Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we 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.
How fitting that in the Year of the Knee Knockout, Jorge Masvidal gave us arguably the greatest of all-time this past Saturday? Let’s see how the rest of the combat sports world did while we wait for Ben Askren’s hair to settle.
Artur Arutyunyan vs. Nikita Moshkin
Petar Stoykov vs. Suhrob Nazarov
Andrei Chekhonin vs. Ruslan Nasibulin
AL: Probably a lot to ask to top Masvidal, so let’s see...
#Senshi July 3rd 2019 - Awesome Spinning Kick KO!! #Kickboxing #Figths #Fighting #MMA #KO #knockout https://t.co/oqe817hkUr
— wildmatt (@wildmatt) July 3, 2019
Whoa.
JM: Rolling Thunder!
Gotta respect the man for going full Kyokushin Wheel Kick despite it being one of the dumbest moves in combat sports, because the one time in a thousand that it actually works out, it’s awesome. Normally, it ends up looking like when Dan Henderson ended his MMA career with a rolling kick against Michael Bisping that missed by a country mile.
AL: This all requires some explanation. That’s Artur Arutyunyan picking up the win against Nikita Moshkin at the SENSHI Professional Gala Fight Night event that took place over the course of Wednesday and Thursday last week in Varna, Bulgaria.
Night one and night two are both available for free replay on FITE TV. From what I could discern this is full contact kyokushin karate, meaning it allows for throws, elbows, and strikes to the head.
The latter two rule tweaks are evident in this next clip, featuring Petar Stoykov putting down Suhrob Nazarov.
Insane spinning elbow KO by Petar Stoykov just now at SENSHI in Varna, Bulgaria. Flying mouthpiece. #SENSHI pic.twitter.com/WZ6I6DliTn
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 3, 2019
Petar Stoykov angle #2 #SENSHI pic.twitter.com/c05IlyNh2p
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 3, 2019
JM: Senshi is dope. First, a rolling kick and now a truly savage elbow KO. Look at how that mouthpiece gets launched out of poor Nazarov’s face!
AL: That mouthpiece got some serious air.
Andrei Chekhonin KO's Muhammad Asadi Amin in R2 pic.twitter.com/fnP4qUEFYW
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 3, 2019
JM: Nice combination here by Andrei Chekhonin, but you gotta wonder if the MMA moralist community will be up in droves about us showcasing a man who so aggressively demeans his fallen opponent by pointing at him.
There was a lot of pearl clutching about Jorge Masvidal after all. Where do we draw the line?!?!?!
AL: Shades of Shawn Kemp’s classic “Lister Blister” jam.
Siyovush Gulmamadov vs. Adamson Torbiso
Mohammad Fakhreddine vs. Dan Vinni
Chi Lewis-Parry vs. Mahmoud Hassan
There are plenty more KOs to come, but first I have to consult MMA Fighting’s resident black belt of the bizarre and ask exactly what the hell Siyovush Gulmamadov did to Adamson Torbiso to get the win here:
they can’t figure out what kind of submission it was this nice geometry by Siydvush Gulmamadov (UAE Warriors) pic.twitter.com/Fd9XCzoER2
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 5, 2019
JM: I’m honestly not entirely sure what is happening. I *think* this is a compression lock on the neck but I could be convinced of anything.
I also have no idea how you even get to this point in a grappling progression or how you have the thought in the middle of that to do this obscure compression lock. Especially for a dude with a 1-2 record! I’m so confused.
AL: Speaking of records, there were some eyebrow-raising mismatches on this card, starting with 11-3 middleweight Mohammad Fakhreddine taking on veteran .500 fighter Dan Vinni:
Mohammad Fakhreddine crushes Dan Vinni in R1 with a brutal liver kick. Nope, I'm good - UAE Warriors 2 pic.twitter.com/zRJsDfDPMb
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) July 5, 2019
Look at that shot. Instant tap-out and I don’t blame Vinni one damn bit.
JM: That’s the rare liver kick KO where the guy immediately folds over in agony. Usually with liver shots, there’s a delay where it takes a second for the brain to register that a vital organ has been traumatized. Not for My Cousin Vinni. His brain instantly shuts down his whole body and that’s all she wrote.
AL: If you thought that was a mismatch, then the main event between Chi Lewis-Parry and Mahmoud Hassan was an absolute travesty.
Lewis-Parry is pretty good at combat sports, Mahmoud Hassan entered this bout as a 38-year-old with a 1-5 record and two first-round KO losses in under 40 seconds. I don’t know a lot about him, but I bet he’s not as good at combat sports.
Guess what happened here?
Che Lewis-Parry KOd Hassan in 8 seconds #AndNew UAE HW Champion pic.twitter.com/DHzXKef74a
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 5, 2019
JM: Cool KO or whatever but look man, fans getting mad about Masvidal are ridiculous. This is the stuff you should be mad about.
It’s borderline criminal to allow a man with one more MMA win than I have into the cage with a legitimate cage fighter. They might as well have just handed CLP the damn belt instead of risking him hurting his hand on Hassan’s head.
AL: At first glance, it might seem surprising that Hassan went down so quickly after taking just one counter-punch, but—
JM: Look at what happened to this poor fool!
Jorge Masvidal wasn’t the only fighter to score a quick KO this weekend. Chi Lewis-Parry won the UAE Warriors Heavyweight title after an 8 second KO. The 1 punch he landed broke his opponent’s face in 4 places. His manager just sent me this photo @MoguIManagement @RealChopperChi pic.twitter.com/cusF9h0UVJ
— Scott Lagdon (@laggers82) July 9, 2019
AL: That was A HELL of a punch.
JM: Whoever TF allowed this fight to happen needs to be footing all the medical bills.
Varsham Gevorgyan vs. Mehrab Mahboobi
Artur Malkhasyan vs. Mohammad Reza Rigi
Arkadiy Osipyan vs. Mher Merjanyan
AL: Up next, from (deep breath) Gorilla Fighting Championship 13 & Mix Fight Events 42 on Saturday, we have a couple of hellacious beatdowns to talk about as well as a classic “He Fell Funny.”
Here’s Varsham Gevorgyan absolutely big brother’ing Mehrab Mahboobi:
airlines and brutal GNP KO by Varsham Gevorgyan (GFC 13) pic.twitter.com/OH0Iks7W70
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 6, 2019
It’s probably worth noting that Gevorgyan had a 6-3 record going into this fight and Mahboobi was, uh, 0-0.
JM: Huge fan of the 360 helicopter takedown. When you get a fighter on your shoulder like that, why not put them in the spin cycle first?
But again, who the hell is letting guys with zero fights take on nine-fight veterans? MMA: The Sport of Kings.
AL: We’d be able to enjoy these things more with better matchmaking and better officiating, as is evidenced in our next clip. Love Artur Malkhasyan’s aggression and it should be recognized. If only the referee had noticed, Mohammad Reza Rigi could have been saved some damage:
brutal 1R finish by Artur Malkhasyan (GFC 13) pic.twitter.com/i0KVfIR2f9
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 6, 2019
JM: Would love to know what was going through that refs mind. My guess is “Ah hell, I had a hundo on Rigi. Maybe if I just don’t stop it Malkhasyan will exhaust himself clattering Rigi’s brains in and then the comeback can start.”
Seriously, I get that refereeing can be hard, but there are a few times when it’s easy to ref. When a fighter visibly taps out, you stop it. When a fighter goes unconscious, you stop it. And when a grounded fighter covers up and rolls away, you stop the damn fight. This is nearly as inexcusable as letting CLP kill a guy.
AL: Would you like a palette cleanser, sir?
KO by Arkadiy Osipyan (GFC 13) pic.twitter.com/2X9Z51U5Xw
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 6, 2019
JM: Finally, a fight where I don’t have to be completely put off by the surrounding circumstances. Sure, Mher Merjanyan has zero fights and Arkadiy Osipyan is 4-0 but hey, that’s not entirely unreasonable! Outcome remains the same though as Osipyan clearly snatched Merjanyan’s equilibrium from him. Dude is conscious, but his legs don’t work right and that’s why he bounces off the cage in such a funny fashion.
AL: And we use the word “funny” with the greatest respect.
Ross Levine vs. Thomas Diagne
This kickboxing finish from Glory 67 last Thursday is almost the opposite of a “He Fell Funny.” Thomas Diagne gets clipped by this Ross Levine head kick so cleanly that everything just shuts down and he’s left standing in the way of a brutal follow-up punch.
HEAD-KICK KNOCKOUT! Ross Levine with a STATEMENT in his GLORY debut! #GLORY67 pic.twitter.com/0Wc0KIr32f
— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) July 5, 2019
JM: Levine clacks Diagne upside the head and though Diagne is clearly done, he also, kinda isn’t? His body freezes and he falls over but some part of his brain is conscious and aware, just not the part that knows how to do things, like talk or fight back. Honestly, that’s what I imagine it would look like if you could rip the soul out of someone’s body. The lights are on, but no one is home.
Lom-Ali Nalgiev vs. Igor Michaliszyn
If that last one was what happens when your soul has been stolen, this one looks like what happens when you’re exorcising a demon out of a body. Completely frozen but for the convulsing. And a lifeless stare into the great abyss.
damn, Lom-Ali Naligiev killed Michaliszyn (RWC) pic.twitter.com/OgUaxPyVI6
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) July 5, 2019
AL: Note to self: “Never get punched.”
This is a great KO by Lom-Ali Nalgiev from the truly outstandingly named Polish promotion Rocky Warriors Cartel.
ROCKY WARRIORS CARTEL.
The more I read it, the better it gets.
Craig Jones vs. Anthony Johnson
There have been a lot of jokes about Anthony Johnson someday making a move to bare-knuckle boxing, but no, that is not what “Rumble” has decided to do. Instead, he did the far more logical thing and brought his prodigious punching power to the world of (checks notes) Submission Underground.
JM: I know I’ve been a bit of a negative Nancy this week but honestly, this might be even dumber than the Chi Lewis-Parry fight. Who the hell watched Anthony Johnson’s MMA career and thought “Yup. We need to get that guy on the grappling mats. With a legitimately great grappler?” I can’t even fathom the team meeting process that went into that one.
Does Chael just pull names from a hat or something? At least get like Richie Martinez or something to make it maybe a little interesting.
AL: For folks who don’t know a lot about Jones, he is a highly accomplished BJJ black belt who has had success at ADCC, EBI, Quintet, Polaris, pretty much every major grappling competition you’ve ever heard of.
Johnson is a retired cagefighter who was submitted in five of his six losses. He has a better chance of knocking out Jon Jones than submitting Craig Jones.
And so
Congratulations to the @ufc legend @Anthony_Rumble for surviving nearly 60 seconds with Craig Jones! #SUG9 #UFCFIGHTPASS pic.twitter.com/veJJtfeMyf
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) July 8, 2019
JM: The only good thing about this is that it reminded me that the number one fight I want to see in MMA is Rumble vs. Ngannou. Nothing else matters beyond that.
Willis Black vs. Justin Edwards
AL: Before we get to talking about one of our proud Missed Fists call-ups, let’s check in on Willis Black, who could be getting a promotion to the major leagues soon himself after his performance last Wednesday at Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting 79 in Southgate, Michigan.
Damn #WarriorWednesday pic.twitter.com/RMGDR1hQQK
— ShayMyName (@ImShannonTho) July 4, 2019
That’s Black just smoking UFC vet Justin Edwards in 47 seconds. It probably would have been closer to 30 seconds were it not for the terrible, terrible officiating.
Black is 26 years old, 7-2, with all of his wins coming by way of KO or submission.
JM: You know what wasn’t terrible? Willis Black. The kid as a great record, is still young, and looks to be in a good position to do some things in this sport.
The Call-Up
AL: Missed Fists alum Yoshinori Horie will be entering enemy territory when he fights Calgary’s Hakeem Dawodu at UFC 240 in Edmonton, Alberta, on July 27.
JM: You may recall Horie from Missed Fists earlier this year where he knocked out Hiroshige Tanaka in brutal fashion.
Yoshinori Horie (@yossy05101) strikes again, starching Hiroshige Tanaka in round one! The former Neo Blood MVP has scored five of his last six wins by knockout, four in the opening frame. Keep an eye on this top Japanese prospect, now 8-1 in his young career. #Pancrase303 pic.twitter.com/SLgnjBIszA
— Kyle Johnson (@VonPreux) March 17, 2019
Here’s what I wrote at the time:
That was awesome. I love the way that Tanaka basically dies into Horie’s arms. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen someone get KO’ed into perfect rear-naked choke position before but that’s why we love this sport.
Also, don’t look now but Horie is 8-1 as a pro and only 23 years old. This kid is definitely someone to keep an eye on going forward.
Once again it appears my words were prescient.
AL: Who will be next to be blessed by the words of Jed Meshew (and @VonPreux)? Stay tuned to Missed Fists to find out!
Poll
What was the most memorable Missed Fists moment this week?
This poll is closed
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31%
Artur Arutyunyan brings the rolling thunder
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12%
Siyovush Gulmamadov’s mystery submission
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20%
Chi Lewis-Parry’s face-shattering one-shot KO
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14%
Lom-Ali Nalgiev steals a man’s soul
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11%
Craig Jones submits "Rumble" in under a minute
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9%
Other (leave comment below)
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.