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.
We begin this week’s episode with some bad news: Saturday’s Fight Circus Vol. 3 show has once again been pushed back due to COVID-19 concerns, which means we’ll have to wait even longer to see Phone Booth Lethwei and 2-on-1 champions Bank and No Money take on actual UFC veteran Will Chope.
While there’s no substitute for literal phone booth fighting, we do have some multi-man action in Poland to discuss and it is incredible.
3 vs. 3 Bare-knuckle Boxing
AL: A promotion called The War ran its inaugural event last Friday and the festivities included a four-team, three-on-three bare-knuckle boxing tournament that—shocker—didn’t exactly go as planned.
Let’s begin with a look at the second of the night’s two six-man matches:
— Matysek (@Matysek88) June 11, 2021
There’s a lot to break down here, so let’s just get your first impressions for now.
JM: My first impression is that life is meaningless and devoid of happiness. WHY MMA GODS?! You couldn’t let us have Fight Circus, could you? The lethwei phone booth was flying too close to the sun you vengeful old coots.
Now with that out of the way, at least we got some other combat sports insanity to keep us engaged. I love me a good, old-fashioned gang fight.
AL: I’m not entirely sure what happened to the dude on the right, but he was never in this one. His buddy didn’t last long either, leaving one guy to fend off three opponents at once and that went about as well as could be expected.
JM: Every time we see a multiple dudes vs. multiple dudes fight, be it 3-on-3, 4-on-4, or even 5-on-5, I’m amazed at how awful it is from a tactics perspective. It always looks just like this. Each person squares up against someone else and the first team to drop someone wins. What we need to see here is teamwork.
Instead of running headlong into a battlefield solo, work together and try to maximize your opportunities to create 2-on-1 situations. Even something as simple as two guys stand next to each other and when their opponents rush them, each man blindsides his opponent’s guy instead of meeting them head on would be an improvement.
What I’m saying is, the world of sanctioned gang fights is the most underdeveloped part of combat sports and we need more of it.
AL: Our lucky winners here were supposed to meet the team who emerged victorious from the first semifinal matchup, but here’s what happened in the first semifinal matchup.
np bro, first semi was even wilder, that's the fight 2 guys got injured pic.twitter.com/OJ25U0yDPg
— Matysek (@Matysek88) June 11, 2021
As you can see, this one took considerably longer and thus, had considerably higher potential for calamity. According to @Matysek88, two of the fighters in this semifinal were injured and the finals will take place at a later date. So there’s something to look forward to.
JM: See! Again, with the soloing up, but at least in this one we saw some teamwork. And look how effective it was! I guarantee you that a unified group of welterweights could take down a team of individualized light heavyweights. We just lack the coaching for this, the future sport of kings.
Boban Ilioski vs. Mesud Selimovic
AL: Amazing knockouts seem almost mundane now, don’t they? But we must press on, and we begin on a high note with this high knee by Boban Ilioski from a Road to ONE kickboxing bout in Belgrade, Serbia (event available for PPV replay on FITE TV).
A knockout of the year candidate all the way from Serbia pic.twitter.com/XKDOCznIS5
— Cerebral Vigilante (@Delisketo) June 14, 2021
At first I thought this came out of nowhere, but Iloski really conditioned Mesud Selimovic with his boxing to open up that gap in the defense.
JM: God love Delisketo but that ain’t no KO of the Year. It’s a solid knee but it doesn’t even flatline our guy. KO of the Week, maybe, but not KO of the Year.
Tae Young Yoon vs. Sang Kwon Han
Gi Hoon Ryu vs. Jae Hyuk Heo
AL: Road FC affiliate ARC was bringing the pain on Saturday, both physically and emotionally, as we had a vicious chokeout courtesy of Tae Young Yoon and a vicious knockout of beloved singer-fighter (and not the other way around) Jae Hyuk Heo.
Yoon sapped the life out of Sang Kwon Han with a guillotine choke.
Yoon Tae-Young choked Hang Sang-Kwon to sleep this morning at ARC 005. No escaping that guillotine. #ARC005 pic.twitter.com/Z0Ockzskva
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
JM: It’s fitting that Tae Young Yoon choked the life out Sang Kwon Han because Trae Young is currently choking the life out of the Philadelphia 76ers and SKH has long been known as “The Process” of MMA.
(Really I just wanted to use this as an opportunity to say, Hawks in 6, BABY!)
AL: Don’t pull something on that reach.
As for Heo, he suffered his fourth straight knockout loss and this one was real bad.
Gi Hoon Ryu KO's Jae Hyuk Heo at #ARC005 earlier today. The super-heavyweight division is thriving. pic.twitter.com/toa9Bbtzp1
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
Maybe this is the sign he needs that it’s time to head to Nashville to pursue his true passion.
JM: God I love this. Super heavyweight is the purest form of MMA.
Temirkhan Temirkhanov vs. Ulugbek Oskanov
Vitaliy Boev vs. Ruslan Bekzad
Aleksey Garminov vs. Mukhriddin Soataliev
AL: Not to be outdone, MMA SERIES 34 in Ufa, Russia, also brought us a knockout and a submission to remember.
Temirkhan Temirkhanov rearranged Ulugbek Oskanov’s jaw with a head kick off of a break and it’s probably a good thing Oskanov’s mouthpiece went flying or it might have become permanently fused with his gums.
Temirkhan Temirkhanov finishes Ulugbek Oskanov with a nasty high kick off the break. Lawd. Kicked his mouthpiece out. #MMASeries34 pic.twitter.com/ep4Ant4Jv2
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
JM: You know, we’ve seen enough fighters get hit with this exact strike that you’d think it wouldn’t happen anymore. But alas, some dudes are always trying to swim upstream.
AL: On the grappling side of things, we had Vitaliy Boev setting up maybe the most prolonged reverse triangle I’ve ever seen. But it worked!
Sick reverse triangle choke by Vitaliy Boev #MMASeries34 pic.twitter.com/B1vzdvaHw8
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
And before you ask, yes, this was the first MMA fight for both guys.
JM: Reverse triangles are art, and you don’t rush art! (Unless it’s Art Jimmerson. You can rush the hell out that dude, just ask Royce).
AL: MMA SERIES 34 also gave us our Humpty Dumpty fall of the week as poor Mukhriddin Soataliev had his world turned upside down by Aleksey Garminov’s incredible counter punch to the body.
Aleksey Garminov KO's Mukhriddin Soataliev in 30 seconds. Gotdamn - #MMASeries34 pic.twitter.com/9HjtYcfAg7
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
JM: Shades of Diaz-Lawler with that jab KO. Beautifully timed.
Wendris Patilima vs. Theodorus Ginting
AL: At One Pride MMA Fight Night 46: Fight for Pride (incredible) on Saturday, we had an absolute scorcher of a main event as unbeaten welterweights Wendris Patilima and Theodorus Ginting faced off in a championship bout. You can see some of the highlights here, including Patilima finding a way to subdue Ginting in the third:
Insane main event at One Pride FN in Indonesia
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
Wendris "The Bad Boy" Patilima def. Theodorus Ginting for the One Pride welterweight title. pic.twitter.com/w32OvOTjn3
This is pretty standard for ONE Pride fights, which often start at “brawl” and escalate from there.
JM: That was absolute chaos. I love it when a fighter mugs at his opponent and then the opponent obliges by kicking the ever-loving s*it out of him. I also loved the disrespectful “get off me” shove from Patilima that set up the RNC finish. That was dope.
Ilya Sukonnikov vs. Ruslan Betsenaev
Eso Sokhibkadamov vs. Nazomjon Samiev
Jonny Parsons vs. Ricardo Chavez
AL: And now we wrap on some quick hits, though in actuality these highlights took some time to play out.
First, from Open FC 5 in Samara, Russia, Ilya Sukonnikov smoked Ruslan Betsenaev with a shotgun spin kick to the body.
Wow. Beautiful spinning back kick to the liver by Ilya Sukonnikov #OpenFC5 pic.twitter.com/yD28EirZKu
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 12, 2021
JM: Liver shots remain the worst thing. That had to feel like his internal organs just exploded on him. Oof.
AL: Staying in Russia, we have Eso Sokhibkadamov showing both great poise and killer instinct at FCC: Selection 7 in Moscow.
KO1 de Eso Sokhibkadamov! Se comio esa patada giratoria como si nada #FFCSelection7 pic.twitter.com/QEweKsMkKS
— Barrele la pierna (@Barrelelapierna) June 12, 2021
I’m pretty sure that head kick caught him clean and just made him angry.
JM: Damn, that wheel kick was so close to getting the job done and instead, our guy eats dirt. It’s a game of inches.
AL: Lastly, iKON Fighting Federation 7 brings us another delayed reaction, this time as a result of Jonny Parsons catching Ricardo Chavez clean on the jaw with a high kick.
Ol Jonny Parsons got 'em again#iKON7 pic.twitter.com/SYf9QUGy4Z
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) June 12, 2021
JM: Gotta love a classic Flair flop and that one was textbook. Rocked on the feet, turns his head and steps to the side, drop. I award him an 8.6 though because he didn’t commit to the faceplant and just toppled on his side instead.
AL: I think that harsh grade is our disappointment over the cancellation of Fight Circus Vol. 3 getting delayed again.
Damn it, why did I bring it up?
Poll
What was the most memorable Missed Fists moment this week?
This poll is closed
-
65%
3-on-3 bare-knuckle boxing
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8%
Boban Ilioski’s jumping knee KO
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7%
Vitaliy Boev’s reverse triangle
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4%
Aleksey Garminov knocks Mukhriddin Soataliev for a loop
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13%
Ilya Sukonnikov’s liver kick
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0%
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.