Missed Fists: Swordsmen duel in cage at off-the-wall event in Brazil

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.

We’ll get to Missed Fists in a sec, but I’m not sure anything can match the combat sports wackiness that went down in Saudi Arabia this past weekend.

Did you hear about the former MMA champion who made his boxing debut and almost beat Tyson Fury?

Wild.

(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.)

Let’s head back to the cage. Where it’s safe and everything MAKES SENSE.

From an event called Fight Music Show: Fight Night 2 in Curitiba, Brazil, that’s two people having a sword fight. Just normal stuff.

These dudes are actually going at it pretty hard and I kind of love it. The clip above features a fun moment where one competitor just starts punching the other in the face and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he goes on to win a decision. Also, I’m assuming that this bout could only end by way of decision because what would constitute a stoppage? Running the other person through? That would be a tad grim.

Check out the whole show and judge for yourself.

Anyway, you guys can keep your crossover boxing bouts. Sword fighting in a cage is the new hotness.

And in case you missed it, this FMS event actually featured a few legit MMA bouts, including one where a fighter pulled off a nasty leglock submission… on himself.

Jacob Orozco vs. Chris Fajardo

It might not be Lyoto Machida on Randy Couture, but if you break out a crane kick in an MMA fight, you’re getting your flowers.

That’s Jacob Orozco flooring Chris Fajardo at a Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting event in Southgate, Mich. I only wish we could have had a better shot of the finish. Even the official photog was just in the wrong place at the right time.

Ah well, better luck next time Jacob-san.

Nuristan Bakytbek vs. Akhlierbek Ganiev

Headphone volume down, please. And proceed.

Good lord. That one echoed.

At EFC Global 38 (free replay available on YouTube) in Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan, Nuristan Bakytbek took a piece of Akhlierbek Ganiev’s chin with a head kick that ended their fight in just 10 seconds. That was so loud, even if Ganiev hadn’t been KO’d, he probably would have had his eardrums blown out.

That kick was with AUTHORITY.

Thaya Paulino vs. Willamy dos Santos

In the event that your speakers weren’t destroyed by that last finish, let’s take them out for good with the commentary for this spinning backfist knockout.

Also, hey, take your sweet time, ref.

You can watch the entirety of Macaiba Fight 6 for free on YouTube.

Odilzhon Nasirov vs. Siyavush Salokhov

We’ll have a more formal preview of the UFC Sao Paulo main event between Jailton Almeida and Derrick Lewis for you later, but for now, just imagine Lewis ending up on top of Almeida at some point during their fight and doing this:

That’s Odilzhon Nasirov playing the role of Lewis and Siyavush Salokhov playing the role of Almeida if Almeida had a non-existent guard. In all likelihood, it’s Almeida who will be doing the tackling and smashing on Saturday, but hey, you never know in this crazy game.

Naiza FC 54 is available for free replay on YouTube.

Ali Popescu vs. Arman Raisi

Ali Popescu was styling and profiling with the kicks at Levels Fight League 10 in Amsterdam, throwing out a couple of beauties that left Arman Raisi on wobbly legs.

Credit to Raisi for just eating that first shot to the dome, but there was no way he was going to absorb the following switch kick without any repercussions.

Baris Adiguzel vs. Alex Bertinazzi
Nicolas Leblond vs. Michelangelo Lupoli

Zipping over to UFC Fight Pass, Cage Warriors held an event in Rome this past Saturday that featured two of the most brutal knockouts the promotion has seen all year.

Baris Adiguzel bounced back from a disappointing loss in his Cage Warriors debut by flattening Alex Bertinazzi in just 16 seconds.

Bertinazzi was flurrying and just left his chin wide open for that left hand counter. We say all the time that a knockout came out of nowhere, but that one came out of nowhere nowhere.

Nicolas Leblond, on the other hand, had no issues coming forward as he gave Michelangelo Lupoli no room to breathe before hammering him unconscious against the fence.

That’s three straight wins now for Leblond and four in his past five, with all coming by way of knockout or submission. His modest 9-4 record might not be jumping off the Tapology page, but he’s leaving it all in there and that earns our respect every time.

Daniel Frunza vs. Haris Talundzic
Myktybek Orolbai vs. Hayward Charles
Caio Machado vs. Ilyor Bakhtiyar Uulu

We go from Italy to to scenic Vail, Colo., for LFA 170 (also available to stream on Fight Pass), where Daniel Frunza ended the evening in the most dramatic manner possible with this buzzer-beating finish.

Perfect standing elbow. Perfect follow-up. Perfect call by the ref. No notes.

If I had to give advice to any fighter on the card, I might tell Hayward Charles to consider a trim before his next fight, if only so it doesn’t look quite so magnificent when he gets his whole s*** wrecked by an uppercut.

Ah, who am I kidding, that was awesome. That’s Kyrgyzstan’s Myktybek Orolbai getting the win there by the way, his third in three appearances for LFA. Expect to see him in the UFC next soon.

Orolbai’s countryman Ilyor Bakhtiyar Uulu wasn’t as fortunate. Facing LFA veteran Caio Machado (seriously, Machado’s working relationship with the promotion dates back to the Legacy Fighting Championship days), Bakhtiyar Uulu was caught in a no-doubter choke and put to sleep.

That looks to me like he thought to tap, just a second or two too late. If you want to get out, not go out, don’t procrastinate with your tapping!

Artur Soloviev vs. Nandin Erdene
Soo Chul Kim vs. Akira Haraguchi

Let’s head to Wonju, South Korea for our final destination this week, perhaps a fitting choice of words given how aggressively Artur Soloviev chased down this finish.

Nandin Erdene was in fine form with three straight knockouts heading into his fight with Soloviev and he was his usual manic self this past Sunday. In case you forgot, Erdene was one half of one of the best 30-second fights you’ll ever see a couple of years back when he and Park Seung-mo threw down.

This time, Soloviev made Erdene pay for his fan-friendly style, rocking him with a left and then following with a right hand to drive Erdene into the canvas. What a turnaround for Soloviev who, as caposa pointed out, has turned his career around and become a finishing machine.

Soo Chul Kim wins our Humpty Dumpty Fall of the Week award as he shut Akira Haraguchi down with a left on the button.

I know the ref has to wait to see if Haraguchi can regain his senses there, but when I see someone just drop like they’ve been touched by the Holy Ghost, I’m jumping in for the stoppage right away.

That’s three straight wins now for Kim, whose last loss was a close split decision loss to Juan Archuleta at the Rizin vs. Bellator event. If he wants to, expect him to pop up in a North American promotion sometime in 2024.

You can catch highlights of every Road FC 66 fight on their YouTube channel.

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.