Cute? Did she just call him cute? And a good guy? Was she flirting with him? No...she was distracting him...trying to throw off his concentration, and that wasn't going to happen. She didn't exactly telegraph her move, but he knew it was coming and saw the way she shifted her weight to her rear foot...a sure sign a kick was going to come, and sure enough it did. John didn't try to grab it as that would be the expected counter, but he didn't ignore it either...he wasn't going  to give her a free strike. So he lashed out with one hand, intending to block it, while he took advantage of her moving in to try and reach out and grab her. She had long hair....a vulnerability in this type of fighting, and he took advantage of it by trying to grab hold of a handful of it. Not exactly sportsmanlike, perhaps, but effective and as he warned her...he was goign to try and win this fight.