Missed Fists: Mateus Santos taps out opponent with never-before-seen submission, more

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 have a veritable smorgasbord of highlights for you this week, any number of which would have made for a fine lead (guys, it’s the year 2021 and ZULUZINHO fought this week). However, when Mateus Santos brings us a submission that is so indescribable that even the most hardcore of hardcores struggle to identify it, then he has to get the top spot.

Mateus Santos vs. Alexander Volodin
Daniil Prikaza vs. Nodar Kudukhashvili

At Open Fighting Championship 2 (“The Reopening)” in Samara, Russia, Mateus Santos showed us all not only the best way to escape an omoplata, but how to turn it against your opponent.

Check this wild sh*t out:

By the way, my initial description there was written only after sifting through replies of more educated people than myself and watching this video that explains Santos’ whole process.

One second Alexander Volodin thought he was in control, the next it probably felt like his entire foot was about to be snapped off. I know most people (including our site) will lean towards UFC finishes when making our year-end lists, but for all you voters out there please keep this one in mind when December rolls around.

What Daniil Prikaza did to Nodar Kudukhashvili however, there is “no question.”

Get it? Because he hit him with a question mark kick?

…

Fine. Just watch the clip and make sure to focus on the slow-mo replay because it happened so fast in real time that you may not have even noticed how exquisite Prikaza’s technique is.

Check out the rest of the fights from OFC 2 on the promotion’s YouTube page.

Wasim Chellan vs. Yann Lenvo

This next clip, we’re jumping in the time machine for a Wayback Missed Fists section, which we don’t often do. In this case, we want to address an amazing boxing highlight that made the rounds on social media this week, not just because of how spectacular it is but also to let people know that it’s actually from a Maxim Boxing Promotions bout in Cape Town, South Africa, last February.

The other reason we’re featuring it is because holy crap how did we miss this when it happened:

Wasim Chellan lands a left hook that is so clean it causes opponent Yann Lenvo’s body to shut down. And not just partially shut down, Lenvo’s system is so discombobulated that for a few brief seconds it can no longer maintain a corporeal form.

That spine literally becomes putty, there’s no explanation for it.

I mean, there is one other explanation for it.

Oscar Valdez vs. Miguel Berchelt

Now if we’re talking current events, how about Oscar Valdez’s rocket shot on Miguel Berchelt from this past Saturday’s Top Rank show?

This one probably wasn’t missed by most fight fans, but we’re not going to apologize for featuring Valdez, who improved to 29-0 (23 KOs) and added the WBC super featherweight title to his collection with this knockout.

Mumin Shamshov vs. Davletbek Abdukakharov

Back to MMA, Mumin Shamshov scored a finish with a perfectly-timed kick to the liver that left Davletbek Abdukakharov gasping for air.

I don’t know if that was luck or if Shamshov just figured Abdukakharov out, but if it was on purpose then that was a heck of a read for a guy in his first pro bout.

You can catch a full replay of Octagon: Selection 16 here:

Evgeniy Ignatiev vs. Zandan Tsydenov

At RCC: Intro 11 (full fights available on YouTube) on Tuesday, Evgeniy Ignatiev and Zandan Tsydenov gave us our Condit-Hardy exchange of the week, with Ignatiev having the good fortune of getting to play the Condit role.

No regrets, Tsydenov. Next time it could be you who is the Condit.

Adrian Dudek vs. Dawid Drobina

Okay, this is getting a little confusing. In Ostrow Wielkopolski, Poland, on Saturday, there was an event called Octagon No Mercy 10 (no relation to Kazakhstan’s Octagon promotion) and I would have skipped over mentioning it entirely were it not for Adrian Dudek.

I’m a sucker for a cute hammerfist KO and while this was certainly less of an adorable boop and more of a vicious BAP BAP BAP, I still dug it. Maybe pull one of those back next time though.

Daisuke Nakamura vs. Juntaro Ushiku
Yamato Fujita vs. Kazuki Shibuya
Juri Ohara vs. Satoru Kitaoka

Japan’s DEEP promotion continues to roll on and yes, if you must know, its rules do allow for soccer kicks and stomps, which played a factor into several of Sunday’s fights.

This first clip though is straight out of lethwei as Juntaro Ushiku thought he’d sneak in a couple of human torpedoes to get an edge. Admirable, but Daisuke Nakamura was having none of it.

They say “never leave it in the hands of the judges,” well Nakamura apparently decided he wasn’t going to leave it in the hands of the referee to penalize his opponent. Not going to take a point? Take the point of my knee, fool!

And now onto a couple of clips that feel illegal but are somehow not illegal:

We love a good soccer kick around these parts, but Yamato Fujita’s beatdown of Kazuki Shibuya may have gone a touch too long, don’t you think?

Juri Ohara’s stomp of JMMA lifer Satoru Kitaoka was probably just right though, as awful as that sounds. The follow-up ground-and-pound is a shame, but the ref should have jumped in there sooner. If he had, Ohara could have had himself a stomp-off home run, so to speak.

By the way, Ohara and Kitaoka entered their contest with a combined 119 pro bouts. Ohara is only 30 and he accounted for 48 of those. Japanese MMA.

Itsuki Hirata vs. Miku Nakamura
Toshiomi Kazama vs. Kohei Maeda

Also in Tokyo, Shooto held a Road to ONE event on Monday and 21-year-old prospect Itsuki Hirata showed why she’s definitely set to land on a ONE Championship card in the near future.

Just a dominant performance by Hirata (4-0), who currently competes at 115 pounds. My guess would be if she ever makes it over stateside it will be as an atomweight, which would be perfect for Invicta, or as an undersized strawweight in the UFC.

Toshiomi Kazama also competed in his fourth pro bout and he made a mark of his own, finishing with strikes after trapping Kohei Maeda in a twister position.

Kazama couldn’t finish the submission here, but Maeda probably wishes he did. Would have saved him about a dozen punches to the face

Alibeg Rasulov vs. Mikhail Turkanov
Yusup Shuaev vs. Zuluzinho
Andrey Koreshkov vs. Adriano Rodrigues

There’s really no nice way to put this: On Tuesday, it looks like Fight Nights Global booked a Nazi to fight and said Nazi proceeded to get a well-deserved smacking.

Perhaps I’m just projecting, but the referee really seemed to take his time stepping in there.

Look, I don’t know the exact politics of Mikhail Turkanov, but suffice to say this was a bad look for him and FNG in my opinion, and credit to Alibeg Rasulov for getting in there and taking care of business. Really, the less said about this nasty business the better.

On the more wholesome side of MMA, Zuluzinho is back, everybody!

I mean, technically, Zuluzhino is never really gone as he lives on in all of our hearts, but he hadn’t competed in an MMA bout since December 2019, so this was a welcome return to form for the former Fedor foe.

And this is going to shock you, but something weird happened in a Zuluzinho fight:

You can’t really blame him for getting mixed up here. He landed what looked to be a finishing shot right before the round bell and was probably so jazzed up it was impossible for him to know exactly why the referee was stepping in. The celebration was earned! The only problem is the fight wasn’t actually over and Zuluzinho went on to lose a decision.

You can read more about the incident here or just watch the magic for yourself here:

It’s crazy that because of everything else that happened on Tuesday, the fact that former Bellator welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov was in the main event almost seems like a footnote. Koreshkov is on loan from Bellator since the promotion won’t be holding any events until April and fortunately for Scott Coker he did not end up getting Dudu’d.

This was Koreshkov’s first fight since October 2019. Zuluzinho fought more recently than him!

Koreshkov was his usual clinical self, just dismantling Adriano Rodrigues and finishing with an armbar near the end of round one.

Now let’s get Koreshkov back home to Uncasville before he ends up getting caught in some Missed Fists mayhem of his own out there.

---

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.