Video: Yusuke Yachi annihilated his Bellator Japan opponent with a brutal soccer kick

Yusuke Yachi lands a crushing soccer kick to the face of Hiroto Uesako at Bellator 237. | Esther Lin | MMA Fighting

Yusuke Yachi had the highlight of the night for Bellator 237, but because of broadcast restrictions, almost nobody got to see it.

When it came to its undercard bouts, Bellator 237: Fedor vs. Rampage was a bit of a mess. Initially, what ended up as a series of postlim fights were advertised as being available to fans around the world streaming live online. However, as the day of the event arrived, it became clear that wasn’t going to be the case. Due to local broadcast restrictions, only Japanese fans watching on TV – or in the arena – got to see the eight fights that followed Fedor Emelianenko’s first round knockout of Rampage Jackson in the main event.

They missed Shoma Shibisai’s leg lock submission of Sergey Shemetov, Jon Tuck’s first round KO of Ryuichiro Sumimura, and Kanna Asakura’s 3rd round kimura submission win over Jayme Hinshaw. But, most importantly, fans were robbed of the chance to see RIZIN finishing machine Yusuke Yachi add another amazing highlight to his reel.

In the final bout of the night, Yusuke faced longtime DEEP staple Hiroto Uesako. And after landing a crushing right hook late in round 3, followed it up with a PRIDE style soccer kick right to the jaw. Check the highlights below:

The win marked the first victory for Yusuke since taking a split decision over Diego Nunes back at RIZIN 10 in May of 2018. In the time since, he’s dropped three straight bouts to Luiz Gustavo, Johnny Case, and Mikuru Asakura—all of whom are fighting on RIZIN’s 2019 NYE card. With the victory, the Krazy Bee fighter brings his record up to 20-9, with eight stoppage wins.