Tag: fight videos

Knockout of the Day: Touch Gloves, Throw Head Kick, Moving On

We’ve paid tribute to first-punch knockouts before, but the first-kick knockout is a beast we see far less of in the MMA world, or any combat sport for that matter. Maybe it’s because many fighters don’t feel comfortable exposing themselves by attempting a fight-ending kick when they’ve yet to feel out their opponent, or perhaps it’s because many kicks used early in a fight are for just that: feeling your opponent out. In either case, the crazy bastard in the black trunks who shall remain nameless really couldn’t give two shits about your so-called “tactics” or fancy schmancy “strategery.” Thems things is best left for the book-reading doctor types with their scientist talk and their elevated pinkies and bubbly alcohol drinks, amiright Taters?

So skip ahead to the 1:30 mark to see this feller disregard all of his pappy’s teachings and open the fight with a head kick that scrambles his opponents brains up worse than a June bug in prairie dog hole.

Now start researching other instances of a first-kick knockout and relay them to us in the comments section so we can compile a proper tribute list. Because let’s face it, you guys know way more about this MMA stuff than we do anyway, and we’ll be at the firing range determining which one of your shirt ideas holds up best to our rigorous series of tests for the next few days anyway.

–J. Jones

We’ve paid tribute to first-punch knockouts before, but the first-kick knockout is a beast we see far less of in the MMA world, or any combat sport for that matter. Maybe it’s because many fighters don’t feel comfortable exposing themselves by attempting a fight-ending kick when they’ve yet to feel out their opponent, or perhaps it’s because many kicks used early in a fight are for just that: feeling your opponent out. In either case, the crazy bastard in the black trunks who shall remain nameless really couldn’t give two shits about your so-called “tactics” or fancy schmancy “strategery.” Thems things is best left for the book-reading doctor types with their scientist talk and their elevated pinkies and bubbly alcohol drinks, amiright Taters?

So skip ahead to the 1:30 mark to see this feller disregard all of his pappy’s teachings and open the fight with a head kick that scrambles his opponents brains up worse than a June bug in prairie dog hole.

Now start researching other instances of a first-kick knockout and relay them to us in the comments section so we can compile a proper tribute list. Because let’s face it, you guys know way more about this MMA stuff than we do anyway, and we’ll be at the firing range determining which one of your shirt ideas holds up best to our rigorous series of tests for the next few days anyway.

–J. Jones

Throwback Fight of the Day: Georges St. Pierre’s Controversial Pro Debut Against Ivan Menjivar


(Coors Light?! And here we thought Canadians were passionate about the quality of beer they drink.) 

A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.

And then he took an arrow to the knee.

Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in champion went missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.

But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.

Video after the jump. 


(Coors Light?! And here we thought Canadians were passionate about the quality of beer they drink.) 

A little over a year ago, Georges St. Pierre was riding high. He had defended his belt for the sixth straight time against Jake Shields at an event that both obliterated North American attendance records and satisfied his home country’s need for bloodshed without having to sacrifice his first born child, as is tradition. Although he was being bashed by some critics for his apparent lack of finishing power, “Rush” would quickly meet a challenger that would bring out the inner killer his fans had been waiting for since UFC 83. Needless to say, things were going well for old GSP.

And then he took an arrow to the knee.

Yes, after blowing out his ACL, the welterweight kingpin was forced out of action for so long that even his stand-in champion went missing in an apparent attempt to find him. In the time since we last saw St. Pierre, his beloved homeland of Canada eeked out a respectable 36th place in the Summer Olympics, celebrated the 60th anniversary of one of their biggest television programs, and even closed the book on one of the most bizarre crimes in the country’s history. So overall, it was a decent year for any Canadian not named Georges St. Pierre.

But come November 17th, all that will change for at least one man, as GSP is set to finally make his triumphant return to the cage at UFC 154. And to celebrate his return, we’ve decided to dig up the fight that started it all. It took place in January of 2002 in Montreal and pitted the future champ against future UFC/WEC bantamweight (sheesh) Ivan Menjivar in his professional debut.

As was the case in Jon Jones’ UFC debut against Andre Gusmao, we can see a similar yet less refined fighter in GSP here. Watch in awe as he tests out the superman punch that would eventually find it’s way onto the Sportscenter top 10 when he used it on BJ Penn at UFC 94. Marvel at his superhuman ability to thwart a takedown as he would against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74. But we’ll give Menjivar credit where credit is due; his experience surely helped, but couldn’t possibly make up for his definitive size disadvantage, yet he still managed to take GSP down. Sean Connery approves.

But once St. Pierre is able to capitalize on a Menjivar trip around the 8:40 mark, he unleashes a hailstorm of punches and elbows that, while not enough to put Menjivar out, are apparently enough to get the ref to jump in and call the bout. Definitely an odd ending to an otherwise great bout. St. Pierre would go on to win his next six bouts before being armbarred just before the bell by Matt Hughes at UFC 50 in his first ever welterweight title shot.

St. Pierre would get his revenge not once, but twice on Hughes, and it would be smooth sailing from there on out. Mostly.

–J. Jones

Knockout of the Day: Bhabajeet Chowdhury Spinning Back Kicks Charanjit Singh Into a Living Death at SFL 4


(This is normally where we would place a screencap of the fight. Unfortunately, the quality of SFL streams is so poor that the screencap looked more like a Jackson Pollock than it did anything else and no amount of enhancing could do it justice.) 

As you may or may not know given the plethora of fight action that occurred this past weekend, Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League held their fourth event in Mumbai, India. Now, we have been predicting the collapse of SFL for some time now (turns out we just had the wrong promotion) and when it was reported that CEO Ken Pavia had resigned from the organization, it only fueled similar predictions around the MMA blogosphere. Throw in the fact that SFL couldn’t even reel in Bob Sapp for their fourth event — which was headlined by a 1-2 fighter taking on a 11-8 fighter — and you’ve pretty much got all the ammunition you need for an official deathwatch.

But despite all of the things going against them, SFL’s fourth event turned out to be a modest success, at least in terms of the fights themselves. With the exception of the opening fight between bantamweights Irfan Khan and Kaushik Sen (freaking little guys, amiright Michael?), every fight was finished within the distance and impressively so. But no one, I repeat, no one, could top the knockout turned in by Bhabajeet Chowdhury, which was easily one of the most fantastic finishes we have seen all year.

Video after the jump. 


(This is normally where we would place a screencap of the fight. Unfortunately, the quality of SFL streams is so poor that the screencap looked more like a Jackson Pollock than it did anything else and no amount of enhancing could do it justice.) 

As you may or may not know given the plethora of fight action that occurred this past weekend, Indian upstart promotion Super Fight League held their fourth event in Mumbai, India. Now, we have been predicting the collapse of SFL for some time now (turns out we just had the wrong promotion) and when it was reported that CEO Ken Pavia had resigned from the organization, it only fueled similar predictions around the MMA blogosphere. Throw in the fact that SFL couldn’t even reel in Bob Sapp for their fourth event — which was headlined by a 1-2 fighter taking on a 11-8 fighter — and you’ve pretty much got all the ammunition you need for an official deathwatch.

But despite all of the things going against them, SFL’s fourth event turned out to be a modest success, at least in terms of the fights themselves. With the exception of the opening fight between bantamweights Irfan Khan and Kaushik Sen (freaking little guys, amiright Michael?), every fight was finished within the distance and impressively so. But no one, I repeat, no one, could top the knockout turned in by Bhabajeet Chowdhury, which was easily one of the most fantastic finishes we have seen all year.


(Fight starts at the 6 minute mark.)

Making his professional debut (!!!), the man we shall officially refer to as “Chowder” from here on out put on an absolute clinic against his fellow debuting counterpart in Charanjit Singh, battering his opponent’s legs with heavy kicks throughout the first round. But it was not until halfway through the second (roughly 14:55 of the video) that Chowder decided to finish his hapless foe off with a brilliantly timed spinning back kick to the jaw that was, dare I say it, Siver-esque in its delivery. Singh does his impersonation of a falling Jujube tree and this one is all over. Speaking of all over, it’s safe to say that Singh’s MMA career might be headed that direction as well. He would be carried out on a stretcher, but according to reports suffered no serious injuries other than his heart, which was ripped from his chest in ritualistic fashion later that evening. Shame.

Don’t get us wrong, SFL is more than likely going to be SOL by the end of the fiscal year, but if they can deliver a few more exciting knockouts like this in the future, perhaps the history books will grant them more than a footnote when all is said and done.

–J. Jones

Invicta FC 3 Recap and Videos: Penne Becomes Inaugural Atomweight Champ, Baszler Thrashes D’Alelio

(Joanne Calderwood vs. Ashley Cummins. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark. Someone nearly shits their pants around the 4:45 mark.)

Over the past several months, we’ve heard a lot of hoopla regarding the plight of women’s MMA and the lighter weight classes in general. According to some self-proclaimed experts, these fighters stand next to no chance of providing exciting finishes because of their “frail bones” and their “cabbage fingers” and their “lady parts that prevent them from committing gruesome acts of beautiful violence.” And while it should be noted that I normally obtain most of this expert testimony during my weekly NO MA’AM meetings, I must admit that the ladies of Invicta Fighting Championships are pretty much shattering every pre-conceived notion that one could have when approaching women’s MMA or the lighter weight classes. Last weekend’s Invicta FC 3 event did not stray far from the pattern established by the first two events, which is to say, it delivered exciting fights and brutal finishes from top to bottom.

In the evening’s main event, submission specialist and general hottie Jessica Penne made history by becoming the promotion’s first champion in the atomweight class, controlling the previously number one ranked atomweight Naho Sugiyama easily before submitting her midway through the second round with a slick triangle choke. Penne improved to 10-1 as a professional with the win and likely set up a showdown between herself and “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, who picked up a hard fought split-decision win over Lacey Schuckman earlier in the evening, down the line. I’m not saying I will be watching that fight with ulterior motives, but I am saying that I will be watching it alone. With the curtains closed. With no pants on.

After the jump: A boatload of fight videos from the event, including Shayna Baszler’s domination of Sarah D’Alelio, Stephanie Frausto’s lightning quick submission over Amy Davis, and Julia Budd’s brutal beatdown of Danielle West.


(Joanne Calderwood vs. Ashley Cummins. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark. Someone nearly shits their pants around the 4:45 mark.)

Over the past several months, we’ve heard a lot of hoopla regarding the plight of women’s MMA and the lighter weight classes in general. According to some self-proclaimed experts, these fighters stand next to no chance of providing exciting finishes because of their “frail bones” and their “cabbage fingers” and their “lady parts that prevent them from committing gruesome acts of beautiful violence.” And while it should be noted that I normally obtain most of this expert testimony during my weekly NO MA’AM meetings, I must admit that the ladies of Invicta Fighting Championships are pretty much shattering every pre-conceived notion that one could have when approaching women’s MMA or the lighter weight classes. Last weekend’s Invicta FC 3 event did not stray far from the pattern established by the first two events, which is to say, it delivered exciting fights and brutal finishes from top to bottom.

In the evening’s main event, submission specialist and general hottie Jessica Penne made history by becoming the promotion’s first champion in the atomweight class, controlling the previously number one ranked atomweight Naho Sugiyama easily before submitting her midway through the second round with a slick triangle choke. Penne improved to 10-1 as a professional with the win and likely set up a showdown between herself and “The Karate Hottie” Michelle Waterson, who picked up a hard fought split-decision win over Lacey Schuckman earlier in the evening, down the line. I’m not saying I will be watching that fight with ulterior motives, but I am saying that I will be watching it alone. With the curtains closed. With no pants on.

She may have only improved her record to an even .500 on Saturday night, but the little sister of Zoila Gurgel did not waste anytime establishing herself as a legitimate threat in the atomweight division with a quick guillotine victory over Amy Davis. From the opening bell this one was all Frausto, who rushed across the cage and started hurling leather like she was running late for her own funeral. After securing an easy trip takedown, Frausto peppered Davis up with shots, latched on a tight guillotine, and it was good night, Irene.

God, I hate myself for using that phrase. I’m going to chalk this one up to the lack of an edit button.

Julia Budd has suffered perhaps the two most brutal losses that any professional athlete ever could. In her second Strikeforce Challengers appearance, Budd was hammerfisted into oblivion by Amanda Nunes in just 14 seconds. Two fights later, she became Ronda Rousey armbar victim number #4. Needless to say, the woman has been through some tough times. But it’s good to see that she can take it as well as she can dish it out, because she may very well have beaten the last remaining fucks given out of Danielle “The Honey Badger” West in their main card-opening bout. The first couple minutes were mainly held in the clinch as the two ladies jockeyed for position, but as soon as Budd managed to get the fight to the ground, elbows and fists fell like buckets of paint in a Home Alone movie. The end came shortly thereafter, and Budd finally managed to end up on the right side of a highlight reel.

In the evening’s co-main event, Strikeforce veteran Shayna Baszler opened an entire case of whoop ass on Sarah D’Alelio, utilizing her superior ground game to constantly threaten D’Alelio with submissions from the top. Though D’Alelio would gamely defend her attempts for the entirety of the first round, she would fall victim to a rear-naked choke early in the second. Although the finish was nice, my personal favorite moment of the fight came with 10 seconds remaining in the first round, wherein Bazler delivered some of the most painful looking stomps to the Achilles tendon that you will ever see. Lordy.

We’ve posted the videos of the Waterson/Schuckman, Porto/LaRosa, and Young/Smith II fights along with the full results below. If you’re interested in checking out all of the fights from last weekend, head over to MMAWeekly for a full rundown.

Michelle Waterson vs. Lacey Schuckman

Tara Larosa vs. Vanessa Porto

Kaitlin Young vs. Leslie Smith II

Full Results
Jessica Penne def. Naho Sugiyama by submission (triangle) at 2:20 of round 2
Shayna Bazler def. Sarah D’Alelio by submission (RNC) at 0:48 of round 2
Leslie Smith def. Kaitlin Young by referee stoppage (mounted crucifix) at 2:19 of round 2
Barb Honchak def. Aisling Daly by unanimous decision
Vanessa Porto def. Tara LaRosa by unanimous decision
Cat Zingano def. Raquel Pennington by submission (RNC) at 3:32 of round 2
Michelle Waterson def. Lacey Schuckman by split decision
Julia Budd def. Danielle West by TKO at 2:32 of round one
Carla Esparza def. Lynn Alvarez by TKO at 2:53 of round one
Joanne Calderwood def. Ashley Cummins by KO (knee to body) at 3:13 of round one
Stephanie Frausto def. Amy Davis by submission (guillotine) at 0:48 of round one
Jessamyn Duke def. Marciea Allen by submission (armbar) at 4:42 of round one
Tecia Torres def. Kaiyana Rain by unanimous decision
Ediene Gomes def. Katalina Malungahu by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:19 of round one

–J. Jones

Dave Bautista Gets New, Incredibly Beatable Opponent For Oct. 6 MMA Debut

(Vince Lucero vs. Tim Sylvia at a 2010 CFX event. We’re not sure if we’ve ever seen a more pathetic ending to a fight in our lives. On second thought…) 

Like many MMA fans out there, we are of two minds when it comes to Dave Bautista. On one hand, we should be applauding the former WWE star for having the cojones to step into the cage and give a sport as laborious and intense as MMA a try despite both his age and experience level saying that he should do just the opposite. On the other hand, he represents little more than another splash in the recent wave of professional wrestlers looking to exploit a sport they have little experience in and little desire to actually further.

More often than not, guys like Bautista, Bobby Lashley, and Brock Lesnar to a degree (TO A DEGREE) are not professional fighters in the purest sense of the word; they are opportunists who crossover to MMA looking to make a decent buck and get out before they hurt themselves too badly. For if they were seriously seeking a new career path, they would logically test themselves on the amateur circuit before diving head first into a sport in which ill preparation can lead to serious health issues in both the immediate and distant future. Although their participation in MMA in turn draws legions of new fans to the sport, it also cheapens the value of what it means to call oneself “a professional fighter.” Not to get on our soapbox here, but that is a title that should be earned through hard work and dedication, not a few months of sparring and pure name value.

So when it was announced that Bautista would be debuting against a guy who was clearly picked because his name resembled a certain former UFC champion, the world reacted with a collective “ugh.” But if you think that’s bad , just wait until you hear the story that led to Bautista’s new opponent, the 22-22 Vince Lucero you were introduced to in the above video.


(Vince Lucero vs. Tim Sylvia at a 2010 CFX event. We’re not sure if we’ve ever seen a more pathetic ending to a fight in our lives. On second thought…) 

Like many MMA fans out there, we are of two minds when it comes to Dave Bautista. On one hand, we should be applauding the former WWE star for having the cojones to step into the cage and give a sport as laborious and intense as MMA a try despite both his age and experience level saying that he should do just the opposite. On the other hand, he represents little more than another splash in the recent wave of professional wrestlers looking to exploit a sport they have little experience in and little desire to actually further.

More often than not, guys like Bautista, Bobby Lashley, and Brock Lesnar to a degree (TO A DEGREE) are not professional fighters in the purest sense of the word; they are opportunists who crossover to MMA looking to make a decent buck and get out before they hurt themselves too badly. For if they were seriously seeking a new career path, they would logically test themselves on the amateur circuit before diving head first into a sport in which ill preparation can lead to serious health issues in both the immediate and distant future. Although their participation in MMA in turn draws legions of new fans to the sport, it also cheapens the value of what it means to call oneself “a professional fighter.” Not to get on our soapbox here, but that is a title that should be earned through hard work and dedication, not a few months of sparring and pure name value.

So when it was announced that Bautista would be debuting against a guy who was clearly picked because his name resembled a certain former UFC champion, the world reacted with a collective “ugh.” But if you think that’s bad , just wait until you hear the story that led to Bautista’s new opponent, the 22-22 Vince Lucero you were introduced to in the above video.

According to MMAFighting, it was revealed that Evans had not been training for Bautista in the weeks prior to the bout — unless you consider fending off knife fights in the yard and gang rape in the shower “training” – because he was in jail while the fight was being promoted. So clearly, we’re looking at a fighter and a promotion primarily focused on achieving MMA legitimacy here people. After Evans was temporarily released from his stay, it seemed as if things were back on schedule. But unfortunately for “The Animal” (as well as Evans), it turns out that when you hand pick an opponent based on their complete lack of anything resembling competence, it could end up biting you in the ass. Evans was pulled over just a few days after his release and promptly thrown back in the hoosegow for driving without a valid license and therefore violating his parole. And so the great superfight of 2012 was off.

The promotion that we have the decency not to name then decided to pair Bautista against Bruno McKee, who, like Bautista and Evans, had zero professional experience. Unfortunately, McKee would also drop out, claiming that he did not have enough time to prepare for whatever skill set Bautista apparently brings to the table (Author’s note: there seems to be a lot of that going around lately).

When the promotion was made aware that Chael Sonnen would not in fact be stepping in to fight Bautista, who Sonnen described as “a freakish, musclebound dolt who hasn’t earned the right to peruse my hamper of dirty gym shorts*,” they once again found themselves in panic mode, which is how they came upon the 40 year old Lucero to fill in on just five days notice.

And once again, we are of two minds when it comes to Bautista. On one hand, at least he’s willing to fight an incredibly experienced IFL and Bellator veteran for his professional debut. On the other, he is fighting a man whose most notable win came over Josh Haynes back in 2004 and who is 2-9-1 in his last twelve. BUT HE’S WON HIS LAST TWO, YOU GUYS.

Who are we kidding, this is going to be a shitshow.

We’ve managed to scour the Internet and find a video of Lucero’s performance against Roy Nelson, which we’ve added below. If you feel the desire to watch his performance against Ron Sparks, go here.

OK, that may have been the most pathetic ending to a fight we have ever witnessed. At least this time it wasn’t Lucero’s fault, we guess.

This sure-to-be FOTY goes down on October 6th from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I. To find out how to purchase tickets, first pick up a phone, dial 911, and then beat yourself over the head with that phone until the ambulance arrives.

*Chael Sonnen has never made such a statement, but we imagine he’d say something incredibly similar if given the opportunity. 

–J. Jones

[VIDEO] Karo Parisyan Submits Hapless Opponent at Gladiator Challenge: King of the Mountain


(Karo Parisyan: A beast when he wins, a Hollywood cliche when he loses.)

Did someone say King of the mountain?

It may be a long time before we see Karo Parisyan competing in a top level promotion again, but he took one step closer by utterly destroying Anonymous Tatted-up Opponent #237 (known professionally as, we shit you not, Tiger Bonds) at Gladiator Challenge: King of the Mountain over the weekend. It was Parisyan’s second victory in his past three contests, which is only made less than impressive when you consider that his other win came over Thomas Denny. And that he had dropped four of his past five before that. But hey, we’re taking the optimistic approach today, so all you haters can suck a bag of dicks.

Video after the jump.


(Karo Parisyan: A beast when he wins, a Hollywood cliche when he loses.)

Did someone say King of the mountain?

It may be a long time before we see Karo Parisyan competing in a top level promotion again, but he took one step closer by utterly destroying Anonymous Tatted-up Opponent #237 (known professionally as, we shit you not, Tiger Bonds) at Gladiator Challenge: King of the Mountain over the weekend. It was Parisyan’s second victory in his past three contests, which is only made less than impressive when you consider that his other win came over Thomas Denny. And that he had dropped four of his past five before that. But hey, we’re taking the optimistic approach today, so all you haters can suck a bag of dicks.

Video below.

Adhering to the advice offered by his legion of swooning fans, Parisyan does in fact “Bring the heat” in the early going, nearly finding Bonds’ off button with the first punch he throws. From there, it’s Karo 101: judo toss, clinch, judo toss, armbar. Whereas most MMA sites covering this will likely offer up some hackneyed “He looks like the Karo of old” type phrase somewhere in their assessment of his performance, we’re a little more hesitant to declare that Karo version 2.0, 2.5, 3.75 is finally back on the right track. That said, he looked a lot better than he has in quite some time and we truly wish all the best for the guy in the future.

Ugh. All this optimism is making me feel dead inside.

–J. Jones