But Ko had anticipated this, and she executed a horizontal kisa cut, slashing diagonally across Bruce’s path with enough force to sever ribs. What happened next became the subject of analysis and debate for years afterward. Bruce dropped his weight suddenly, lowering his entire body 6 in through pure leg compression, causing the blade to pass over his shoulder by a hair’s breath. Students in the front row later reported they could see individual hairs on Bruce’s head move in the wake of the blade.
As Ko’s momentum carried the sword past its target, Bruce’s right leg swept her front foot. A Wing Chun technique called a sock choy sweep, disrupting her base at the moment when her weight was most committed to the cut. Ko stumbled but maintained her grip on the katana, spinning on her back foot to face Bruce again. She was breathing harder now, frustrated that she had delivered two potentially lethal cuts that should have connected but somehow missed. Bruce remained calm, centered, showing no sign of stress or fatigue.
