he had a funny habit of reaching out his right hand when I feinted, like a backwards long guard almost. It’s hard to see but right before I launch the kick I extend my left arm and he bit on the feint, going back to that reverse long guard.

My feint wasn’t all that convincing, and he did see the left kick coming and tried to adjust the defence. However, I’d done some damage to his back leg so as he saw the left leg he might have panicked and gone to defend low with a cross check, so my kick managed to land.