Missed Fists: Viktor Kolesnik annihilates a butt-scooting opponent, plus more insane action from Russia

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.

In what was a relatively quiet week for major promotions in the United States (apologies to UFC Lincoln), there was plenty of violence to be found overseas so this go-around we’re focusing on a flurry of finishes from Russia and Brazil.

Konstantin Andreitsev vs. Chase Gormley
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Felipe Olivieri
Sergey Khandozhko vs. Adriano Rodrigues
Alexander Romanov vs. Virgil Zwicker
Yasubey Enomoto vs. Alexei Ivanov

AL: Right out of the gate, let’s hop back to last Wednesday for the S-70 Plotforma Cup 2018 show in Sochi, Russia, where only two of the 12 bouts made it to the scorecards. Here are five of the best finishes.

The very first fight saw UFC veteran Chase Gormley fall to the 24-year-old Konstantin Andreitsev. Both men were on three-fight losing skids, so there was already a sense of desperation (for lack of a better term) heading into this one. Unfortunately, it’s Gormley who would get stung here.

JM: I know we’re supposed to talk about non-UFC things but I gotta be honest, it’s hard to even appreciate Gormley getting flatlined when Justin Gaethje just gave us the Knockout of the Year. So can we please just briefly acknowledge the greatness of Gaethjesus and then commence with the violence roundup?

AL: Remember when everyone was saying Gaethje should use his wrestling more and maybe try to grind out a win to break his losing streak?

JM: Those people are evil and should be made to step on Legos.

Anyway, wow, there was a lot of non-Gaethje super-violence this week. We already touched on Andreitsev vs. Gormley, which was a fine KO, but doesn’t hold a candle to Arman Tsarukyan coffining Felipe Olivieri. Other than Gaethje, this has my money for KO of the week.

AL: It’s hard to argue with Tsarukyan’s finish, and from a technical standpoint it might be even better than Gaethje’s. We all love head kicks (it’s almost the entire basis of what we do here), but head kicks that happen in the middle of an exchange?

Watch how he makes Olivieri miss before landing that clean kick. Just brilliant.

JM: Another brilliant one — and honestly, this might be the best KO of the lot considering I have a soft spot for watching people kick the guts out of other people’s soft spots — is Sergey Khandozhko’s spinning kick appendectomy of Adriano Rodrigues. Look at how the will to live just get violently smashed out of Rodrigues’s stomach.

AL: We’ve seen body kick KOs where the toes just glance off the mid-section and the target still goes down… this wasn’t one of those. You can feel Khandozhko’s heel digging into Rodrigues’s stomach. It would have been incredible of Rodrigues somehow remained standing after that.

Just 26 years old, “Honda” is now 26-5-1 as a pro and if he can start to find some consistency (prior to this fight, he’d alternated wins and losses in his last nine bouts), it’s not a stretch to see him getting a shot in a major organization.

That’s something Virgil Zwicker knows about, having fought for both Strikeforce and Bellator. Unfortunately, he was brought in to face the undefeated Alexander Romanov on this night and fell victim to a rare scarf choke that reminded me of noted MMA fighter CM Punk’s “Anaconda Vice”.

JM: I don’t know about CM Punk using the move but Josh Barnett tapped Dean Lister at a Metamoris event with it (Lister hadn’t been tapped in competition in 15 years when it happened). It’s one of those moves that should only work if you’re super talented and huge, or you’re facing someone who is bad. I’ll let you make up your mind on which one of those you think this is but there’s one thing we can all agree on, that suplex to start it off was dope.

AL: Dare I call the finish “Mighty Mouse”-esque?

JM: Wow. Demetrious Johnson loses one highly questionable decision and suddenly you’re comparing him to regional Russian heavyweights? That’s cold blooded.

AL: It’s a cold-blooded game.

After all that, our fifth Plotforma clip almost seems understated, but we weren’t going to leave out Yasubey Enomoto’s crushing counter right on Alexei Ivanov.

The well-traveled Enomoto caught him so perfectly and hit him so hard that the referee seemed to temporarily lose his bearings from the impact.

Viktor Kolesnik vs. Daniel Swain

JM: Now the time has come to talk about the best thing to happen all week, and that’s including Gaethje.

In the co-main event of M-1 Challenge 96 on Saturday, something truly unique happened. Viktor Kolesnik submitted Daniel Swain. With leg kicks. While Swain was in the butt-scoot position.

AL: What.

JM: I’ve never seen anything like it. Remember when Donald Cerrone threw those “F**k you” leg kicks at Miles Jury? This was like that only Kolesnik actually seriously jacked up Swain’s leg and the American rolled over and tapped out.

AL: Cerrone was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this clip and I distinctly remember him using that technique and thinking, “Yeah, that looks cool, but can you actually win a fight with it?”

You can actually win a fight with it.

The win was actually ruled a TKO due to injury, just the second KO of Kolesnik’s 19-fight career. He’s known as more of a submission finisher and if this clip gets more publicity, his next opponent might tap out as soon as the bell rings.

JM: Calling that a TKO is pure poppycock.

AL: Tell it to city hall… er, city hall in St. Petersburg, that is.

JM: Swain literally rolls over and taps the mat while screaming in agony. That’s the physical and verbal submission combo. I guess in M-1 the two submissions cancel each other out?

AL: Readers can decide for themselves by checking out a replay of the event. The preliminaries are available for free, but you’ll have to pay for the main card on FITE TV.

Ugo Barbosa vs. Andrius Hubaldo

JM: Our last KO of the week that bears mentioning is Ugo Barbosa putting hands on Andrius Hubaldo at a Shooto Brasil show in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.

Peep Barbosa out here with the punching combos of a young Vitor Belfort but the hairstyle of old Vitor (like, the actual old man Vitor, not the “old Vitor” — there have been so many incarnations of Vitor.) Hubaldo ate a whole six-piece and the biscuit right there.

AL: I believe the exact combination that Barbosa used here is the classic “bap bap bap-bap-bap-bap” sequence. He just… man, he just hit him with so many punches.

Make that three straight first-round finishes for Barbosa now, all of which came in the last minute of round one. My advice for his future opponents, once you see those last 60 seconds on the clock: run!

And now, let’s — wait, do you hear that? Is that The Krazy Horse Alarm (™)? I believe it is! Let’s head to the monitor and see what’s going on with our dear Charles Bennett this week in his always inspiring journey through the combat sports cosmos.

Oh. Oh no.

JM: We were having such a good time and then you had to go and ruin it. I know this is the premier pro-Charles Bennett column on the internet but man, it’s getting harder and harder to hold that corner as every time he shows up it ends in tragedy. At least with CamSoda we got the winner’s announcement that will live on forever.

I guess what I’m saying is, we need CamSoda Legends back immediately.

AL: For those who didn’t see, “Krazy Horse” took part in the second Bare Knuckle FC 2 event on Saturday and took a fourth-round TKO loss when he injured his left hand. In an odd coincidence, this occurred in a bout against an opponent who shares the same name as Bellator’s Michael McDonald, who has been battling hand injuries throughout his career.

Hopefully, Bennett gets well soon and we get to see “Krazy Horse” back in the saddle (wait, does that even make sense?) in the near future.

For now, like Curtis Harper, we out!

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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.