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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.

Apologies, but I’m going to need all of you to put your UFC Vegas 100 party planning aside for a moment so you can check out this week’s latest randomness from the fighting world, namely Yatcha Club being at it again.

(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.)

If you’re not familiar with Yatcha Club, its whole gimmick is putting on fights in the most off-beat places you can imagine. Children’s play areas, underground tunnels, parking garages, you name it, the club has probably thrown two dudes in it to punch and kick each other.

In their latest experiment, fighters Chung Soo Lee and Kris Kirsch made their way over to a wading pool to do battle and the results are just about what you’d expect.

Going for a takedown in this setting is incredibly smart. If you’re the one being taken down, doing anything besides immediately trying to get up off your back is incredibly not smart. Because of, you know, the whole being submerged in water thing.

Once Kirsch is down, Lee doesn’t even have to do much other than sloppily grapple as his opponent tries not to swallow a gallon of water. The only strategy to even consider in this fight is making sure you’re on top and then pushing the other guy down until they tap or drown. Like, bro, why are you even going for ground-and-pound there?

Let’s toss this concept in the “never again” pile.

Watch the whole fight below and more from Yatcha Club on their YouTube channel.

Damien Anderson vs. Gabriel Wanderley
Richard Mayol vs. Dallas Dodd
Artur Minev vs. Cristobal Ibanez

With whatever that was out of the way, let’s retreat to the comfy confines of UFC Fight Pass, where human beings were KO’ing and submitting each other the old-fashioned way.

At Fury FC 98 in Houston, Damien Anderson scored a heel hook submission that would make Ryan Hall proud, winning a tangle of limbs to force the tap from Gabriel Wanderley.

Not going to lie, this may have just been an excuse to mention Ryan Hall. Get well and fight again soon, sir.

Richard Mayol (not to be confused with British comedy legend and Drop Dead Fred star Rik Mayall, may he rest in peace) kicks off a cavalcade of right hand knockouts with this precision shot to the temple of Dallas Dodd.

You can pinpoint the exact moment where Dodd’s body shuts down and were it not for the cage wall stopping him, he would have fallen flat back into a nice nap instead of having to absorb that extra shot.

Earlier on the card, Artur Minev needed just 28 seconds to queue up his right hand to blister Cristobal Ibanez.

Stuffs the shot, immediately corners his opponent, and then ends him. Cold efficiency from the Ukrainian lightweight, who improves to 4-0 as a pro.

Stefano Paterno vs. Jorge Bueno
Konstantinos Ntelis vs. Simone Patrizi

Over at Cage Warriors 179 in Rome, the top 2 fights of the night delivered with-you guessed it-a pair of powerful right hand knockouts.

Stefano Paterno continued his recent hot streak, cracking Jorge Bueno for a stylish walk-off finish.

That’s six straight wins for Paterno, including three wins inside the distance since returning to Cage Warriors. At 29, the Italian’s best days are still ahead of him.

Greece’s Konstantinos Ntelis made sure it was a short night at the office as he caught an advancing Simone Patrizi with an absolute hammer that Patrizi stepped directly into.

There’s your “When Your Legs Don’t Work Like They Used To Before” KO of the Week.

Mauricio Partida vs. Brandon Uruchurtu

Zipping over to Lux Fight League 47 in Mexico City, we go from lower limb shutdown to total body shutdown.

Mauricio Partida refused to let Brandon Uruchurtu just chill against the fence, so when he saw an opening to strike, he took it and then some. That’s a monster knee up the middle and Uruchurtu doesn’t just go down in pain, he appears to freeze up completely. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he cracked a rib there.

Emily Ducote vs. Yulia Ostroverkhova
Victoria Leonardo vs. Amanda Torres
Shanna Young vs. Pamela Boveda
Magdalena Czaban vs. Jessica Hope Holmes

Hopefully you tuned in live on CBS, but in case you didn’t, Invicta FC has you covered with all the highlights from its latest show in Kansas City, Kan. It was a big night for recently released UFC vets, with Emily Ducote, Victoria Leonardo, and Shanna Young all picking up impressive finishes.

Of the three, I’m happiest for Leonardo, who was coming off of two rough knockout losses to Wang Cong and Natalia Silva. During her UFC run, Leonardo developed a reputation for being on the wrong end of spectacular highlights, so for her to get back in the win column and score her first finish since 2020, that’s got to be sweet.

Just two fights into her pro career, atomweight Magdalena Czaban has a submission win she can crow about after locking in this nasty guillotine.

If the UFC ever gets serious about implementing the 115-pound division, Czaban is one to keep an eye on.

Emin Huseynov vs. Olzhas Zhakypbekuly

Let’s end today’s globe-trotting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where Olzhas Zhakypbekuly ended up with his face in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whatever Emin Huseynov had done prior to this, he had Zhakypbekuly biting hard on a fake before launching into his spin kick. Zhakypbekuly gets low, gets his hands up, and still ends up eating all of that one. That can’t feel good.

Full Alash Pride fights are available to watch for free 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 X — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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Ngannou coach Eric Nicksick knows how he’d get ‘The Predator’ to fight Jon Jones, which is why he’s so bummed out the match-up may never happen.

Francis Ngannou is coming off a quick first round knockout over Renan Ferreira in his PFL debut, but don’t expect him to defend his new PFL heavyweight title in the coming months. According to his longtime coach Eric Nicksick, it’s slim pickings as far as viable opponents go in the MMA scene right now.

“I really think the options out there for him are bigger in boxing right now,” he told Kevin Iole in a new interview. “I don’t really know [who in] the heavyweight landscape of free agents or guys in the PFL that could deliver at the moment. I think Renan [Ferreira] was the guy that we thought was gonna be the the biggest name, and then who was gonna be available free agency wise?”

“We saw Derrick Lewis was gonna hit the free agent market. There was a couple names that might have been available. But right now, I think boxing to me might be the best avenue for him as far as name value goes, and of course making that money.”

Derrick Lewis was a free agent for all of one week before re-signing with the UFC, and he recently thanked Ngannou for helping him get a significant pay bump to stay. You gotta get real weird now to find anything compelling for “The Predator” in PFL — a two-sport, two-fight deal with Deontay Wilder has been floated but involves so many moving parts it seems unlikely at this point.

The obvious pick from fans would be a showdown with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, but UFC CEO Dana White has straight-up declared he’ll never do business with Ngannou again. Regardless, Nicksick shared his gameplan for Ngannou if that fight did come together.

“I think you have to put Jon on his back foot,” he said. “You have to put pressure on him. You have to put him up against the corner post, and you can’t get in a technical fight with Jon. You couldn’t allow him to dictate the hand play, where he starts to occupy your hands. That’s a slow pace type of fight where Jon is very technical there, and he starts to pick you apart with elbows and the clinch and the knees and all the things that he does so well.”

“For me, I thought, ‘Make it an ugly fight. Don’t make a technical fight.’ You’re gonna have to make this grimy and try to get out of there. Try to get out of there in the first two, three rounds. I think the longer a fight would have gone between Jon and Francis, it would have favored more Jon. If we put a game plan on him, we’re gonna have to put the pace on him.”

As for how he feels about the low likelihood the two will ever face off, Nicksick admitted he and the whole team were bummed about it.

“Highly disappointed,” he said. “Because we’re all competitors, and it’s about legacy. It’s about putting your best athlete, your best skill set, up against arguably the best to ever do it in Jon Jones. That’s the thing that will bother us, and it bothers me as a coach. I wanted to have that opportunity to try to game plan against who I feel is the best pound-for-pound to ever do it.”

“Just to be able to have that shot, that type of legacy, I think that’s one thing that will always bother Francis.”

MMAmania.com – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are about to step into the squared circle for what could be the most-watched boxing match in combat sports history.

That’s right, with their fight airing live on Netflix with no extra charge to its over 280 million subscribers, it’s well within the realm of possibility that Paul vs. Tyson shatters modern viewership records. At the very least, when you head to the water cooler (do people still do this?) on Monday, there’s a strong chance your co-workers will have heard about “that crazy Tyson fight” that happened Friday night.

With all of that said… who exactly is this fight for?

Paul has made the most of his transition from social media huckster to influencer boxer, scoring high-profile fights with everyone from Nate Diaz to Tommy Fury to Anderson Silva to Mike Perry, and has now caught in his net one of the most popular boxers ever, “Iron” Mike Tyson.

Yes, Tyson is back and competing in a professionally sanctioned bout for the first time in over 19 years (it should be noted that he stepped into the ring with Roy Jones Jr. for an exhibition bout in 2020). He and Paul were first scheduled to fight on July 20, but health problems on Tyson’s side postponed the bout until Nov. 15, and in between those dates, Tyson actually celebrated his 58th birthday. That’s 31 years older than Paul.

Again… what are we doing here?

MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee, Jed Meshew, and Damon Martin scratched their noggins to figure out the best and healthiest way to approach Paul vs. Tyson if you’re one of the many planning to tune in even if you don’t know why.

Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

1. Paint the best possible outcome for Friday.

Martin: A compelling fight that doesn’t look like a 27-year-old fighting a 58-year-old.

That’s setting a dramatically low bar but the reality is no one knows for certain what to expect in this fight. At his best, Jake Paul is a prospect with some good boxing skills and huge knockout power but at his worst, he’s still largely a novice without any real experience against top level opponents.

Then there’s Tyson, who in his prime was arguably the most feared fighter in the history of combat sports but that feels like a lifetime ago with his last win coming all the way back in 2003. Jake Paul was six years old at the time.

So what exactly defines compelling?

Let’s be honest the fear factor for this fight almost entirely surrounds Tyson because it’s just not realistic to expect somebody nearing 60 to still be fighting at a high level. Perhaps he’s really found the fountain of youth, and if he can manage to knock Paul down even once or just find a way to stick around for all eight rounds without taking too much damage, that’s a win in my book.

Meshew: Everyone has fun and no one gets seriously injured.

With over 20 years of combat sports fandom, I’ve seen a lot of stuff, and in general, I try not to clutch my pearls about most things. At the end of the day, this is two consenting adults and who am I to tell them how to live their lives? But this one is really on the boundary of acceptability for me, and truth be told, it’s beyond.

Sure, Jake Paul isn’t within three zip codes of where Mike Tyson was in his prime, but Tyson ain’t in his prime. In fact, he’s about three decades away from it. This is akin to Hall of Fame football players trying to put the pads back on to play in the XFL — absurd. Tyson had a freaking medical emergency this year! He is damn near a senior citizen and even the training footage they’re releasing to show “Mike’s still got it” is concerning. No doubt, Tyson looks like he’s in terrific shape for 58, but he very much looks like an old man.

There is no doubt about the outcome of this “fight.” The only doubt is in how bad it will be. The best case scenario is that both Tyson and Paul realize what this is and have a glorified sparring session for eight rounds where all the money is made, egos are stroked, and we can get out of there without feeling gross.

Lee: Speak for yourselves, fellas, if I’m going to dream up a best-case scenario for this one, I’m dreaming big:

Tyson knocks the absolute stuffing out of Paul.

Nothing personal against “The Problem Child” (though there are plenty of reasons to dislike Paul, so pick one), and Tyson is certainly no saint himself, but Tyson reaching down deep to land one last punch of doom on Paul’s chin would create unfathomable ripples in the timeline. This wouldn’t just be the biggest story in boxing of 2024, it would arguably be the biggest story in all of sports if Tyson put Paul down for the count.

I get it. Ideally, neither man ends up getting seriously injured for the sake of a freakshow fight that’s more a test of Netflix’s live streaming capabilities than an athletic contest that anyone should be taking seriously. But this is a pro bout. This is a fight. And, even at damn near 60, this is the always unpredictable Mike Tyson.

The heavyweight legend’s 2020 spar with Roy Jones was unexpectedly charming, and if we see something akin to that, I can’t imagine too many fans complaining. They’ll also forget about it by Saturday, once UFC 309 pre-show programming begins.

If Tyson somehow destroys Paul, though? Let’s just say Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will have a tough act to follow.

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

2. And what’s the worst possible outcome?

Lee: I’ll leave the more morbid predictions for my colleagues, but I think one of the worst things that could happen is that Friday’s event is such a big hit that we get a flood of Netflix combat sports specials in the same vein.

Look how saturated the streaming network has become with comedy specials. Even if you’re a fan of this kind of content, which is uploaded to Netflix on a regular basis, I imagine there are plenty of subscribers rolling their eyes at the slew of standups bombarding their screens whenever they log in.

Now instead of those, imagine execs trying to tap into the novelty bout market. More Jake Paul vs. [insert legend here] fights. More over-the-hill boxers being thrust into the ring with the promise of a massive payday. Complete nonsense fights featuring influencers with millions of followers named, like, “X44Reggie” or something. All at the touch of a button.

On the other hand, if this leads to a partnership between Netflix and Fight Circus, then I take it all back.

Meshew: Death. I do not say that lightly, but it’s a realistic possibility.

In combat sports, fighters court death constantly. They are always talking about “being willing to die in the ring” and in general there’s an understanding that the profession of fighting is trading in health for money. Usually that manifests in terrible, long-term consequences (which Tyson already shows signs of) but fairly regularly it also results directly in death. Literally hundreds of people have died in the ring, averaging 13 deaths per year in boxing. And in most instances, those are matchups between equally capable fighters in their relative youth. That is not at all what’s going on here.

Because high-profile deaths in combat sports are rare (and thankfully non-existent in the UFC) most fans do not really think of it. But the reason they are less frequent is because there was a concerted effort to make this incredibly dangerous sport as safe as possible. Putting a near 60-year-old guy in their with a man 30 years his junior who hits incredibly hard, that’s tempting fate. And the combat sports gods are bastards. You never want to tempt them.

There’s an old adage that “you don’t play boxing” and I cannot help but think that’s exactly what is happening on Saturday. A bunch of people with absolutely no moral imperative other than making as much money as possible are playing a dangerous game. I sincerely hope it doesn’t come back in a terrible, tragic way.

Martin: Tyson being carried out of the ring.

Not to be overdramatic, but it’s impossible not to think about a scenario like that when a 58-year-old fighter is competing professionally for the first time in nearly two decades. Yes, Tyson is undergoing medical testing to get cleared to fight, but let’s not forget this is the same Texas commission that sanctioned Dada 5000 to face Kimbo Slice back in 2016 and then afterwards Dada 5000 suffered cardiac arrest and kidney failure before being rushed to the hospital following his collapse in the cage.

Yes, Tyson looks like he’s in phenomenal shape for his age and he still hits like a truck but this isn’t the same guy who went scorched earth on Michael Spinks in 1988 and, truth be told, he’s not even the same person who effectively spent eight rounds sparring with Roy Jones Jr. back in 2020.

No amount of testing can guarantee that Tyson won’t take an overhand right from Paul, end up face-down on the canvas, causing every single concern about this fight even happening in the first place to come bubbling up to the surface. Obviously, nobody wants to see Tyson get seriously hurt, but if you’re looking for the worst possible outcome, that’s it.

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

3. Should Jake Paul win, what’s next for “The Problem Child?”

Martin: It’s so hard to figure out what exactly Paul really wants for his boxing career.

One minute he’s calling out Conor McGregor and Alex Pereira and the next he’s spouting off about becoming a world champion in the next couple of years. Here’s a hint: You’re not going to win a legitimate title beating MMA superstars in the boxing ring.

But for all his talk about legitimacy, Paul has shown us time and time again that he’s much more about spectacle than sport — and that’s totally OK, by the way. His couple of fights against journeymen boxers generated little interest, so Paul has to recognize that as much as he brings as an “A” side, people aren’t going to care to watch unless there’s at least a somewhat compelling “B” side.

So the answer here is Paul finally faces KSI.

Outside of fighting his brother Logan Paul, that’s pretty much the final boss when it comes to the influencer boxing scene. KSI has the name, he has the draw, and there’s so much disdain between him and Paul that it’s actually a fight worth watching.

Lee: It’s MMA time, baby!

PFL just delivered a couple of highly anticipated fights in the Francis Ngannou return and Cris Cyborg taking on Larissa Pacheco, plus they’re making this year’s championship event a free show with a subscription to ESPN+ as opposed to the usual pay-per-view price. While they’re in the habit of giving the people what they want, it’s time to throw Paul in the SmartCage.

Who he’ll fight, I don’t rightly know. And I’m not sure it matters. Paul, on his own, is not going to break attendance or viewership records, but he will bring a demographic to PFL that they’re sorely in need of. Not to get all “how do you do, fellow kids?” here, but I don’t know if the league has been much of an attraction for the younger generation of fight fans and that’s still a group Paul has some pull with.

Selfishly, I’m curious to see how Paul’s work ethic, youth, and resource advantages translate to MMA. This business loves a good heel, and if Paul is even half decent at grappling or throwing the occasional teep, he could be a legitimate feather in PFL’s cap.

It’s by no means a lock that he ever crosses over, but I’m excited at the possibility of Paul throwing caution to the wind and seeing how far he can go with six months of sprawl training.

Meshew: I think Damon is right, it’s probably KSI.

I do not care how often Paul says it, the man is not concerned with legacy. I’m not even sure he can define what that means, or what he means by it. Paul is interested almost exclusively in attention and money, and he probably only cares about the attention insofar as it leads to more money (and to be clear, that’s not a knock on him, it is an extremely pragmatic away to approach life).

Paul dabbled in the “real boxer” matchups, but it seems he’s realized that there was simply not much of a market for watching him beat scrubs no one has ever heard of before. Jake Paul fans do not care about him boxing (they care about being entertained and that’s not entertaining) and MMA fans (the other big base of viewership for these things) don’t care if he’s not fighting someone they know.

Which leads us back to KSI. These two are the godfathers of the influencer boxing scene and a fight between them has been talked about for years. At this point, it’s delayed so long it’s maybe past due already. Do the thing boys and then we can see what happens when the logical endpoint of everything finally arrives.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

Javier Mendez has had some of the best fighters in the history of MMA walk through his doors at AKA and has had a front row seat to some of the all-time greats at work. In a recent interview with Red Corner MMA, one of the most successful coaches in the game was asked to pick who, of all the great champions he’s worked with, takes the top spot.

Mendez has got a lot of options to pick from his earlier champions like Cain Velasquez, Luke Rockhold and Daniel Cormier to more recent examples. Many would assume that Khabib Nurmagomedov or his lightweight heir, the current pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev, would also be in the conversation.

However, Mendez subverted expectations by naming the cousin of “The Eagle” who is the reigning Bellator lightweight champion. At 18-0 with one no contest, Usman Nurmagomedov is undoubtedly one of the most talented fighters that isn’t currently signed to the UFC.

His recent comments suggested that he hopes to move across to the Octagon once his teammate, Makhachev, has finished his run at the 155-pound champion so that he can take over in his absence which would be one of the UFC’s biggest signings in some time. Mendez said that whilst Nurmagomedov may not have the same list of accomplishments as the other fighters in the gym, he’s the most talented and is still improving as 26-years old.

“I see Usman [Nurmagomedov] as being pound-for-pound the greatest fighter myself, he’s got all the attributes. He’s the most talented I’ve ever trained… If at one point he never goes [to the UFC], great. He’s still gonna be regarded as one of the great ones… what he does in that cage is like nobody. I’ve never seen anybody do the transitions, the movement that he does. He’s unbelievable and he’s only 26, he’s only getting better.”

Continue Reading Javier Mendez Snubs Khabib & Makhachev While Naming Best Fighter He’s Trained at MMA News.

MMA News

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out.

We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re switching to a system of a new article each day for the game.

We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day.

Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game!

What we need from you

1. Play the game
2. Share your result in the comments and on social media
3. Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below)

Today’s UFC in-5 game

Thursday’s UFC in-5 game

Wednesday’s UFC in-5 game

Tuesday’s UFC in-5 game

The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day.

After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

MMA Fighting – All Posts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Bantamweight?
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