Missed Fists: Fighter disqualified for biting, post-bout brawl ensues

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.

Last week was all about Fight Circus Vol. 3, so this week we’re getting back on track with highlights from across the globe. We lead off with some great news and some not-so-great news.

Great? Our first Missed Fists clip from Angola! Not-so-great? It’s being featured because of a post-fight fracas that resulted from one fighter being disqualified for illegal use of the teeth.

(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.)

Mauro Diogo vs. Leonardo Pascoal

AL: As the great Charles Barkley once said, “I don’t know anything about Angola, but Angola’s in trouble.”

JM: Man, shouts to Barkley. I wish MMA had even a remotely cool elder statesman who could sit on broadcasts and say (sometimes inane) things but do so in a fun and endearing way. Sadly, most of the elder statesmen in MMA are either boring or horrible, which really prevents us from having something as great as Inside the NBA.

AL: Amen to that.

The Angola fight scene is definitely in trouble if these kinds of shenanigans persist, I can tell you that much. From an Angola Fight Club show in Luanda, we have an amateur bantamweight bout between Mauro Diogo and Leonardo Pascoal ending in a disqualification and then sheer chaos after Pascoal allegedly bit Diogo to fight off an armbar attempt.

Neither man seemed too pleased with the result, including Diogo, who smacked Pascoal with a two-piece as they jawed at each other after the decision.

JM: First, let us recognize that both of these men have spectacular names. Second, let me state, unequivocally, that though I support cheating in most of its forms during a fight, biting is a bridge too far, even for me. Especially in amateur MMA. Like, dude, come on. You’re being way too aggro there.

AL: Big shout-out to the security guard who slapped a full nelson on Pascoal and carried him across the cage, Khamzat-style.

If you’re curious, full fights from the Angola Fight Club event are available on the promotion’s Instagram.

Sergei Kharitonov vs. Fabio Maldonado
Denis Lavrentyev vs. Jesse Arnett

If you need more evidence that quality heavyweights are scattered everywhere, look no further than this past weekend’s Parus FC event in Dubai that was headlined by Sergei Kharitonov and Fabio Maldonado.

“Quality” might be stretching it when it comes to Maldonado at this point in his career, but you know the Brazilian vet is going to bring it every time… at least when the referee lets him.

Thoughts on this stoppage?

JM: Let’s be honest, “quality” was a stretch to use even at the height of Maldonado’s career, which we are obviously past. And my thoughts echo caposa’s: the stoppage was bad but also not bad because Maldonado’s whole thing is that he’s tough so really, he was just gonna get teed off on for a while.

AL: I don’t hate it! It is an early stoppage, but as I always say, not all early stoppages are bad. True, it’s not like Kharitonov was just dominating the entire round, but I do think that sequence there was the beginning of the end and frankly, I only needed to see the beginning.

JM: More importantly, God bless Kharitonov. Forty-one years old and still out here scrapping and still looking decent. Man is past it but the hand speed is still there.

AL: On the other end of the spectrum was this late stoppage, which I didn’t have a problem with. Not all late stoppages are bad either!

Oh, Denis Lavrentyev with the sweet backhand too.

JM: I have no issue with the stoppage. It would have been defensible to jump in earlier but my general thoughts on stoppages are that in a sane world, referees would err on letting fights go longer and corners would actually be the ones to protect their fighters. I know that’s not how things work but to me, with Jesse Arnett trying to move, I’d want to give him every opportunity as the ref. However, if that’s my fighter, I’m throwing the towel as soon as he gets dropped and pounced on.

Also, is that a backhand or a back elbow? I can’t tell from the angle.

AL: It’s back smack upside the head is what it was.

Hate to see Arnett take that much damage, but I do feel he was showing mostly intelligent defense up until the referee waved it off. Mileage may vary on this one.

The latest Parus FC event is available for free on YouTube.

Ali Bagautinov vs. Sean Santella
Sam Patterson vs. Kamil Magomedov

Another Russian veteran was in action this past weekend, though one that’s not far removed from his prime, one-time UFC flyweight title challenger Ali Bagautinov. “Puncher” has actually won four straight and nine of his past 10 fights, capped off by this 61-second TKO of Sean Santella in the Brave CF flyweight grand prix semifinals.

Bagautinov should probably be in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, right?

JM: Maybe? He lost to Zhalgas Zhumagulov two years ago and that dude has not impressed in the UFC. Still, the totality of his resume may bear consideration. Plus, remember when Bags was a top five flyweight in the UFC and then just decided to not re-sign with them? What a legend. That earns bonus points for sure.

AL: Also picking up a big win at Brave CF 55 in Rostov-On-Don, Russia, was England’s Sam Patterson, who snatched a guillotine on Kamil Magomedov to keep his eight-fight unbeaten streak alive, snap Magomedov’s six-fight win streak (all finishes), and set up a rematch with champion Ahmed Amir.

JM: As far as Brave CF bangers go, a rematch between two legitimately excellent prospects for the title is about as good as you can hope for. I’ll watch the hell out of that one.

Brave CF 55 is available for replay on Brave CF TV.

Asylbek Rustambek vs. Gusein Khalikhov

AL: It feels like it’s been too long since we’ve seen a good head kick KO in Missed Fists.

JM: That’s because Will Chope is a coward who went for submissions against Bank and No Money. If he stood and banged, Bank would’ve banked a shin upside his dome piece.

AL: Facts.

From Open Fighting Championship 11 (available for free replay on YouTube) in Saint Petersburg, Russia, here’s a good head kick KO courtesy of Asylbek Rustambek.

JM: That is an excellent finish, unfortunately, all I can think about now is former Seattle Seahwaks quarterback and current NFL analyst Matt Hasselbeck.

AL: Okay.

JM: You know what’s weird? Hasselbeck is 46 years old and he’s been WASHED from football for a decade. Meanwhile, Glover Teixeira is 42 and just won arguably the most prestigious belt in MMA. This sport is wild.

Caio Machado vs. Leandro Lima

AL: That’s Caio Machado with a walk-off KO of Leandro Lima in the main event of a Number 1 MMA show (available for free replay on YouTube) in Recife, Brazil.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Machado has flirted with success in North America, competing for the LFA and TKO, but never quite putting together the wins to catch the eye of a major promotion. His past three losses stateside came against current UFC fighters Jamall Emmers, Nate Maness, Miles Johns.

So there’s nothing wrong with heading back home and stomping on some inferior competition (Machado’s past three opponents had a combined 14 fights between them) to get your confidence back.

JM: That’s what regional MMA is for: finding your level. Machado is that classic dude who can probably kick the pants off most guys in his gym but can’t cut it against other guys of a similar caliber. There are levels to this stuff.

Speaking of levels, naming your promotion Number 1 MMA is fantastic and the event being named “Number 1 MMA 2” is charmingly dumb.

Liam Hamill vs. Will Owens
Derek Lambert vs. Curtis Ouellette

AL: We end off on a couple of quick hits from the amateur scene, featuring Liam Hamill one-shotting Will Owens (from B2 Fighting Series 138, full fights available on YouTube), and Derek Lambert scoring the Humpty Dumpty KO of the week (from New England Fights 45) .

Which one of these tickled your fancy more?

JM: Well, Lambert’s KO resulted in a substantially more interesting Humpty Dumpty and Hamill reminded me of Michael Chandler the way he sort of runs forward and launches himself into the punch, so given that, Lambert by a landslide.

AL: Congrats to Lamber on winning this week’s Jeddie and hey, getting compared to Chandler after your second amateur fight ain’t bad either.

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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.