(The whole fight is worth watching, but if you’re in a hurry just go ahead and start at 6:30 for the good stuff. VidProps: MegaVideo)
When you have a name as epic as Maximo Blanco I guess you really have no choice but to be the kind of fighter who throws hands with reckless abandon and racks up highlight reel knockouts like they’re going out of style. If you fight primarily in Japan, it’s also OK to have your nickname be “Maxi” and your fighting exploits described as “Maxi Time!” despite what we in the west might see as the uncomfortably close proximity of that name to a certain brand of feminine hygiene products. Regardless, Blanco’s blockbuster knockout of Kiumu Kunioku from Sengoku 15 over the weekend is definitely a worth a watch.
The fight moves along at a pretty good clip for the first six-and-a-half minutes, until Blanco abruptly decides that it’s fuckin’ MAXI TIME. The current lightweight King of Pancrase drops Kunioku with a punch and follows it with a soccer kick that causes the Japanese veteran to snatch desperately for a single leg. Blanco spins free of it (doing sort of an atomic butt drop on Kunioku in the process) and then absolutely crushes him with an uppercut as he tries to stand. You know the rest: Strikes on the ground until the ref stops it while Michael Schiavello yells, “He almost decapitated him! It’s good night freaking Irene!” For once, the play-by-play shouter’s histrionics seem to fit the situation nicely.