Do we have the next Kimbo Slice on our hands?
Mayura Dissanayake, also known as the “Karate Clerk” or simply “Gas Station Guy,” made headlines around the nation and globe in July when he used his MMA training to fight off a group of would-be robbers visiting his Houston convenience store.
On Saturday, Dissanayake brandished his skills against a more worthy opponent, though this one didn’t fare much better than the last ones. The native Sri Lankan knocked out Jaime Garcia with punches after a mere 18 seconds of action in their amateur fight at the Savarese Promotions’ “Bayou Throwdown” in Houston (h/t MMAJunkie).
Dissanyake, whose official nickname is “Top Gun,” is listed as 2-1 as a pro fighter by Sherdog’s Fight Finder database.
Saturday’s bout appeared to take place at welterweight. The rangy Dissanayake snapped off some leg kicks before catching Garcia with a left hand as Garcia rushed forward. Garcia hit the mat, and a flurry of ground strikes sealed the deal.
The ending was almost as dramatic as the last time Dissanayake appeared on video. At that point, he fought off several assailants, including one who was later arrested.
“I just kicked him until he lay down on the floor,” Dissanayake said at the time of the robbery attempt, according to a report from Houston television station KPRC. “Until he stopped moving cause I wasn’t sure if he had a knife or a gun so I wanted him to stop moving.”
Police arrested one of the men, identified as 33-year-old Odell Mathis, and charged him with robbery with bodily injury.
Dissanayake said he had been training in MMA for about a decade.
He wouldn’t be the first MMA fighter to rise to prominence with the assistance of YouTube and other social media. Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson gained plenty of fame for winning a series of backyard brawls in his native Miami, which were captured on video and later shared on the web. Although he became a bit of an MMA folk hero, he left the sport in 2010 with a pro record of 4-2.
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