Missed Fists: Fighters gone in (less than) 30 seconds at Shamrock FC, more

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where Jed Meshew and Alexander K. Lee shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

This is usually the part where I play MMA hipster and tell readers that the best action was happening outside of the big shows, but props to the UFC for putting on a great show in Toronto this past weekend so you should definitely check that out on Fight Pass if you missed it and also tune in to the best of this week’s regional and international highlights including a Shamrock FC show that saw a lot of fighters trying to make their dinner reservations.

(And in case we forget, make sure to check out next week’s edition when we do a Best of Missed Fists 2018 round-up!)

Shane McKay vs. Carlos Santos
Jacob Thrall vs. Dillon Tolbert
Jake Wilson vs. Keenan Richcreek

AL: I’ve heard fighters say that they don’t get paid by the hour, but what was happening at Shamrock FC 313 in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday was a tad ridiculous. There were three sub-30 second KOs on the card and we’re going to break them down from shortest to longest (“longest” definitely being a relative term in this instance).

Up first, middleweight amateur Shane McKay with a blink-and-you-missed-it punchout of Carlos Santos.

JM: On the one hand, anytime you get a four-second KO, it’s a good time; on the other, this one is kinda butt. We want our four-second KOs to be final and beautiful — Duane Ludwig killing Jonathan Goulet, Kid Yamamoto jump kneeing an Olympian’s face off — not this kinda KO where the guy gets up immediately. It looks like Santos was just knocked over awkwardly and the ref was a little too gung-ho.

AL: This is the kind of thing that happens in amateur fights, unfortunately. Sometimes you go into panic mode when you take a hard shot and that might be what happened to Santos here. Not to mention McKay falling on him right after. It definitely looked early, but I also have to wonder if Santos was going to just end up taking more punishment anyway, so in a roundabout way maybe it was justified?

Regardless, this was the fastest KO in Shamrock FC history, so congrats to McKay for that.

Clocking in at just five seconds slower was bantamweight Jacob Thrall who, like McKay, was able to land a shot that caused opponent Dillon Tolbert to faceplant and coax a referee stoppage.

JM: Wow, the Shamrock referees were apparently quick on the trigger this weekend, huh? I’m reticent to say this since I feel like I’m getting a reputation for being an MMA sadist but it wouldn’t have killed anyone to let things go on a little longer here.

AL: Ask and you shall receive.

Amateur Jake Wilson was given plenty of time to work here against Keenan Richcreek and while I’m not a fan of Wilson trying to force the action after the referee jumped in, at least there was no room for controversy here.

JM: Ahhhh. Like the proverbial Goldilocks, the third one is just right. Richcreek gets laid out clean. Do you see how much more satisfying it is to have a KO like this one, even if it takes 20 more seconds to happen?

For more finishes from Shamrock FC 313, you can catch a replay of that show and all past events with a subscription to FloCombat. And a nod to @SecretMovesMMA for always tipping us off to the madness going down in that promotion.

Benjamin Adegbuyi vs. Jahfarr Wilnis
Jamal Ben Saddik vs. Benjamin Adegbuyi

JM: Next up, we have a couple of KOs from Glory 62 (which took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands on Saturday and is available for pay-per-view replay via InPlayer) and really, the entire card was fire so if you have the time, I highly recommend checking it out.

AL: This set of highlights includes a trio of fighters who perfectly display how the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat that go hand-in-hand in combat sports. In a heavyweight semifinal bout, Benjamin Adegbuyi must have been on top of the world after landing this crisp head kick on Jahfarr Wilnis.

JM: Even for people who think they don’t like kickboxing, Glory is basically just no defense ever so it’s likes ramming two action figures together: almost always a good time. That being said, this is probably the highlight of the weekend for combat sports. I’m not a huge proponent of rings in MMA but the one argument to keep them is that people getting slept through the ropes is among the best visuals in the world.

I hope Wilnis was conscious in time to watch the finals. Maybe then he can take some solace in being avenged, violently, by Jamal Ben Saddik.

AL: This is one of those situations where having a 10-count only serves to accentuate the brutality of the finish. Look at Saddik just tee off on Adegbuyi, who actually looked like he was attempting some sort of defense. Guess you gotta just fight fire with fire sometimes.

JM: I feel bad for Adegbuyi. Imagine having a standout performance, that on any other night you’d celebrate for weeks. But instead, you get KO’d an hour later and now the whole night feels like a disaster. Victory should never be so fleeting.

Manazou Kobayashi vs. Saya Ito

JM: Sticking with the kickboxing world, we have the best show of offense from the entire weekend courtesy of Manazou Kobayashi.

12-6 elbows are banned in MMA and now we can see why. Look at the carnage! Saya Ito is getting absolutely mangled in there and the fight is standing! Imagine if fighters could unleash those bad boys on a prone opponent? Jon Jones might actually kill someone inside the cage.

AL: I’ve never been as passionate about anything as Kobayashi was about elbowing Ito’s face off there.

That bout took place at the Knock Out: King of Knockout 2018 event in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday and the good news is you can watch the whole show for free on the promotion’s Twitter.

Hernani Perpetuo vs. Marcao Santana
Everton Vasconcelos vs. Felipe Olivieri

AL: Sunday, at Shooto Brasil 89, we got a potential Submission of the Year candidate from UFC vet Hernani Perpetuo. Calling him a vet might be a stretch given that Perpetuo fought just twice for the promotion and he failed to see his hand raised in either encounter. He hasn’t exactly been lighting it up on the regional scene either, but this gogoplata is high level stuff:

JM: Remember last week when I argued that fighters should cheat like hell when caught in a submission? Clearly Marcao Santana did not pay attention because this is almost the exact perfect scenario to cheat as such. A flying armbar or triangle is really seen as an awesome thing your opponent did, rather than a failing on your part.

But like a Von Flue choke, getting subbed by a gogo is just embarrassing. As the saying goes: death before dishonor, but dishonor before humiliation — knee him in the nether regions and take that DQ my guy.

AL: Not to be outdone, Everton Vasconcelos made the most of his interim lightweight title opportunity in the show’s main event, clobbering Felipe Olivieri 40 seconds into round one:

Olivieri, who also had a cup of coffee in the Octagon before being released following a USADA suspension, was featured on our site earlier this year on the wrong end of a nasty head kick and now he gets the full Missed Fists treatment.

JM: Credit to Olivieri for actually surviving that left hook. Vasconcelos swung that thing from Nebraska and landed flush. That Olivieri didn’t immediately combust into flames is impressive stuff.

That’s a big win for Vasconcelos who doesn’t have a glossy record (4-2-1) at the moment but knocking out UFC veterans and winning regional titles is the way to get yourself on the big promotional radar in a hurry.

Yodsanklai Fairtex vs. Luis Regis
Petchmorrakot Petchyindee Academy vs. Liam Harrison
Vitaly Bigdash vs. Yuki Niimura
Jihin Radzuan vs. Jenny Huang

AL: And now for a ONE Championship event that definitely flew under the radar, probably because it was as much a Muay Thai showcase as it was an MMA one. “Destiny of Champions” took place on Saturday in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, and sure enough kickboxing’s stars were out in full force.

The main event of the show was actually a Muay Thai bout between Yodsanklai Fairtex and Luis Regis. Yodsanklai has been in over 250 kickboxing matches and he ended a brief retirement (I’m talking Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Terry Funk brief) earlier this year; Regis is probably wishing he hadn’t.

This was wickedly entertaining for the few minutes it lasted before Yodsanklai ended things with the quickness.

JM: That man threw a combination of three right uppercuts in a row! Crown him the king of everything!

AL: Uppercut-uppercut-uppercut. No can defend.

I don’t like to make light of folks getting hurt, but when Petchmorrakot Petchyindee Academy connected with this elbow… it made Liam Harrison fall funny.

JM: He did indeed fall funny. I’m also a huge fan of how he got up after being flattened face-first and looked all indignant. I suppose I too would be pretty mad if someone brained me with their elbow. It is, after all, a very rude thing to do.

AL: Our other standout submission of the week came from former ONE middleweight champ Vitaly Bigdash, who pulled off a great inverted triangle choke on Yuki Niimura.

JM: Now I know what you’re thinking: This is another instance where the losing fighter should have cheated his ass off, and normally you would be right. However, having been caught in a number of inverted triangles myself, cheating your way out of them is a lot trickier than you would imagine. You just don’t really have a good angle to do much and the opponent’s privates are fairly well guarded.

In that scenario, it’s actually really difficult to finish the choke, but the arm/wrist is easy to attack so mostly you need to defend those, which by nature keeps you from being able to offer much cheating offense. That’s why I’ve always thought of the inverted triangle as the true fighter’s submission.

AL: For those keeping score at home, the rules have now been amended to “Always cheat, unless you can’t.”

“Destiny of Champions” is available to watch for free on the ONE YouTube channel or the ONE app, and make sure you check out unbeaten strawweight Jihin Radzuan’s exciting decision win over Jenny Huang.

Radzuan calls herself “Shadowcat”, probably because she loves cats so much and that’s just super:

Teofimo Lopez vs. Mason Menard

AL: Let’s close out with a clip from Saturday’s Top Rank Boxing “Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Jose Pedraza” event in New York, where 21-year-old lightweight Teofimo Lopez improved to 21-0 with an insane KO of Mason Menard on the undercard.

JM: Now here, sir, is a true “He fell funny”. This is hall of fame worthy considering the delayed sway while hunched over.

AL: A day after Max Holloway delivered a one-sided drubbing of Brian Ortega at UFC 233, I realized that I’ve never even been punched hard once in my life so I’m glad we have Menard here to demonstrate what I would probably look like if someone even lightly socked me one.

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If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter @JedKMeshew and @AlexanderKLee using the hashtag #MissedFists.