Missed Fists: Rain in the cage leads to a slapstick MMA fight and hilarious celebration

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.

That’s right, ya hooligans, I’m back. Alexander K. Lee is still out on a well-earned vacation so once again I’ve been called to service to provide y’all with a rundown of all the coolest highlights from regional MMA this past week. And boy, were there were some doozies this week. Let’s begin with the silliest thing that happened this past week.

Over in Kyrgystan, Ertaimash Fighting Championship 48 took place despite having some major technical difficulties. Those difficulties? Rain. The event and fight canvas were absolutely soaked in rain, resulting in some hilarious images.

By far the funniest part about the entire thing though was that the fights still went on. On previous editions of Missed Fists, we’ve talked about similar situations or the possibility of Slip-n-Slide MMA, but it’s always wild to see just how ridiculous MMA is when taking place on a surface with low friction. It’s like watching a Buster Keaton movie in high definition.

The coup de grace for all of this was the matchup between Kubatbek Uulu and Janybek Uulu, as the two slugged it out wildly, slipping all over the canvas. Ultimately, Janybek locked in a straight up big-brother headlock to get the finish in the first round. He then boldly climbed the cage to do a backflip in celebration, and it went about as well as you’d expect. Frankly, he’s lucky he didn’t tear an ACL doing that.

You can watch the full EFC 48 event here.

Harry Webb vs. Kevin Kophamel

But while that was the silliest thing this week, over at Eternal MMA in Perth, Australia, Harry Webb and Kevin Kophamel delivered the best thing this week, an absolute war in their lightweight title fight.

An undefeated 24-year-old prospect, Webb is the Hex Fight Series lightweight champion and considered one of the best prospects in Australia but he had his hands full with Kophamel, who bit down on the mouthpiece and gave as good as he got for 25 minutes. Over the full five rounds, Webb and Kophamel went hammer and tongs, slugging it out on the feet and occasionally mixing in the martial arts. For most of the bout, Webb appeared to be the more technical striker, but Kophamel refused to yield, putting a hard pace on Webb that left them both bloodied and battered.

And that was just in the first four rounds. In the final frame of their fight, Webb and Kophamel really turned up the gas. Webb began to pull away as the round went on and Kophamel’s face turned into a bloody mask, and it looked like he might even score a late finish, but just as he did the rest of the fight, Kophamel refused to give an inch. With less than 30 seconds left in the fight, Kophamel scored a final takedown and immediately moved to the backmount, pounding away with punches and looking for a Hail Mary choke that appeared to be in, but Webb made it to the final buzzer.

In the end, Webb scratched out a split-decision victory in one of the very best fights of the year.

Victoria Alba vs. Sandra Chimeyo

Silvestre Sanchez vs. Matias Gauna

Luis Cabrera vs. Alexis Castro

Moving on from one of the fights of the year, how about one of the events of the year? OK, that might be overstating it, but something certainly was in the water down in Monterrey, Mexico as Lux Fight League 45 delivered a trio of nasty knockouts.

We’ll start with Victoria Alba, who stopped a two-fight losing skid with a nasty one-punch knockout over Sandra Chimeyo in the first round. Granted, the loss did drop Chimeyo down to 2-7 in her career, but sometimes you need a soft touch to get back on track and the former Lux Fight flyweight champion did just that.

Immediately before Alba delivered the boom though, Silvestre Sanchez turned in his own vicious knockout that is one of the more brutal finishes you’ll ever see.

Sanchez faced Matias Gauna in the opening bout of the evening, and the 22-year-old prospect showed why he’s starting to make a name for himself as he obliterated Gauna with a devastating right on an exchange that collapsed the Argentinian fighter like a demolition building. Seriously, Gauna got hit so hard he fell on himself with the classic CroCop funky leg. It was nasty stuff.

But perhaps that may not even have been the best of the bunch as on the main card, Luis Cabrera wasted almost no time in evaporating Alan Alexis Castro in their flyweight contest.

Castro came out aggressively and immediately pressured Cabrera to the fence, which turned out to be a bad idea as Cabrera clocked Castro coming in, spinning him around 360 degrees into the land of dreams and spirits. Not only was it a highlight-reel knockout, but it came just 9 seconds into the bout. You can’t do much better than that.

Emanuel Palma vs. Byron Amaguana

Anthony Ramos vs. Alan Landazuri

Another event that brought the violence this week was Troncal Fight League 9, in Ecuador. Two especially gnarly knockouts took place this week, the first of which blows nicely from the Cabrera knockout as Emanuel Palma nuked Byron Amaguana in just 11 seconds with a left hook that delivered the Faceplant Of The Week.

The second knockout was somehow even more impressive as Anthony Ramos spammed flying knees against Alan Landazuri until one of them connected, separating Landazuri from consciousness in destructive fashion.

Luca Paz vs. Jeshua Cruz

Speaking of destructive fashion, you know who had a good night this week? Luca Paz. At United Fighting Series 22 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, made his pro debut against the 1-4 Jeshua Cruz. You never really know what you’re going to get in a pro debut, but in Paz’s case it was a highlight reel start to his career as the light heavyweight prospect iced Cruz in the first round with a nasty combination.

Marwin Quirante vs. Awan Aqib

Over at Brave Combat Federation 85, which took place in Lahore, Pakistan, a number of good finishes occurred but by far the best of the bunch was Marwin Quirante’s quick knockout of Awan Aqib.

A 21-year-old Filipino fighter with a 3-1 record coming into the fight, Quirante channeled his inner Anderson Silva, snapping Aqib’s head back with a front kick that ended the fight just 18 seconds into the bout.

Roybert Echeverria vs. Eimar Hernandez

That may not even be the best head kick knockout of the week though as over at Anthony Pettis FC in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Roybert Echeverria detonated Eimar Hernandez with a high kick in their co-main event bout.

You may remember Echeverria from his loss to Jafel Filho on Contender Series back in 2022 but the former Titan FC standout might be deserving of another crack at the UFC given what he did this past week. In a wild sequence during the second round of his bout with Hernandez, Echeverria stepped away from a wild spinning backfist thrown by Hernandez, and then hit the KABLAM button with a head kick that folded up Hernandez like a lawn chair.

Maybe Echeverria returns to the Contender Series this year to try his hand at a little redemption after that one.

And that’s all, folks! Thanks for sticking with me while AK is gone, but you’ll have to suffer my shenanigans no more. Alexander K. Lee returns next week to once again take over these hallowed pages. In the meantime, as always, thank you 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, plus everyone else who helps to catalog this stuff. Give them a follow and chip in on Patreon if you can.

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 (I’m not calling it X) — @AlexanderKLee — using the hashtag #MissedFists.