Missed Fists: Jake Ngai nails rare Tarikoplata submission

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.

It’s not all that often that we get to say “I’ve never seen anything like this before” in the world of MMA and genuinely mean it as even the most seasoned combat sports fan can get caught up in hyperbole and what-have-you-done-for-me-latelys.

But I can tell you right now, our first highlight this week, well, I’ve never seen anything like this before.

(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.)

Jake Ngai vs. Byron Murphy

Ladies and gentleman, for your viewing pleasure, a Tarikoplata!

Ireland’s Jake Ngai may have scored the best submission of the year in an amateur bantamweight bout at Cage Legacy Fighting Championship 18 in Dublin (event replay available on FITE pay-per-view), breaking out a rarely seen member of the Plata family to tap Byron Murphy.

In the above clip, Ngai is already in great position to go for a submission as he works for an armbar from bottom position, but he takes his attack to another level when Murphy tries to stand up and wrestle his way out of it. He never gets his arm free, so Ngai keeps working it over until he can twist it into the Tarikoplata, which looks like it has the same effect as a kimura, though even more painful.

Shout outs to commentator Paul Browne, who was right on the money with the call.

Feel free to watch the video a few times to try and comprehend how Ngai pulled this off and if that doesn’t work, just go to the inventor of the move himself, Tarik Hopstock.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezie, right? Go ahead kids, try this one at home.

(NOTE: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.)

Micky Mills vs. Cian Acheson

Over in Belfast, we had another ridiculous amateur highlight as Micky Mills just squared up and put his man down in under five seconds.

Poor Cian Acheson, looking to be all technical and shizz, tripling up on his jab, and then just getting caught with the most tried-and-true technique (besides the Tarikoplata, of course) in the history of human combat: A haymaker to the headpiece.

If you’re going to swing, swing big, and that’s exactly what this young man did. Hats off to you, Mills, hopefully you get a little more time to enjoy yourself in the cage next fight.

Up next, a question: How do you like your kick finishes?

Abraham Canavati vs. Ivan Perez
Billy Pasulatan vs. Gideon Manurung
Sonny Kirisome vs. Osh Boonchu
Shakhban Gapizov vs. Firuz Rakhmatshoev

Our first kick knockout isn’t actually a kick knockout as Ivan Perez actually manages to recover after getting cracked by a spinning strike to the face from Abraham Canavati at Naciones MMA 12 in Monterrey, Mexico.

Perhaps “recover” is the wrong word to use here as Canavati doesn’t miss a beat, first pouncing on Perez with a guillotine and then switching to an armbar to take Perez’s limb home as a souvenir.

Honestly, I would have tapped out to the kick.

At ONE Pride MMA Fight Night 65: Pride of Throne (please, don’t sue) in Jakarta, Billy Pasulatan hit a nasty-looking switch-kick-turned-knee to the body that had Gideon Manurung clearly begging off, but he went in for an unnecessary running kick anyway.

In fairness, Pasulatan is just living up to the names of the two promotions being ripped off here.

You can watch free fights from “Pride of Throne” on YouTube.

I’ve got to give love to my amateur heavyweights, especially when they’re throwing out nonsense like this.

Sonny Kirisome with the right attitude here. It’s your first fight, when are you going to be here again? If you think you’ve got an opening, throw that foot up there and hope for the best. And guess what? The best happened.

Eternal MMA 72 is available for replay on UFC Fight Pass.

We close out this kick section with Shakhban Gapizov taking out Firuz Rakhmatshoev at an Eagle FC (remember them?) event in Almetyevsk, Russia.

This looping effort left Rakhmatshoev completely out of sorts and then Gapizov jumped right on him with three or four unanswered bombs.

Gapizov is now 2-0 to start his pro career. Just 23, he had an extensive amateur career before turning pro this past October, so expect to hear a lot more from him in 2023.

A free replay of Eagle FC: Selection 6 is available on YouTube.

At iKON FC 6 (replay available on UFC Fight Pass) in Kissimmee, Florida, we had one of the strangest rematches I can recall as past The Ultimate Fighter 14 opponents Micah Miller and Steven Siler fought again 11 years (!) after their first meeting on the UFC’s long-running reality show.

Siler defeated Miller (the younger brother of UFC veteran Cole Miller) by third-round submission on TUF before later losing to eventual season winner Diego Brandao. This time around, Miller earned his revenge in methodical fashion as he dominated Siler with his grappling before finishing with a triangle armbar early in the second round. It’s been a rough go for Siler, a veteran of nearly 60 pro fights, as he’s now lost four straight fights and nine of his past 10.

Making Miller’s win even more amazing, this is his first fight since 2016. I don’t know how much longer Miller plans to compete for, but if this is a one-time comeback, it was worth it.

Dong Hyun Seo vs. Sung Hyuk Choi

From a Gentleman Flower Fighting Championship event (free replay available on YouTube) in Busan, here’s Dong Hyun Seo punching the soul out of Sung Hyuk Choi.

Ground-and-pound shouldn’t be legal.

Igor Shardakov vs. Maksim Vakin
Marina Mokhnatkina vs.Tatiane Aguiar

My goodness, the escalated quickly.

Igor Shardakov stung Maksim Vakin with a short left and then mixed in some beautiful body work before going back to the left hand and leaving Vakin face-down on the mat. Super c-c-c-c-comboooooo!

Also at Russian Cage Fighting Championship 13, recent PFL fighter Marina Mokhnatkina snatched up a scary Americana finish of Tatiane Aguiar.

See, this is the kind of thing Mokhnatkina should be doing. Not competing in a non-existent lightweight division with the hopes of playing runner-up to Kayla Harrison Larissa Pacheco, but back home in Russia styling on people on the ground.

Vlad Gutu vs. Marcio Martins

Just last night at Ares FC 10 (replay available on UFC Fight Pass) in Paris, we had debuting middleweight Vlad Gutu talking (and throwing) all kinds of greasiness at Marcio Martins en route to a 35-second knockout.

Both fighters came out with their hands down and after a little taunting, Gutu just unleashed the beast. Once he started throwing, he didn’t stop, shrugging off a Martins body kick to land the KO blow.

After starting this feature with a Tarikoplata, an omoplata might seem mundane, but Benjamin Sehic’s submission effort led to a controversial verbal submission, so it merits review.

There’s no questioning that Sehic had Badr Medkouri in deep trouble and referees can and should interpret cries of pain as a submission, but this seemed a little quick to me. Can a man not scream in agony during a fight? Is this what society has come to? What say you, dear reader?

Until next week, keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ everyone.

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.