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.
Handicap matches are nothing new these days (that’s a strange sentence to write) and we’ve covered our fair share in this here feature, but it’s been a while since we’ve given this particularly freakish corner of the combat sports world its due. So let’s head on over to Romania for some good old-fashioned—and completely unnecessary—gang battling.
(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.)
2 vs. 10
This asymmetrical fight happened at a Real Xtreme Fighting event in Romania, where this sort of thing has become commonplace. We’re told this is two heavyweights against 10 amateurs, though after watching a few seconds of this clip, the heavyweights only seem to be slightly more professional.
Jed Meshew and I have often spoken about how difficult it is for one person to fight multiple people, no matter how skilled that one person is, so logic would dictate our pugilistic pair has no chance here. However, there’s also such a thing as having too many competitors on one side, and as you can see in the clip, it’s not easy to find an angle of attack when you’re being crowded by half-a-dozen other dudes.
Think 300, with the enemy army being bottle-necked in such a way they can’t take advantage of their numbers. Not to mention the chaos that ensues when someone goes down and what little formation there is gets completely broken. Add in the obvious size disparity and you can see how this is more like a “It’s not a fair fight… for them” scenario.
Anyway, never sign up for something like this. On either side.
Chad Hinton vs. Gerrit VanBerkel
Going from the bizarre to the sublime, here’s Chad Hinton’s Imanari choke from Nemesis Fighting Alliance event in Arnold, Mo.
Hinton snatched the neck of Gerrit VanBerkel (great name) before rolling back and really cranking. Note how VanBerkel’s right arm is also trapped at a nasty angle. Tap or nap and snap, my friend.
Ortsa Gudaev vs. Rafael Dias
Marcel Adur vs. Rodrigo Monstrinho
For you head kick fiends out there (you know who you are), here’s a couple of fine examples of the technique from a Core FC event in Istanbul and a Brothers Fight Champion event in Florianopolis, Brazil.
In our first clip, Ortsa Gudaev got Rafael Dias to bite on a left hand and leave his chin wide open for a furiously fast kick across the jaw. Dias’s legs go flying out from under him and he hits the mat HARD.
Marcel Adur also caught Rodrigo Monstrinho flinching, tricking him into exposing his head at the wrong time and then WHAMMO face plant.
Oriol Arenas vs. Helio Leal
From a WAR MMA event in Madrid:
We could all follow Oriol Arenas’ example here. Pick your spots, take your shot, and be prepared to react when you land a big one.
Step in, assess the situation, and walk off.
Very zen as far as extremely painful-looking knockouts go.
Sean Clancy Jr. vs. Melvin van Suijdam
Daniel Konrad vs. George Hardwick
Ryan Campbell vs. Faramarz Mohammad
Cage Warriors 199 (replay available on UFC Fight Pass) went down in Newcastle, England, and the highlights were flowing, capped off by Sean Clancy Jr. knocking out Melvin Van Suijdam and claiming an interim welterweight title in style.
Wooooooooooo that was sweet. You can’t set up a 1-2 better than that.
I could say the same for Daniel Konrad’s flying armbar, which he broke out to submit the always entertaining George Hardwick.
That was the second spectacular armbar of the evening, as Ryan Campbell also took a limb home.
Faramarz Mohammad looked like he might take Campbell for a ride, but Campbell blocked the attempt and instantly transitioned into attack mode. Moments later, tap tap tap.
Victor Nunez vs. Hugo Torres
Also available on UFC Fight Pass, we have Lux Fight League 57, where Victor Nunez clearly made up his mind he was not leaving town without a KO.
He walked dude DOWN. Look at Hugo Torres trying to mix the martial arts to slow Nunez down. How cute. He didn’t realize he was dealing with a punch-loving maniac.
Aslan Abidov vs. Artur Levanyan
And Aslan Abidov? Same energy.
Abidov and his opponent Artur Levanyan had a combined, uh, one pro fight between them heading into BetCity Fight Nights 131 in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and that was a formula for excitement as Abidov just let it rip in the final round.
With seconds ticking away, Abidov refused to run out the clock, throwing everything he had into one last punch that miraculously landed and left Levanyan limp.
Never give up!
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.
