Pre-fight antics, particularly at press conferences, weigh-ins, and stare-downs — usually involve pushing and shoving, verbal jabs, and heated confrontations, however, rarely if ever have we witness a fighter spring from his feet with a flying knee — knocking an opponent out cold at a pre-fight face-off.
In a video that surfaced on Twitter over the weekend, two unidentified fighters competing under the bare knuckle fighting promotion, Zames Fight Club engaged on a Saturday face-off prior to a sanctioned bout the following day.
The event billed as ZAMES FC 3 was set to take place in Minsk, Belarus per Tapology — however, during a pre-fight face-off, a fighter is caught flush with a massive flying knee — knocking him unconscious, before security corralled the assailant as the fighter attempts to return to his feet. It’s currently unknown if the scheduled bout between the two competing fighters actually took place as a result of the physical altercation.
Physical altercations at pre-fight face-offs aren’t entirely uncommon, however, an opponent throwing a flying knee strike is certainly something out of the ordinary.
Of note, former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion, Conor McGregor has been involved in three quite high-profile pre-fight face-off skirmishes, the most recent of which just last month at UFC 264 — where he attempted to kick three-time opponent, former interim lightweight champion, Dustin Poirier at a pre-fight press conference — inadvertently clipping UFC president, Dana White.
Back in October 2018, McGregor, then challenging the now-retired, Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight championship at UFC 229 — the Dubliner again attempted to kick the hand of Khabib at the ceremonial weigh-ins — before he was corralled once more.
Ahead of a UFC 196 short notice headliner against two-time opponent, Nate Diaz, McGregor engaged in a face-off where the 33-year-old punched the hand of Diaz as the two met face to face before their welterweight main event bout.
UFC lightweight, Jeremy Stephens was pulled from a bout with Drakkar Klose earlier this year as well after he pushed the contender forcibly ahead of a matchup, resulting in a neck injury and concussion for Klose who required medical attention and hospitalisation as a result.