is featured prominently in many of the WTF Taegeuk poomsae. Professional wrestling and mixed martial arts Knifehand chops were successfully used in mixed martial arts by Kazushi Sakuraba. He utilized the kind known in professional wrestling as "Mongolian chop", where he would strike with both hands at the sides of his opponent's neck. Fictional depictions The popularity of Asian martial arts in the West in the mid to late 20th century gave rise to an exaggerated version of a knifehand strike widely used in American and British cinema, television, and animated cartoons. In common depictions, a character will deliver a single, precise-looking but relatively weak strike to the side of an opponent's neck, which instantly renders them unconscious but otherwise unharmed. (In some versions, the blow is instantly fatal.) This is frequently done from behind to an unaware adversary, often an enemy guard. The move became a staple of the spy genre in the 1960s and 1970s. References Bibliography Mas Oyama, Mas Oyama's Essential Karate, Fourth Publishing, 1980, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Japanese martial arts terminology