heel or sole, which drives and pushes the opponent back rather than whipping into them like fouetté.