Missed Fists: Fighter lifts opponent by neck to lock in nasty ninja choke

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.

Nothing fancy this week, just a roundup of some of the nastiest submissions (big h/t to Barrele la pierna’s weekly list) I’ve seen this year, any of which would be frontrunners for Best of 2023 if they happened in a more widely covered promotion.

So let’s make sure these tap-outs don’t go unappreciated.

(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.)

Feng Tianhao vs. Janchivnyambuu Batchuluun

We have three submission finishes that could have led the pack here, so I went with the visual that’s going to stick in my brain for much of the foreseeable future: Feng Tianhao literally lifting and carrying opponent Janchivnyambuu Batchuluun by their neck and forcing a tap just 10 seconds into the match.

From Wu Lin Feng MMA 65 in Zhengzhou, China:

It’s not an uncommon occurrence to see fighters taken off their feet by a choke, but usually it happens against the fence with the defender putting their feet against it to try and power out or change the angle. Watching someone actually suspended in the air by a ninja choke? I’ll pass on this becoming a regular sighting, thank you very much.

Genuinely curious if this was a tap out of fear rather than necessity, like, “OK, this guy might actually remove my head from my person, I’m out. Better safe than sorry.” If that’s the case, don’t blame him one bit.

Aktore Batyrbek vs. Shakhzod Dzhurakulov

The same could be said for Shakhzod Dzhurakulov, who found himself in a truly terrifying combination submission at Octagon 46 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Aktore Batyrbek just decided to mix in a kneebar with a super tight triangle choke and while the triangle choke is doing most of the heavy lifting here, the added threat of having your leg destroyed probably made it an easy decision for Dzhurakulov to bow out.

Would love to see a breakdown of how to set up this move (and how to defend against it!).

Joji Goto vs. Trent Girdham
Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Taisei Nishitani
Aoi Kuriyama vs. Marina Kumagai

That’s right, I had the gall to place Joji Goto’s stunning modified twister submission of Trent Girdham from this past weekend’s RIZIN show third in the order. I’m not proud.

Spinal locks always make me kind of squeamish and this is one of the worst ones. Girdham looks like he’s doing the right thing, turning his body into Goto to try and take top position, but unfortunately only his upper half cooperated. His lower half was trapped by Goto’s legs, forcing Girdham to nearly split in two once Goto took control of his head and neck.

Just… ow.

Clearly, my judgment can’t be trusted when it comes to evaluating these subs, so let’s go to the polls early this week.

Also from RIZIN 43, we had Hiroaki Suzuki pulling off the perfect counter to a flying knee.

I like to believe that there’s an alternate reality where Ben Askren did this to Jorge Masvidal, but that would be a pretty wild alternate reality. We’re talking Across the Spider-Verse wild at that point.

Speaking of flawless sequences, check out this slip and rip by Aoi Kuriyama.

You really can’t avoid a strike while staying in range to land your own bomb much better than that. We harp on the lack of fundamentals in MMA striking all the time, but this is textbook stuff from Kuriyama.

Vitor Zmish vs. Frank Bispo

Vitor Zmish’s knockout though? I don’t know if this is textbook or luck or whatever you want to call it, but it is definitely dope as all hell.

From Jungle Fight 117 (full fights available on YouTube) in Rio de Janeiro:

I’m leaning towards luck, but Zmish does kind of condition Frank Bispo with a hard head kick a moment before the finish. When he spins, Bispo overcompensates by dropping his head low and right into the kick that ends him.

As the saying goes: You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good.

Joffie Houlton vs. Kenzo Soares Silva
Youssouf Binate vs. Rijad Jaha
Alioune Nahaye vs. Pedro Colman

Speed was the name of the game at Ares FC 16 (available on UFC Fight Pass), which saw all eight fights end in knockout or submission including four in the first round.

Joffie Houlton was the first winner on the card and he punched out of work as early as possible, taking Kenzo Soares Silva out in nine seconds, the fastest finish in the French promotion’s history.

Two head-rattling punches and a proper walk-off. C’est magnifique.

Compared to that, Youssouf Binate’s 35-second knockout of Rijad Jaha felt like it took an eternity, but we’ll give him his props anyway.

Jaha came out swinging and Binate made him pay, rocking him with a counter knee before flurrying to leave Jaha slumped against the fence.

Then there’s Alioune Nahaye, whose winning strike didn’t even lead to a knockdown, but left opponent Pedro Colman feeling so much discomfort in his leg that he was fine with signaling surrender.

Anyone out there judging Colman can shush. I’ll take being able to walk properly at some point in the near future over winning some silly fight every time.

Jacob Silva vs. Joey Elzea

Also on UFC Fight Pass, from Fury FC 80, here’s Jacob Silva straight dummying Joey Elzea.

And anotha one:

Silva improved to 10-9, with all of his wins coming by way of knockout or submission. Listen, I know Silva isn’t going to be a world champion anytime soon (he’s already fallen short in two Contender Series opportunities), but the man absolutely brings it whenever he enters that cage and I would love to see him get booked for at least one proper appearance with a major promotion.

UFC, Bellator, BKFC (!), give this man a shot.

Yanis Ghemmouri vs. Mehmosh Raza
Eliezer Kubanza vs. Rayan Atmani
Mohammadseifi Mohsen vs. Noor El Islam

You always hear complaints about how easy it is to game the system when it comes to grounded strikes, with some fighters doing the Hokey Pokey with their hands or fingers on the mat to avoid eating a knee to the face. Well, you can blame the rules or you can do something about it and by golly, Yanis Ghemmouri did something about it.

From Brave CF 72 in Riffa, Bahrain:

Mehmosh Raza probably thought he’d timed the raising of his hand just right as he stood up against the cage, but Ghemmouri didn’t fall for it. As soon as Raza broke contact with the mat, Ghemmouri’s knee came flying up right into the side of Raza’s head. Instant showstopper.

Eliezer Kubanza’s head kick knockout of Rayan Atmani wasn’t quite as precise, but look at dude’s legs. Do you think precision is all that important to him?

Even with Atmani expecting the head kick, his defense was just slightly off and that small window he left open was more than enough for Kubanza to fire that 2×4 of a leg into.

Still, the most aesthetically pleasing knockout of the week might belong to Mohammadseifi Mohsen. This is certainly the winner of our Humpty Dumpty award, at least:

Mohsen had poor Noor El Islam freestyle swimming as he dropped to the mat.

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.