Tag: spinning backfists

Falling Tree Spinning Backfist Knockout of the Day: Jessica Middleton Smashes Holly Torrez at Blackout FC 26

(Props: Blackout FC via MMALatestNews)

An amateur women’s slugfest Saturday night at Blackout FC 6 in Kansas City, MO, ended in a memorable knockout, as hard-hitting bantamweight prospect Jessica Middleton finished Holly Torrez with a nasty spinning backfist.

Torrez (wearing the sports bra) was the aggressor early on, keeping Middleton (in the purple rash guard) on the defensive and bloodying her nose with wild striking attacks. But at the video’s 2:31 mark, Middleton cracks Torrez with a spinning backfist, and two things happen: 1) Torrez suddenly gets very timid — or maybe she just realizes that she’s gassed — and 2) Middleton decides she’s going to keep throwing that damn spinning backfist until she knocks Torrez out with it. Amazingly, her plan works.

Early in the second three-minute round, Middleton gets some space and makes another attempt at the backfist, and lands it harder than ever; Torrez stiffens up and falls straight to the mat in classic falling tree style. Afterwards, Blackout FC announcer Gerald Harris presents Torrez with the event’s Knockout of the Night award, which is a gift certificate for a custom mouthpiece. It ain’t exactly fifty large, but we all have to start somewhere.

Related:
– Falling Tree Head Kick Knockout of the Day: Female Fighter Gets Starched at ‘Say Uncle Fight Night 2?
– Must-See: This Female Slugfest From KCFA 10 Is So Bad It’s Good


(Props: Blackout FC via MMALatestNews)

An amateur women’s slugfest Saturday night at Blackout FC 6 in Kansas City, MO, ended in a memorable knockout, as hard-hitting bantamweight prospect Jessica Middleton finished Holly Torrez with a nasty spinning backfist.

Torrez (wearing the sports bra) was the aggressor early on, keeping Middleton (in the purple rash guard) on the defensive and bloodying her nose with wild striking attacks. But at the video’s 2:31 mark, Middleton cracks Torrez with a spinning backfist, and two things happen: 1) Torrez suddenly gets very timid — or maybe she just realizes that she’s gassed — and 2) Middleton decides she’s going to keep throwing that damn spinning backfist until she knocks Torrez out with it. Amazingly, her plan works.

Early in the second three-minute round, Middleton gets some space and makes another attempt at the backfist, and lands it harder than ever; Torrez stiffens up and falls straight to the mat in classic falling tree style. Afterwards, Blackout FC announcer Gerald Harris presents Torrez with the event’s Knockout of the Night award, which is a gift certificate for a custom mouthpiece. It ain’t exactly fifty large, but we all have to start somewhere.

Related:
– Falling Tree Head Kick Knockout of the Day: Female Fighter Gets Starched at ‘Say Uncle Fight Night 2?
– Must-See: This Female Slugfest From KCFA 10 Is So Bad It’s Good

Bellator 124 GIFs: Emanuel Newton’s Spinning Backfist, Liam McGeary’s Inverted Triangle

Emanuel Newton ended Bellator 124 on a satisfying note this evening, with a smooth-as-butter spinning backfist knockout of “challenger” Joey Beltran. This is the second spinning backfist KO that Newton has scored under the Bellator banner; he caught King Mo with the same strike at Bellator 90 last February. Watch the GIF of Newton’s latest masterpiece above, and click here for a slo-mo alternate angle, all via Zombie Prophet.

After the jump: Liam McGeary submits Kelly Anundson with an inverted triangle to win the Season Eleven Light Heavyweight tournament, and Ryan Couture chokes out Tom Bagnasco.

Emanuel Newton ended Bellator 124 on a satisfying note this evening, with a smooth-as-butter spinning backfist knockout of “challenger” Joey Beltran. This is the second spinning backfist KO that Newton has scored under the Bellator banner; he caught King Mo with the same strike at Bellator 90 last February. Watch the GIF of Newton’s latest masterpiece above, and click here for a slo-mo alternate angle, all via Zombie Prophet.

After the jump: Liam McGeary submits Kelly Anundson with an inverted triangle to win the Season Eleven Light Heavyweight tournament, and Ryan Couture chokes out Tom Bagnasco.

Bellator 90 Recap: ‘King Mo’ Dethroned Via Spinning Backfist, Ben Saunders Adds Head Kick KO to Highlight Reel

(The Emanuel Newton vs. King Mo spinning-backfist falling-tree knockout, via RockOwnsPunk.)

When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.

But the card’s generous helping of violence was a mixed blessing, since the list of victims included Bellator’s light-heavyweight marquee attraction, and their marketable featherweight inspirational figure. If you didn’t tune in last night, here’s what you missed:

Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)

The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.


(The Emanuel Newton vs. King Mo spinning-backfist falling-tree knockout, via RockOwnsPunk.)

When you’re watching a Bellator event, you can only hope that a memorable finish or two will make up for the general lack of star power compared to those other guys. And oh man, did last night’s Bellator 90 event in West Valley City, Utah, deliver the goods, with all four fights on the Spike TV main card ending within the first two rounds, and three more stoppages featured on the prelims.

But the card’s generous helping of violence was a mixed blessing, since the list of victims included Bellator’s light-heavyweight marquee attraction, and their marketable featherweight inspirational figure. If you didn’t tune in last night, here’s what you missed:

Season 8 Welterweight Semi-Finals: Ben Saunders faced Raul Amaya for the second time in his Bellator stint, and while Killa B completely dominated their first meeting en route to a unanimous decision win, he didn’t even let Amaya out of the first round this time. Amaya was aggressive from the opening bell, but wasn’t able to find his range against the lanky Saunders, who landed counter-punches and body-kicks at will, before putting Amaya’s lights out with a left high kick. (GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow)

The fight on the other side of the 170-bracket was just as quick and one-sided. Douglas Lima didn’t give Bryan Baker a chance to get in the fight, abusing Baker’s legs with low kicks for a couple minutes, then firing a devastating right hand that crumpled “The Beast” to the mat. Lima will now face Saunders in the Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Final at Bellator 93, in a rematch of their Season 5 Welterweight Tournament Final in November 2011, which Lima won by knockout.

Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Semi-Finals: The Spike card led off with a 205-pound match between Mikhail Zayats and Jacob Noe, who you may remember as the guys who beat Renato Sobral and Seth Petruzelli at Bellator 85. Zayats took control from the very beginning, flooring Noe with a right hand and establishing top position on the mat. After some ground-and-pound, Zayats established mount and methodically set up an armbar, cranking it for the tap.

You’d think that Zayats would now be set up for high-profile meeting with Muhammad Lawal in the tournament finals, but Emanuel Newton went and screwed those plans up later in the evening. Unlike Przemyslaw “The Inanimate Object” Mysiala, Newton wasn’t afraid to stand toe-to-toe with Mo; Lawal’s shots might have been cleaner during their striking exchanges, but Newton was getting his licks in and making it a battle. But that battle didn’t last long. Halfway through the opening round, Newton whiffed so hard on an overhand right that he found himself with his back turned to Mo. So he figured, hey, why not throw a completely-blind spinning backfist? And because the MMA Gods have a sadistic sense of humor when it comes to fight promotions putting all their eggs into a single fighter’s basket, that spinning backfist landed across Lawal’s jaw, sending the King into a slow-motion tailspin. And so, it’ll be Newton vs. Zayats for all the marbles. How do you like that.

Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final: The fight between Rad Martinez and Shahbulat Shamhalaev was originally supposed to go down in December, but Shamhalaev had to bow out at the last minute due to food poisoning. Shamhalaev was in fine form last night, punching Martinez to the mat in the first round, and nailing him with leg kicks. Martinez’s best moment came as he scored a takedown to stifle Shamhalaev’s momentum near the end of the round. Once the fighters were re-started for round two, it was all Shamhalaev, who dinged Martinez with unanswered power punches that staggered the Utah native, then smashed him with an overhand right that effectively ended the match — GIF here, via ZombieProphet/BloodyElbow — punching his ticket to a future title shot against Pat Curran.

Full Bellator 90 results are below.

Main Card
– Shahbulat Shamhalaev def. Rad Martinez via KO, 2:12 of round 2 *
– Emanuel Newton def. Muhammed Lawal via KO (spinning backfist), 2:35 of round 1 **
– Douglas Lima def. Bryan Baker via KO, 2:34 of round 1 ***
– Mikhail Zayats def. Jacob Noe via submission (armbar), 3:38 of round 1 **

Preliminary Card
– Ben Saunders def. Raul Amaya via KO (head kick), 2:56 of round 1 ***
– Travis Marx def. Chase Beebe via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Jesse Juarez def. Jordan Smith via split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
– Sean Powers def. David Allred via submission (rear-naked choke), 2:10 of round 3
– Lionel Lanham def. Joe Rodriguez via KO, 0:49 of round 1

* Season 7 Featherweight Tournament Final
** Season 8 Light-Heavyweight Tournament Semi-Final
*** Season 8 Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final

Savage Knockout of the Day: Jordan Mein def. Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos Via Hellstorm of Standing Elbows

(Props: Zee2tehPee)

If Strikeforce gave out performance bonuses like their big brothers at the UFC, the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov” prelim match between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and rising Canadian star Jordan Mein would be a front-runner for Fight of the Night. After two entertaining rounds of stand-up, Mein ended the match in the third frame with the nastiest display of standing elbows in MMA history. Seriously, that’s not an exaggeration. Skip to about the 1:45 mark and tell me I’m wrong — this might even give Anderson Silva vs. Tony Fryklund a run for its money. To see the first two rounds of the fight (and everything else from the prelims), swing by IronForgesIron.

Mein’s victory upped his career record to 23-7, and lengthened a win streak that includes victories over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, and Marius Zaromskis. He’s been fighting professionally since 2006, and he’s 21 years old. You do the math on that one.

After the jump: Another highly satisfying knockout from the Strikeforce prelims, this one involving former light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante and Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist (and Strikeforce first-timer) Yoel Romero. We set up the video to skip past the first ten minutes of Romero avoiding the fight and taunting Feijao at every opportunity; trust us, we’re doing you a favor. When Cavalcante finally catches up with his dick-headed opponent, it is so, so good.


(Props: Zee2tehPee)

If Strikeforce gave out performance bonuses like their big brothers at the UFC, the “Barnett vs. Kharitonov“ prelim match between Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and rising Canadian star Jordan Mein would be a front-runner for Fight of the Night. After two entertaining rounds of stand-up, Mein ended the match in the third frame with the nastiest display of standing elbows in MMA history. Seriously, that’s not an exaggeration. Skip to about the 1:45 mark and tell me I’m wrong — this might even give Anderson Silva vs. Tony Fryklund a run for its money. To see the first two rounds of the fight (and everything else from the prelims), swing by IronForgesIron.

Mein’s victory upped his career record to 23-7, and lengthened a win streak that includes victories over Joe Riggs, Josh Burkman, and Marius Zaromskis. He’s been fighting professionally since 2006, and he’s 21 years old. You do the math on that one.

After the jump: Another highly satisfying knockout from the Strikeforce prelims, this one involving former light-heavyweight champ Rafael Cavalcante and Olympic freestyle wrestling silver medalist (and Strikeforce first-timer) Yoel Romero. We set up the video to skip past the first ten minutes of Romero avoiding the fight and taunting Feijao at every opportunity; trust us, we’re doing you a favor. When Cavalcante finally catches up with his dick-headed opponent, it is so, so good.