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Missed Fists | ‘What the hell was this ref thinking?’: Pros react to referee freezing during brutal knockout beatdown

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Missed Fists | ‘What the hell was this ref thinking?’: Pros react to referee freezing during brutal knockout beatdown

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.

Herb Dean has justifiably been taking a lot of guff lately, to the point that we've all wondered several times over the past few years why he's still officiating fights, much less important fights for major promotions.

Well, it could be because the alternatives are grim.

(Big thanks as always to @Barrelelapierna for their weekly lists of the best KOs, 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.)

Byron Wilson vs. Skyler King

Admittedly, you've got to dig deep to find a referee worse than Hokey Pokey Herb (h/t Mike Heck). Our search takes us to the great state of Georgia, where referee Nate Mann might have actually dissociated during the main event of National Fighting Championship 191.

Byron Wilson was absolutely wailing on Skyler King, so Mann could have stepped in at any moment during that onslaught; instead, he barely moved even after Wilson walked off assuming the fight was over since King was hardly defending himself. Of course, fighters shouldn't waive off their own fights, but I'm not going to blame Wilson for not wanting to do any more unnecessary damage.

After the most awkward of pauses, Wilson went right back in and clobbered King with a hard punch (OK, maybe he wanted to do a little more unnecessary damage), which finally snapped Mann back to reality as he moved to stop the fight.

Making this scene even worse, Wilson and King are essentially amateurs, with Wilson fighting for just the second time as a pro and King making his debut. You've got to protect these guys, come on, Mann.

I'm not alone in this as several pros reacted to the clip in the comments.

Chris Weidman: What the hell was this ref thinking?

Jason Miller: NPC REFEREE

Eryk Anders: Ref trippin

Shane Burgos: Refs need to be held accountable for shit like this

King himself even jumped into the comments to question the referee's judgment:

As the guy who took the shot: not really sure how the ref didn't realize I wasn't fighting back when the opponent walked away. I assumed the fight was over because otherwise why would the shots stop?? There was more than enough time to tell that I wasn't getting back into the action

Turpal Khamzayev vs. Angelo Pettis
Miguel Sanson vs. Mefi Monterroso
Josue Sotero vs. Ronnie Gibbs

As plenty of athletes will tell you, it's hard carrying a famous name, and that's just as true in combat sports.

Ladies and gentlemen, here's Angelo Pettis.

Being the cousin of MMA champions Anthony and Sergio is always going to bring plenty of expectations, especially when you consider how they both excelled at a young age, and it's been a tough go for the 21-year-old Angelo so far. In his second pro fight, he was submitted by Gage Mitchell, and this past Sunday he suffered his first knockout loss after taking some brutal kicks from Turpal Khamzayev.

That's a fantastic finish by Khamzayev, who chopped Angelo down before ending it with a flashy spinning wheel kick that the Pettis family should appreciate.

Fortunately for Angelo, he might not have been the worst knockout victim of the night, as Miguel Sanson caught Mefi Monterroso with a savage knee with Monterroso trying to stand up from the mat.

Josue Sotero topped both of those efforts, needing just 22 seconds to put Ronnie Gibbs away with a slick heel hook.

The 24-year-old Sotero improved to 5-0, with three of his wins coming in under a minute.

Anthony Pettis FC 24 is available to stream on UFC Fight Pass.

Damien Deleon vs. Terrell Nixon
Jeremiah Delgado vs. Vincenzo Iannuzzo
Jarrod St. Jean vs. Alius Delarosa

We have a few more Fight Pass goodies, starting with Damien Deleon scoring a ridiculous 11-second head kick knockout over Terrell Nixon on the Fury FC postliminary fights.

Over at CFFC 159, Jeremiah Delgado landed an even better head kick knockout against Vincenzo Iannuzzo.

Started celebrating before Iannuzzo's body even hit the canvas.

Jarrod St. Jean might have a future as a psychic because he perfectly slipped a short hook from Alius Delarosa while simultaneously landing a counter on the money.

Tater McSpadden vs. Fred Freeman

If St. Jean is psychic, Tater McSpadden might be a magician because he showed some serious sleight of hand (er, knee) at an Xtreme Fight Night event in Tulsa, Okla.

Had to watch that one multiple times to see where he slipped in the knee, but it's there, and it was more than enough to stun Fred Freeman and leave him open to some fight-ending hellbows.

Lucas Alfaro vs. Francisco Pepa

At Concordia Fight Night 8 in Argentina, Lucas Alfaro sent Francisco Pepa on a one-way trip to Buenos Aires with a limb-lifting spin kick.

Dude flew, like, two-thirds of the cage on that one.

Marsel Nurlanbek vs. Ermek Nuranov

Let's end on a nightmarish note.

I've often wondered what it would look like if someone didn't tap to a Suloev stretch fast enough and thanks to Octagon League's Marsel Nurlanbek, I have my answer.

Wish I hadn't found out. But I did and now you have, too.

Octagon League 90 is available for free replay on YouTube.

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.

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MMA fighter Jindrich Janecka resuscitated after cardiac arrest in cage

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MMA fighter Jindrich Janecka resuscitated after cardiac arrest in cage

Jindrich Janecka went into
cardiac arrest during his bout against Tomas
Skalicky at Cage Game 2, according to Oktagon
MMA chief medic Norbert Bidrman.

Janecka appeared hurt after a kick to the body and was later
knocked out by a punch. The bout took place under Oktagon MMA's
stand-and-bang rules, which prohibit ground fighting.

Oktagon MMA chief medic describes CPR, defibrillation and
Janecka regaining consciousness at Cage Game 2

Bidrman said the medical team performed CPR, delivered a shock and
administered oxygen. Janecka regained consciousness in the cage and
was able to speak with the team before an ambulance took him to the
hospital. Bidrman said a blow to the chest may have triggered an
abnormal heart rhythm, but the cause had not been confirmed.

“I'm the head medic here at Oktagon. We just had a very emergency
situation here, where one of the fighters, specifically Jindra,
went into a sudden cardiac arrest. After some cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, we delivered a shock. He was given oxygen and
brought back to life. He is fully oriented to place, time, and
person. And BRNO, the ambulance service, whom we greatly thank for
arriving on time, has taken him over, and he is now already at the
hospital. Jindra, I want to repeat, was already fully conscious in
the cage. He was communicating with us. And now we just want to
find the cause of why this happened. Most likely this could have
been some kind of arrhythmia caused by a blow to the chest that he
received earlier,†Bidrman said in a statement shared on X.

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UFC 334 | Pro fighters make their picks for Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes title fight

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UFC 334 | Pro fighters make their picks for Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes title fight

The UFC heads to Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, for UFC 334. In the co-main event, Kayla Harrison defends her women's bantamweight title against Amanda Nunes. Heading into the bout, Harrison is a -196 favorite while the former champ is a +152 underdog on FanDuel.

Ahead of the bout at UFC 334, BJPENN.com reached out to several pro fighters to get their predictions for the women's bantamweight title fight. The pros believe Nunes will upset Harrison in her return and reclaim the bantamweight title.

BJPENN.com Fighter Picks Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes:

Julian Erosa, UFC featherweight: I think Nunes. She has less muscle than Harrison, and muscle takes oxygen, and I think Nunes wins in the later rounds.

Dustin Jacoby, UFC light heavyweight: This is a good fight. Amanda is coming back, so there are some questions, and she has the knockout power. But, I do think Kayla will get the win with her wrestling.

Gillian Robertson, UFC strawweight: Amanda. I've trained with and known her for a long time, so I might be bias. But I do think she is the greatest woman in combat sports, and I think Amanda won't be scared of Kayla's judo and will be aggressive on the feet with her striking.

Mario Bautista, UFC bantamweight: I think Amanda Nunes gets the win. Kayla cuts a lot of weight, and I do worry about that with how hard Amanda hits.

Modestas Bukauskas, UFC light heavyweight: A very tough fight to pick. Kayla has been great in the UFC, but I can never pick against Amanda. Although she does have a layoff, I think she wins.

Terrance McKinney, UFC lightweight: I think Kayla Harrison wins. She will be able to take Amanda down, and Nunes will get tired as we have seen in the past. Kayla defends her belt.

***

Fighters picking Kayla Harrison: Dustin Jacoby, Terrance McKinney

Fighters picking Amanda Nunes: Julian Erosa, Gillian Robertson, Mario Bautista, Modestas Bukauskas

ICYMI: Pro fighters also made their picks for the UFC 334 main event featuring Ciryl Gane vs. Josh Hokit.

Who do you think will win the UFC 334 co-main event between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes?

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM


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Kayla Harrison’s coach downplays past experience with Amanda Nunes playing any real part in UFC 334 fight  

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Kayla Harrison’s coach downplays past experience with Amanda Nunes playing any real part in UFC 334 fight  

As Kayla Harrison prepares to face Amanda Nunes in the UFC 334 co-main event, a lot of the focus for the fight is going to center around them previously training together at American Top Team and even sharing the same coaches at times.

But Mike Brown, who previously coached Nunes and has served as Harrison's head coach since the first day she stepped foot in the gym, says that narrative is really being blown out of proportion. While Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes crossed paths from time to time, they were never that close long before they were scheduled to compete for the women's bantamweight championship.

“It's a big gym,†Brown told MMA Fighting. “There's a lot of training partners. They weren't training partners that often. Very seldom.â€

Of course, Brown gets pulled into that conversation a lot because he did coach both fighters but even that doesn't really cause a conflict of interest. At least in his book.

“I have a job,†Brown explained. “I work for Kayla and I work for ATT. That's my job. I trained with Amanda, but I was never her official head coach. But I did work with her for a handful of fights.

“But this is business. It's a big fight, and they're both going to make a bunch of money and everyone is in a good situation.â€

Now Brown obviously has an intimate knowledge about the good, the bad and the ugly working with both fighters but even that doesn't necessarily serve as an advantage.

Nunes left American Top Team, and effectively started her own gym, and that's continued as she prepares for her comeback from retirement. But Brown knows that Harrison and Nunes both have enough footage out there that the strategy come Saturday night isn't going to be some revolutionary change from what each has done in the past.

“I think they both each other's strengths and weaknesses,†Brown said. “Amanda's a big power puncher and everyone knows that. Kayla is a world class grappler and a multiple world champion, a world champion in judo, so there's no secrets in what each fighter's going to want to do.

“I don't think you would have had to coach them to figure that out. I think everyone knows what everyone wants to do here. It comes down to who can implement their game plan.â€

Since the day she started in the sport, Harrison has long talked about defining her legacy by becoming the greatest of all-time.

With two Olympic gold medals in judo along with a UFC championship and several PFL championships, Harrison could already make a compelling argument as the greatest combat sports athlete in history.

That said, Brown acknowledges that Nunes' accolades are undeniable and adding that win to her resume should help separate Harrison from any past competition when it comes to that greatest of all-time conversation.

“I believe so just because of her track record,†Brown said about Harrison. “Her near perfect record. Amanda's beaten every champion I believe at 135 except for Kayla. She's beat every champ that's ever been at the weight. That's pretty damn impressive except for Kayla. Obviously, she's done more in the sport than Kayla, but Kayla's record is near perfect. One blemish with [Larissa] Pacheco in their third fight. She had beat her twice before that.

“She's clearly head and shoulders above the competition. She also has a very high finish rate I would consider her the greatest of all-time if she wins this fight.â€

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