Missed Fists: Ary Santos loses Shooto Brasil title fight after slamming own head, more

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.

The NBA is back. The MLB is back (well, maybe not so much). It seems like everyone in the sporting world is starting to resume operations in some form, but even as we return to familiar distractions, let us not forget that our old friend MMA was here all along.

A comfort for many, though probably not some of the poor souls on the wrong end of these viral clips. Case in point: Ary Santos.

Rangel de Sa vs. Ary Santos
Adercino de Jesus vs. Victor Romero
Victor Perciliano vs. Wilherson Jackson
Keweny Lopes vs. Jaciel Lima
Valesca Machado vs. Karen Thalita

AL: That, everyone, is how a slam can go horribly, horribly wrong.

JM: These kind of slams always shock me because like... Why? You’re an athlete, you’ve spent years training your body and, considering you’re a fighter, should have a strong sense of your own body. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW YOU’RE SLAMMING DOWN ON YOUR OWN HEAD?! It just never makes sense to me.

AL: From a Shooto Brasil show in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, that’s how 23-year-old Rangel de Sa won the promotion’s 166-pound title. By NOT being the fighter who drove his own head into the canvas.

JM: It seems like that’s a pretty low bar to clear for winning a title: not being a doofus.

AL: Eerily similar to the qualifications to be a member of the MMA media.

Thank goodness Ary Santos seemed mostly okay after. Well, as okay as one can be after nearly injuring one’s neck and then having said neck attacked with a D’Arce.

Really, it looked like Santos ended up in better condition than Victor Romero, who was getting lit up by Adercino de Jesus before ending up face down on the mat himself.

JM: Serious question: would you rather be the smart hurt guy or the foolish less-hurt guy? I think I’d rather be the brave gentleman who just met his match than the self-immolating one whose match is basic concepts of self-preservation.

AL: Last week, we saw boxer Eric Moon attempt to stop, drop, and roll after taking a hard shot from Edgar Berlanga. It did not save Moon from being counted out and I’m afraid to say that it isn’t a particularly effective technique in MMA either.

Here’s Victor Perciliano sending Wilherson Jackson for a tumble.

JM: Unfortunate for Jackson that Herb Dean wasn’t reffing. He’d have gotten another full minute to recover.

You know who isn’t recovering? Jaciel Lima. Oof.

AL: That celebration attempt though?

You know something strange happened when the guy getting knocked out cold isn’t the most embarrassed person in the clip.

This next body shot KO by Valesca Machado didn’t seem so bad at first glance, but after seeing Karen Thalita’s reaction I’m comfortable saying that it was much worse than it looked.

My professional diagnosis? AAAOOOWWWOOOWWWWW

Do you concur, doctor?

JM: You know that I actually am a doctor, right? Dr. Jed Meshew is my official title. Along with King of Between the Links. But that’s neither here nor there. Much like Thalita’s insides which are neither in her body nor outside her body. They now exist entirely in the astral realm, confined to another, more painful plane of existence.

AL: Machado, 25, is on a six-fight win streak and well on her way to joining the strawweight division of a bigger promotion.

Young Hoon Lee vs. Jong Heon Park
Dong Hyun Seo vs. Shin Ho Kang
Jun Gyo Kim vs. Jong Gi Ahn

It’s become somewhat of a cliche to describe South Korean fighters as hard-headed sluggers and I’m here to tell you that Saturday’s Double G show (free replay available on YouTube) in Seoul did absolutely nothing to dispel this notion.

Here’s Young Hoon Lee and Jong Heon Park with a display of striking that isn’t going to win any technical awards, but produced a blockbuster finish nonetheless.

JM: Who needs technique when you can just SWANG THEM THANGS, BABY!

AL: This next KO doesn’t generate quite the same warm feelings as Dong Hyun Seo made Shin Ho Kang pay for completely dropping his defenses while getting back to his feet.

JM: Jeez. That’s a real big brothering right there. The held-down head and hammers, letting him up and disdainfully kicking his head into the stands, all of it. What an absolute mauling.

AL: And here’s one more brutal KO, courtesy of Jun Gyo Kim:

Two on the feet and then two on the ground for flinching, I guess.

JM: I like that the head kick almost was like a feint. It doesn’t land super clean, but really what it does is open him up for the one-two lightning bolt. That was awesome.

Kevin Ruart vs. Ion Surdu
Mochamed Machaev vs. Ciprian Maris

AL: At Brave CF 36 (replay available on FITE TV PPV) in Bucuresti, Romania, this past Monday, undefeated prospects Ion Surdu and Mochamed Machaev were both in action. Only one would leave the event with their 0 in tow.

Surdu was putting it on Kevin Ruart in the first round of the welterweight co-main event when Ruart decided enough was enough:

JM: Man, things were going so well only to go so poorly. Surdu just lapsed for a second and that’s all it took.

AL: That’s a hell of a way to hand a prospect their first loss.

Twenty-year-old Machaev fared much better, looking incredibly sharp in his fight with Cipriam Maris before finishing in round two.

According to Euro MMA Hub, Machaev is currently putting in work at Allstars Training Centre in Stockholm, Sweden, alongside current UFC two-division No. 1 contender Khamzat Chimaev. Machaev has been fighting anywhere from 135 to 155 pounds, but projects as a contender at bantamweight.

JM: He is definitely a contender at 135 and could still have a future at 145. Machaev is very talented. Man, what this Machaev and Khamzat Chimaev, Allstars is kicking out some hotshot prospects right now.

Phirabhat Sitdokjik vs. Den Teded99

AL: We take a break from MMA programming to bring you this adventure in officiating (the good kind!) from a Rajadamnern Stadium muay Thai show in Thailand.

Yes, the KO is awesome, but a round of applause for this referee with the textbook fighter catch and bout stoppage.

JM: What a save from the referee. That’s how you protect a fighter!

AL: And shout-out to Muaythai2000, an incredibly comprehensive site that we used to identify the fighters in the above clip.

Rodrigo de Moura vs. Mauricio Almeida

Over at Mr. Cage 41 (free replay available on Facebook) in Amazonas, Brazil, on Saturday, we saw arguably the best submission of the week as Rodrigo de Moura just made a mess of Mauricio Almeida’s arm.

JM: That is basically a recreation of my performance against you on Between the Links this week. Ruthless, efficient, painful.

AL: This is like the kind of talk the world would have had to deal with if Conor McGregor beat Khabib Nurmagomedov. Insufferable.

Anna Remneva vs. Ekaterina Klyusnikova
Andrey Shilimov vs. Viktor Kichigin

AL: In association with M-1 Global, here’s Fight Club Sech action from MMA SERIES-11 this past Saturday in St. Petersburg, Russia.

This featherweight matchup between Anna Remneva vs. Ekaterina Klyusnikova raised several questions...

… one of which is, how do you say, “Ilima-Lei Macfarlane vs. Soccer Mom” in Russian?

JM: Look, a lot of people are gonna blast Klyusnikova here but honestly, full credit to her. She might not be very good but she was game as hell. She kept eating shots and scrapping as best she could. Sometimes you are just outmatched but you can’t doubt the heart.

AL: We wrap up this week by going from Russian soccer mom to to Kazakh MMA mom as Mama Kichigin was front and center for her youngest son Viktor’s latest fight. You may remember Kichigin being cageside for Viktor’s older twin brothers Georgiy and Grigoriy at any number of fights in recent years, or the time she slapped the sh*t out of Viktor after he lost.

There she was again on Saturday, proudly cornering her son to no avail as Kichigin fell to 20-6 with a loss to the unheralded Andrey Shilimov (7-2).

JM: I love the complete lack of rules here. Just letting Mama Kichigin walk around the cage and berate her son while he’s getting worked over.

Also, at what point does she start to think maybe she’s not helping by being there? The results aren’t in her favor it seems.

AL: I don’t know about you, but I think I’d rather pay to see Mama Kichigin’s backstage berating of Viktor than I would Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr.

JM: I mean, about the same. Both are shameful, depressing sights that will make you feel dirty inside but that you would not be able to look away from, no matter how sad.