Fight fans witnessed a rather unique finish late Friday night (Oct. 4, 2024) at Combat at the Garden from inside the Theatre At Madison Square Garden in New York City, as one fighter got knocked out cold and then bounced off the ropes like a wacky inflatable tube man.
While the attention of the combat world will focus on Alex Pereira’s UFC light heavyweight title defense opposite Khalil Rountree later this evening at UFC 307 (details HERE), hardcore fight fans were still searching for some violence on Friday night. Luckily, Ring of Combat’s card from NYC delivered some memorable action for those who couldn’t wait until Saturday.
One of the undercard matchups featured Canadian kickboxer, Samuel Bunche, go up against New York’s own, Zongo Boureima, for the vacant ROC lightweight championship. The amateur bout certainly wasn’t anything to write home about on paper, but it delivered one of the most memorable and uncanny knockout finishes of the year.
The stoppage came with just about one minute left in the very first round. Both lightweights were exchanging heavy hands along the ropes as Bunche stepped in with a reaching left hook. The punch connected and instantly shut the lights off. Boureima went completely stiff, crashed backwards into the ropes, and bounced back off. It was a weird sequence of events to the least.
Check it out in the above video player.