Midnight Mania! Watch Insane International B-Ball Brawl

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A massive brawl broke out today in an international game between Australia and the Philippines. There were elbows, flying punches and knees, a ludicrously bad side kick, ground and pound, chairs thrown, and a total of 13 players ejected. The game went on, 5 vs. 3, until 2 MORE Filipino players fouled out. With 5 vs. 1 no one’s idea of a game, the referees called it and Australia had won it handily. They didn’t exactly win the brawl, though, as the Filipinos got more than their fair share of licks in during the Battle Royale on the court.

I’m here to break down what happened and rate the technique involved.

First, the forearm thrown by the Filipino, Roger Ray Pogoy to knock down Chris Goulding, who will get the very worst of this brawl: 4/10. It looked like more of a body check, and I don’t think the elbow even landed, but Goulding sold it as a foul, this of course being basketball. (For the alpha version of that elbow, check out this unbelievable knockout) The retaliation elbow by Daniel Kickert, though, is much more brutal. It’s not exactly a Muay Thai elbow, but it levels Pogoy effectively; that’s about as good as you can expect from a non-combat-sports athlete.

The follow-up gets pretty crazy, and there is a LOT going on. This chair throw at Nathan Sobey gets an 8 out of 10.

At 3:51 of the top video, #7 William Jayson came in with a flying jab on Kickert that with a little work, could have been thrown by GSP himself. I’ll give it 7/10 for the hops and also because Jayson’s jersey number is 7. The human sandwich of punches on Australia’s #2 Nathan Sobey were effective, but didn’t land cleanly, so I won’t rate them. Thon Maker’s flying knee (5/10) didn’t crack anyone, but was not bad as a way to jump into a crowd of people, as he landed and knocked down several. He proceeded to ruin it with his subsequent side kick, which was terrible, and didn’t land at all- 0/10. In between his flying knee and his side kick, one of the Filipinos attempted a hammerfist on the downed #2 but was tripped by an Australian. The hammerfist was also 0/10, but A for effort.

Then Kickert, who was running away from the crowd of blue shirts, attempted a retreating check hook, which also didn’t land, but did keep the Filipino chaser off him; ditto for the missed right hand he threw at another player a moment later. 2/10 on both attempts.

Chris Goulding, the original guy who flopped to his back after the foul, appears to have ended up on the bottom of a pile-up along with Nathan Sobey. I couldn’t see those punches, but that didn’t look fun and Sobey was in apparent pain after his teammates finally dragged him out from under the mass of swarming blue shirts.

And finally, 10/10 for this dirty shot by what appears to a be a Filipino official, who lands a haymaker as poor Nathan Sobey is being restrained by a security guard.

Fighting in a crowd of people is extremely difficult and chaotic- even professional fighters aren’t always that effective.

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Insomnia

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