Missed Fists: Backfist knockout reduces fighter to jelly

Welcome to the latest edition of Missed Fists where we shine a light on fights from across the globe that may have been overlooked in these hectic times where it seems like there’s an MMA show every other day.

Sure, there’s a UFC event this weekend, but the fight card that’s likely to draw the most buzz is the Misfits Boxing PRIME Card, headlined by universally beloved and respected martial artists KSI, Tommy Fury, Logan Paul, and, yes, Dillon Danis.

We understand that there’s a large, vocal segment of you who could not care less about influencer boxing, so cleanse your palette in advance with some of the most incredible finishes of the past seven days. But let’s be honest, some of these are no less ridiculous than what you’ll see in the ring on Saturday.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs and submissions, and to @Grabaka_Hitman for uploading many of the clips you see here. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.)

Torry Moore vs. Zephn Wolf

Case in point:

Torry Moore’s off-balance backfist had no business connecting with any meaningful impact and Zephn Wolf (not to be confused with the band that gave us the classic Magic Carpet Ride) certainly should not have been so cleanly knocked out by such a strike. But this is MMA, amateur MMA at that, and in this world of imagination anything is possible.

Unfortunately for Wolf, that means was it entirely within this realm of possibility for Moore to smack him so hard that his bones were temporarily reduced to gelatin and wouldn’t be restored to a solid state until his forehead hit the mat. The strike was so sudden that it takes the commentary team several replays to figure out what Moore actually hit Wolf with.

Full fights from Fighting Alliance Championship 21 are available free on the MMA Futures YouTube channel.

Camilo Montes vs. Elias Albernaz
Carlos Petruzzella vs. Mauricio Ariel Pare

Somehow, Camilo Montes ended up with only the second-best backfist knockout of the week.

What this has on Moore’s knockout is that there’s a beautiful windup before Montes unleashes this bad boy on Elias Albernaz’s chin. My guess is that Albernas was expecting some sort of spinning kick, which threw off the timing of his defense. It’s that or he had no clue what Montes was doing. Either way, the result is a firm flattening.

We have more spinning stuff to show, but let’s take a quick visit to Prospect Watch Land where we find undefeated welterweight Carlos Petruzzella.

The 26-year-old Argentinian improved to 11-0 with an aggressive 31-second kimura finish of Mauricio Ariel Pare and defended his Samurai Fight House welterweight championship. Since making his pro debut in 2021, Petruzzella has finished all of his opponents and also captured the SFH middleweight title.

If Petruzzella is not signed outright by a major promotion, expect him to be at the top of the call list for the next season of the Contender Series.

You can catch a free replay of SFH 13 on YouTube.

Avliyohon Hamidov vs. Magzhan Kanai
Azamat Nuftillaev vs. Edivan Santos

We said there’d be more spinning stuff and more spinning stuff ye shall have.

At Open Fighting Championship 35 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Avliyohon Hamidov needed just 10 seconds to connect with a kick to the body that crumbled Magzhan Kanai.

If you’re going by when the referee actually moved in to stop the fight, we’re probably closer to five seconds on the clock there, which is the time of the stoppage according to Tapology. Let’s just agree that it was wicked fast.

In the heavyweight main event, Azamat Nuftillaev absolutely bludgeoned Edivan Santos with ground-and-pound in the third round, but the real hero of this clip is the nimble referee who stopped the fight and then exited the scene with a graceful roll.

Poof, he’s gone!

Henry Escalona vs. Gerardo Bozo

You know what’s crazy? Because it just made sense to group all that spinning stuff together, Henry Escalona’s unbelievable flying knee knockout ends up this far down the feature.

Absurd.

He read Gerard Bozo’s mind there. And there wasn’t much left of it after he hit that knee. Extra points to Escalona for not throwing any follow-up even though it took Bozo’s body an eternity to actually go down.

Legion MMA 7 is available for free replay on YouTube.

Ken Sekeletu vs. Andile Gasa

Turn those headphones way down for this one.

Here’s Ken Sekeletu destroying Andile Gasa’s body with a kick at EFC Worldwide 108 in Sandton, South Africa.

I don’t mess with slapfighting, but watching someone slap their shin against another fighter’s ribcage? Sign me up for that anyday.

Carlos Silva vs. Leonardo Rodriguez

At a Fera Championship event (replay available with a FITE subscription) in Zahra, Kuwait, we had one of several scary falls from this past week of action as a Carlos Silva counter punch nearly sent Leonardo Rodriguez crashing headfirst into a post.

That right to the side of Rodriguez’s head might have done the trick, but it’s possible that it just knocked him off-balance and it took the collision with the boundary to finish him off.

Oh by the way, former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao actually fought on this card. I’ll repeat that: Renen Barao ACTUALLY FOUGHT. This was his first official fight since parting ways with the UFC in 2019 with several canceled bouts along the way and, sadly, he did not return to the win column as he dropped a split decision to Walter Zamora.

Now that I’m thinking about it, it seems insane that Barao and Dillon Danis are back in action the same week.

Oleg Plotnik vs. Nazhimidin Sultanov

Want to see another straight-up bonking? How about Oleg Plotnik flooring Nazhimidin Sultanov with a right hand at an MMA Series event in Moscow?

That’s a Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week candidate right there, with more to come.

Andre Sinarahua vs. Alberto del Campo

At an Ansgar Fighting League event in Torrejon, Spain, Andre Sinarahua popped a charging Alberto del Campo right on the chin with an overhand right that would get Chuck Liddell out of his seat.

Tenglige vs. Asikeerbai

At Jue Cheng King Fight Night 70 in Shanxi, China, Tenglige timed the counter knee perfectly and Asikeerbai shot right into it. Lights out.

Cullen Sanders vs. Chris Manning

For my money though, there’s no beating this Humpty Dumpty fall from Island Fights 80 in Pensacola, Fla., courtesy of amateur welterweight Cullen Sanders.

That was a long way down for Chris Manning and a long time for Manning to enjoy a walk-off celebration.

Bruce Jones-Sykes vs. Sam Parker

We end on an amusing note, as Sam Parker made a bold prediction for his amateur bout against Bruce Jones-Sykers an an Art of Scrap event in Fort Wayne, Ind. Many fighters predict a knockout, some actually get it right, few nail it quite like Parker did.

Hey, he never said who was going to get KO’d, right?

If you know of a recent fight or event that you think may have been overlooked, or a promotion that could use some attention, please let us know on Twitter — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.