This also might be informative, the side kick is one of the moves taught in the combat sambo taught to the russian special forces. however it is only recommended for single uses in self defence situations and is not used in sport sambo. This seems to support the "good for quick self defence to untrained opponents, not good for ring battles and long fights, but then as stated before some MMA people use it, so looks like the argument with the strongest recommendation is that they are hard to use effectivly on a grapple trained opponent in a low stance .
Video of the proof is below, from "Human weapon" on the discovery channel. This ep was actually ok they went to the hand to hand training location for the actual russian spec-naz or special forces.
YouTube - Human Weapon Sambo - Side Kick
Video of the proof is below, from "Human weapon" on the discovery channel. This ep was actually ok they went to the hand to hand training location for the actual russian spec-naz or special forces.
YouTube - Human Weapon Sambo - Side Kick