At Rizin Fighting Federation 2, Charles Bennett talked the talk, then walked the walk, then talked the talk some more. And when it was all done, he had singlehandedly fashioned one of the most memorable MMA performances in recent memory.
The key highlights: a seven-second knockout win and a new chapter or three in “Krazy Horse” Bennett’s long-simmering feud with Wanderlei Silva.
Rizin 2, which took place in the famed Saitama Super Arena outside Tokyo and aired early Sunday morning on the East Coast, included a bout between the strange and flamboyant Krazy Horse and Minoru Kimura, a Silva protege making his pro MMA debut.
First, Bennett wore a T-shirt to the ring with the phrase “who needs an old axe” written on it in marker, in a clear reference to Silva, whose nickname is “The Axe Murderer.”
Kimura recklessly rushed forward and was rewarded with a straight punch to the face. Seconds later, Krazy Horse had the knockout and his 30th pro victory.
After the fight, Bennett took the mic and called out Silva, asking for $300,000 to make the fight happen.
“Candylei, I’m not going to even say it, but 300K,” Bennett said in the ring (h/t Danny Segura of MMA Fighting). “Candylei, for the record, you know what happened in 2005, and that’s why you’re still salty. That’s why you’re still trying to get some of this, but you can’t get none of this unless you put it on contract. You put it on contract, then you can get some and other than that, every time your big-steroid-head ass see me.”
Apparently that demand wasn’t such a hard-and-fast rule.
Before the bout, the two got into it in the Rizin hotel.
After Bennett’s win, longtime fight promoter Campbell McLaren tweeted a photo not long after that appeared to show Silva and Bennett in a backstage altercation.
It’s not the first time they’ve mixed it up outside the cage. Back in 2005, the two famously mixed it up, with Silva pal Cristiano Marcello choking Bennett unconscious—only for Bennett to regain consciousness and knock Silva out cold.
Ah, MMA.
It’s unclear when, or whether, these two might fight. Silva is now scheduled to face Mirko Cro Cop in the next round of Rizin‘s ongoing open-weight grand prix.
What is clear is that Bennett is, while probably not overly stable, one of MMA’s most unabashed showmen. A grudge match between Krazy Horse and The Axe Murderer would surely move plenty of metaphorical units.
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