I’ve said this before, but perhaps my favorite aspect of working at CagePotato is not the seemingly endless bankroll to sponsor stuff like this, the kick-ass company car (an ’84 Celica, red), or the mandated “Sexy Bikini Party Fridays” written into all our receptionists contracts. No, the cocaine mountains and rampant sexism are nice and all, but the real reason I come into the office two afternoons a month is you guys. Specifically, the insane fight videos you guys often pass along to us via our tips line.
Take this undiscovered gem of a scrap between Ibrahim El Sawy and Hashem Arkhagha that went down back in December 2012, which was passed along to us by CP reader Farzeen Mohmed. In the main event of an already exciting night of fights put on by Jordanian fight promotion Desert Force, El Sawy and Arkhagha took things to a WHOLE. NOTHA. LEVEL, exchanging near-knockouts and submission attempts with reckless abandon for two action-packed rounds. While the second doesn’t quite stack up to the first in terms of action, it does fit the very definition of a war of attrition. And hey, Yves Lavigne even shows up to ref this thing! SCORE.
Check out the full fight above, then join us after the jump for an equally, if not more riveting fight between a couple of unbreakable Aussies.
I’ve been carrying the flag for the ref cam (and now the Google Glass cam) for years now and it utterly enrages me to know that we may never see it in the UFC. Despite countless protests outside Dana White’s office, a letter writing campaign that was nothing short of Dufresnean, and a third thing I can’t discuss until the lawsuit is settled, little progress has been made in the fight to bring the ref cam to the UFC.
But I guess we can all take solace in the fact that, the UFC’s stubbornness aside, promotions like Australian’s Valor are more than willing to satiate the MMA fan’s voyeuristic desires (ways MMA is Like Porn for a thousand, Alex). And when the fights are the kind of knockdown, drag out wars like the one that went down between Callan Potter and David Butt at Valor Fight 7 last Saturday, the ref cam only enhances one’s viewing experience. Close-ups of the action, a “dogma” aesthetic, and no Jon Anik shouting lines from the MMA Commentator’s handbook?
