With Bellator, Glory, RFA, WSOF, XFC, and damn-near any promotion *not* named UFC all holding events over the weekend, there was simply too much action for one understaffed and grossly underpaid MMA outlet to cover. So rather than give you long and boring results recaps of each event (that you’ve already read elsewhere), we’re going to bring you the cream of the crop, the highlights of the highlights, in the form of these gifs, vines, and videos from each event. Capiche?
We begin with easily the most horrifying gif of the bunch, taken from Saturday’s XTreme Fighting Championships International 11 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Just over a minute into a featherweight contest between Guilherme Faria and Missael Silva de Souza Falcao Feijao dos Santos Ruiz (or simply Silva for short), Faria unleashed a monster left hand that zombified his opponent, leaving Silva with the worst knockout face since that one Asian “Faces of Death” kickboxer. Had Silva opted to enjoy a post-fight wank session, there’s not a doubt in my mind that this gif would already have a Potato Award locked up.
Check out a plethora of uber-violent gifs from WSOF, Bellator, and more after the jump.
Next up, a gif that is equal parts predictable (Tito Ortiz losing) and surprising (via submission) from the finishing sequence of Bellator 142′s main event. In what we can only pray was Ortiz’s final final performance, the former UFC champ turned Bellator challenger started off strong with some nasty ground-n-pound. Towards the end of the first round, however, Ortiz got tangled up in the spider web that champion Liam McGeary’s guard has become, forcing him to use the ol’ “Brazilian tap” to get out of an armbar. Unfortunately, Ortiz then slammed himself directly into a reverse triangle and was forced to tap for reals, awarding McGeary the victory with just 20 seconds left in the round.
In case you’re wondering, yes, Tito did manage to completely steal McGeary’s moment in the post-fight interview, as well as remind everyone that, and I quote, ”I’m a legend, or people call me a legend, or whatever.” Way to represent your heritage and your race, Tito.
The first round of Bellator’s 4-man light heavyweight went rather smoothly by all accounts, with King Mo picking up an easy decision win over Linton Vassell to kick off the main card. On the other end of the bracket, former UFC top contender Phil Davis took on former Bellator champ Emanuel Newton, and damn if he didn’t make it look easy. Davis took Newton to the mat early and often before — in a complete departure from the fighter we came to know in the UFC — finishing The Big Homie with a kimura in the first round.
And if you thought that was crazy, just wait until you see this…
Remember how we said everything was going smoothly in the *first* round of Bellator’s tournament? Well, the thing about that is, it kind of fell apart after that.
Yes, King Mo was forced to withdraw from his second fight after tearing cartilage in his ribs in the Vassell fight, which bumped former UFC middleweight Francis Carmont (who had picked up a decision win over Anthony Ruiz earlier in the night) into the tournament finale against Davis.
And then…the unthinkable happened. You’ll have to check it out for yourself, because my computer is not allowing me to type “Phil Davis” and the word that we know as “knockout” less than seven words apart.
Over at WSOF 23, Justin Gaethje clashed with Luis Palomino in an immediate rematch of their WSOF 19 “Fight of the Year” contender from back in March. The fight lived up to expectations, turning into another gritty barnburner that saw both men bloodied and battered in under two rounds, as did the finish. The sound of that right hand, lawdy…
WSOF 23 also saw crimefighter turned MMA fighter Phoenix Jones bounce back from a defeat in his WSOF debut in April via a submission of Roberto Yong with the ever-rare leg scissors choke midway through the second round. Thankfully, the ref on hand was able to recognize Young’s tap before we had another Kim Couture-level disaster on our hands. The win improves to Jones to 6-1-1 as a pro overall.
Finally, we have this absolutely brutal falling tree KO which transpired in a light heavyweight tilt between Tomislav Spahovic and Gustav Dietz at FFC 19 on Friday . The only thing more ridiculous than the speed at which Spahovic crashes to the canvas is the absolute lack of emotion the announcers display upon watching it happen. Joe Rogan would have burst a blood vessel in his taint and these guys treated it like the golf announcers in that Geico Kraken ad. That’s some true professionalism, folks.
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