It *can* stop them mid strike, just as a leg kick *can* stop a punch mid strike. While it is often said that "timing is everything", angles matter too Usually, a low kick as in circular leg kick isn't enough to stop a punch, the punch attack will eventually be weakened due to the puncher's lead leg getting hit, and sometimes it ends up outright stopped because that's not the first low kick landing there to begin with, and as a result the lead leg is already largely weakened. But most of the time the low kick lands on the lead leg and the punch still lands in the face/guard Now that's for the typical circular low kick you often see in thai boxing/mma There's the "chassé bas", of savate boxing https://youtu.be/IXNs9ARsNFU?t=61 Now that will stop a punch mid strike, especially if you're wearing construction boots such as those https://pic8.co/sh/FeiOqD.png https://uniwork.it/en/prodotto/aral-s3-2/ Tremendous power for a chassé bas with those shoes, definitely not the same deal as if you were bare foot, like not at all, day and night, oranges and apples So for a bullet in the leg stopping a knife attack mid strike... I say good luck with that. You need the bullet to hit a leg bone and explode it, for a start, to have a reasonable chance at achieving "just that" IMO. Like right in the middle of the femur/knee/tibia/ankle/foot... Then yeah, the lead leg gets crippled right away and no punch worth a shit can be thrown to attack. Now there's the rear leg, a weak defensive punch can still be delivered wich is enough to kill if there's a knife attached to it Yeah forget about shooting in the legs, that's definitely not the surest shot to stop a knife attack mid strike, way too many rooms for "too little too late"