Missed Fists: Mohammad Wasim Kohbandi ends fight with gruesome ground-and-pound, more
Mohammad Wasim Kohbandi strikes down at Faridullah Rohani at a Truly Grand Fighting Championship show in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday | @Grabaka_Hitman, Twitter
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.
No gimmicks this week. Just the finishes. Let’s get to it.
(Actually, before we get to it, make sure to stop by @Grabaka_Hitman’s Patreon page and chip in a couple of bucks if you can afford to do so. It’s the least we can do for MMA’s greatest archiver.)
Mohammad Wasim Kohbandi vs. Faridullah RohaniAhmed Wali Hotak vs. Leonardo BarbosaZubair Osmani vs. Sediqullah GhaznawiHamid-Reza Gholipour vs. Kami Jutt
AL: Truly Grand Fighting Championship held a humble little show in Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday, filled primarily with fighters with little to no experience. And you know what that usually means: a lot of people got hurt.
Case in point, Mohammad Wasim Kohbandi had Faridullah Rohani dead to rights with a mounted triangle, but still decided to go for ground-and-pound over submission. Rohani gets absolutely brutalized, no thanks to the referee who was doing his best to make sure he ended up in Missed Fists.
Mohammad Wasim Kohbandi brutally finishes Faridullah Rohani via mounted triangle + hellbows. That was a little disturbing. #TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/BksRYbIVvA— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021
JM: That is one of the worst efforts I’ve ever seen from a referee. Rohani is clearly using his left arm to defend and then stops doing so. That is the textbook definition of no longer intelligently defending himself. What was the ref thinking? That Rohani decided he was cool with getting elbowed in the face because he had a very important letter to write with his left hand? Just abhorrent refereeing.
AL: The main event featured fighters who actually have resumes to speak of as Ahmed Wali Hotak (7-1) took on Leonardo Barbosa (18-7).
TGFC 11 main event: Ahmed Wali Hotak finishes Leonardo Barbosa with a knee to the body in the 2nd. Quite the reaction. Afghanistan crowd goes insane. #TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/dDsURSLVgs— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021
The end results was slightly more competitive, but still fishy when you look at that finish closely. Hotak lands a good knee to the body, but good enough to have Barbosa flopping to the mat like he’s taking a charge in the NBA? Questionable.
JM: I don’t say this often here, but that was a straight-up dive. That would have been an overreaction if Hotak bolted Barbosa with a cattle-prod. A regular knee to the body? There’s no explanation I’m willing to accept other than dive. Or aliens.
AL: Submission defense is another skill that takes years to develop and it certainly wasn’t on display here as Zubair Osmani failed to stop a scary neck crank courtesy of Sediqullah Ghaznawi.
Nasty no-hooks neck crank by Zubair Usmani, submitting Sediqullah Ghaznawi. Ouch #TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/O3ZyUQpYeb— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021
JM: Certainly that’s not world class defense, but I do like the sneaky little hook Ghaznawi had on Osmani’s right leg there. Gave him just enough control over the body for leverage on the crank.
AL: And what small show filled with unseasoned talent would be complete without a kick upside the head?
So here’s Hamid-Reza Gholipour kicking Kami Jutt upside the head.
Co-main event: Hamid-Reza Gholipour cracks Kami Jutt with a high kick and punches for the 2nd round TKO#TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/XvdSGyJdz1— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021
JM: Not gonna lie, I was shocked at who the kicker was in this one. No offense meant to Gholipour but the man looks like he just go done attending an “I can make you rich by flipping houses!” seminar. Just goes to show you that multiple time Wushu world champions come in surprising packages.
AL: Expect the unexpected, as the saying goes. And now is the time on Sprockets when we dance.
#TGFC11 pic.twitter.com/P1hMS2j3vf— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 11, 2021
JM: Remember when that dude does this in Never Back Down and then gets colded with the first punch? Great movie.
Georgy Shakhruramazanov vs. Ali DikaevFaridun Odilov vs. Sergey KalininMansur Malachiev vs. Ruslan SarievDinislam Kamavov vs. Aleksandr Shvabskiy
AL: Earlier this week, we wrote about Georgy Shakhruramazanov’s ridiculous spin kick KO of Ali Dikaev at Eagle Fighting Championship 33 in Moscow, but the world definitely needs to hear the Jed take on this.
Oh my god. Spectacular spinning wheel kick KO by Georgy Shakhruramazanov (10-0) #EFC33 pic.twitter.com/W07tneiKa9— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 9, 2021
JM: My official, learned position on it is that this was dope and sucks to be Dikaev. I’d be surprised if that one wasn’t making an appearance at The Fistys at the end of the year.
AL: Aside from that, there were a trio of awesome submissions executed on Tuesday, so let’s take a quick glance at Faridun Odilov’s scarf choke, Mansur Malachiev’s guillotine, and Dinislam Kamavov’s Von Flue.
Holy shit. Faridun Odilov finishes Sergey Kalinin with the scarf hold choke in R4. And new EFC Middleweight champion. Amazing fight. #EFC33 pic.twitter.com/yrcbPN0ttU— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 9, 2021
Wow. Mansur Malachiev (now 9-0) takes the EFC bantamweight title with a nasty third round guillotine over undefeated Ruslan Sariev. Sariev looks stunned. #EFC33 pic.twitter.com/0tzV5yoOFs— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 9, 2021
Beautiful von flue choke by Dinislam Kamavov (11-1-2)#EFC33 pic.twitter.com/am1K3OAO7f— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 9, 2021
Before we go to the people, what do you think, Who Choked It Better?
JM: Scarf holds might be my favorite submission because they are some real schoolyard bully nonsense. Might as well just give the man a noogie while he’s there. Like, even people who don’t know a single thing about fighting can look at that and be like, ‘Oh, that guy is getting big brother’d right there.’ So that’s definitely my choice for the best choke job.
Billy Pasulatan vs. Brando Mamana
AL: Before Cory Sandhagen did an unspeakable thing to Frankie Edgar’s jaw on Saturday, the best KO of the weekend might have belonged to Billy “Bruce Lee” Pasulatan. At a One Pride MMA Fight Night (please, don’t sue) show in Jakarta, Indonesia, Pasulatan dialed long distance with a switch kick and Brando Mamana made the mistake of answering with his whole face.
MY GOD. Insane switch kick KO by Billy Pasulaton at ONE Pride FN. Just flatlines Brando Mamana #OnePrideFightNight pic.twitter.com/LBZE8kUite— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 6, 2021
JM: Man, why’d you have to go and bring up palette-swapped Dominick Cruz? Now I’m all bummed out again. Thankfully, we have this dope switch kick KO to lift my spirits up.
I like switch kicks because of all the fighting maneuvers in existence, switch kicks are the one that was clearly designed by a six-year-old. “Yeah, I’m gonna jump and kick with both legs. HIYA!”
AL: Children, the greatest purveyors of unbridled aggression.
Morgane Dehaye vs. Miriam Santana
Hombres De Honor put together a show (available on Twitch) in Fontanar, Spain, and maybe it should have been called Mujeres De Honor based on what Morgan Dehaye did to Miriam Santana.
Nice spinning back kick to the body at Hombres de Honor. (Morgane Dehaye) pic.twitter.com/VokZ2cPU5c— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 6, 2021
One spin kick to the ribs and Santana was like, “Okay, cool cool cool, I’m out of here. Peace.”
JM: That may have been the most delayed reaction I’ve ever seen. We talk about fighters rethinking their life choices a lot, but honestly, that’s what that looked to be. Santana ate the kick, came forward and then just had an epiphany like, ‘Why am I doing this? This is obviously stupid’ and turned and walked out. Incredible.
AL: Dehaye might have done her a favor here. One swift kick to the mid-section could be saving Santana a world of hurt in the future if she decides this isn’t for her.
Michele Baiano vs. Nizar Ben AmaraDumitru Girlean vs. Simone Patrizi
AL: Italy’s The Golden Cage promotion aired a show on UFC Fight Pass for the first time last Saturday and Michele Baiano and Dumitru Girlean made the most of the extra exposure.
Baiano won a vacant featherweight title with a rocket left hook of Nizar Ben Amara.
Michele Baiano (4-0)#TGC3 pic.twitter.com/mjeDMIRgTC— Dusty Andrews (@Fight_Expert) February 6, 2021
JM: Yeah, yeah, good hook and all, but are we really not going to talk about this? HOW DO YOU NAME YOUR PROMOTION GOLDEN CAGE AND THEN HAVE A REGULAR-ASS WHITE AND BLACK CAGE?!!? What the sh*t is that?!?
AL: The Regular-Ass White And Black Cage doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, so I feel some embellishment was both necessary and permissible here.
JM: Look, I’m not unreasonable. I’m not demanding the cage be made of actual gold (though that would be kind of cool in a horrifyingly opulent sort of way). And I agree, you shouldn’t name your promotion The Regular-Ass White And Black Cage. That would be a terrible name. But if you’re going to name your promotion Golden Cage, have a damn gold cage! Otherwise name it something mundane like Xtreme Fight Combat Gladiatorship or something.
AL: Sadly, Truly Grand Fighting Championship was taken.
For Dumitru Girlean’s finish, make sure to turn those headphones up.
Beautiful head kick KO by Dumitru Girlean (3-0) on The Golden Cage 3 prelims. Main Card starts in 15 minutes on UFC Fight Pass#TGC3 pic.twitter.com/EAnSrASGUw— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) February 6, 2021
That’s one loud head kick and I wonder if the sound alone was enough to make Simone Patrizi’s ears bleed as he was spun to the canvas.
JM: Sounded like taking a baseball bat to a slab of meat which, I guess, is kinda what it was. Would have been way cooler in a golden cage though.
AL: I can see we’re not letting this one go anytime soon.
Sagar Kashyap vs. Shivam Kumar
We’re just about out of time, which is appropriate because that’s how Sagar Kashyap fought at The Hero Pro Fight Night 4: Fighter’s Breed in Nashik, India, on Sunday.
Ayer en India, Sagar Kashyap metio probablemente el mata leon mas rapido de la historia pic.twitter.com/eCprhSD3im— Barrele la pierna (@Barrelelapierna) February 8, 2021
Kashyap just rushes Shivam Kumar before putting on a rear-naked choke that eventually left Kumar with his eyes in the back of his head.
JM: That was awesome. Not sure I’ve ever seen a flying knee into a rear-naked choke but I’m glad that I have now. As the saying goes, you don’t get paid any extra if the fight goes longer and Kashyap was clearly out there to get that money.
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 – @JedKMeshew and @AlexanderKLee – using the hashtag #MissedFists.
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