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.
One of the most important criteria when scoring a fight is determining the effectiveness of any given strike. As we all know, you can land 50 significant strikes, but if your opponent lands one that rocks you or knocks you down, it tips the scales in their favor. It’s when neither competitor is visibly affected by the back-and-forth blows that a fight becomes difficult to score, because unless you’re one of the two athletes in there, it’s not really possible to tell exactly how much impact the strikes are having.
Fortunately, we do have an objective way of measuring the power of a knockout punch: How far it sends a mouthpiece flying.
(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)
Michael Alsop vs. Jesse WynneKallum Parker vs. Emmanuel Ritti
From Eternal MMA 99 (available on UFC Fight Pass) in Perth, Australia, Michael Alsop hit Jesse Wynne with a right hand that caused Wynne’s mouthpiece to travel at least 10 feet.
Coincidentally, that’s also the distance the referee was standing from the fighters when Alsop went in for a couple more unnecessary ground strikes. Seriously, what purpose was he serving being on the other side of the cage?
Let’s hope someone picked up the equipment at least. Maybe Wynne earned a few Frequent Flyer Miles for his troubles.
Kallum Parker just walked through Emmanuel Ritti, shrugging off any Ritti resistance and marching forward for a thudding knockout.
Elias Rodriguez vs. Dylan BookerBryce Woerner vs. Trevor GriceFinn Martin vs. Trevor Linderman
Elias Rodriguez smelled blood at LFA 219 (also on Fight Pass) and he recklessly closed the distance with a jumping knee to the body and a lunging left hook. Sloppy as it sounds, it kind of worked, and moments later Dylan Booker was left slumped against the cage.
There was nothing lucky about that finish as Rodriguez landed a hard right to the side of Bookers’ head, then followed with a brutal uppercut.
Bryce Woerner fights out of Tennessee, so I don’t really get to make a joke about how he wasn’t leaving town without taking home a souvenir-in this case, Trevor Grice’s neck-but you get the idea.
It was just a bad day for Trevor’s, with Trevor Linderman seemingly being in good position to beat Finn Martin, only for Martin to turn the tables and win a bloody battle.
That all happened in Round 1, by the way.
Bill Lewis vs. Lucas Cortes
We have one more trip to take with Fight Pass to Cage Fury FC 147, where Bill Lewis made his pro debut in style, scoring a spinning backfist knockout of Lucas Cortes.
Hopefully he knocked Cortes right into a better haircut.
Gianni Vazquez vs. Narek AvagyanYassin Saededdin vs. Daniel Labastida
Hopping over to Commerce, Calif, we have Up Next Fighting 28 and the two most picturesque knockouts of the week.
Vazquez successfully defended his flyweight title by driving a flying knee right up into Navek Avagya’s chin (look, another mouthpiece gets some air!), while Yassin Saededdin delivered a front kick to da face in his amateur bout against Daniel Labastida.
Yan Saenko vs. Magomed Omarkadiev
Blink and you might have missed Yan “Laura” Saenko sneaking in a knockout right hook on Magomed Omarkadiev at an RCC event in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
OK, that’s not his real nickname, but imagine if it was?
Jason Seddoh vs. Vinay Kundu
I don’t know what was going on here at this ONE Friday Fights matchup, but I wish I could hop in the time machine and shout “Brother, watch for the upkicks!”
By my count, that’s three on-the-money kicks thrown by Jason Seddoh off of his back and for whatever reason Vinay Kundu just dared him to keep doing it. The results speak for themselves.
A free replay of ONE Friday Fights 128 is available on YouTube.
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 X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.
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