(Props to the UG for the find. Skip to the 1 minute mark for the start of the action.)
Over the years, we’ve seen all kinds of reactions to the somewhat customary yet completely optional touch of gloves at the beginning of an MMA fight. Manny Gamburyan used the opportunity to kick Jeff Cox in the chest at Fight Night 13 back in 2008, and although he won that fight, “The Anvil” was punished by the karma gods with two straight losses and a pink slip shortly thereafter. Convicted heroin smuggler Paul Kelly attempted a similarly dirty move against Donald Cerrone at UFC 126, then tried acting like he didn’t mean to after he was choked out some seven minutes later. And don’t even get us started on JR Fuller, the patron saint of fake glove-tappers.
Then there are guys like Firuz Karomatov, a Malaysian fighter who, according to his Sherdog profile, stands at 0’0″ and fights at N/Aweight. Karomatov made his professional MMA debut at MFC 6 a couple weeks back, and as is often the case with severely undersized people, he clearly had a chip on his shoulder heading into the fight. And when his opponent, Muhammad Hakim biz Azmi, held his glove out to perform the classic “At Arm’s Length” prank? You better believe that Firuz responded by kicking his bully opponent in the head and blitzkrieging the disrespectful bastard until he lay unconscious on the mat some 15 seconds later.
To be fair, you could make the argument that biz Azmi was not taunting Firuz and was simply trying to be a good sport, but what fun is that? JUSTICE: SERVED.
